Neal Barrett, Jr., will be honored as Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America during its 2010 Nebula Awards Weekend in May.
Barrett has published more than 50 novels and 70 shorter works His books include The Hereafter Gang, Through Darkest America, Dawn's Uncertain Light and Prince of Christler-Coke as well as the short story collections Perpetuity Blues, Slightly Off Center and A Different Vintage.
Barrett has observed: "Like many professional writers, I've written westerns, mystery-suspense, horror, noir, air war stories, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, novelizations such as Judge Dredd, Barb Wire and Dungeons & Dragons. One of my all-time favorite jobs is writing comic books--I think I've turned out over a thousand pages by now. That's what writers do, you know--they often do what needs to be done. And I've found that a real pro puts everything he or she has into whatever project comes along. You name it. I can't tell you how many names besides mine are out there over the work I've done for a series or special projects."
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
2009 Stoker Awards
The Horror Writers Association gave 2009 Stoker Awards to the following works:
Novel: Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan
First Novel: Damnable by Hank Schwaeble
Long Fiction: The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton
Short Fiction: "In the Porches of My Ears" by Norman Prentiss
Anthology: He is Legend edited by Christopher Conlon
Collection: A Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O'Neill
Nonfiction: Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost
Poetry: Chimeric Machines by Lucy A. Snyder
The award is named for Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. The tropy which resembles a miniature haunted house was designed by author Harlan Ellison and sculptor Steven Kirk. Lifetime Achievement Awards were given to Brian Lumley and William F. Nolan.
Novel: Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan
First Novel: Damnable by Hank Schwaeble
Long Fiction: The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton
Short Fiction: "In the Porches of My Ears" by Norman Prentiss
Anthology: He is Legend edited by Christopher Conlon
Collection: A Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O'Neill
Nonfiction: Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost
Poetry: Chimeric Machines by Lucy A. Snyder
The award is named for Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. The tropy which resembles a miniature haunted house was designed by author Harlan Ellison and sculptor Steven Kirk. Lifetime Achievement Awards were given to Brian Lumley and William F. Nolan.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Printer Buying Basics
Ready to buy a printer? These are the specs you need to understand to make an informed choice.
For a general discussion of the kinds of options you have, see "Major Printer Types Explained." And for advice to keep in mind when you go to the store, see "Shopping Smart."
Basic Printer Specs
Dots per inch (dpi): This number defines how many dots the printer can fit onto a square inch of paper. Due to baseline specs set long ago, all dpi numbers are a multiple of either 300 or 360--for example, 1200 dpi or 1440 dpi. The higher the maximum resolution, the more detailed an image the printer is capable of creating. Vendors use other technologies to stretch the capabilities of those dots, however, so the actual number is not quite as important as it used to be.
Engine speed: This number is usually expressed in pages per minute (ppm), and sometimes as characters (cpm) or images (ipm) per minute. In any case, check the claims carefully. Vendors often show performance numbers that reflect printing in draft mode, which is faster but not as good-looking as the standard-quality setting; or worse, they omit the initial processing time before the first page prints, which is an unavoidable part of every print job. An industry standard for "laser-comparable" printing has evened the playing field, and you'll see that spec on some printers. Note that print speed varies depending on the complexity of the job, too; printing complex graphics or on both sides of the page (duplexing) will slow your printer.
Internal memory: This spec will be expressed in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB), if at all (most personal printers don't have any memory). Among business printers, the amount of standard internal memory is an indication of how much print data the machine can accumulate when a queue of jobs is waiting to print. How much is enough, and how much is too much? A low-end business printer might have anywhere from 32MB to 128MB of RAM, while higher-end machines will have 256MB to 512MB of RAM, and graphics-oriented printers might start with 1GB. If you have a very busy office, or if you print complex or graphics-intensive files, you will need more--sometimes a lot more. Check for a printer's maximum upgradable memory to make sure that the model has room to grow along with your needs
Monthly duty cycle: The specs for all business printers and most personal printers will include a number indicating the maximum number of pages the device can print per month without failing. The typical personal printer's duty cycle will be somewhere under 5000 pages, while a lower-end business printer will dwell in the 20,000-page range. Higher-end workhorses boast duty cycles of 100,000 or more pages. Your print volume should fall well below the duty cycle of the model you're considering--if it doesn't, look for a printer with an even higher limit (or expect your printer to poop out a lot sooner). The duty cycle number is also indicative of the printer's durability: The higher the duty cycle, the better-built it probably is.
Networking: A personal printer will always have a USB connection for use with one computer. An increasing number have integrated wireless, for use in a home among several wirelessly connected computers. A business printer will have an ethernet connection so that it can function on a network; some models might also have wireless capability for use in an appropriately equipped small office. Most business printers also have embedded Web pages or other tools for easier management over a network.
Paper-Handling Specs
Standard and optional input tray(s): The number of sheets your printer can take in its standard configuration should exceed the number of pages you print per day--ideally by a multiple of three or more, so you don‘t have to touch the tray more than once or twice a week. A personal printer typically holds 100 to 150 sheets of paper in a single tray, usually with no upgrades available. A business printer will hold 250 sheets of paper at a minimum, but higher-end models can accommodate 500 to 1000 or more pages in their standard or upgraded configurations. If you have a very busy office or you need to print on multiple sizes or types of paper, you will want multiple paper trays; make sure your chosen printer can accommodate such upgrades.
Multipurpose tray or manual feed slot: These features are designed to feed a single piece or a small quantity of thicker media, such as envelopes, through your printer. They are best for occasional use, as many require some fiddling before or after you print. If you want to print on a special stock all the time, look for a printer that can dedicate a tray to this task.
Duplexing: Two-sided printing, or duplexing, is a great feature because it can cut your paper costs in half and spare some trees. If that appeals to you, look for a model with automatic duplexing; the feature is available on some personal printers and many business printers. Some printers offer manual duplexing, with prompts that tell you how to rotate and reload the paper to print the second side; this approach is better than nothing, but it's a real hassle if you want to duplex all the time.
Next: Other Useful Features
Other Useful Features to Consider
Displays: Many personal printers and some business printers have small displays on their front control panels, to aid you in selecting menu options or communicating printer status. While the typical display might consist of one or two lines of character-based messages, higher-end and photo-oriented printers might have a full-color LCD, measuring anywhere from 1.5 inches to 7 or 8 inches in diagonal width--all the better to view and edit photos directly from the printer. In general, it's preferable to have any kind of display telling you something, rather than having to interpret the blinking and colors of a few lights for yourself. Color LCDs enhance the experience by offering better graphical capabilities and more room to show options. A few displays are also touch-sensitive, which feels more natural when you're navigating on-screen options.
Media-card slots and PictBridge ports: If you want to print photos on your inkjet, a model with integrated media slots or a PictBridge port provides convenience. But if you already have such ports on your computer, of course, you needn't bother duplicating them on your printer.
USB port: This connector lets you insert a USB flash drive and print directly from the drive. It is sometimes combined with a PictBidge port. Though it's a handy feature, it's best used in conjunction with security functions, so people can't simply walk up to the printer and mess with the device or your network through this port. (An IT friend of mine glues USB ports shut in his office--secure, but difficult to undo!)
Operating system compatibility: All printers work on the PC platform, but not all models offer equal support for the less-common Mac and Linux platforms. If you use multiple computer platforms in your environment, make sure that the printer has full-fledged drivers for all of them--and be sure to check for functionality differences.
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
For a general discussion of the kinds of options you have, see "Major Printer Types Explained." And for advice to keep in mind when you go to the store, see "Shopping Smart."
Basic Printer Specs
Dots per inch (dpi): This number defines how many dots the printer can fit onto a square inch of paper. Due to baseline specs set long ago, all dpi numbers are a multiple of either 300 or 360--for example, 1200 dpi or 1440 dpi. The higher the maximum resolution, the more detailed an image the printer is capable of creating. Vendors use other technologies to stretch the capabilities of those dots, however, so the actual number is not quite as important as it used to be.
Engine speed: This number is usually expressed in pages per minute (ppm), and sometimes as characters (cpm) or images (ipm) per minute. In any case, check the claims carefully. Vendors often show performance numbers that reflect printing in draft mode, which is faster but not as good-looking as the standard-quality setting; or worse, they omit the initial processing time before the first page prints, which is an unavoidable part of every print job. An industry standard for "laser-comparable" printing has evened the playing field, and you'll see that spec on some printers. Note that print speed varies depending on the complexity of the job, too; printing complex graphics or on both sides of the page (duplexing) will slow your printer.
Internal memory: This spec will be expressed in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB), if at all (most personal printers don't have any memory). Among business printers, the amount of standard internal memory is an indication of how much print data the machine can accumulate when a queue of jobs is waiting to print. How much is enough, and how much is too much? A low-end business printer might have anywhere from 32MB to 128MB of RAM, while higher-end machines will have 256MB to 512MB of RAM, and graphics-oriented printers might start with 1GB. If you have a very busy office, or if you print complex or graphics-intensive files, you will need more--sometimes a lot more. Check for a printer's maximum upgradable memory to make sure that the model has room to grow along with your needs
Monthly duty cycle: The specs for all business printers and most personal printers will include a number indicating the maximum number of pages the device can print per month without failing. The typical personal printer's duty cycle will be somewhere under 5000 pages, while a lower-end business printer will dwell in the 20,000-page range. Higher-end workhorses boast duty cycles of 100,000 or more pages. Your print volume should fall well below the duty cycle of the model you're considering--if it doesn't, look for a printer with an even higher limit (or expect your printer to poop out a lot sooner). The duty cycle number is also indicative of the printer's durability: The higher the duty cycle, the better-built it probably is.
Networking: A personal printer will always have a USB connection for use with one computer. An increasing number have integrated wireless, for use in a home among several wirelessly connected computers. A business printer will have an ethernet connection so that it can function on a network; some models might also have wireless capability for use in an appropriately equipped small office. Most business printers also have embedded Web pages or other tools for easier management over a network.
Paper-Handling Specs
Standard and optional input tray(s): The number of sheets your printer can take in its standard configuration should exceed the number of pages you print per day--ideally by a multiple of three or more, so you don‘t have to touch the tray more than once or twice a week. A personal printer typically holds 100 to 150 sheets of paper in a single tray, usually with no upgrades available. A business printer will hold 250 sheets of paper at a minimum, but higher-end models can accommodate 500 to 1000 or more pages in their standard or upgraded configurations. If you have a very busy office or you need to print on multiple sizes or types of paper, you will want multiple paper trays; make sure your chosen printer can accommodate such upgrades.
Multipurpose tray or manual feed slot: These features are designed to feed a single piece or a small quantity of thicker media, such as envelopes, through your printer. They are best for occasional use, as many require some fiddling before or after you print. If you want to print on a special stock all the time, look for a printer that can dedicate a tray to this task.
