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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| v. 26, n. 2, February 2009 | Users Helping Users | ||
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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| v. 26, n. 2, February 2009 | Users Helping Users | ||
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Contents 1 There Is More to Music than the iPod - Mike Morris 2 About k-Byte 5 magicJack-A Review - Constance Brown 6 Calendar of Events 7 The Two Month Activities Calendar 8 Tip of the Month - Get Those Microsoft Office Menus to Always Display Everything - Mike Morris 9 Photo Gallery 10 Cloud Computing - Sister Dorothy Robinson 12 Directions and Map to Meeting Place 12 FRPCUG Contacts Meeting Previews on Page 6:
 Quote of the Month The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other. David Riesman [1950] There Is More to Music than the iPod by Mike Morris, Front Range PC Users Group, http://www.frpcug.org There is more to music-and more to life-than the iPod. I think I can prove that statement with the words that follow. Please don't misunderstand me. I admire the iPod as a successful product-a success technically and financially-even though I don't have one. However . . . . I need to start my "proof" by saying that in previous articles that I have written for this newsletter, I made a claim to being an Old Analog Guy (as a reminder, the acronym = OAG and is pronounced "ogre"). It is with that persona that I bring this subject to your attention. I just completed a catalog of nearly 300 old LP's that belonged to a family member who died last year. And when I say old, I mean some of those LP's have release dates more than 50 years old. Some of the recordings are much older than that. There are many memorable, and even historic, performances recorded on those albums. A small part of that music has been re-released on CDs. But there is much of that music-almost all Jazz-that you will not currently find in any digital format. So put down your iPod (or one of its imitators) and please listen to what I have to say. I decided to create a database for this catalog using Microsoft Access. One significant issue, as you might expect, is just how much information to include in the database. This database is for family use-not for radio station or other broadcast use. I did, however, want to make a record (no pun intended) of whatever information was necessary to properly document the collection. The most significant decision was related to the track (song) names, sequence and times on each side of each LP. Clearly, if I needed to document that information, both the data entry task and complexity of the database were going to be much higher. If the average number of tracks per side is 4 (it is probably higher), and I wanted to include all that information, then I was faced with a data entry task of 4 x 2 x 300 = 2400 entries (plus all the other information I wanted to include). "No big deal" you say-there are many much much larger databases in the world. You are correct. But remember, I am an OAG (please correctly pronounce that acronym). Therefore I was looking for an "easy" way to complete this task. Credit is due to Ken Campbell of radio station KRFC (more on that in a moment), a local public radio station, for a solution. Ken told me about an online music database called allmusic.com (http://www.allmusic.com) (yes, it is spelled with all lower case letters). It turns out there are many online music databases (a Google search turned up more than 68,000, using the phrase "online music database"). The allmusic.com database was the best for my catalog project for the following reasons: 1. A successful search for an artist will provide an Overview, a Biography, a Discography (a list of all albums by the artist known to the database, with title, date and label), Songs, Credits, and Charts and Awards. 2. From the discography, one can click on an album and get information (usually) on the album tracks (including times), composer(s), recording date(s), release date, label, format (LP or CD), the label's catalog number, and, for some albums, a review of the album. 3. The search options include artist/group, album, song, classical work. 4. There is substantially more information about the Jazz genre that just a list of names and dates. For example, on the Jazz "home page," there are a number of "Related Essays" on Jazz, including "A Brief History of Jazz http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=19:T691." For a project such as the cataloging of an existing music collection, with LP's that are up to 50 years old, this database is the best choice by far of all of the databases examined or considered. It is the equivalent of an encyclopedia, and the functionality makes searching easy, with related data presented on a single page. The ability to link from a list of albums (discography) to a single album (or CD reissue) provides very efficient searching for a project of this type. That is not to say that it is error free. There are albums not included in the database-the web site makes no claim that it contains every album ever released. There are also tracks missing from some albums (or the track order in the database doesn't match the order on the disk). An album may be in the database, but not in the artist's discography. And, there are numerous problems with release and recording dates. Still, the "pros" far outweigh the "cons." There is a feature offered by this web