An Interesting Lenovo Problem

For the past few years I have used a Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Netbook as my primary travel computer. It’s been with me on many a trip and has hummed along in a half dozen countries. But then the inevitable happened, it started getting quirky. A slow boot here, a shut down there, all of the signs of a computer on it’s last legs. I wasn’t surprised, after all it’s close to four years old and still runs on WinXp!!

Finally last week it wouldn’t boot at all. When it was turned on the power light and battery charging lights would come on and the hard drive light would flicker on very briefly. And that was all it would do. My thoughts were that something had finally died and it wouldn’t be worth repair costs. After all, a new 12.1” screen laptop with a 1.6GHz processor and 160GB hard drive costs less than repairs would.

Then I remembered something odd. A couple of years ago we did an article on upgrading the RAM on several Netbooks and ran into some strange anomalies. Some computers had video problems or other symptoms that could be traced back to memory handling. Could the extra RAM possibly be the problem?

A quick trip to our lab's repair table, removal of one screw and a panel and the extra RAM was out. We put the battery back on and tried to boot up. Presto! It works like a champ! As a matter of fact, I’m writing this post on the S12 right now and it works as well as it ever did.

It turned out that what we thought was a dead Netbook just needed to have something that we added on removed. It’s nice to have a trusted friend back again!

Pentax Super TelePhoto Combo

Without a doubt, the coolest photographic combination I saw at CES this year was at the Pentax booth. They combined their HD Pentax DA 560mm f/5.6 ED AW lens with a Q10 Mirrorless camera and an Adapter Q for K-Mount Lenses. The result was the equivalent of a 3080mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera!!  Now THAT’s a long lens!

That leads me to a future project for our ePub, a test of the Vivitar 900mm mirror lens that we have on a Pentax Q!! That will be a 4950mm lens!!

Pentax Firmware Update

Pentax has just posted a firmware update for the Pentax K-5 II and K-5 IIs on the Japanese support site.  Firmware version 1.01 fixes stability bugs and adds an option allowing you to adjust the contrast of the rear LCD display.

Quick download links:

• Download K-5 II firmware 1.01
• Download K-5 IIs firmware 1.01

Follow these instructions to update your K-5 II's firmware:

1. Download the firmware ZIP file corresponding to your camera
2. Extract the file to a folder of your choosing
3. Locate the extracted .BIN file and copy it to the root (top) of a formatted SD card
4. Insert the card into your camera and ensure it is fully charged
5. Turn the camera power on while pressing the MENU button
6. Select "Yes"at the firmware prompt
7. Once the screen displays "Complete", turn off your camera
8. Power your camera back on and resume normal use
9. In order to verify that the firmware update was successful, hold the menu button while powering your camera on.  The screen should indicate version 1.01.  You should then power off your camera and resume normal use.

iFruit company Woes

It looks like my predictions for the iFruit company are all coming true. Their stock price continues it’s steady decline with no bottom in sight. The sales of iPhones have slowed down as the Samsung juggernaut continues to gain more and more market share.

The recent announcement that they are cutting back their orders for components for the iPhone 5 by half is a clear indicator of how poorly they are doing. I’ve heard people say it’s a market saturation problem but I don’t buy that. Samsung continues to increase sales every quarter and there is no indication of market saturation for them.

The reality is that all of the Fan Boyz and Gurlz have bought all of the iFruit products they can use. Smart people who want value for their money are buying Android phones and tablets and will continue to do so for a while yet.

TaxACT Free Will Program

We received this announcement yesterday:

The makers of TaxACT®, the critically acclaimed leader of affordable tax preparation solutions, now offer an online last will and testament solution. LegalACT™ Will empowers consumers to create a will from the comfort of home on a computer or tablet browser in minutes.

"Tax time is an ideal time for will and estate planning," said TaxACT President JoAnn Kintzel. "Life changes impacting your taxes are the same changes that should prompt taxpayers to create or update their wills."

With LegalACT Will, users can create a last will and testament on a computer or tablet browser in a few simple steps. After completing an interview-based questionnaire, users can preview and edit their wills, and then print or download the document.

"More than seven out of 10 Americans do not have a will, in part because people assume a lawyer's services are required," said Kinzel. "TaxACT has made creating your own will online easy and affordable, just as we do with tax filing."

A last will and testament ensures an individual's final wishes for family and property are accurately followed. Without a will, state intestacy law determines who inherits your property. LegalACT Will allows users to:

• Nominate a personal representative, often called an executor;
• Nominate a guardian of children and a trustee for property left to them;
• Designate distribution of one's personal property, including cherished family heirlooms; and
• Indicate final wishes for funeral and burial or cremation.

Consumers can purchase one LegalACT Will for $9.95 and a second for a spouse or loved one for $5 more. Learn more at www.taxact.com/will.

Vidometer Review

By George Harding

Here is one of the neatest applications for iPhone that I've seen. It uses many of the internal facilities of the iPhone at the same time to record your activity.

Here's what shows on your screen:

Speed
Altitude
Attitude (tilt)
Acceleration
G-force

All this info shows in the upper left corner of your screen as you take video while you are driving, skiing, biking or other mobile activity.

There are many iPhone apps that use one of the internal iPhone facilities, such as Altimeter, Level, Compass and so on. Vidometer is the only one I know of that uses so many.  This app uses the accelerometer, GPS and gyroscope to build its graphical overlay on the video screen.

The video you take is recorded and can be played back and a library of the recordings is available for later viewing.

There is a power save mode that engages after a minute or so of recording. This saves your battery when making an extended video.

And, best of all, it's free!

It's available for iPhone 4 and higher and several models of iPad. Requires iOS 5 or later.

Vidometer        www.hitcase.com/vidometer        Price: free

The Value of Marketing

By Chuck Hajdu
 
One of the most important lessons we have learned over many years is the importance of marketing in almost every business. We have seen great products wither and die because of poor marketing and horrible products thrive and make gazillions of dollars because of good marketing.
 
We had the opportunity at CES to meet separately with marketing people from several companies in the same line of business, they all make memory of various kinds. They are all dealing with limited budgets but they are addressing things differently. I won’t mention the names of the vendors but they are three of the biggest in the industry.
 
Company One used to be a major sponsor of events and always had a positive image to project. However, this year they were nowhere to be seen and the reason was simple: shortsighted management chose to slash their budget.
 
Company Two cut back substantially but they still had some visibility. Not the major presence they had a year ago but at least there were people there to talk to sometimes.
 
Company Three kept their marketing initiative going and were at as many events and had new, innovative products to show,
 
All three companies make competitive products but guess which one will get the most exposure for their products? People who want to know what’s happening in the CE industry will hear a lot about Company Three, a bit about Company Two and nothing about Company One.
 
People will spend their money to purchase products they know about and will be more reluctant to buy something they've never heard of. It seems obvious to us: success in business is very often a direct result of spending on marketing. Was MSFT Office better than Lotus SmartSuite or the WordPerfect Suite? No, it wasn’t. But it was marketed better and it ended up the clear winner.
 
Here’s some free advice to every company that wants to succeed: spend your money wisely- on marketing!!