Duplexing: Two-sided printing, or duplexing, is a great feature because it can cut your paper costs in half and spare some trees. If that appeals to you, look for a model with automatic duplexing; the feature is available on some personal printers and many business printers. Some printers offer manual duplexing, with prompts that tell you how to rotate and reload the paper to print the second side; this approach is better than nothing, but it's a real hassle if you want to duplex all the time.
Next: Other Useful Features
Other Useful Features to Consider
Displays: Many personal printers and some business printers have small displays on their front control panels, to aid you in selecting menu options or communicating printer status. While the typical display might consist of one or two lines of character-based messages, higher-end and photo-oriented printers might have a full-color LCD, measuring anywhere from 1.5 inches to 7 or 8 inches in diagonal width--all the better to view and edit photos directly from the printer. In general, it's preferable to have any kind of display telling you something, rather than having to interpret the blinking and colors of a few lights for yourself. Color LCDs enhance the experience by offering better graphical capabilities and more room to show options. A few displays are also touch-sensitive, which feels more natural when you're navigating on-screen options.
Media-card slots and PictBridge ports: If you want to print photos on your inkjet, a model with integrated media slots or a PictBridge port provides convenience. But if you already have such ports on your computer, of course, you needn't bother duplicating them on your printer.
USB port: This connector lets you insert a USB flash drive and print directly from the drive. It is sometimes combined with a PictBidge port. Though it's a handy feature, it's best used in conjunction with security functions, so people can't simply walk up to the printer and mess with the device or your network through this port. (An IT friend of mine glues USB ports shut in his office--secure, but difficult to undo!)
Operating system compatibility: All printers work on the PC platform, but not all models offer equal support for the less-common Mac and Linux platforms. If you use multiple computer platforms in your environment, make sure that the printer has full-fledged drivers for all of them--and be sure to check for functionality differences.
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
Protect Your Facebook Privacy
6 Steps to Protect Your Facebook Privacy
Harmeless quizzes and your choice of friends can reveal information that may be used against you; be aware.
Rosemary Hattersley, PC Advisor
Sunday, March 28, 2010 06:16 AM PDT
Whether you're a committed telephone addict, a tabloid aficionado, or a web surfer extraordinaire, we're sure you can't help but notice that every couple of days seems to bring another security scare. Scare stories make for good headlines, of course, but some affect you more than others. Such is the case with privacy -- something we're increasingly expected to manage for ourselves.
There are plenty of straightforward ways to claw back some peace of mind. As we outlined in our in-depth look at the latest online security threats, the little bits of information with which we furnish web apps can be collectively turned against us.
A good example is the Facebook app that asks what single topped the charts the day you were born. I don't mind admitting that my answer to this is one of those dated comedy tracks. But I'm not about to amuse Facebook's entire London network (several million-strong and counting) with its details, particularly when doing so narrows down my date of birth to a seven-day period. How many guesses does a hacker need to correctly ascertain and make use of my date of birth (DOB) on an official form, such as applying for a credit card? Not many, given those odds.
Changes to Facebook's interface now promote the idea of searching, Friends Reunited-style, for old acquaintances based on school years. Again, you're semi-publicly drilling down into the detail and then proudly displaying the results.
If you and five of your friends all went to the same school, it takes only one person to list their DOB for a snoop to reasonably deduce that you were all in the same school year.
Don't even get me started on the dangers of posting your full address, phone numbers, and myriad other details that only true friends should be privy to. And it's no better if you have a blog and post the information there. Web crawlers will happily serve it all up on a platter to anyone who knows how to use a search engine skilfully.
It's great to share; it's even better to check first who you're sharing it with.
Plug Facebook information leaks
Step 1. Click Account at the top right and choose Account Settings from the drop-down menu. From here, you can swap your existing password for a stronger alphanumeric one. It's also a good idea to remove your maiden or middle names if you included them at registration.
Step 2. Click the Networks tab to check you're happy with the sharing settings for any network you may have joined. You're no longer required to join a network, however, so you may prefer to remove yourself from it altogether. Also consider unlinking your Twitter and MySpace accounts, your personal blog and so on.
Become a fan of PC Advisor
Security Advisor
Step 3. The Privacy Settings are equally important; they're also under the Account menu. Facebook has tightened up some of its defaults, but it's wise to check what you're sharing with whom. In particular, don't let third parties use your profile picture in their advertising, which may fool some of your less tech-savvy friends.
Step 4. If you log into Facebook with a mobile phone number, have signed up for Facebook texts or listed your number at sign-up, be aware that your phone number will be available for all your 'friends' to see (plus networks such as Foursquare). If you don't want them to call you or send you text spam, alter your settings on the Mobile tab.
Step 5. Hackers often seek out a weak link, such as someone who appears to accept friends willy-nilly. Having been accepted, they try to become friends with that person's friends, who assume the newcomer must be kosher. Go to Accounts, Edit friends for a list from which you can purge anyone you don't actively know.
Step 6. You'd be surprised what you can learn about people based on their answers to Facebook's quizzes. Most apps request permission to post your answers to the Live Feed and to your Wall but, even if you ignore such requests, commenting on someone else's results could reveal more than you intended to.
Become a fan of PC Advisor
Security Advisor
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
Harmeless quizzes and your choice of friends can reveal information that may be used against you; be aware.
Rosemary Hattersley, PC Advisor
Sunday, March 28, 2010 06:16 AM PDT
Whether you're a committed telephone addict, a tabloid aficionado, or a web surfer extraordinaire, we're sure you can't help but notice that every couple of days seems to bring another security scare. Scare stories make for good headlines, of course, but some affect you more than others. Such is the case with privacy -- something we're increasingly expected to manage for ourselves.
There are plenty of straightforward ways to claw back some peace of mind. As we outlined in our in-depth look at the latest online security threats, the little bits of information with which we furnish web apps can be collectively turned against us.
A good example is the Facebook app that asks what single topped the charts the day you were born. I don't mind admitting that my answer to this is one of those dated comedy tracks. But I'm not about to amuse Facebook's entire London network (several million-strong and counting) with its details, particularly when doing so narrows down my date of birth to a seven-day period. How many guesses does a hacker need to correctly ascertain and make use of my date of birth (DOB) on an official form, such as applying for a credit card? Not many, given those odds.
Changes to Facebook's interface now promote the idea of searching, Friends Reunited-style, for old acquaintances based on school years. Again, you're semi-publicly drilling down into the detail and then proudly displaying the results.
If you and five of your friends all went to the same school, it takes only one person to list their DOB for a snoop to reasonably deduce that you were all in the same school year.
Don't even get me started on the dangers of posting your full address, phone numbers, and myriad other details that only true friends should be privy to. And it's no better if you have a blog and post the information there. Web crawlers will happily serve it all up on a platter to anyone who knows how to use a search engine skilfully.
It's great to share; it's even better to check first who you're sharing it with.
Plug Facebook information leaks
Step 1. Click Account at the top right and choose Account Settings from the drop-down menu. From here, you can swap your existing password for a stronger alphanumeric one. It's also a good idea to remove your maiden or middle names if you included them at registration.
Step 2. Click the Networks tab to check you're happy with the sharing settings for any network you may have joined. You're no longer required to join a network, however, so you may prefer to remove yourself from it altogether. Also consider unlinking your Twitter and MySpace accounts, your personal blog and so on.
Become a fan of PC Advisor
Security Advisor
Step 3. The Privacy Settings are equally important; they're also under the Account menu. Facebook has tightened up some of its defaults, but it's wise to check what you're sharing with whom. In particular, don't let third parties use your profile picture in their advertising, which may fool some of your less tech-savvy friends.
Step 4. If you log into Facebook with a mobile phone number, have signed up for Facebook texts or listed your number at sign-up, be aware that your phone number will be available for all your 'friends' to see (plus networks such as Foursquare). If you don't want them to call you or send you text spam, alter your settings on the Mobile tab.
Step 5. Hackers often seek out a weak link, such as someone who appears to accept friends willy-nilly. Having been accepted, they try to become friends with that person's friends, who assume the newcomer must be kosher. Go to Accounts, Edit friends for a list from which you can purge anyone you don't actively know.
Step 6. You'd be surprised what you can learn about people based on their answers to Facebook's quizzes. Most apps request permission to post your answers to the Live Feed and to your Wall but, even if you ignore such requests, commenting on someone else's results could reveal more than you intended to.
Become a fan of PC Advisor
Security Advisor
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
What to Do When You Lose Your Tech Gear
What to Do When You Lose Your Tech Gear
When your cell phone, laptop, or other gear goes missing, these essential tips will improve your odds of recovering it —or ensure that the lost item won’t come back to haunt you.
Robert Strohmeyer, PCWorld
Sunday, March 28, 2010 07:00 PM PDT
Illustrations: Edwin FotheringhamYou don't know what you've got until it's gone, they say--and they might very well have been talking about my cell phone. A couple of months ago, while walking through the departures terminal at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, I reached into my coat pocket to grab my Motorola Droid--and panicked. Where I had expected to feel the cool metal case of my most trusted travel companion, my fingers reported only pocket lint and a couple of crumpled business cards. My phone had gone missing, and with it the security of my contacts, my banking information, my entire e-mail history, and my Facebook and Twitter logins--and I didn't even have a passcode on the phone.
As I stood in the midst of the bustling airport and realized the extent of my predicament, I felt a rush of blood to my head. If some less-than-honest person were to find the phone before I did, they would be just a single finger-tap away from every e-mail I had sent or received during the previous two years. If they tapped on my Facebook app, they could pretend to be me and hustle my family, friends, and colleagues with Western Union scams. In addition, they would have easy access to my GPS data, showing exactly where I live and potentially putting my family at risk.
After quickly checking the terminal and failing to spot my phone on the ground anywhere, I grabbed a stool at the nearby airport lounge, booted up my laptop, and began the arduous task of changing the passwords on all of my online accounts--from Gmail to PayPal to Twitter. But just then I heard a familiar ringtone emanating from behind the bar. Some Good Samaritan had found my smartphone on the floor minutes earlier and turned it in. My data, my identity, and my loved ones were safe--but only because I was lucky.
At that moment, I vowed never to repeat that experience. Since then, I've become a faithful custodian of my phone and all of my other mobile devices. Here's how you can add serious security to your mobile gear, making it harder to lose, easier to recover, and less prone to exposing your personal data if it falls into the wrong hands.
What to Do If Your Phone Goes Missing
The best time to worry about cell phone security is now, before your phone disappears. By taking some sensible precautions, you can make your phone easy to recover, and even safeguard your data.
Losing a phone actually entails three separate losses: the hardware itself, the data on the device, and the security that you would normally enjoy by maintaining control over your data.
To minimize the collective impact that these losses can have on your life, you should address each of the three facets separately. First, take steps to make your phone recoverable, or at least easily replaceable, in the event that it goes AWOL. Second, keep an up-to-date backup copy of the data on the phone in a safe place. Third, make sure that nobody else can access that data if your phone gets lost or stolen.