site that is unique. Each page (any of the choices listed in item 1 above) has a "Corrections to this entry?" option, allowing the user to submit corrections. Those corrections are then researched for confirmation (if the web site statement is correct) before they are added to the database. That feature was used extensively during the research for this music cataloging project-although not every error or missing item was submitted. For my project, the search by artist was the most effective. If an album was not listed in the artist's discography, a search by album was the alternate choice. Although the database has many very early jazz albums, there were a few albums in the collection, both old and new-or at least "newer"-by well-known artists that were missing from the allmusic database. So, although not perfect, the allmusic database is an excellent research tool, and you don't need the iTunes media player (or any other media player) to use it. The database is not limited to research, however. You can listen to short sound bytes from some tracks, and there are links that allow you to buy selected tracks or albums (correction - CDs). OK, so your iPod and the iTunes media player are great for listening to (and buying) current and even "relatively" old music. But the iTunes media player is not going to help you-to same extent as the allmusic database will-find classic old Jazz performances (and perhaps classic performances from other genres). And, you must have the iTunes media player installed on your computer before you can do any searching with it. You may be wondering why I am talking about online databases and why I consider a good online database important to my "proof." Yes, there is a relationship. But before I offer the conclusion, I have several comments on other databases. Another online database used rarely was Gracenote, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. Gracenote is used "...for digital media recognition of CDs, digital music files, and streaming audio. With the most comprehensive database of music information in the world, the Gracenote Media Database contains information for more than 80 million tracks and 6 million CDs...." This database is normally linked to media players, such as Winamp, to automatically identify music on a CD or from a download. It provides album title (and, in some cases, an image of the album cover), and track names-if you connect through a media player (or other audio/video equipment with the enabling software installed that is connected to the internet). If you connect to Gracenote directly from a browser (http://www.gracenote.com>), the search options are artists, albums, tracks. A successful search on an artist returns a list of albums (a lot less than the allmusic database) released by that artist that are known to the database. It is important to note that the quantity information in the Gracenote advertisement makes an explicit reference to CDs. The album information is similar to that in the allmusic database, except that there are no track times. There are, however, links to the lyrics of some tracks-for those songs that have them. Also the "Buy" buttons are much more prevalent, and much more obvious in the Gracenote database, compared to the allmusic database. Another online database examined briefly was Rhapsody, http://www.rhapsody.com/home.html, a service provided by RealNetworks.com, better known for its Real media player. The company claims to provide "Technology and services that help people enjoy digital entertainment whenever and wherever they want." Connect to the Rhapsody website and the first thing you will notice are the annoying animated ads. Get beyond that and the search options are artist, keyword, track, album, composer, video, lyrics, and playlist. If a search for an album is successful, you can, for most albums, get track information by clicking on the album image-but that track information (no times) is very probably going to be from a more current CD release, not from the original LP, depending on how old that original LP is and how popular the album was. However, there is nowhere near the same level of information available from this database, compared to the allmusic database. The Rhapsody database is organized for listening to (or buying) music that is already known to the user, either by song name or by artist (in my opinion). It is not an effective research tool for finding information on old LP's. It is not necessary to have the Real player installed in order to search the Rhapsody database. Now listen up everyone! Here is my reason for talking about music databases: There is some great old music out there! In all genres. Please don't get so comfortable with your iPod that you ignore that music. Especially when you have a resource such as the allmusic online database to help you identify it, catalog it, find reviews on it and find some history of it. I suspect that many of you reading this article (I hope there are many readers) have some of that "great old music" sitting on your shelves or in your cabinets. Or perhaps stored away somewhere. If so, "unstore" it. You will, I am certain, enjoy that music, especially with the added information available from the allmusic database. And that is what I mean when I say "There Is More to Music than the iPod." Here is the additional information I promised on radio station KRFC: 
