Summary. Apple Dashboard Widgets sometimes get installed along with other software.

For example, if you install software for an HP printer, there is a Widget that gets installed (unless you choose not to).

Each widget uses up extra virtual memory and requires some attention from the CPU — slowing down the computer.

Check Memory Usage. To check and see how much memory is being used by Apple Dashboard Widgets on your computer, open the Activity Monitor (found in Utilities), and view the System Memory page. Sort all items listed by Virtual Memory to view those taking up the most memory at the top of the list. You’ll likely see DashboardClient toward the top. Or, you can sort alphabetically and look for DashboardClient.

Remove Unnecessary Widgets. To remove the Widgets running in the background, press the F4 key on your Apple keyboard to reveal all enabled Widgets, then press the plus + in the lower left of the screen to edit the Widgets. Click the small x in the upper left of each Widget to remove it.

“I discovered about 800MB being used by my Dashboard Widgets. There were actually two instances of the DashboardClient running. After following the above steps, the DashboardClient was gone and my 800MB of memory were back!” ~ Greg Johnson

Summary. The standard Apple MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 notebook configuration includes 4GB RAM for $2,200 (as of spring 2012). This should be enough memory for the most demanding tasks. However, the computer is extremely slow for many simple tasks even when running only one or two applications. This page offers some suggestions for improving speed and performance. The guidelines below will probably be useful for any brand of computer — desktop or notebook.

Memory Management Apps. There seem to be some memory management issues in Apple OS X Lion 10.7 as indicated by slowness and the reported available memory regularly sinking to only a few hundred megabytes. This happens when running Apple branded software and apps included with the OS, so it doesn’t seem to be a problem with third party software. As a result of these memory management issues, there are now many apps available through the Apple App store for free or 99 cents that will perform the basic task of cleaning up misallocated memory. Here is a short list (from among about two dozen):

• Clean Memory
• FreeMemory Pro (or FreeMemory at no charge)
• MemoryFreer

Memory Upgrade. For an upgrade price of $200 at the time of purchase, the Apple MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 notebook can come with 8GB RAM installed rather than 4GB RAM. This is a huge price jump considering that Crucial has an 8GB upgrade for $45 (and you get to keep the original 4GB for sale or use elsewhere).

“I purchased the Apple MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Quad-Core i7 notebook with the standard 4GB RAM and was really disappointed at how slow it was for basic tasks. After upgrading to 8GB RAM, I immediately noticed an improvement in speed. These days, it seems like some low-end computers are configured shipped with the minimum amount of memory required to simply turn on. This reminds me of printers that ship with starter ink kits that can only print a hundred pages.” ~ Greg Johnson

Windows Users. Although the Apple OS and Microsoft Windows OS both have their advantages and disadvantages, their demands on memory and processor speed seem to be about the same. It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the point where 8GB RAM has become a baseline for a computer to perform fast and responsive, but that seems to be the case. At the time of publishing this article, most low-end Windows computers ship with 6GB RAM and 8GB RAM is considered the preferred amount of memory to have.

Summary. These days, most people have their  smart phones locked. This is good for security, but if the phone is lost and then found by someone, they won’t ever be able to get into the phone and find out who to return it to. These instructions describe how to create a custom iPhone lock screen image with your name and contact information.

Simple Method. The quick, low tech, easy, but not so elegant way to set owner information to display on your iPhone or any smart phone is to simply write your contact information on paper and then take a photo of it that is clear enough to be read. Then set that picture as your power-on lock screen. Provide your name, email, and an alternate phone number.

Using Notepad. You could also create a lock screen wallpaper image using the notepad feature in the iPhone by typing your contact information in the middle of the note and then taking a screen shot of it by pressing the power and home keys briefly.