Lock Down Your Phone
Protect your Android phone by setting an unlock pattern like this one to confound thieves and interlopers.Before we consider various fancy-pants tricks for securing and finding a lost phone, let's focus on the most basic task: setting a password.
Nearly every cell phone on earth--smart or otherwise--has some kind of passcode protection built in, yet almost nobody uses the feature because it adds an annoying 3-second delay to the process of making a call. Well, get over it. Set a password--or an "unlock pattern," if you're an Android user. Do it now, and you'll avoid worrying later on whether someone out there is reading through your e-mail or accessing your Facebook account on your lost phone.
Make Your Phone Recoverable (or Easily Replaceable)
Usually, losing a cell phone is a short-term problem. (When in doubt, check under your car seat.) But even if your handset ends up wandering miles away in the hands of a stranger, you may be able to get it back. Regardless, taking the right precautions ahead of time can minimize the various expenses associated with losing the device.
The first step in taking the sting out of losing your mobile phone is to shell out a few dollars per month for handset insurance from your carrier. When you buy a new phone, do this at the same time. If you have a phone but haven't yet signed up for insurance through your carrier, do so now. For a monthly fee of about $8 (for smartphones), the insurance will guarantee you a quick, free replacement if you lose the phone--and it will get you up and running if you do something silly like run over the handset with a motorcycle.
Of course, collecting on your handset insurance is a last resort if you lose your phone. The better outcome is to find the device quickly after it vanishes. Fortunately, you have plenty of good options for doing this.
Where's My Droid, a free download from Android Market, makes your phone ring so you can find it easily.If you lose your phone in some mundane way, such as by dropping it under a coffee table, and you're sure it must be nearby but you just can't find it, you can call it from another phone so that it will ring until you can home in on it. If you frequently set your handset to silent mode, you can obtain any of several cheap or free apps (available for most smartphone platforms) designed to override the phone's current settings and make it ring at full volume whenever it goes into hiding.
For Android users, the free Where's My Droid is a great first choice among quick locator apps. This Android Market download lets you set up a passphrase that you can use to activate a loud ring on your phone. Just borrow a friend's phone and send your passphrase via SMS (or use your phone's SMS e-mail address, such as 4155551212@vtext.com), and your phone will automatically adjust its ringtone to maximum volume and ring for a preset length of time--or until you find it and tell it to stop.
Where's My Phone enables a Good Samaritan finder to call you and return your BlackBerry.BlackBerry users have a number of choices as well. The best free option is Where's My Phone, available from the BlackBerry App World store as a feature-limited version of a more robust paid app. With the free version, you can trigger a loud alarm via e-mail to help you find your BlackBerry. The $4 paid version adds more features, such as GPS location.
For iPhone users, a 99-cent app called Beep My Cell offers similar functionality, along with the option to add a custom message for anyone who finds the device (if it's not where you thought it was). Rather than relying on e-mail or text messages to trigger its beeping, you log in to beepmycell.com and click Beep My Cell to start up the noise.
Another low-cost utility is Phone Finder With Google Maps, which brings this functionality to Windows Mobile handsets. A text message to this $1.50 app causes PhoneFinder to kick on the ringer and transmit the phone's GPS location to the handset that sent the SMS, giving you two ways to look for it at once.
Create a Smartphone Backup
The more extensively you use your cell phone, the more completely you de pend on the data it stores. So regularly backing up your phone makes sense.
Often the easiest way to perform a backup is by using a cable connection: Most smartphones--including models ranging from iPhones to BlackBerrys to Palm WebOS phones (including the Pre) to Windows Mobile devices--come with syncing utilities that are de signed to create a complete backup of the phone's contents. Thanks to those programs, if you sync your phone regularly, you should always have a recent copy of your files, contacts, messages, and photos safely stored on your computer. Do this religiously.
Unfortunately, though, not all smartphones encourage you to synchronize and back up your data manually. The worst offenders in this regard are An droid phones, which tend to behave a lot like stand-alone computers; for this reason it's easy to neglect syncing the phone to a desktop PC for months on end. Though Android is designed to work seamlessly with Google's cloud-based apps (such as Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts), which automatically sync all of your data to the Web, most of the data stored on your device won't automatically sync to anything.
MyBackup Pro, a $5 app, archives the entire contents of your Android phone on a Web-based server.A number of backup apps are available for Android, but my favorite is MyBackup Pro. This $5 app wirelessly syncs all of your Android phone's data--including apps, contacts, bookmarks, SMS messages, pictures, and music playlists--to a se cure server. If your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged, you can download the data onto a replacement phone and pick up where you left off.
Adopt Advanced Security Measures for Your Gear
Dealing with a misplaced phone that you know is somewhere in your own home or at a friend's house is no big deal. But if you leave your phone in a cab or unwittingly drop it on the sidewalk, you will probably need more-advanced recovery and protection features to get it back and keep its contents safe. Fortunately, a few cool programs and services are available that cover every major smartphone platform. They aren't free--but if your data is valuable to you, they're worth paying for.
TenCube's WaveSecure protects Android, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile phones.If you want protection across multiple smartphone platforms, your best option is TenCube's WaveSecure. Available for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile phones, WaveSecure provides as complete a package of protection as you can hope to have for a device that's prone to wandering away.
For $20 annually, WaveSecure en ables you to track the location of your phone, monitor its call log, and detect whether someone has changed its SIM card, all via a Web browser. In the event that your phone is lost or stolen, you will quickly have a pretty clear idea of where it is and what it's up to.
WaveSecure also lets you remotely back up the contents of your phone to the secure server and then wipe all of your data from the device. So even if the phone falls into the hands of a thief, none of your personal information will be at risk. After removing the data, you can either turn the location information over to the authorities in hopes of getting your phone back (don't count on it) or forget the stolen handset and use the insurance you bought from your carrier to purchase a replacement, and then download the backup of your data onto the new device.
Apple offers a similar tracking service, called Find My iPhone, for iPhone users. But you can get Find My iPhone only as a component of Apple's MobileMe service, which costs a whopping $99 per year (or $149 for a four-user family pack).
Subscribers to Apple's pricey MobileMe service can use Find My iPhone to locate their lost device.
To its credit, the Find My iPhone interface is relatively slick and works very well. Like WaveSecure, Find My iPhone lets you track your phone's whereabouts and send a custom message to whoever may be holding it at the moment. It also allows you to wipe out the phone's contents remotely and lock the handset with a passcode re motely (in the event that you failed to set one up before losing the device).
Palm Pre users can obtain similar protection by signing up for Where Is My Pre. The premium version of this service, which costs $2 per month, enables you to view your phone's location on a map, send messages to the device, modify the phone's preferences remotely, and even take pictures with the phone's Webcam re motely to see who's holding it.
Protect Your Laptop From Loss or Theft
Losing your smartphone is bad enough, but losing your laptop can wreak serious havoc in your life. When your PC skips out on you, not only must you cope with lost data and the risk of having your information compromised, but you must also replace the laptop, which can be an expensive proposition. I'll explain how to improve your odds of getting your laptop back if it's lost or stolen, and share a few tips for securing your personal and business data.
Record your assets: A cheap laptop may cost as little as $400, but many business users and gamers carry machines worth $1500 to $2000--or more. Re gardless of how much money you spent on your laptop, it's wise to keep re ceipts related to your purchase, take a picture of your laptop, and register it on your homeowner's or renter's insurance policy. That way, losing your laptop won't have to be a huge financial burden on top of all the unavoidable hassles you'll face. (For more tips on dealing with insurance companies, see "Insurance Assurance."
Back up often: If you haven't been backing up your data as frequently as you should, don't feel bad--just go do it. Do it now. Do it weekly. But don't simply copy your files onto DVDs. Perform full system backups to a reliable, high-capacity external drive using Windows Backup or a similar backup utility. For a complete guide to using Windows Backup, see "Create Idiot-Proof Backups With Windows' Built-In Tools."
Back up redundantly: In addition to getting into the habit of maintaining a local system backup on an external drive, it's smart to back up your most important data (or even your entire system) to a remote, cloud-based service such as Mozy. That way, if catastrophe strikes your home or your office, you'll still have all of your information saved in a separate, secure location. For advice on selecting an Internet backup service that meets your needs, see "Find the Right Online Back up Service."
Install a Recovery App and Sign Up With a Tracking Service
If your laptop is stolen, you have about a 2 percent chance of getting it back. But your odds can drastically improve if you run a tracking and recovery app such as zTrace or LoJack for Laptops.
For about $60 per year, with tracking service, these apps hide in your PC's BIOS and periodically connect to the Internet to report their location. If your laptop disappears, just contact the company to activate tracking and recovery services that will respond to a signal from your laptop and record its location with surprising accuracy, based on the IP address that it connects from.
Once either LoJack for Laptops or zTrace locates your laptop, the service will work with the appropriate law enforcement authorities to investigate the theft and reclaim your equipment. In addition, you can initiate a remote data wipe that immediately begins erasing everything on your hard drive in a manner that the local user can't interrupt or override. That way, even if the police never find your computer, your data won't fall into the wrong hands.
Of course, not everyone is dishonest, and your laptop might find its way into the possession of a well-intentioned soul who wants nothing more than to return it to you. For such an eventuality, it makes sense to label your laptop with your name, phone number, and e-mail address; a Good Samaritan who finds your laptop can then ring you up and arrange to reunite you with it.
Protect Your Other Mobile Tech Gear
Laptops and cell phones aren't the only devices that can cause trouble when they stray from their owners. Losing e-book readers, media players, GPS devices, portable hard drives, and even thumb drives can be expensive in terms of both replacement costs and data loss.
Most specialized mobile devices can't run high-end tracking and recovery software, but you can make them less anonymous by labeling them with recovery tags. One approach is simply to print your name and phone number on a return address label and affix it to the device, but you may get better re sults from a professional asset-recovery service like StuffBak.
StuffBak offers a reward to those who find and return your stuff, increasing the odds that you'll get lost gear back quickly.For about $10, you can buy a preactivated aluminum asset tag from StuffBak, preprinted with a unique ID number, StuffBak's Web address and toll-free phone number, and a reward offer that gives whoever finds the device an incentive to return it. When the finder reports the device's ID number to StuffBak, the company will arrange for a courier to pick it up and return it to you.
StuffBak's labels come in various sizes, ranging from tiny circles for cell phones and thumb drives to large, highly visible tags for laptops to wrap-around labels that you can affix to the zipper of a travel bag.
Don't leave your portable drive's data exposed to whoever finds it. Encrypt it with the free TrueCrypt utility.
Portable hard drives can be particularly troublesome to lose, because you don't want to share the data on them with the world. To protect your business and personal information, consider using a robust utility such as the open-source TrueCrypt encryption software to protect the drive's contents from snoops.
