Pissed at Apple Computer? Reuse your i-device as a remote camera

I was pissed at Apple Computer when they told me my iPad was not going to be supported any longer. Like in Mission Impossible when their iPad support disintegrates into white smoke if I don’t comply. But I complied when I chose to buy an Apple iPad and not a competitor brand like Samsung or Acer.

Ok enough bitching about a device that is no longer being supported. It was a matter of time. Wait until the first generation Apple iWatch goes unsupported. I’m sure a lot of you will be screaming. Unsupported. What does that mean? Simply said, there will no longer be any iOS updates to my iPad which means an eventual death to the use of my device. No iOS updates means fewer downloads of apps that I depend on using. Eventually there will be no apps to download because they will no longer be compatible to an older version of iOS.

I think you’ve seen those humorous articles on the web about old and retired iPads. For instance, your obsolete iPad can serve as a serving tray for drinks. Or be used as a paperweight so that your papers don’t fly away.

Here’s where my iSave blog comes to save the day. Before your old and retired i-devices parish from non-use, download a free app called ‘Presence‘ by People Power Company. This app’s purpose is to “recreate and reimagine devices that many people don’t think have value anymore.” according to the app’s FAQ. With this app, you can convert your old i-devices to remote cameras that you can control remotely from anywhere in the world. It is like having a remote camera in your house to keep an eye on your house when you’re away on vacation or out of the house for an extended period of time.

After you’ve downloaded this app on your old device, go ahead and download the same app on your current (or new) device. You will be asked to sign in or if this is your first time then go ahead and create a new account. With a new account, you can now sign on using your old device. It’s really easy to setup and the app is intuitive so I trust that you can figure it out yourself.

If you own any of Apple’s i-devices, I’m sure there will come a time when your device enters a non-support period. When it does, convert it to a remote camera using Presence and have it do something for you, rather than let it collect dust.

 

Mini and Free Software

If I was in the market for a small, compact notebook computer to carry around on my travels, I would choose the HP Mini 1010NR Atom Notebook. With its built-in 802.11b/g, I can connect to the internet via a hotspot or wi-fi connection. It has a full-size keyboard and a 8.9 inch display, not to shabby for a quick email on the road or to watch a dvd movie on a plane. The best thing when travelling is its weight. Coming in at 2.23 pounds, the HP Mini is perfect for school and for carrying around. Its small footprint runs at 1.66 GHz and has a 8GB hard drive. At eCost, you can pick one up for $406.99. 

These days, memory is cheap. You can get 1 terrabyte external hard drives for under $120. What’s not cheap is software. Microsoft Office is roughly $110 to $170, depending on if you are a student or not. With Microsoft Office, you have a word processor, spreadsheet and a presentation tool. The good thing about MS Office is that you can run it on a Windows PC or on a Mac. The bad thing is that you cannot readily share documents created in MS Office with your friends unless they have MS Office. Until now…

Check out ZOHO. On this website, you have access to a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, email, public repository, notebook taker, planner, database application, web conferencing, report writer, human resource tracker and more. The price? For an individual, it’s free. For a business, fees will vary but compare that to multi-user or site licences and you will find ZOHO to be competitively priced. The nice thing about ZOHO is that you don’t need to install anything on your PC and you don’t need to worry about upgrading the software which usually results to compatibility issues or increased costs.

Everybody wants to be a PopStar!

If you’ve been patient and have managed to ignore the piles of Guitar Hero and Rock Band games then head on down to your Real Canadian Superstore (or Target in the US) for Popstar Guitar. I just did and it’s going to get wrapped up for Christmas. The Wii copy gives you two AirG’s to fit over your remotes. It’s like the Guitar Hero attachment for Nintendo DS units but the buttons are larger. With the nunchuk attached, you have an air guitar to play over 50 pop hits from artists like Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Simple Plan and more.

Also at Superstore, there is a nice supply of Wii Mario Karts, the newer version of Boogie, American Idol and Animal Crossing. There are also accessories for your previous games such as a fishing rod, Nerf gun, Wii sports pack, crossbow and Wii wheel for GT, Monster Truck and Mario Kart.

If you want to check out the fun you will have with Popstar, you can visit the site and play it using your computer keyboard as your guitar. The game superimposes the letters X, C, V and B for the guitar chords.

Test Drive a Book

Have you been to an Indigo store lately? I remember when a Chapters store opened for the first time in Canada, it was great sitting down with a cup of coffee and a magazine and browsing through it. Nowadays, you can sit down with a coffee but you cannot hold onto unpaid merchandise such as magazines. Indigo stores still provide the odd chair at the end of aisles where people can sit down and review a book. With technical reference books, it is hard to pick one up, quickly review it then pay over $60 for it. 

The technical section, especially where the computer books are located, have been trimmed down. This section used to be very popular with books ranging from a relational database to a learning how to program Excel. I used to frequent this section and spend hundreds of dollars for technical books that I would use for work.

If you happen to like a Safari title, here’s a trick you can use to test drive a book. Safari allows you to review a book for 45 days. After that, you can buy it for up to 35% off. Simply look at the last few pages in a Safari book for a coupon code then go to Safari Online and register. It’s free to register and once you do, you can redeem the coupon. This is great for all you techies because it’s hard to invest $60+ for a book that you may not like.

Here’s a few coupon codes that you can start with:

 – Windows Vista : HLNVHXA

 – Programming Flex 3: QYFKIXA

 

Technical

Multi-Lingual Pen Stores Notes

If I had a time machine, I would grab IOGear’s Mobile Digital Scribe and my laptop to bring back in time to when I was attending university. Those were the days when we wrote novels of text, just by attending lectures. With the IOGear Digital Scribe, I would have reams and reams of notes in two formats, in my own handwriting and in digital form. The IOGear Digital Scribe is a cool device. Shaped like a normal pen, everything that you write with it is automatically translated (via OCR) and stored internally. When you’re next to your computer, you can upload everything you wrote. 