Front Range PC Users Group (FRPCUG) has a partnership with KRFC, 88.9 FM in Fort Collins, CO. KRFC provides "Community powered music, news and entertainment." For more information, connect to http://krfcfm.org/. FRPCUG provides computer maintenance help to KRFC, and, in return, KRFC helps expand the knowledge of FRPCUG activities within the local community. An internet audio stream is available from the KRFC web site. Published monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright and Trademark Information k-Byte is copyrighted ©2009 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. The k-Byte logo and the Front Range PC Users Group logo are Trademarked by the Front Range PC Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that: a) proper author and publication credits are given; b) that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address, or emailed to contact(at)frpcug.org; and c) any additional instructions/restrictions contained in the article are followed. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. Disclaimer IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, HP, Dell, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Microsoft, Dell Inc., or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. Acceptance by FRPCUG of donated products or services from suppliers, or inclusion of a supplier in the FRPCUG Partner list does not imply that any continuing financial support is received or expected by FRPCUG. Nor do such activities imply an endorsement of either the supplier or product or service. Such information is made available to members as a service. Use of any product or supplier found in this publication, or any FRPCUG publication, is at the sole risk of the user. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in Windows, or UNIX/LINUX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGs) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, and access to SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership ($20 for students) and $50 for corporate/group membership. by Constance Brown, President, Canton Alliance Massillon Users Group, Ohio http://www.camug.com, constance(at)mystepco.com Do any of you recall the poem by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet stating that no place on earth is more than 60 hours away? The authors were awed by the idea that distance was no longer measured in months but in hours. What would they think now that people have circled the world in spaceships and repaired orbiting space stations? On the other hand, my friends who boarded the plane last month found that it can take 60 hours and more to arrive at a destination in our own hemisphere -- if it happens to be Bolivia! What does travel have to do with computers? Most trips begin with a call to a travel agent or visiting a travel web site to check prices and availability of flights. Then a flight is booked and paid online either by the purchaser or an agent. An e-ticket is sent to the traveler who then checks in via a computer terminal at the airport. Computerized controls are used to guide the plane. Computers, computers everywhere. Great when they work. Annoying when they don't! They are here to stay and will be performing more and more of our communications. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could travel internationally and communicate with folk back home without paying those ridiculous international calling fees! How about staying in touch with friends who do not live in the USA? Guess what! You CAN!! Several of us in CAMUG have phone service using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Last week I ordered something immediately after hearing about it. I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to test it and now I can hardly wait to share it. Perhaps some of you have seen the ads for the magicJack. What is it? Well, let me quote from PC Magazine online: "So simple it's almost perfect, the magicJack is the best home voice-over-IP gadget I've seen to date. Excellent call quality, a workable set of calling features, and an amazing price make this little box the VoIP wonder to beat."  Yes, in two minutes a little USB device about 2 inches by 1 inch by 5/8 inches that I plugged into the powered hub that I run through my USB port was giving me the capability of placing my calls via the Internet. I called Canada and Colorado, spending about 1/12 hours on the phone. It worked well except when I looked up information on the internet at the same time. I talked to customer service and they said I can connect to the powered hub that runs directly to my router. I will have to restart the modem, most likely. That means that I don't have to have the computer turned on to make calls, just like my current VoIP service. This is great. What do I like about the magicJack? The price. The gadget is $40, and that includes one year of service! The renewal service price is $20! Not $200. Just $20. In fact, we paid $60 for five years! The price. Calls are free to US & Canada and reasonable to other parts of the world. Bolivia ranges from 12-14 cents. Guatemala was a little less. I didn't check farther. The price. Register your magicJack with a US phone number and travel anywhere in the world. Place calls back to the US or Canada and the call is free! Purchase a magicJack and register it with a number in the USA, send it to your friends elsewhere in the world, and they can call to any place in the US or Canada for free -- almost. Remember, you receive one year of service with the device. Convenience. You can use the magicJack with any computer, not just the one you registered. Convenience. The magicJack