New iPod/iTouch range

For those interested in the iPod range I've read Apple with be having an event on the 1st of September. Now is a good time to wait a short while to see what the announcement will bring.

In particular it will be interesting to see the features of the new iTouch range and how they differ from the current offering. Last time I looked at the iTouch range I decided the entry level unit's processor was a bit of a gamble and with the release of iOS4 that has been shown to be the case.

The newer models because of their dearer prices, made it a harder decision between an iPhone and an iTouch. My main desire wasn't a phone, but a portable computer with a reasonable browser. The 3G data capability plus the GPS of the iPhone, meant the iPhone was what I ended up buying. Even though I didn't feel the camera on the iPhone was up to scratch (3 megapixel and no optical focus) it has proven to be quite handy. One feature I found very useful whilst travelling overseas was the compass. Data roaming is extremely expensive to using the maps would have costs a fortune (I've heard of people paying hundreds of dollars in data charges) but armed with a free map from the hotels and the compass it was much easier to get around.

Strangely I find that when in the northern hemisphere with the sun being in the southern sky, it means my sense of direction, which is usually very good, was sometimes quite poor. The compass was used regularly. Of course the iPhone is a very expensive compass, but it was handy.

The camera was also very handy for taking quick snaps of schedules and public transport  timetables. Sometimes I even took pictures to remind me of the location I needed to return to. It is amazing how things start to look the same whilst travelling.

Whilst I could have purchased the middle of the range iTouch at $399, the extra features of the iPhone 3GS 16GB unit at $879 were very useful. I'm looking forward to seeing what Apple has in store with the iTouch range.


Kelvin Eldridge

Tags: ipod docking station, ipod fm transmitter, ipod 80gb, 30gb ipod, itouch keyboard


Link: Apple Store Australia

New MyAnswers computer solutions posted.

Cuurently I am trialling providing MyAnswers as a free value add service to JustLocal advertisers. The advantage of MyAnswers solutions is they are documented solutions that I provided to a number of clients. The solutions are made available for free to clients of Online Connections and advertisers on JustLocal.

Chances are if someone else is experiencing a problem then you might also end up experiencing the same problem. Now you can have the problem answered for free and that can save a lot of money.

2012 - I'm using Vista (32 bit version) and Windows Media Player and when I go to play a wav file which was from a telephone message, Windows Media Player can't play the file. When I go to download the plug-in I get the message "You've encountered error message C00D10D1 while using Windows Media Player." and I'm informed the codec is missing. The code required is DSP Group True Speech (22).

Microsoft Vista

2011 - How to create you web site icon for an Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone

1903 - How can I stop printing the header and footer when I print pages from the Internet? I use Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer

2010 - How do I print from Outlook 2010?

Microsoft Outlook

2009 - How do I turn on overtype when I press the INS (insert) key in Word 2010 using Windows 7?

Microsoft Word

2008 - When I delete emails using my Gmail account on the Apple iPhone 3GS with iOS4 it now archives and doesn't delete. Is this a bug?

Apple iPhone

2007 - How to set the Apple iPhone with iOS 4 to British spellchecking which is better for Australians.

Apple iPhone


Kelvin Eldridge

Welcome to Aussie Mortgage Masters

I'd like to welcome Aussie Mortgage Masters to JustLocal.

Aussie Mortgage Masters are the experts in finding you the right loan. Aussie specialises in a wide range of home financial services including home loans, personal insurance, car and personal loans. Compare hundreds of mortgage and home loans at the one stop loan shop. Aussie's accredited Mortgage Advisers represent a multitude of home loan brands, including all major banks and non bank lenders.

You can find Aussie Mortgage Masters on the postcode page 6030 which covers the areas of Clarkson, Merriwa, Mindarie, Quinns Rocks, Ridgewood, Tamala Park in Western Australia.

Check out Aussie Mortgage Masters if you need a loan.