TrueCrypt creates a secure volume on your disk, encrypting data on the fly as your PC reads and writes from the drive. When you first access the drive after connecting it, you simply enter a strong password; thereafter, it functions just as any other drive does. But if the drive ever gets lost, anyone who tries to read what's on it will have difficulty doing so. TrueCrypt works on USB keychain drives, as well.
Four Habits That Help You Avoid Losing Your Stuff
Losing things is easy. Getting them back can be tough. Here are four simple habits that can help you prevent losses and improve your chances of getting your gadgets back if you do leave them somewhere.
1. Keep receipts: Whenever you take a cab, eat at a restaurant, or grab a cup of coffee at a café, ask for a receipt and hold on to it for a day or so. That way, if you suddenly realize that you left your Kindle, keys, or other belongings behind, you are only a phone call away from starting to recover them. Receipts often include important information you may not know or remember, such as the name of the person who helped you, and that person may remember you and your lost item.
2. Label everything: Whether you use laser-printed return address labels or fancy professional asset tags, labeling your belongings gives finders a way to reach you and return the item. Most people are honest enough to be willing to help you if you make it easy for them to do the right thing.
3. Pack consistently: If you always store each piece of gear in the same place, you're more apt to notice when something isn't where it belongs. For instance, if you consistently put your phone in your inside coat pocket, you have a better chance of realizing that it's not there as you leave a restaurant. Get into the habit of knowing which pockets your essential items live in, and you'll be less likely to leave them behind.
4. Accessorize: Covering your smartphone in a flashy case may suggest that you look to Petulant Tween magazine for tips on style and aesthetics, but it'll also make your handset catch your eye on a cluttered restaurant table. If you tend to leave things behind, sacrificing a little dignity in return for maximum visibility may save you headaches in the long run.
Insurance Assurance
Technology can be expensive. Fortunately, many homeowner's and renter's insurance policies cover lost, stolen, or damaged electronics. But cutting through the red tape and getting full value for your lost equipment takes some effort. Here's what you need to know.
First, be sure to keep records of all of your expensive purchases. Whether it's a shiny new laptop or a portable projector, any device whose value exceeds your insurance deductible is worth recording on your insurance policy.
At a minimum, keep your original purchase receipt in a safe place, and record the product's serial number along with it. You might want to take a photo of the device, too, and keep that picture with the receipt and the serial number. That way, even if you can't locate exact model information later on for some reason, you'll have a clear record of what it is you've lost.
For an industry that constantly deals with unforeseen events, insurance companies hate surprises. So call your insurance agent and arrange to add your devices to your policy. Giving the insurance company information about the date of purchase and the amount paid, as well as the model and serial numbers, will streamline the process of getting reimbursed if the device goes the way of the laundry sock.
If your equipment gets lost or stolen, you'll have to do some legwork before the insurance company will cut you a check. In particular, you may need to file a police report about your loss and provide a copy of that report to the insurance company. Though the police are unlikely to find your laptop (or even care that it is gone), the paperwork will demonstrate to your insurance carrier that you've tried to recover it. If you don't present it up front, your agent will probably contact you weeks after you file your claim to ask for one--and that will mean a longer delay before you get your money.
Do the work early, and you'll take a lot of the hassle out of the process of obtaining reimbursement for a stolen gadget.
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
When your cell phone, laptop, or other gear goes missing, these essential tips will improve your odds of recovering it —or ensure that the lost item won’t come back to haunt you.
Robert Strohmeyer, PCWorld
Sunday, March 28, 2010 07:00 PM PDT
Illustrations: Edwin FotheringhamYou don't know what you've got until it's gone, they say--and they might very well have been talking about my cell phone. A couple of months ago, while walking through the departures terminal at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, I reached into my coat pocket to grab my Motorola Droid--and panicked. Where I had expected to feel the cool metal case of my most trusted travel companion, my fingers reported only pocket lint and a couple of crumpled business cards. My phone had gone missing, and with it the security of my contacts, my banking information, my entire e-mail history, and my Facebook and Twitter logins--and I didn't even have a passcode on the phone.
As I stood in the midst of the bustling airport and realized the extent of my predicament, I felt a rush of blood to my head. If some less-than-honest person were to find the phone before I did, they would be just a single finger-tap away from every e-mail I had sent or received during the previous two years. If they tapped on my Facebook app, they could pretend to be me and hustle my family, friends, and colleagues with Western Union scams. In addition, they would have easy access to my GPS data, showing exactly where I live and potentially putting my family at risk.
After quickly checking the terminal and failing to spot my phone on the ground anywhere, I grabbed a stool at the nearby airport lounge, booted up my laptop, and began the arduous task of changing the passwords on all of my online accounts--from Gmail to PayPal to Twitter. But just then I heard a familiar ringtone emanating from behind the bar. Some Good Samaritan had found my smartphone on the floor minutes earlier and turned it in. My data, my identity, and my loved ones were safe--but only because I was lucky.
At that moment, I vowed never to repeat that experience. Since then, I've become a faithful custodian of my phone and all of my other mobile devices. Here's how you can add serious security to your mobile gear, making it harder to lose, easier to recover, and less prone to exposing your personal data if it falls into the wrong hands.
What to Do If Your Phone Goes Missing
The best time to worry about cell phone security is now, before your phone disappears. By taking some sensible precautions, you can make your phone easy to recover, and even safeguard your data.
Losing a phone actually entails three separate losses: the hardware itself, the data on the device, and the security that you would normally enjoy by maintaining control over your data.
To minimize the collective impact that these losses can have on your life, you should address each of the three facets separately. First, take steps to make your phone recoverable, or at least easily replaceable, in the event that it goes AWOL. Second, keep an up-to-date backup copy of the data on the phone in a safe place. Third, make sure that nobody else can access that data if your phone gets lost or stolen.
Lock Down Your Phone
Protect your Android phone by setting an unlock pattern like this one to confound thieves and interlopers.Before we consider various fancy-pants tricks for securing and finding a lost phone, let's focus on the most basic task: setting a password.
Nearly every cell phone on earth--smart or otherwise--has some kind of passcode protection built in, yet almost nobody uses the feature because it adds an annoying 3-second delay to the process of making a call. Well, get over it. Set a password--or an "unlock pattern," if you're an Android user. Do it now, and you'll avoid worrying later on whether someone out there is reading through your e-mail or accessing your Facebook account on your lost phone.
Make Your Phone Recoverable (or Easily Replaceable)
Usually, losing a cell phone is a short-term problem. (When in doubt, check under your car seat.) But even if your handset ends up wandering miles away in the hands of a stranger, you may be able to get it back. Regardless, taking the right precautions ahead of time can minimize the various expenses associated with losing the device.
The first step in taking the sting out of losing your mobile phone is to shell out a few dollars per month for handset insurance from your carrier. When you buy a new phone, do this at the same time. If you have a phone but haven't yet signed up for insurance through your carrier, do so now. For a monthly fee of about $8 (for smartphones), the insurance will guarantee you a quick, free replacement if you lose the phone--and it will get you up and running if you do something silly like run over the handset with a motorcycle.
Of course, collecting on your handset insurance is a last resort if you lose your phone. The better outcome is to find the device quickly after it vanishes. Fortunately, you have plenty of good options for doing this.
Where's My Droid, a free download from Android Market, makes your phone ring so you can find it easily.If you lose your phone in some mundane way, such as by dropping it under a coffee table, and you're sure it must be nearby but you just can't find it, you can call it from another phone so that it will ring until you can home in on it. If you frequently set your handset to silent mode, you can obtain any of several cheap or free apps (available for most smartphone platforms) designed to override the phone's current settings and make it ring at full volume whenever it goes into hiding.
For Android users, the free Where's My Droid is a great first choice among quick locator apps. This Android Market download lets you set up a passphrase that you can use to activate a loud ring on your phone. Just borrow a friend's phone and send your passphrase via SMS (or use your phone's SMS e-mail address, such as 4155551212@vtext.com), and your phone will automatically adjust its ringtone to maximum volume and ring for a preset length of time--or until you find it and tell it to stop.
Where's My Phone enables a Good Samaritan finder to call you and return your BlackBerry.BlackBerry users have a number of choices as well. The best free option is Where's My Phone, available from the BlackBerry App World store as a feature-limited version of a more robust paid app. With the free version, you can trigger a loud alarm via e-mail to help you find your BlackBerry. The $4 paid version adds more features, such as GPS location.
For iPhone users, a 99-cent app called Beep My Cell offers similar functionality, along with the option to add a custom message for anyone who finds the device (if it's not where you thought it was). Rather than relying on e-mail or text messages to trigger its beeping, you log in to beepmycell.com and click Beep My Cell to start up the noise.
Another low-cost utility is Phone Finder With Google Maps, which brings this functionality to Windows Mobile handsets. A text message to this $1.50 app causes PhoneFinder to kick on the ringer and transmit the phone's GPS location to the handset that sent the SMS, giving you two ways to look for it at once.
Create a Smartphone Backup
The more extensively you use your cell phone, the more completely you de pend on the data it stores. So regularly backing up your phone makes sense.
Often the easiest way to perform a backup is by using a cable connection: Most smartphones--including models ranging from iPhones to BlackBerrys to Palm WebOS phones (including the Pre) to Windows Mobile devices--come with syncing utilities that are de signed to create a complete backup of the phone's contents. Thanks to those programs, if you sync your phone regularly, you should always have a recent copy of your files, contacts, messages, and photos safely stored on your computer. Do this religiously.
Unfortunately, though, not all smartphones encourage you to synchronize and back up your data manually. The worst offenders in this regard are An droid phones, which tend to behave a lot like stand-alone computers; for this reason it's easy to neglect syncing the phone to a desktop PC for months on end. Though Android is designed to work seamlessly with Google's cloud-based apps (such as Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts), which automatically sync all of your data to the Web, most of the data stored on your device won't automatically sync to anything.
MyBackup Pro, a $5 app, archives the entire contents of your Android phone on a Web-based server.A number of backup apps are available for Android, but my favorite is MyBackup Pro. This $5 app wirelessly syncs all of your Android phone's data--including apps, contacts, bookmarks, SMS messages, pictures, and music playlists--to a se cure server. If your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged, you can download the data onto a replacement phone and pick up where you left off.
Adopt Advanced Security Measures for Your Gear
Dealing with a misplaced phone that you know is somewhere in your own home or at a friend's house is no big deal. But if you leave your phone in a cab or unwittingly drop it on the sidewalk, you will probably need more-advanced recovery and protection features to get it back and keep its contents safe. Fortunately, a few cool programs and services are available that cover every major smartphone platform. They aren't free--but if your data is valuable to you, they're worth paying for.
TenCube's WaveSecure protects Android, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile phones.If you want protection across multiple smartphone platforms, your best option is TenCube's WaveSecure. Available for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile phones, WaveSecure provides as complete a package of protection as you can hope to have for a device that's prone to wandering away.
For $20 annually, WaveSecure en ables you to track the location of your phone, monitor its call log, and detect whether someone has changed its SIM card, all via a Web browser. In the event that your phone is lost or stolen, you will quickly have a pretty clear idea of where it is and what it's up to.