Using Other Apps. There are a number of drawing and graphics programs for the iPhone OS and for desktop computers. Some iPhone drawing apps like Doodle Buddy or Draw Pad Pro let you create colorful images with text. Keynote and Pages for the iPhone or iPad allow you to type your name and choose an elegant backdrop. With any of these, you can create a custom home screen image that includes your name and contact information. Then, press the power and home keys briefly to take a snapshot of your creation (while viewing in full-screen mode).

Using Keynote. The instructions below show how to use Keynote to make a custom lock screen wallpaper image.

Step #1 – Set the presentation image size to 640×960 as shown below.

Step #2 – Disable any link information as shown below.

Step #3 – From the file menu, close to export your creation as a jpg image as shown below and then email it to yourself so you can save it to the camera roll on the iPhone. When you receive the image in an email, touch and hold it to save to camera roll. Then, from the camera roll, you can define it as your lock screen image (or do this from Settings).

Keynote Theme Samples Gallery. Below is a gallery of samples using some of the Keynote themes to vary the background and fond. The other images on the page are included as well. Click any image to zoom in.

Summary. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Premium is the model that replaces the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Premium. Although these units are similar in appearance, design, and function, the OfficeJet 8600 series represents a significant improvement in quality, speed, and ease of use. Of all the 8600 series printers available, the Premium configuration represents the best value. [BUY]

“I’ve been using the HP OfficeJet series of printers for the past ten years and find they are fast, economical, reliable, and exceptionally versatile. The OfficeJet 8600 Pro series offers significant advances in economical printing, energy efficiency, speed, and print quality.  I’d highly recommend it. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Premium offers the greatest value since it comes with additional ink cartridges and a secondary paper tray. Another advantage is having a flat-bed legal size scanning area for oversized documents.” ~ Greg Johnson 

Initial Setup Problems. When setting up the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 for the first time, you may encounter an error during setup indicating that one of the ink cartridges isn’t installed or isn’t installed properly. There may actually not be any specific error message other than the non-stop looping of the animated video introduction on the display that never advances beyond showing you how the put the ink cartridges in.

Upon removing the identified cartridge and reinstalling it again multiple times over again, you’ll begin to get frustrated because this never solves the problem despite the error message suggesting it will. Then you will likely install a new ink cartridge, only to be told by the printer that the original “setup” cartridge must be installed the first time during setup. At which point you’ll install the original setup cartridge again, and get the same error again.

It may be necessary to remove the ink cartridge carrying mechanism and reinsert it again. This is the device that holds all four ink cartridges. You’ll find a white handle or latch on the right side. When this is moved up, the ink cartridge carrying mechanism can be removed and then reinserted again. Hopefully the problems identified above were simply due to incomplete or incorrect contact between the ink cartridge carrying mechanism contacts and the printer.

Summary. Adobe SendNow joins with other cloud file sharing service providers such as Amazon Cloud Drive, Apple iCloud, Box.com, Dropbox.com, and Google Docs.

Overview. Most other cloud-based document sharing services offer some level of free support with expanded features on their paid support plan. Adobe offers a free service that should serve most people’s needs.

Benefits. Each cloud storage company offers something unique:

• Dropbox offers easy desktop synchronization of files and folders.
• Box.com lets you send a link to a file or folder so a person can download an item without having to signup for anything.
• Adobe SendNow lets you send large files and have your online storage space automatically clean itself up by deleting files that are more than 7 days old. It’s not designed to be a collaborative online workspace, but instead a solution for moving large files easily. The 100MB per file limit is better than what others offer with their free service packages.

Recommendation. It’s a good idea to setup a free account with all the service providers so you can take advantage of each one’s unique benefits. This also lets you increase your cumulative available online storage space, without taking on any regular ongoing expense.

Pricing. The features and pricing as of 30 January 2012 are compared below. Click here or the image below to enlarge.

Summary. Regardless of whether you use Apple or Microsoft Windows computing platforms, you’ve noticed that hardware and operating systems are marching forward hand-in-hand without much regard for legacy systems or software.