Kelvin Eldridge

Additional tags: loan calculator, mortgage broker, car loan calculator, personal loan calculator, equity loan, mortgage refinance, refinance loan, unsecured loan, refinance mortgage, loan calculators

Free calls to USA and Canada for 2010

Today I received notification in my Gmail account I can make free calls to the US and Canada in 2010 . I decided to check out the Google phone service. Unfortunately I don't call anyone in the US so I couldn't test the free call. I decided to call someone in Australia.

The cost to call Australia is 2 cents (USD) per minute and Google gave me a 10 cent credit so I gave it a go. The call quality was good for me, but the person on the other end felt there was a delay. I found during the call we would talk over each other which is a good indication there is a delay. As long as you slow down you can have a good chat.

In Australia local calls are not timed and generally cost around 25 cents. However for short calls paying 2 cents (USD) for a minute (charged in minute intervals) you can even save money on local calls.

What interested me is the cost to call mobiles in Australia is 14 cents (USD). The cost to call mobiles in Australia is quite high. For example I notice on mobile plans (calls to other mobiles) cost 35 cents or more for the flagfall and 80 cents to a dollar per minute. That means I can talk for around two minutes and it wouldn't have cost me as much as the flagfall.

As long as I have a WiFi connection this might be an excellent way to save money calling mobiles. I was recently in Greece on holidays and from the main square in Athens there is free WiFi. That means it may now be possible to call mobiles in Australia from Athens for 14 cents (USD) a minute and that's a great way to stay in touch on holidays.

Those who are lucky enough to have contacts in the USA and Canada should be able to make calls from Australia for free.

Australian telephone companies (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Three, Virgin etc) will find the future hard as the younger generation realises all it takes is a netbook and wireless access and call costs become a fraction compare to the cost of their mobile phone. Yes it isn't as convenient, but for many the savings they can make on their mobile phone could pay for their next holiday overseas. I know I'd prefer to travel than to spend the money on telephone calls.

Using one service I can already send SMS messages for 12 cents (which appear to come from my mobile) and now being able to call mobiles for 14 cents (USD) a minute may give me a cost effective way to call mobiles, subject of course to Google's service delivering the quality of service needed. It will be interesting to check out Google's phone service.

Enjoy,

Kelvin Eldridge

TIP: Moderate comments on your blog.

If you decide as a business to create and maintain a blog it is a good idea to enable comment moderation. That is you review and accept comments rather than automatically accept comments.

The majority of comments I receive are thinly disguised attempts at marketing. The concern I have is some of the sites attempting to market themselves may be malicious sites. Rather than potentially expose my readers to malicious sites, I review each comment.

For example today I received the following comment.

Earning money online never been this easy and transparent. You would find great tips on how to make that dream amount every month. So go ahead and click here for more details and open floodgates to your online income. All the best

If this was an email it would have been considered spam. But as a comment on a blog, it is up to the owner of the blog to make sure this type of material does not see the light of day.

Just to show how many blogs have been seeded with this comment I decided to perform a check on a phrase in the comment to give me an indication of how many blogs have this comment. I selected the words "more details and open floodgates to your online income." and performed a search on the phrase.

The results were:
Google: 339,000
Bing: 570,000

As you can see this is just one example of a single blog comment. I receive quite a few of these type of comments and I'm sure others do as well. With over half a million blogs seeded with this one comment, it is easy to imagine there are billions of comments that have been added to blogs which have no direct relationship to the content of the blog.

A very common ploy marketers use is to compliment a blog and say they'll let others know. We all like a comment so it is easy to be tricked. If you then check out the link to the person writing the comment you'll see it is trying to promote a site or a business. These people aren't interested in your site. Their only interest is to find sites which will help promote them. If a comment doesn't specifically relate to content in your site, chances are it is marketing.

If you own a blog, or thinking of setting one up, I highly recommend you moderate comments and look after the interests of your readers.

Kelvin Eldridge

The best diet is NO diet!

This morning I was thinking about how much exercise it takes to burn off the food we eat and I couldn't help but come up with the slogan, "The best diet is NO diet".