WaveSecure also lets you remotely back up the contents of your phone to the secure server and then wipe all of your data from the device. So even if the phone falls into the hands of a thief, none of your personal information will be at risk. After removing the data, you can either turn the location information over to the authorities in hopes of getting your phone back (don't count on it) or forget the stolen handset and use the insurance you bought from your carrier to purchase a replacement, and then download the backup of your data onto the new device.
Apple offers a similar tracking service, called Find My iPhone, for iPhone users. But you can get Find My iPhone only as a component of Apple's MobileMe service, which costs a whopping $99 per year (or $149 for a four-user family pack).
Subscribers to Apple's pricey MobileMe service can use Find My iPhone to locate their lost device.
To its credit, the Find My iPhone interface is relatively slick and works very well. Like WaveSecure, Find My iPhone lets you track your phone's whereabouts and send a custom message to whoever may be holding it at the moment. It also allows you to wipe out the phone's contents remotely and lock the handset with a passcode re motely (in the event that you failed to set one up before losing the device).
Palm Pre users can obtain similar protection by signing up for Where Is My Pre. The premium version of this service, which costs $2 per month, enables you to view your phone's location on a map, send messages to the device, modify the phone's preferences remotely, and even take pictures with the phone's Webcam re motely to see who's holding it.
Protect Your Laptop From Loss or Theft
Losing your smartphone is bad enough, but losing your laptop can wreak serious havoc in your life. When your PC skips out on you, not only must you cope with lost data and the risk of having your information compromised, but you must also replace the laptop, which can be an expensive proposition. I'll explain how to improve your odds of getting your laptop back if it's lost or stolen, and share a few tips for securing your personal and business data.
Record your assets: A cheap laptop may cost as little as $400, but many business users and gamers carry machines worth $1500 to $2000--or more. Re gardless of how much money you spent on your laptop, it's wise to keep re ceipts related to your purchase, take a picture of your laptop, and register it on your homeowner's or renter's insurance policy. That way, losing your laptop won't have to be a huge financial burden on top of all the unavoidable hassles you'll face. (For more tips on dealing with insurance companies, see "Insurance Assurance."
Back up often: If you haven't been backing up your data as frequently as you should, don't feel bad--just go do it. Do it now. Do it weekly. But don't simply copy your files onto DVDs. Perform full system backups to a reliable, high-capacity external drive using Windows Backup or a similar backup utility. For a complete guide to using Windows Backup, see "Create Idiot-Proof Backups With Windows' Built-In Tools."
Back up redundantly: In addition to getting into the habit of maintaining a local system backup on an external drive, it's smart to back up your most important data (or even your entire system) to a remote, cloud-based service such as Mozy. That way, if catastrophe strikes your home or your office, you'll still have all of your information saved in a separate, secure location. For advice on selecting an Internet backup service that meets your needs, see "Find the Right Online Back up Service."
Install a Recovery App and Sign Up With a Tracking Service
If your laptop is stolen, you have about a 2 percent chance of getting it back. But your odds can drastically improve if you run a tracking and recovery app such as zTrace or LoJack for Laptops.
For about $60 per year, with tracking service, these apps hide in your PC's BIOS and periodically connect to the Internet to report their location. If your laptop disappears, just contact the company to activate tracking and recovery services that will respond to a signal from your laptop and record its location with surprising accuracy, based on the IP address that it connects from.
Once either LoJack for Laptops or zTrace locates your laptop, the service will work with the appropriate law enforcement authorities to investigate the theft and reclaim your equipment. In addition, you can initiate a remote data wipe that immediately begins erasing everything on your hard drive in a manner that the local user can't interrupt or override. That way, even if the police never find your computer, your data won't fall into the wrong hands.
Of course, not everyone is dishonest, and your laptop might find its way into the possession of a well-intentioned soul who wants nothing more than to return it to you. For such an eventuality, it makes sense to label your laptop with your name, phone number, and e-mail address; a Good Samaritan who finds your laptop can then ring you up and arrange to reunite you with it.
Protect Your Other Mobile Tech Gear
Laptops and cell phones aren't the only devices that can cause trouble when they stray from their owners. Losing e-book readers, media players, GPS devices, portable hard drives, and even thumb drives can be expensive in terms of both replacement costs and data loss.
Most specialized mobile devices can't run high-end tracking and recovery software, but you can make them less anonymous by labeling them with recovery tags. One approach is simply to print your name and phone number on a return address label and affix it to the device, but you may get better re sults from a professional asset-recovery service like StuffBak.
StuffBak offers a reward to those who find and return your stuff, increasing the odds that you'll get lost gear back quickly.For about $10, you can buy a preactivated aluminum asset tag from StuffBak, preprinted with a unique ID number, StuffBak's Web address and toll-free phone number, and a reward offer that gives whoever finds the device an incentive to return it. When the finder reports the device's ID number to StuffBak, the company will arrange for a courier to pick it up and return it to you.
StuffBak's labels come in various sizes, ranging from tiny circles for cell phones and thumb drives to large, highly visible tags for laptops to wrap-around labels that you can affix to the zipper of a travel bag.
Don't leave your portable drive's data exposed to whoever finds it. Encrypt it with the free TrueCrypt utility.
Portable hard drives can be particularly troublesome to lose, because you don't want to share the data on them with the world. To protect your business and personal information, consider using a robust utility such as the open-source TrueCrypt encryption software to protect the drive's contents from snoops.
TrueCrypt creates a secure volume on your disk, encrypting data on the fly as your PC reads and writes from the drive. When you first access the drive after connecting it, you simply enter a strong password; thereafter, it functions just as any other drive does. But if the drive ever gets lost, anyone who tries to read what's on it will have difficulty doing so. TrueCrypt works on USB keychain drives, as well.
Four Habits That Help You Avoid Losing Your Stuff
Losing things is easy. Getting them back can be tough. Here are four simple habits that can help you prevent losses and improve your chances of getting your gadgets back if you do leave them somewhere.
1. Keep receipts: Whenever you take a cab, eat at a restaurant, or grab a cup of coffee at a café, ask for a receipt and hold on to it for a day or so. That way, if you suddenly realize that you left your Kindle, keys, or other belongings behind, you are only a phone call away from starting to recover them. Receipts often include important information you may not know or remember, such as the name of the person who helped you, and that person may remember you and your lost item.
2. Label everything: Whether you use laser-printed return address labels or fancy professional asset tags, labeling your belongings gives finders a way to reach you and return the item. Most people are honest enough to be willing to help you if you make it easy for them to do the right thing.
3. Pack consistently: If you always store each piece of gear in the same place, you're more apt to notice when something isn't where it belongs. For instance, if you consistently put your phone in your inside coat pocket, you have a better chance of realizing that it's not there as you leave a restaurant. Get into the habit of knowing which pockets your essential items live in, and you'll be less likely to leave them behind.
4. Accessorize: Covering your smartphone in a flashy case may suggest that you look to Petulant Tween magazine for tips on style and aesthetics, but it'll also make your handset catch your eye on a cluttered restaurant table. If you tend to leave things behind, sacrificing a little dignity in return for maximum visibility may save you headaches in the long run.
Insurance Assurance
Technology can be expensive. Fortunately, many homeowner's and renter's insurance policies cover lost, stolen, or damaged electronics. But cutting through the red tape and getting full value for your lost equipment takes some effort. Here's what you need to know.
First, be sure to keep records of all of your expensive purchases. Whether it's a shiny new laptop or a portable projector, any device whose value exceeds your insurance deductible is worth recording on your insurance policy.
At a minimum, keep your original purchase receipt in a safe place, and record the product's serial number along with it. You might want to take a photo of the device, too, and keep that picture with the receipt and the serial number. That way, even if you can't locate exact model information later on for some reason, you'll have a clear record of what it is you've lost.
For an industry that constantly deals with unforeseen events, insurance companies hate surprises. So call your insurance agent and arrange to add your devices to your policy. Giving the insurance company information about the date of purchase and the amount paid, as well as the model and serial numbers, will streamline the process of getting reimbursed if the device goes the way of the laundry sock.
If your equipment gets lost or stolen, you'll have to do some legwork before the insurance company will cut you a check. In particular, you may need to file a police report about your loss and provide a copy of that report to the insurance company. Though the police are unlikely to find your laptop (or even care that it is gone), the paperwork will demonstrate to your insurance carrier that you've tried to recover it. If you don't present it up front, your agent will probably contact you weeks after you file your claim to ask for one--and that will mean a longer delay before you get your money.
Do the work early, and you'll take a lot of the hassle out of the process of obtaining reimbursement for a stolen gadget.
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Make Videos Online
Create Cool Videos without Pricey Video-Editing Software
Web-based Animoto can whip your photos, videos, and music into a killer slideshow-style movie--and it couldn't be easier to use.
Rick Broida
Monday, March 22, 2010 03:15 PM PDT
Want to create a custom video, the kind with photos, video clips, and music? Normally, it's a time-consuming and/or expensive hassle.
You can use Microsoft's Windows Live Movie Maker free of charge, but it's pretty limited--and kind of a pain in the neck, in my humble opinion.
You could also spend upwards of $100 on a movie-editing package like Adobe Premiere Elements of Pinnacle Studio. But those are big, complex apps--and like Movie Maker, they have to be installed. Surely there must be some kind of cloud-based solution?
There is, and it's called Animoto. This cool service makes moviemaking embarrassingly quick and easy, and the results look like something that took days or weeks to create in a commercial movie-editing program.
It's a three-step process. First, you upload your photos and/or videos. If your stuff's already online somewhere else, no problem: Animoto can pull media from Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and other sites.
Second, choose your music. You can upload a favorite MP3 or choose a track from Animoto's extensive (but mostly indie) library.
Finally, select a pace for your video: normal, half speed, or 2x speed. With that done, Animoto goes to work, assembling everything into a seriously slick music videos, complete with titles, transitions, and special effects. Don't like the finished product? You can make changes manually or just let Animoto have another whack at it--it'll generate different results every time.
When you're satisfied with the results, you can share the video via the usual methods (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc.), or download it for your own use.
I like Animoto's pricing options a lot. You can test-drive the service for free, but that limits you to a 30-second movie. If you want a full-length flick, you can buy that for just $3. Or, if you see yourself using Animoto a lot, $30 buys you a one-year membership (with all the videos you care to make).
Whether you're looking to have a little video fun or produce something meaningful for a special occasion, Animoto takes virtually all the hassles out of traditional movie editing.
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
Web-based Animoto can whip your photos, videos, and music into a killer slideshow-style movie--and it couldn't be easier to use.
Rick Broida
Monday, March 22, 2010 03:15 PM PDT
Want to create a custom video, the kind with photos, video clips, and music? Normally, it's a time-consuming and/or expensive hassle.