is so small that it will travel extremely easily. Convenience. You can use the magicJack to place calls over Wi-Fi, cable, or DSL. Even light high speed is fine as it requires only 80 kbps of bandwidth. Services. You get all of them: voicemail delivered to you via email and also available by calling your number and entering your pass code, conference calling, 3-way calling, caller ID, do not disturb - have I forgotten anything? Quality. The quality compares with other VoIP services. The calls pass over a private network. Customer Service. Customer service was good, but busy. The online chat took a little time as the service person moved between customers. But it was good. He didn't have time to tell me about the Outlook add-on, so I am still waiting to discover what that is. Customer service apparently is improving, based on evaluations I read. The US News and World Report had an interesting article online dated September 27, 2008 about the magicJack. Here is a part of it. "The colorful and wealthy Borislow, who also raises, races, and wagers on racehorses, has launched magicJack fast out of the gate. The startup has sold more than 400,000 devices just six months after its official unveiling. It's selling about 7,000 a day, the company says, adding twice as many net new accounts over the period as Vonage, an Internet phoning pioneer. magicJack's appeal is not only the price, which falls to just $20 for a second year of calls, but sound quality that's consistently good. And it's flat simple to install and use." Who is the inventor behind the magicJack? Dan Borislow. There is information about him on the magicJack web site http://www.majicjack.com. Ed. Note: Several FRPCUG members have the magicJack device and service. Ask about their experience at any General Forum meeting. This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above). Graphical Events Calendar February General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, February 3rd 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 Remote Networking Virtual Servers March General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, March 3rd 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 Backup Techniques and Tools See you at the meetings! Get full membership benefits. If you are not a current member, download an application from http://www.frpcug.org/memberap.htm Future General Forum Meeting Notes At the February meeting, member Calvin Cline will present "Remotely Administering Our Network & Virtual Servers." Or, "How I Can Do My Whole Job From My Recliner." You'll see how secure access is made to workstations, servers and routers at a small company, as well as a tour of the virtual servers and workstations, and more. The topic for March is "Backup Techniques and Tools." This presentation will also address harddrive and registry maintenence prior to the backup procedure, and the issue of moving system software and data to new hardware. Future SIG's, Seminars, and Other Meetings Digital Imaging SIG The Digital Imaging SIG is a forum for discussion of digital imaging hardware and software. The meetings are held every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM in the Senior Center Lobby. The meeting format is informal, using the Shop Talk sessions as a basis. For more information, contact Mike Morris at twriterext(at)gmail.com. New Technology SIG The New Technology SIG provides advance support for all PC related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at Bluebird Manufacturing Inc., 1421 Webster Avenue, in Fort Collins. For more information, contact Chuck McJilton at 970-493-2987. Shop Talk One-on-one assistance. Drop in to the Senior Center lobby on any Saturday (holidays excepted) from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum meeting. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at 7:00 PM in the Staff Board Room of the Fort Collins Senior Center. Febuary 2009 3 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 7 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 10 Digital Imaging SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 11 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 14 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 19 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 21 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 23 Presidents Day 28 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM March 2009 3 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 7 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 10 Digital Imaging SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 11 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 14 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 19 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 21 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 28 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Get Those Microsoft Office Menus to Always Display Everything by Mike Morris, Front Range PC Users Group, http://www.frpcug.org Beginning with the Office 2000 products, Microsoft changed the way Menus displayed in its Office products. The new method was (is?) called Smart Menus, which means that the "recently used commands" are first be displayed, with the full list displayed after a "short delay." If you consider the "Smart Menu" approach annoying (as I do), there is an easy way to fix the "problem." You need to know, however, that changing the approach works only on all Microsoft Office products-you can't change just one (my apologies to the late Bert Lahr*). This procedure works with the 2000, 2002 and 2003 series of Office applications on Windows XP (it probably also works with Windows 2000, but I have no way to test that). |