You can share your notes with your classmates, simply by e-mailing them with the JPEG of your handwritten notes. Or have it uploaded and translated so that you can send it to them in a Word document or an email.

The Digital Scribe does not require any special paper nor tablet to write on. You can write on anything, any surface or any paper up to the size of a Letter or A4. It comes with a receiver that captures your handwriting and stores it. The OCR is powerful, able to translate your handwriting to digital text. It comes with support for 12 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Traditional/Simplified Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch and Swedish.

What would you pay for this device? Believe it or not, it is only $80. But while supplies last, you can get it for $50.

Free Asus EEE PC

Get a free Asus EEE PC when you open a new RBC Signature No Limit banking account or a RBC VIP banking account. What’s an Asus EEE PC? It’s a cool PC that has a 7 inches display and weighs only 0.92 kg. It has built-in 802.11b/g WI-FI so you can connect to the internet and surf. Unlike the Apple iPod Touch, this unit has its own keyboard. From afar, it looks like one of those portable DVD players.

Depending upon its memory configuration, the Asus EEE PC sells for as low as $295. Unlike the Apple iPod Touch that comes with a minimum of 8GB, the lowest EEE model comes with only 2GB. Linux is installed on the Asus EEE PC giving it the ability to run practically any application. You can easily connect to the internet to check your mail or to do some business on the side. 

What better way to get one than to get one for free. Opening a RBC account is easy and with no minimum balance, it’s almost worth the time to open a RBC Signature No Limit account just to get a free Asus EEE PC.

If you don’t need another bank account or there is no RBC location near you, drop by and pick one up from us.

Almost Free Printer

I don’t want to keep you from getting in on a hot deal today. For less than $10, you can pick up an all-in-one printer that sells for $99.99 elsewhere. This is the Epson CX8400 printer that can be used as a scanner, fax, photo copier, photo printer and computer printer. 

Saving Money Wirelessly, Part 2

Now that I am wirelessly surfing the net at home, I decided to save some money on making long distance calls. I am not about to tell you about SKYPE because I have tried it and do not like the fact that you have to buy special SKYPE accessories and handsets.

A new thing on the market allows you to use your home phone, simply by connecting it to the magicJack telephone adapter. There is no software to install on your PC or Mac and all it takes is your high-speed internet connection. Everything is self-contained in the magicJack. I know what you are saying, you have tried Skype and do not like the quality. I agree and it is because with Skype, they lease the services from other carriers instead of having their own dedicated network. That is why Skype cannot guarantee the quality nor reliability. With magicJack, they have their own dedicated telephone network but they have to charge you $20 per year to use it. 

The magicJack sells for under $40 and the first year of use is free. After that it is $20 per year which is still cheaper than any monthly long distance package out there. I like it because you can choose your own number and you can put all your contacts together right on the magicJack which is great for travelling with. 

Wherever you are, as long as you have access to Wi-Fi or to a high-speed internet connection, a computer with a USB port running Windows XP or Vista, you can plug it in and start calling. In time, they will have the Mac/Apple connection which I hope can be connected to my iPod Touch for easy calling anywhere in Canada or the US.

Free All-in-One Printer

If you haven’t picked up your free vacation offer yet, today is the day to do so. And since you’re there, you might as well take advantage of the free printer too. Unfortunately, the free printer is only available today. Sorry about the short notice but I only found out about it less than an hour ago. Featured is the Epson CX7400 All-in-One Color Inkjet printer that can print up to 28 pages per minute and can print directly from a memory card or camera without a computer. Both of these offers are under our Free Stuff section. The Epson comes with an Auto-Photo Correction to make sure your photos come out brilliant. That’s almost like bringing your memory card into Wal-Mart’s kiosks and having it printed professionally.If you have read my earlier blog on Free Printers and have been waiting for the right printer to come along, here it is. Get it before they sell out.   

Saving Money Wirelessly

I just came back from the Source (formerly called Radio Shack) with a new Lexmark Z1420 Wi-Fi printer. I picked it up for an incredible $59.99 and with the recycle fee of $8.00 and taxes, it came out to $71 – not bad considering that when I hook it up, I can print anywhere in the house, wirelessly.

I’m a true believer of technology. In this day and age, we should be utilizing what’s out there rather than to stay in our comfort zone and use what we’ve been using for the last twenty years or so. Wi-Fi has been around for a number of years and a lot of my friends and colleagues have been utilizing it alot longer than I have. The reason is because I’m cheap and didn’t care to change my set up, until now. This is excellent for anyone with a small office, home office setup because you can have this printer downstairs near your business and still print from it upstairs.

Last year at this time, multi-function inkjet printers that had Wi-Fi capabilities were selling for $250 and up. Some were Wi-Fi ready and could be upgraded for $50 more. But Lexmark wanted to change the face of printing, so they were among the first companies to offer more affordable Wi-Fi printers, starting with the model that I bought today. As of last year May, the Lexmark Z1420 was the most inexpensive printer you can buy that has Wi-Fi. And looking at HP, Brother and other manufacturers, I think Lexmark still holds the record.

For those of you who have sat back and watched me pick up the TrendNet Wireless Router last week and now the Lexmark Z1420 Wi-Fi printer this week, and think you’re ready to get off the couch then I have a deal for you. Please come to our site and pick up the package for $39.99 for both but do so before March 31st because this offer expires.