You can use Microsoft's Windows Live Movie Maker free of charge, but it's pretty limited--and kind of a pain in the neck, in my humble opinion.
You could also spend upwards of $100 on a movie-editing package like Adobe Premiere Elements of Pinnacle Studio. But those are big, complex apps--and like Movie Maker, they have to be installed. Surely there must be some kind of cloud-based solution?
There is, and it's called Animoto. This cool service makes moviemaking embarrassingly quick and easy, and the results look like something that took days or weeks to create in a commercial movie-editing program.
It's a three-step process. First, you upload your photos and/or videos. If your stuff's already online somewhere else, no problem: Animoto can pull media from Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and other sites.
Second, choose your music. You can upload a favorite MP3 or choose a track from Animoto's extensive (but mostly indie) library.
Finally, select a pace for your video: normal, half speed, or 2x speed. With that done, Animoto goes to work, assembling everything into a seriously slick music videos, complete with titles, transitions, and special effects. Don't like the finished product? You can make changes manually or just let Animoto have another whack at it--it'll generate different results every time.
When you're satisfied with the results, you can share the video via the usual methods (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc.), or download it for your own use.
I like Animoto's pricing options a lot. You can test-drive the service for free, but that limits you to a 30-second movie. If you want a full-length flick, you can buy that for just $3. Or, if you see yourself using Animoto a lot, $30 buys you a one-year membership (with all the videos you care to make).
Whether you're looking to have a little video fun or produce something meaningful for a special occasion, Animoto takes virtually all the hassles out of traditional movie editing.
1998-2010, PCWorld Communications, Inc.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
2010 Dilys Award and 2010 Ridenhour Prizes
The sleeper best seller The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley has won the 2010 Dilys award. The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association gives the award to the mystery title of the year that member booksellers have most enjoyed selling. The award is named for Dilys Winn who established the first mystery specialty bookshop in the United States.
The National Institute and Fertel Foundation awards Ridenhour Prizes. The Ridenhour Courage Prize was awarded to the late Howard Zinn, "honored for his determination to showcase the hidden heroes of social movements throughout history." Zinn's most noted work was his People's History of the United States. The Ridenhour Book Prize was given to Joe Sacco for his graphic novel, Footnotes in Gaza, "a work of profound social significance." This is the first time this award has been given to what the judges called "an illustrated book."
The National Institute and Fertel Foundation awards Ridenhour Prizes. The Ridenhour Courage Prize was awarded to the late Howard Zinn, "honored for his determination to showcase the hidden heroes of social movements throughout history." Zinn's most noted work was his People's History of the United States. The Ridenhour Book Prize was given to Joe Sacco for his graphic novel, Footnotes in Gaza, "a work of profound social significance." This is the first time this award has been given to what the judges called "an illustrated book."
Monday, March 15, 2010
2009 National Book Critics Circle Winners
The 2009 winners of the National Book Critics Awards are:
Fiction: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
General Nonfiction: The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
Autobiography: Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
Biography: Cheever by Blake Bailey
Criticism: Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss
Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout
Joan Acocella received the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. Joyce Carol Oates received the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.Of Oates, Edmund White said "Who has she not written about?"
Fiction: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
General Nonfiction: The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
Autobiography: Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
Biography: Cheever by Blake Bailey
Criticism: Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss
Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout
Joan Acocella received the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. Joyce Carol Oates received the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.Of Oates, Edmund White said "Who has she not written about?"
Monday, March 8, 2010
Keeping Your Laptop Healthy
Caring for Your Laptop
Lincoln Spector
Mar 8, 2010 9:51 am
Jeremy Sutherland wants advise on keeping his laptop healthy
Last month I discussed general PC maintenance, so this time I'll stick to laptop-specific issues. You're more likely to damage a laptop than a desktop PC (no one has ever driven off, forgetting the desktop on top of their car), and once damaged, laptops are harder and more expensive to repair.
Keep the battery cool. Today's lithium batteries wear out no matter what you do, but you can postpone the inevitable. Avoid heat and use the battery as little as possible. If you're going to be running on AC power for awhile, shut down or hibernate the computer, remove the battery, and work without it.
Be careful about eating and drinking. Spill coffee on your desktop keyboard, and you'll have to spend $15 on a generic replacement you can plug in yourself. Spill it on your laptop keyboard, and you could short out the motherboard. I'll admit that I use my laptop in cafes just like everyone else, but I put my tea as far from the electronics as my table allows.
When home, turn it into a desktop. You don't always need portability. When working at your desk, plug in a full-sized monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Not only does this get around the food and beverage problem discussed above, but it protects items far more valuable than your laptop--your arms, hands, and eyes. You can't set up a proper, ergonomic working environment with a small keyboard attached to a small monitor.
Find the right carrying case. Before taking it on the road, pack the laptop properly. Depending on your carrying preferences, look for a carrying case, backpack, or shoulder bag with a padded section designed especially for a laptop. (I use a backpack because the even distribution of weight is better for my spine.)
Clean the keyboard properly. When keys starts sticking, it's time for a cleaning. Shut down the PC. Keep it open as you turn it upside-down and very gently tap on the back so that crumbs fall out. Then use a can of compressed air (you can buy this at any computer store for a few dollars) to blow out whatever is still stuck. Be sure to read the instructions on the can, first. Then turn the PC upside-down and tap it gently again to get the last bits out.
Clean the screen when it needs it. If you can't see the email for the dirt, it's time to do a little cleaning. Start with a dry, microfiber cloth--the sort you get at an optometrist's office (you can also buy them at photo and computer stores). Move it in circular motions. Be gentle, but apply slight pressure on particularly stubborn spots.
If that doesn't clean the screen, make your own cleaning solution by mixing distilled water (make sure it's distilled) and white vinegar in equal proportions into a spray bottle. Turn off your laptop. Spray this mixture lightly onto the microfiber cloth, not onto the monitor. Wipe as described above, then wait ten minutes before booting up.
Add your comments to this article below. If you have other tech questions, email them to me at answer@pcworld.com, or post them to a community of helpful folks on the PCW Answer Line forum.
Lincoln Spector
Mar 8, 2010 9:51 am
Jeremy Sutherland wants advise on keeping his laptop healthy
Last month I discussed general PC maintenance, so this time I'll stick to laptop-specific issues. You're more likely to damage a laptop than a desktop PC (no one has ever driven off, forgetting the desktop on top of their car), and once damaged, laptops are harder and more expensive to repair.
Keep the battery cool. Today's lithium batteries wear out no matter what you do, but you can postpone the inevitable. Avoid heat and use the battery as little as possible. If you're going to be running on AC power for awhile, shut down or hibernate the computer, remove the battery, and work without it.
Be careful about eating and drinking. Spill coffee on your desktop keyboard, and you'll have to spend $15 on a generic replacement you can plug in yourself. Spill it on your laptop keyboard, and you could short out the motherboard. I'll admit that I use my laptop in cafes just like everyone else, but I put my tea as far from the electronics as my table allows.
When home, turn it into a desktop. You don't always need portability. When working at your desk, plug in a full-sized monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Not only does this get around the food and beverage problem discussed above, but it protects items far more valuable than your laptop--your arms, hands, and eyes. You can't set up a proper, ergonomic working environment with a small keyboard attached to a small monitor.
Find the right carrying case. Before taking it on the road, pack the laptop properly. Depending on your carrying preferences, look for a carrying case, backpack, or shoulder bag with a padded section designed especially for a laptop. (I use a backpack because the even distribution of weight is better for my spine.)
Clean the keyboard properly. When keys starts sticking, it's time for a cleaning. Shut down the PC. Keep it open as you turn it upside-down and very gently tap on the back so that crumbs fall out. Then use a can of compressed air (you can buy this at any computer store for a few dollars) to blow out whatever is still stuck. Be sure to read the instructions on the can, first. Then turn the PC upside-down and tap it gently again to get the last bits out.
Clean the screen when it needs it. If you can't see the email for the dirt, it's time to do a little cleaning. Start with a dry, microfiber cloth--the sort you get at an optometrist's office (you can also buy them at photo and computer stores). Move it in circular motions. Be gentle, but apply slight pressure on particularly stubborn spots.
If that doesn't clean the screen, make your own cleaning solution by mixing distilled water (make sure it's distilled) and white vinegar in equal proportions into a spray bottle. Turn off your laptop. Spray this mixture lightly onto the microfiber cloth, not onto the monitor. Wipe as described above, then wait ten minutes before booting up.
Add your comments to this article below. If you have other tech questions, email them to me at answer@pcworld.com, or post them to a community of helpful folks on the PCW Answer Line forum.
How Not To Shut Down Your PC
How Not to Shut Down Your PC
Rick Broida
Mar 8, 2010 3:24 pm
Imagine my horror the other day when I saw an otherwise sharp friend of mine shut down his laptop by holding down the power button until the system turned off.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I cried. "Why'd you do that?"
"What? I was just turning off my PC," he replied innocently.
Sometimes I forget that some of the stuff I take for granted isn't common knowledge. So in case you've been committing this same heinous shutdown crime, allow me to enlighten you.
That is not, repeat, not the proper way to shut down a PC. The proper way is to click Start, Shut down. (I know, it's ridiculous that after all these years, Microsoft still forces you to use the Start button to end your computing session.)
Alternately, you can press (and immediately release!) the power button, which will either shut down your PC or put it in sleep/hibernate mode, depending on how Windows is configured. (To change that configuration, see Change the Function of Your Laptop's Power Button.)
The only time you should press and hold the power button is if your computer is locked up and otherwise unresponsive. A five-second press will usually force a "hard" power-off, after which you should wait another five seconds before turning the machine back on.
But if you do this all the time, Windows won't be able to perform its necessary shut-down housekeeping stuff, and ultimately you'll muck up the OS.
Rick Broida
Mar 8, 2010 3:24 pm
Imagine my horror the other day when I saw an otherwise sharp friend of mine shut down his laptop by holding down the power button until the system turned off.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I cried. "Why'd you do that?"
"What? I was just turning off my PC," he replied innocently.
Sometimes I forget that some of the stuff I take for granted isn't common knowledge. So in case you've been committing this same heinous shutdown crime, allow me to enlighten you.
That is not, repeat, not the proper way to shut down a PC. The proper way is to click Start, Shut down. (I know, it's ridiculous that after all these years, Microsoft still forces you to use the Start button to end your computing session.)
Alternately, you can press (and immediately release!) the power button, which will either shut down your PC or put it in sleep/hibernate mode, depending on how Windows is configured. (To change that configuration, see Change the Function of Your Laptop's Power Button.)
The only time you should press and hold the power button is if your computer is locked up and otherwise unresponsive. A five-second press will usually force a "hard" power-off, after which you should wait another five seconds before turning the machine back on.
But if you do this all the time, Windows won't be able to perform its necessary shut-down housekeeping stuff, and ultimately you'll muck up the OS.