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With any Office application open, right click on the Menu bar. You will see this menu displayed: The graphic at right is based on using Word, but the same menu will appear when using Excel, Access, Outlook or Power Point. Please note that there are a few extra choices in that graphic that are unique to my computer. Your choices might look slightly different. Also, note that the cursor is located over the last choice: Customize. Click on Customize. |
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The Customize dialog box is displayed: Click on the "Always show full menus" check box and then on Close. That is all there is to it. |
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The Customize dialog box in the Office 2000 products looks slightly different: In this case, make sure the "Menus show recently used commands first" checkbox is unchecked. |
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Once you have all of the Menu commands displayed, there will be no more panic (or grumbling) when the command you want isn't immediately displayed. *Perhaps most readers remember Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion in the movie version of The Wizard of Oz. There may be a few readers who remember his briefly famous appearance in a TV advertisement for a certain brand of potato chips: "Bet you can't eat just one." |
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Photo Gallery This month's featured photographer: Paul Ostrof using a Leica D-LUX2 camera Mode = Auto F number = 4.00 Exposure Time = 1/100 seconds ISO = 100 Focal Length = 16.70 mm. Scene Capture Type = Standard White Balance = Auto February Beach Sunset Copyright © 2009 by Paul Ostroff. All rights reserved. Send requests for copies/reprint permissions to kbyte(at)frpcug.org |
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by Sister Dorothy Robinson, Editor, OMUG News, The Olympia Microcomputer User Group, WA, http://www.olymug.org, Newsletter(at)olymug.org When did you first hear or see the term "cloud computing"? I'm usually the last to know anything, it seems, so I've only recently started noticing this term on the Internet. I did some research, and some say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread-but others think it isn't such a hot idea. In very simple terms, cloud computing is this: rather than having programs and files on your computer, you would store files online and also access applications (programs) online (think Google Docs or MS Office Live; think Flickr or Buzzword). Your computer really wouldn't need to have much on it, and you'd have to have an Internet connection in order to run applications or access your files. Not only individuals, but also companies would be doing this (and in fact, are doing it now). One of the major benefits is that a company (or an individual, for that matter) has the use of combined server resources they might not otherwise be able to afford "in house." The ever-vigilant Richard Stallman warns against the use of cloud computing: "Somebody is saying this is inevitable-and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true... One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," he said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's web server, you're defenseless. You're putty in the hands of whoever developed that software." Food for thought. This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).  The Fort Collins Senior Center The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and Raintree Drive intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center, and just west of the bank building on the corner of Shields and Raintree (see map at right). Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room. |
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| FRPCUG CONTACTS | ||||
| Telephone Area Code 970 | ||||
| FRPCUG Officers | Name | Work | Home | |
| President | Rick Mattingly | 613-8968 | rickmatt(at)q.com | |
| Vice President | Don Anderson | 498-3534 | 482-0943 | doande(at)gmail.com |
| Treasurer | Virginia Febinger | 498-2127 | gingercln(at)comcast.net | |
| Secretary | Jim Bragonier | 484-9061 | james.bragonier(at)comcast.net | |
| k-Byte Staff | ||||
| Editor-in-Chief | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Features Editor | Mike Morris | |||
| Other Contacts | ||||
| Membership Coordinator | Jack Linder | 663-2151 | jack(at)frpcug.org | |
| New Technology SIG Leader | Chuck McJilton | 493-2987 | cdmcjs(at)gmail.com | |
| Digital Imaging SIG Leader | Mike Morris | |||
| Publicity | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Door Prize Coordinator | John Goldey | 221-0877 | johngoldey(at)juno.com | |
| FRPCUG Fax Line | 493-1408 | |||
| FRPCUG Home Page w/E-Mail | http://www.frpcug.org | |||
| FRPCUG Officer E-Mail | board(at)frpcug.org | |||
| Library Request E-Mail | library(at)frpcug.org | |||
| Membership in the Front Range PC Users Group is $25 per year for individuals and $50 per year for companies. | ||||
| Mail your completed application and payment to: | ||||
| FRPCUG | ||||
| PMB 152 | ||||
| 305 W. Magnolia | ||||
| Fort Collins CO 80521 | ||||
| or join in person at the monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of each month. | ||||