By "NO diet" I mean simply saying NO will often help you more to lose weight than trying to exercise off that treat.

For example a choc-chip muffin from Coles contains around 1,800kJ in energy. If you were to eat such a muffin how long would would you need to exercise in order to burn off the muffin? It takes a second to say NO, but now if you use the Energy Exercise Calculator you can work out how much time you will need to exercise.

If I use the figure of 93kg as the weight and go for a walk (4kph) you'll find it will take over an hour and a half to burn off the energy. I don't know about you, but to me that's a very long walk. A few minutes of pleasure eating a lovely choc-chop muffin and you then need to walk for an hour and a half, or you could simply say, "no thanks".

Next time you're thinking of a high energy treat, think about using the "NO diet" diet. You'll find you lose weight faster.

Check out the Energy Exercise Calculator and work out how much exercise and what type of exercise you can do to burn off those treats you love. Once you understand the connection between energy content in food, and energy expended through exercise, you'll see why many people who exercise alone find it difficult to lose weight. To me the best way to lose weight is to get your diet in order and then exercise for the benefits of exercise, plus exercise will help to you to lose weight faster.

Kelvin Eldridge

PS. You can find the Energy Exercise Calculator on the main page of JustLocal (http://www.justlocal.com.au/).

Is archive instead of delete for Gmail an Apple iPhone iOS4 bug?

When deleting emails using a Gmail account on the Apple iPhone 3GS with iOS4 by pressing the bin icon, the messages are now archived and aren't deleted. Is this a bug?

As it turns out this unexpected behaviour is a new feature of the iOS4 operating system. To find out how to again have your emails deleted clients can request MyAnswers solution 2008.

Kelvin Eldridge

Losing weight is easy.

I've just returned from an extended holiday and put on 5.2kg whilst away. In the past this would have been a concern, but now that I know how to lose weight it isn't an issue. Already in the first week I've lost 1.8kg with no exercise and just normal activity.

I find that most people make losing weight complicated and that sought of makes sense. Imagine if it was easy to lose weight. All those weight loss programs wouldn't make money. Those exercise classes people attend thinking they'll lose weight wouldn't be required. Those pre-packaged meals wouldn't be needed either. There is an entire industry out there built on a message that you need help to lose weight. Yet amazingly it is very easy to lose weight and it requires no exercise. That isn't you shouldn't exercise, but exercise isn't required to lose weight. I know. I lost 20.6kg using a simple approach, and so I could show others no exercise was required, did no exercise as part of my weight loss approach.

The tool I wrote to help me lose weight I've made available on the internet for others to use. You can find it at the following address http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/dieting/bmi-bmr.php.

Losing weight doesn't require any expense. If just requires a small amount of knowledge, probably around 5 minutes of effort a day and is easy once you know how.

If you're losing the battle of the bulge and you're a client, friend or family member then please feel free to ask me how I lost the weight. I am happy to share what I've learnt.

Kelvin Eldridge

Apple iOS4 iPhone. American spelling be gone.

I've been checking out the changes in the Apple iPhone with the release of iOS4. When I noticed iOS4 introduced spellchecking, I was naturally curious because of my dictionary work with the Australian English dictionary. (My obsolete work is now used by projects like Google Chrome and Firefox.)

Whilst at first I thought iOS4 only had American spelling, I was pleased that at least the iPhone now has British spelling. Ideally I'd like Australian English spelling to be available, but at least it is better.

MyAnswers solution 2007 shows how to set up the Apple iPhone with iOS 4 to spellcheck using British English.

Those of you with an eye for detail may have perhaps noticed the iPhone did not correctly highlight the American spelling of traveller as incorrect. I've found errors in all the dictionaries I've worked with, including printed and electronic, so this is not unexpected. None of us are perfect, but with time we can improve.

Thanks to Apple for adding the handy feature of spellchecking to their iPhone. If anyone knows the right contact in Apple please let them know that an Australian English dictionary would be welcome.

Kelvin Eldridge