8 HDTV Myths Demystified
Fact or Fiction? 8 HDTV Myths Demystified
HDTV shopping is fraught with complexity, confusion, and potential pitfalls. We sort through eight of the most confounding HD concepts to help you avoid the hokum and buy with confidence.
Zack Stern
Sunday, March 07, 2010 06:00 PM PST
HDTV Myths
If you're buying your first HDTV or an upgrade from a starter set, your new television may deliver a better picture than the one you're used to. But picking the right HDTV can be confusing, especially when your favorite blue-shirted salesperson may be steering you in a certain direction in hopes of a bigger commission. Or maybe the rep is just misinformed. Whatever the reasons, the environment has encouraged a cavalcade of claims about HDTVs--some of which were true for first-generation sets but have little relevance to today's buyers, some of remain valid, and some of which were never true.
I'll highlight some of the most prominent assertions made on the showroom floors of big-box retailers and explain the realities, along with tips and details for buying an HDTV, selecting the best content, hooking up the set at home, and more.
Claim: "HD" signifies a specific standard of quality.
Status: False
Though "HD" does stand for "high definition," HDTVs come in several resolutions; and in any event, a set's resolution doesn't completely determine the exact image quality you'll see on your screen. For one thing, screen sizes vary. Other factors affecting the picture include the transmission--over the air, via cable, by satellite, or from the Internet--and the original source material.
These variables help explain why you can get high-def content from Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix streaming, a Blu-ray disc, and other sources, and yet encounter wildly different picture quality.
The basis for the real broadcast signal standards is ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), and even that has many options.
If you have an HDTV and a digital tuner, ATSC governs your over-the-air signal. ATSC content may be in either standard-definition (in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio) or high-definition (16:9 aspect ratio) format, with the resolution varying accordingly. A standard-def transmission consists of 4:3 images transmitted at a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels.
The most familiar of the HD resolutions are 720p (consisting of a 1280-by-720-pixel frame) and 1080i (composed of 1920-by-1080-pixel images). The "p" stands for "progressive scan," meaning that the set creates the image by continuously redrawing the frame, line by line. The "i" stands for "interlaced," meaning that halves of the full frame are shown 60 times per second, but your eyes combine them into a full-frame image reproducing itself at a rate of 30 frames per second. At the same resolution, a progressive-format image looks better than an interlaced image.
Over-the-air broadcast standards top out at 720p and 1080i, but you can obtain the full 1920-by-1080-pixel frame in 1080p from Blu-ray discs, certain Xbox 360 models, and the PlayStation 3 units.
Compression and bit rate are other factors in picture quality. A Blu-ray disc should look better than a cable TV feed of the same content at the same resolution, since the disc has more bandwidth than the cable broadcast.
When choosing for picture quality, remember: 1080p is at the top, 720p and 1080i look similar, and anything below them won't be as good. Keep those terms in mind because they represent official standards, not marketing terms.
Claim: If you don't buy a 1080p HDTV, you're wasting your money.
Status: False
In all likelihood, you want a 1080p HDTV--and you should be sure to get that resolution if your set has a diagonal screen size of 32 inches or greater, since you'll be able to see the additional resolution on a big-screen from across the room. Furthermore, there's no reason to avoid a 1080p HDTV if it doesn't cost substantially more than sets with alternative resolutions, given that 1080p is becoming ubiquitous. If the difference is within $100, I recommend going for a 1080p set if your budget can handle it.
But having said all that, I should warn you that you probably won't see any improvement in picture quality from 1080p versus 720p on a smaller HDTV. And you may not even have any 1080p sources to exploit: Over-the-air broadcasts and most cable feeds top out at 1080i.
If you're getting a big set or if you're connecting 1080p sources such as a Blu-ray player, a Microsoft Xbox 360, or a Sony PlayStation 3, a 1080p set is your best bet. But in many other situations, a 720p set will perform just as well for all practical purposes.
Claim: You bought an HDTV, so everything you view will be in HD.
Status: False
HDTV Resolution
Today, not everything on television is broadcast in high definition. DVDs and shows that were recorded for broadcast under the prior analog standard will continue to look about the same as before. (Some HDTV sets even make old shows look worse, by showing off more imperfections of the original recording.)
For satellite or cable TV service, you may need to ask your provider to activate HD content. The transition might require setup on both the provider's end and your end; some cable boxes need to be reconfigured to output HD signals even after you connect them with the proper cables.
A 500-station cable lineup may carry both the high-def and standard-def versions of many channels, so make sure that you've selected the HD version of the one you're watching.
Nearly all prime-time broadcast channels and many daytime shows present their content in high definition. If you don't see a night-and-day difference between a prime-time broadcast in HD and what you remember from analog TV, something isn't configured properly. (Check to confirm that the cable box and service provider are sending an HD signal and that you are using HD-capable cables.)
An Xbox 360, a PS3, a cable box, TiVo, and nearly any other HD-capable device can output in either high definition or standard definition. After you connect an HD-capable cable, you'll probably need to update a settings screen to tell the device what resolution of signal to output. Here's how to get started with a few common devices.
On the Xbox 360, if you're using the component connection, be sure to flip the switch on the cable to HDTV. Go to My Xbox, System Settings, Console Settings, Display, and choose HDTV Settings. Select the option that matches your TV's highest resolution.
On the PlayStation 3, choose Settings, Display Settings, Video Output Settings. Select the cable type connected to your TV, and choose the resolutions that your TV can display.
On the TiVo HD, select TiVo, Messages and Settings, Settings, Video, Video Output Format. Since broadcasters may present different TV shows at different standards, you can instruct your TiVo to keep their native settings or to scale them for your TV. Review the options here; I like to keep the Native setting.
Claim: DRM can prevent content from playing on your HDTV.
Status: True
Digital rights management (DRM) tools prevent you from copying copyrighted content. In most cases, HDCP--High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection--is the benevolent cop. HDCP is a handshaking protocol that provides a foundation for DRM. (The actual DRM can vary or be hidden, so look for HDCP labeling.) To avoid any problems, though, you need to use the correct gear.
HDCP works with Blu-ray discs, digital downloads, and other content sources. The technology checks for an unbroken digital connection from your content source to your TV. If the digital connection breaks off--perhaps because you connected to an unauthorized splitter or are using an analog feed--HDCP will detect that fact. In such situations, using DRM enforcement, HDCP can throttle your show quality or stop you from watching at all.
To ensure--or to be as sure as possible--that DRM won't prevent you from watching shows, connect an HDMI or DVI cable between your source and your TV or monitor. (If you use HDMI, then by default you have an HDCP-protected connection, and you're good to go. But if you try to use a monitor or an older HDTV with DVI as a display device for protected content, verify in their manuals that both devices support HDCP.) If you need to connect to a splitter, receiver, or other device in the middle, make sure that it supports HDCP, too.
Claim: Brand-name cables are worth the extra money.
Status: False
HDTV
Don't buy cables strictly on the basis of their brand name. A cable's connector type, length, and gauge are the most important factors in signal quality. As a first criterion, choose a digital cable if possible--either HDMI or DVI (just about any new HDTV will include a digital connection). Such cables can carry a 1080p signal if your content supports it, they'll play nicely with DRM, and they won't pick up interference the way an analog cable can.
If you don't have a digital connection, you can still obtain signals at up to 1080p via component cables. The resulting picture quality should still be first-rate. However, if you drop down to a lesser cable type--S-video or a single, composite RCA cable--say goodbye to your HD signal. At a minimum,your HD-compatible devices should have component, HDMI, or DVI ports. In addition, they probably have S-video and composite ports for compatibility with older televisions. Avoid those ports.
In any situation, get the shortest cables that can make the connection you need. Extra loops of cabling may pick up interference and distort analog signals, and image quality may degrade as cable length increases, especially if the cabling runs across entire rooms.
Thicker cables can improve quality, but the difference is greatest in speaker wire. Consider buying thicker-gauge cabling if you plan to run it across a distance of 50 feet or more.
If you take these steps, instead of reaching for a brand name, you'll get great video and audio connections for a reasonable price. You can save even more on cables at a site such as Monoprice, where you can expect to pay a few dollars for nearly any cable type, rather than $20 to $50 for a single, brand-name HDMI cable.
Claim: You're in imminent danger of burn-in from letterboxing and on-screen graphics.
Status: False
Burn-in is no longer a serious issue for HDTVs. Years ago, static on-screen graphics from network TV logos, stock tickers, videogames, letterbox bars, and other patterns could wear unevenly on a TV. If you left your set on and tuned to a station that showed such stationary elements for hours at a time, you might have been able to see them lingering when you tried to watch other content. First-generation plasma screens were the ones most susceptible to this effect.
LCDs and other TV types haven't exhibited this issue, and recent plasmas have incorporated effective countermeasures against the problem. If you're buying a new set, don't worry about burn-in.
Plasma TV watchers may encounter temporary image retention--which can look the same as permanent burn-in--but the images eventually go away. Static images imprint themselves in a way reminiscent of permanent burn-in. But in this case, the pattern fades away with normal use. To speed up the process, play a station with a static pattern, use a PC utility such as JScreenFix, or activate the TV's built-in mode to clear the problem.
Claim: HDTVs can cause audio-sync problems with games.
Status: True
Music videogames such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero require perfect timing between audio cues and on-screen graphics. If the two are not aligned, the most likely cause is that the TV is performing extra image processing but audio is being routed directly to a receiver. As a result, the picture gets slowed down, and the audio plays too soon.
The tiny delay that some TVs add may be perceptible only in these games, but you can turn off extra video processing in the TV's menu system. Look for a "game mode" setting. Most recent music games can recalibrate to take the delay into account. Look for those settings in the game's options.
Alternatively, you can solve the problem through the audio; receivers often give users the option of adding their own compensatory delay. If your HDTV set feels a little slow when you use it for gaming, read about how to reduce your input lag.
Claim: A TV with a faster refresh rate can look better than a slower TV.
Status: True
In the past few years, vendors have marketed TVs with refresh rates of 120Hz, 240Hz, and beyond. These sets can interpolate frames between the ones you'd normally see, thereby smoothing out motion through enhanced picture processing.
PCWorld's HDTV testing has demonstrated a correlation between high refresh rates and smoother image quality in TVs. However, we occasionally see high-refresh-rate TVs whose images look more jittery than those on 60Hz sets. These discrepancies arise because smooth motion performance depends on the combined operation of the panel's refresh rate and the software algorithms inside the set.
As 3D-capable TVs come to market, refresh rate will play an increasingly important role in picture quality. One technique used to produce 3D effects requires input and playback of a 120Hz signal. (Practically all current TVs accept only a 60Hz signal, regardless of their advertised refresh rate.) Look for 3D branding and a 120Hz input in those cases.
More About HDTVs
For recent PCWorld assessments of HDTVs, see our HDTV Product Center and our charts listing the Top 40- and 42-Inch HDTVs, Top 46- and 47-Inch HDTVs, and Top 50-, 52-, and 55-Inch HDTVs.