This means that regular costly upgrades are necessary, and sometimes older software is no longer usable. For example, a program written for Windows XP might not work properly with Windows 7.

The declining value or usefulness of a product is referred to as planned obsolescence. In the case of Microsoft, it is strategically institutionalized obsolescence, as is evidenced by their product support lifecycle calendar. Although the operating system still “works” after support has ended, without security updates it’s not safe to use.

There are two remedies for this: (1) Compatibility Mode, or (2) Virtualization.

Compatibility Mode. As new operating systems have been released by Microsoft, they typically come with an ability to run a program in compatibility mode. So, without installing any virtualization, you should be able to right click on a program icon and choose a previous version of Windows as the operating system the program is most compatible with. The steps for doing this are shown in the screen shots below.

1. Right-click on the program icon and then click on Properties as shown below.

2. Click on the Compatibility tab, and from the Compatibility mode drop-down menu, (with the box checked to “Run this program in compatibility mode for:“) choose the operating system you’d like to be compatible with when running the selected program.

Virtual PC. An alternative to using Compatibility mode is to use Microsoft Virtual PC software. The software is available from Microsoft for free and allows you to load a secondary copy of Windows on your computer. This is helpful when you want to test something and don’t know if it would crash your computer. Virtual PC sessions are independent running computers that are easily backed up and restored if they fail. Also, hardware compatibility issues are not a problem because the virtual computer interfaces with the existing OS. Similar software is available for Apple computers to run multiple copies of Windows, such as VMware Fusion.

Summary. In the video below, information is provided about VCR DVD Recorder Combo decks used for transferring from VHS tapes to DVD. For additional information, there is an article and video about video transfer to computer using a digital converter box.

Summary. The iPhone 4S comes with a faster more power hungry processor. This can result in faster battery depletion than with previous iPhone models. For this reason, it’s helpful to use a battery pack case like the Mophie Juice Pack Plus. [Buy Now] This page, including the video below, provides helpful information about battery life and the benefits of battery packs. Most of the information presented here applies to all newer smart phones.

Processor Intensive Tasks. With the addition of HD (1920x1080p) video recording, it’s now increasingly common for people to use the iPhone 4S as a  portable solid-state HD video camera. That means more time in use, and with processor intensive tasks like video recording and editing, the battery level is more likely to deplete. Other processor intensive (and power intensive) tasks include Skype video chat, watching YouTube videos, Siri Voice Recognition, and apps that use the GPS.

Low Signal Conditions. When your mobile signal or wifi (wireless) signal is low, your device is more likely to work harder by boosting its own signal. This can also result in battery depletion.

Convergence and Battery Life. The miracle of the iPhone is that it combines a still camera, video camera, mobile phone, compass, GPS, and a computer with over 200,000 programs available – all in a single small device. It’s a perfect example of convergence. Previously, a person would carry many devices — each having a dedicated battery. Now, with the iPhone, a single battery is used to power the convergent technologies found in the one device. This is another reason why battery packs are popular.

Mophie Juice Pack Plus. The video below shows batter depletion and the benefits of the Mophie Juice Pack Plus.

Summary. The video below shows the basic equipment, cables, and connections to transfer video from a VCR to a computer for making a DVD or edited video to be uploaded or shared. For those wanting to save time and money, iMemories.com is recommended.

iPhone 4s Video Stablization. The video also offers a good example of the benefit to using the iPhone 4S video recording with the 8 megapixel HD video camera (found on the back of the phone). The introduction and conclusion of this video is not stabilized because it was recorded using the low-resolution front facing camera. The rest of the video was recorded using the HD camera that has stabilizing technology. Notice the difference in video smoothness and clarity.

Part 2. In the second segment, shown below, more information is provided about VCR DVD combo decks.

Introduction. Among the hundreds of companies producing and selling consumer electronics, Apple is frequently cited as the poster child of companies partnering with factories in China that are engaged in unethical and inhumane labor practices. [More...]

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