Recently Microsoft has responded with an advertising campaign of its own.  In that campaign Microsoft doesn’t call out Apple’s perceived shortcomings but they do attempt to define PC users as people from all walks of life.

Apple has responded with a very negative campaign.

There first ad criticizes Microsoft for investing in advertising versus “fixing” Vista.  The second ad needles Microsoft for no longer referring to the word “Vista”.

Comparing these two marketing programs side-by-side says a lot about who these companies are and what kinds of people purchase their products.  Apple markets their products as a premium offering so their goal is to have consumers pay higher prices.  This is a smart go-to-market strategy due the razor thin margins that exist in this category.  Creating a culture of Mac loyalists to purchase new or upgraded offerings on a reoccurring basis at higher than average retails keeps Apple profitable.

The issue is what fuels this initiative.  The negativity of this campaign is a reflection of Apple’s user base.  The ability to buy a Mac and have that decision help define who you are is one thing, but criticizing others since they aren’t part of the cult of Mac is something else entirely.  What should be debates about features and usability degrades into shouting matches.

The cult has become a mob.

I inquired with the folks at ToolCrib about sharpening saw blades. Here are some in depth suggestions and recommendations where to go or how to do it yourself.

Personally I don’t think I’m up to the DIY solution. I’ll have to lookup Scott Whiting at WoodWorkersZone.

A big “thank you” to everyone at ToolCrib!

Jude

Sure it has a very clear screen and a 2 mega-pixel camera but NO video recorder.

The Media Sync software does a fine job of moving your iTunes playlists, but NOT native Quicktime video formats.

You can store a lot of media as long as it DOESN’T exceed the micro-sd card you would need to provide.

What it does do extremely well is receive and send my emails, SMS and MMS messages. I can install third-party applications and sync with my Google calendar, “Remember The Milk” tasks and my Outlook contacts.

It is much thinner and lighter than my old Treo with a larger screen, Bluetooth and WiFi enabled.

Originally, I was debating between this phone and the iPhone. My decision came down to two factors.

1. I like a qwerty keyboard. The Blackberry keyboard is fine, not as good as my old Treo 650, but nice.
2. T-Mobile has really been great to me over the years. Saying that about a cellphone company is unheard of but their customer service has been much better than the carriers I’ve had previously.

Jude

I did consider purchasing a sprayer from the Home Depot, but I decided since my local Sherwin Williams had all of the replacement parts in inventory that was the way to go. Also I wanted a contractor grade tool. I purchase tools with the understanding we’re going to be together for a long, long time.

This sprayer throws a lot paint. During application you must continue to move the spray gun. If you were to stop for a moment a paint drip would form. So this was great from a time-savings and overall coverage perspective.

While this does save a lot of time during the application process, you need to factor in setup and cleanup into the equation. The manual suggests you run the appropriate solvent through the machine then prime with paint. After you are finished, you’ll need to flush the system again with solvent. I’d also suggest removing the filters from both the unit and spray gun and rinsing with solvent. Lastly, if you won’t be using your sprayer for a long period of time you’ll need to circulate a lubricant.

After you factor that in, it may not be ideal for smaller projects but definitely a must for larger ones.

You can check out the specs here as SprayTech manufacturers this sprayer for Sherwin Williams.

Jude

This falls under the heading of great ideas. How many times have you opened a tube of caulk only to make a very minor repair and have the remaining product languish in the tube?

GE Caulk Singles are 1.25oz of patch and seal goodness. Currently available in Silicone White and Clear, and a paintable grade acrylic white at Lowes.

The only downside is the pricing. This would be ideal at $1, but the reality is $2.48.

Jude

Basically all of the sanders are very similar in quality and price. The best part about the RIGID brand is the lifetime waranty. Just be sure to register to be eligible!

If you find this post useful please post a comment below.

Jude

I couldn’t believe it either but the same product that you used as a teenager to patch dings and fenders, works wonders on wood damage. The package states it’ll repair,

“drywall, concrete, stucco, fiberglass and rotted wood.”

Who knew?

I’m using it during the prep work for repainting my home and it’s working great!

If you find this post useful please leave a comment below.

Jude

Here’s a fine explanation of twitter from Wikipedia,

“Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (or “tweets”; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.

Southwest airlines has established a presence on Twitter to answer customer service questions. The Los Angeles fire department used twitter to communicate information during the 2007 wildfires. I believe the real power is for personalities and organizations to engage their audience in a very personal way.

Are you interested following Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?
Do you need to know the latest breaking news from CNN?
Is celebrity news more your speed?
Maybe you prefer to know when your favorite tech personality is streaming live?

You can also keep in touch with friends and family. This is similar to instant messaging but posts are not necessarily meant to result in a response. Post topics are limited to 140 characters so they need to be succinct and direct. You could send a post (tweet) that you’ll be at the OC Fairgrounds at 1pm. Maybe one of your friends (followers) would like to meet you?

Still confused? Check out the Twitter FAQ.

Prefer to use a desktop PC application? I use twhirl. If you have a Mac try Twitterrific.

So now that you have signed up and followed me, check out who’s in the Top 100.

At this point I installed Drive Snapshot from www.drivesnapshot.de. This program creates a byte for byte backup so the next time I have a computer issue, I can just restore the backup to this same point and time. Well that time came sooner than later.

I tried a tip from www.Lifehacker.com to find out if my computer was secretly connecting to the web. Sure enough, I found two entries that programs were trying to call out. So time to put Drive Snapshot to the test!

First off I had to dig out an old 3.5″ floppy drive. Yes this turned my stomach too. Good thing I didn’t have time this past weekend to venture to the hazardous waste recycling center!

Drive Snapshot will create a bootable floppy based on FreeDOS. Once you reboot the computer and boot into FreeDOS you’re ready to restore your Drive Snapshot backup. You can’t run the restore from Windows, hence the necessity for the floppy.

SNAPSHOT RESTORE HD1 AUTO C:\DRIVES~1\DRIVEI~1SNA -Y -V

…and I was on my way! You’ll want to run a SNAPSHOT SHOW HD1 to be sure you have the right drive. If you have multiple drives you’d run SNAPSHOT SHOW HD2, etc. I didn’t have to repartition the drive since I was maintaining the same partitions.

The restore ran for about an hour for 23MB of data. That’s a lot less than the hours of installing and tweaking. Now for the big test, reboot!

Wow, it works! That’s scary awesome.

Drive Snapshot has a new customer, hope you are one too.

Jude

Today I use a Palm Treo 650. Even though this is not the most current PDA, it does what I ask. Which are pretty much the same duties I asked my Palm IIIx to perform; maintain my contacts, store passwords, lists for shopping and tasks with the added features of a camera and playing media. I don’t even use the phone functionality anymore since the Verizon data plan is too expensive.

I’m excited about the relaunch of Palm and if I weren’t tied into a contract I’d give the Palm Centro a run. As long as the new devices do everything that the old versions did with the same reliability and maybe a few new features, I’ll be a happy camper.

Here is a list of my “must-have” Palm applications.

• ezReset - Simplifies the Palm reset process. FREE
• FileZ - File manager for the Palm OS. FREE
• HandyShopper - Great program for managing any type of list. A little hard to find but still available for download. FREE
• LEDOff - An application to manage that annoying flashing LED. Donationware
• mVoice - Use your Palm as a voice recorder.
• pTunes - Definite must have replacement for stock music player.
• SafeInHand - Password manager software.
• TCPMP - The core pocket media player allows you to play video files. FREE

Enjoy!

Jude