HDTV shopping is fraught with complexity, confusion, and potential pitfalls. We sort through eight of the most confounding HD concepts to help you avoid the hokum and buy with confidence.
Zack Stern
Sunday, March 07, 2010 06:00 PM PST
HDTV Myths
If you're buying your first HDTV or an upgrade from a starter set, your new television may deliver a better picture than the one you're used to. But picking the right HDTV can be confusing, especially when your favorite blue-shirted salesperson may be steering you in a certain direction in hopes of a bigger commission. Or maybe the rep is just misinformed. Whatever the reasons, the environment has encouraged a cavalcade of claims about HDTVs--some of which were true for first-generation sets but have little relevance to today's buyers, some of remain valid, and some of which were never true.
I'll highlight some of the most prominent assertions made on the showroom floors of big-box retailers and explain the realities, along with tips and details for buying an HDTV, selecting the best content, hooking up the set at home, and more.
Claim: "HD" signifies a specific standard of quality.
Status: False
Though "HD" does stand for "high definition," HDTVs come in several resolutions; and in any event, a set's resolution doesn't completely determine the exact image quality you'll see on your screen. For one thing, screen sizes vary. Other factors affecting the picture include the transmission--over the air, via cable, by satellite, or from the Internet--and the original source material.
These variables help explain why you can get high-def content from Amazon, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix streaming, a Blu-ray disc, and other sources, and yet encounter wildly different picture quality.
The basis for the real broadcast signal standards is ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), and even that has many options.
If you have an HDTV and a digital tuner, ATSC governs your over-the-air signal. ATSC content may be in either standard-definition (in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio) or high-definition (16:9 aspect ratio) format, with the resolution varying accordingly. A standard-def transmission consists of 4:3 images transmitted at a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels.
The most familiar of the HD resolutions are 720p (consisting of a 1280-by-720-pixel frame) and 1080i (composed of 1920-by-1080-pixel images). The "p" stands for "progressive scan," meaning that the set creates the image by continuously redrawing the frame, line by line. The "i" stands for "interlaced," meaning that halves of the full frame are shown 60 times per second, but your eyes combine them into a full-frame image reproducing itself at a rate of 30 frames per second. At the same resolution, a progressive-format image looks better than an interlaced image.
Over-the-air broadcast standards top out at 720p and 1080i, but you can obtain the full 1920-by-1080-pixel frame in 1080p from Blu-ray discs, certain Xbox 360 models, and the PlayStation 3 units.
Compression and bit rate are other factors in picture quality. A Blu-ray disc should look better than a cable TV feed of the same content at the same resolution, since the disc has more bandwidth than the cable broadcast.
When choosing for picture quality, remember: 1080p is at the top, 720p and 1080i look similar, and anything below them won't be as good. Keep those terms in mind because they represent official standards, not marketing terms.
Claim: If you don't buy a 1080p HDTV, you're wasting your money.
Status: False
In all likelihood, you want a 1080p HDTV--and you should be sure to get that resolution if your set has a diagonal screen size of 32 inches or greater, since you'll be able to see the additional resolution on a big-screen from across the room. Furthermore, there's no reason to avoid a 1080p HDTV if it doesn't cost substantially more than sets with alternative resolutions, given that 1080p is becoming ubiquitous. If the difference is within $100, I recommend going for a 1080p set if your budget can handle it.
But having said all that, I should warn you that you probably won't see any improvement in picture quality from 1080p versus 720p on a smaller HDTV. And you may not even have any 1080p sources to exploit: Over-the-air broadcasts and most cable feeds top out at 1080i.
If you're getting a big set or if you're connecting 1080p sources such as a Blu-ray player, a Microsoft Xbox 360, or a Sony PlayStation 3, a 1080p set is your best bet. But in many other situations, a 720p set will perform just as well for all practical purposes.
Claim: You bought an HDTV, so everything you view will be in HD.
Status: False
HDTV Resolution
Today, not everything on television is broadcast in high definition. DVDs and shows that were recorded for broadcast under the prior analog standard will continue to look about the same as before. (Some HDTV sets even make old shows look worse, by showing off more imperfections of the original recording.)
For satellite or cable TV service, you may need to ask your provider to activate HD content. The transition might require setup on both the provider's end and your end; some cable boxes need to be reconfigured to output HD signals even after you connect them with the proper cables.
A 500-station cable lineup may carry both the high-def and standard-def versions of many channels, so make sure that you've selected the HD version of the one you're watching.
Nearly all prime-time broadcast channels and many daytime shows present their content in high definition. If you don't see a night-and-day difference between a prime-time broadcast in HD and what you remember from analog TV, something isn't configured properly. (Check to confirm that the cable box and service provider are sending an HD signal and that you are using HD-capable cables.)
An Xbox 360, a PS3, a cable box, TiVo, and nearly any other HD-capable device can output in either high definition or standard definition. After you connect an HD-capable cable, you'll probably need to update a settings screen to tell the device what resolution of signal to output. Here's how to get started with a few common devices.
On the Xbox 360, if you're using the component connection, be sure to flip the switch on the cable to HDTV. Go to My Xbox, System Settings, Console Settings, Display, and choose HDTV Settings. Select the option that matches your TV's highest resolution.
On the PlayStation 3, choose Settings, Display Settings, Video Output Settings. Select the cable type connected to your TV, and choose the resolutions that your TV can display.
On the TiVo HD, select TiVo, Messages and Settings, Settings, Video, Video Output Format. Since broadcasters may present different TV shows at different standards, you can instruct your TiVo to keep their native settings or to scale them for your TV. Review the options here; I like to keep the Native setting.
Claim: DRM can prevent content from playing on your HDTV.
Status: True
Digital rights management (DRM) tools prevent you from copying copyrighted content. In most cases, HDCP--High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection--is the benevolent cop. HDCP is a handshaking protocol that provides a foundation for DRM. (The actual DRM can vary or be hidden, so look for HDCP labeling.) To avoid any problems, though, you need to use the correct gear.
HDCP works with Blu-ray discs, digital downloads, and other content sources. The technology checks for an unbroken digital connection from your content source to your TV. If the digital connection breaks off--perhaps because you connected to an unauthorized splitter or are using an analog feed--HDCP will detect that fact. In such situations, using DRM enforcement, HDCP can throttle your show quality or stop you from watching at all.
To ensure--or to be as sure as possible--that DRM won't prevent you from watching shows, connect an HDMI or DVI cable between your source and your TV or monitor. (If you use HDMI, then by default you have an HDCP-protected connection, and you're good to go. But if you try to use a monitor or an older HDTV with DVI as a display device for protected content, verify in their manuals that both devices support HDCP.) If you need to connect to a splitter, receiver, or other device in the middle, make sure that it supports HDCP, too.
Claim: Brand-name cables are worth the extra money.
Status: False
HDTV
Don't buy cables strictly on the basis of their brand name. A cable's connector type, length, and gauge are the most important factors in signal quality. As a first criterion, choose a digital cable if possible--either HDMI or DVI (just about any new HDTV will include a digital connection). Such cables can carry a 1080p signal if your content supports it, they'll play nicely with DRM, and they won't pick up interference the way an analog cable can.
If you don't have a digital connection, you can still obtain signals at up to 1080p via component cables. The resulting picture quality should still be first-rate. However, if you drop down to a lesser cable type--S-video or a single, composite RCA cable--say goodbye to your HD signal. At a minimum,your HD-compatible devices should have component, HDMI, or DVI ports. In addition, they probably have S-video and composite ports for compatibility with older televisions. Avoid those ports.
In any situation, get the shortest cables that can make the connection you need. Extra loops of cabling may pick up interference and distort analog signals, and image quality may degrade as cable length increases, especially if the cabling runs across entire rooms.
Thicker cables can improve quality, but the difference is greatest in speaker wire. Consider buying thicker-gauge cabling if you plan to run it across a distance of 50 feet or more.
If you take these steps, instead of reaching for a brand name, you'll get great video and audio connections for a reasonable price. You can save even more on cables at a site such as Monoprice, where you can expect to pay a few dollars for nearly any cable type, rather than $20 to $50 for a single, brand-name HDMI cable.
Claim: You're in imminent danger of burn-in from letterboxing and on-screen graphics.
Status: False
Burn-in is no longer a serious issue for HDTVs. Years ago, static on-screen graphics from network TV logos, stock tickers, videogames, letterbox bars, and other patterns could wear unevenly on a TV. If you left your set on and tuned to a station that showed such stationary elements for hours at a time, you might have been able to see them lingering when you tried to watch other content. First-generation plasma screens were the ones most susceptible to this effect.
LCDs and other TV types haven't exhibited this issue, and recent plasmas have incorporated effective countermeasures against the problem. If you're buying a new set, don't worry about burn-in.
Plasma TV watchers may encounter temporary image retention--which can look the same as permanent burn-in--but the images eventually go away. Static images imprint themselves in a way reminiscent of permanent burn-in. But in this case, the pattern fades away with normal use. To speed up the process, play a station with a static pattern, use a PC utility such as JScreenFix, or activate the TV's built-in mode to clear the problem.
Claim: HDTVs can cause audio-sync problems with games.
Status: True
Music videogames such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero require perfect timing between audio cues and on-screen graphics. If the two are not aligned, the most likely cause is that the TV is performing extra image processing but audio is being routed directly to a receiver. As a result, the picture gets slowed down, and the audio plays too soon.
The tiny delay that some TVs add may be perceptible only in these games, but you can turn off extra video processing in the TV's menu system. Look for a "game mode" setting. Most recent music games can recalibrate to take the delay into account. Look for those settings in the game's options.
Alternatively, you can solve the problem through the audio; receivers often give users the option of adding their own compensatory delay. If your HDTV set feels a little slow when you use it for gaming, read about how to reduce your input lag.
Claim: A TV with a faster refresh rate can look better than a slower TV.
Status: True
In the past few years, vendors have marketed TVs with refresh rates of 120Hz, 240Hz, and beyond. These sets can interpolate frames between the ones you'd normally see, thereby smoothing out motion through enhanced picture processing.
PCWorld's HDTV testing has demonstrated a correlation between high refresh rates and smoother image quality in TVs. However, we occasionally see high-refresh-rate TVs whose images look more jittery than those on 60Hz sets. These discrepancies arise because smooth motion performance depends on the combined operation of the panel's refresh rate and the software algorithms inside the set.
As 3D-capable TVs come to market, refresh rate will play an increasingly important role in picture quality. One technique used to produce 3D effects requires input and playback of a 120Hz signal. (Practically all current TVs accept only a 60Hz signal, regardless of their advertised refresh rate.) Look for 3D branding and a 120Hz input in those cases.
More About HDTVs
For recent PCWorld assessments of HDTVs, see our HDTV Product Center and our charts listing the Top 40- and 42-Inch HDTVs, Top 46- and 47-Inch HDTVs, and Top 50-, 52-, and 55-Inch HDTVs.
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