Mobile carriers that allow internet tethering gave iPhone users the ability to share their mobile internet connection with notebooks and tablets. This is game changing technology and has been proven very useful for users not near a Wifi hotspot or those who choose not to use a free hotspot connection. Currently, not many mobile carriers allow internet tethering so when Apple launched the latest iPhone 4 and recent iOS’s with the new Wifi hotspot feature, it was warmly welcomed as it allowed iPhone 4 users to set up their own mini Wifi hotspots to share internet connectivity. The bad news for 3G and 3GS users was that this Wifi hotspot feature was only available for the iPhone 4. So unless you jailbreak your older iPhone, there is no way for an iPad or iPad 2 to use the mobile internet connection from a 3G or 3GS iPhone…. until today that is. Well, not exactly today, but it is only now that I found out that iOS 4.2.1 has enabled Bluetooth tethering for iPhones (even 3G and 3GS). This means I can now share my 3G mobile internet connection with an iPad without having to jailbreak. This let’s an iPad 2 grab and share the internet connection from my iPhone; although I have not tested this with other devices, I assume this would work with other Bluetooth enabled tablets like the iPad 1 as well. Of course, this only works if your mobile carrier allow your specific data plan to tether. Read on for detailed instructions on how to tether your iPad to your iPhone 3G or 3GS.

Here are the instructions to tether an iPad 2 to an iPhone 3G or 3GS. Make sure you follow these steps in the correct order:

1. Turn on Interent Tethering on your iPhone 3G or 3GS
General >> Network >> Internet Tethering – On (this is important, otherwise, Step #2 may fail)

2. Turn on Bluetooth on your iPhone 3G or 3GS
General >> Bluetooth – On
Note: Your iPhone may be smart enough to ask you enable Bluetooth right at this step

3. On your iPad 2, turn on Bluetooth
General >> Bluetooth – On

4. Once Bluetooth is enabled on your iPad 2, you should see your iPhone in the iPad’s Bluetooth list. Click on it to connect.
Note: you need to click your iPhone that is listed on your iPad. Selecting your iPad on your iPhone will not pair the Bluetooth connection.

5. Once you select to pair, you will receive a pop up on both your iPad and iPhone screens giving you a 6-digit numeric code
Your iPad pop up will give you the 6-numeric pin and your iPhone pop will ask if you want to pair Bluetooth using this pin. It’s a good way to ensure you only allow the right device to share your iPhone’s internet connection.

6. Click “Pair” on both devices
That’s it.

Once the pairing is complete, you should see the Tethering / Paired logo in the Wifi icon area. Now, you should be able to access the internet as if you were connected via Wifi. What joy for some of us old time iPhone users.

As You Can See, I Have Internet Connectivity

Although 3G tethering is slower than most Wifi connections, it’s still very usable and allow you to use the internet anywhere you have a mobile signal.

I do not have access to an iPad 1 but a quick message to @JohnChow and @iPhoneinCanada confirmed that the iPad 1 also has Bluetooth. So Bluetooth tethering should work for iPad 1 owners as well.

Once the word gets out, especially in areas where mobile carriers allow tethering, I have a feeling the 3G version of the iPad is going to take a nose dive in sales. Who would want to buy a dedicated 3G version when you can either Wifi hotspot or Bluetooth tether an internet connection now? Sales dipping may not mean a revenue drop for Apple mind you. Somehow, I think this is a calculated move by Apple and the mobile carriers. I am sure there is profit to be made from enabling tethering. For instance, Fido and Rogers (in Canada) only allow tethering for users with a higher cost data plan of 1GB or more / month. Realistically, Bluetooth tethering is only necessary for older iPhones. As I mentioned, the newer iPhone 4 has the Wifi hotspot featured enabled so most users will tether an iPad this way. I am guessing the only time an iPhone 4 user would want to Bluetooth tether over Wifi tethering is when they want better security while tethering.

If you have an iPad 1 or 2 and an older iPhone, give this Bluetooth tethering a try, it works if you have installed iOS 4.2.1 or later. And if you have an iPhone 4, let us know if Bluetooth tethering works with your iPad. In fact, if you have multiple Bluetooth devices, do let everyone know if multiple devices can share the 1 mobile internet connection using the above method!

Apple gets a thumbs up from me for supporting long time customers. What do you think about this move by Apple to enable Bluetooth tethering for 3G & 3GS users?

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Recently, because a client’s Facebook Share count disappeared, I decided to replace the Share button with the newer Like button. The Like button works but sometimes, the count was still defaulting to zero even though many users have Liked a specific article. To try and fix this, I wanted to add meta info to each Like button. Meta info will allow posts to Facebook to be associated with a pre-specified image, URL and other article properties. Without this info, sometimes the system picks the correct image but most of the time it does not. I was hoping adding meta info will resolve the zero count issue for the Like button. The solution was to implement Opengraph Tags to add meat info to the Facebook Like button. Essensially, Opengraph tags will tell Facebook’s that a Like button is specifically linked to a particular article along with it’s title, description, image, article type, URL and site name. The site in question is powered by Drupal so I decided to give the Opengraph module a try. The only problem was, during installation, I received a server error like so:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function mb_substr() in path/sites/all/modules/opengraph_meta/opengraph_meta.common.inc on line 127

Searching and asking about this error code in the Drupal forums did not result in any resolutions. Then it occured to me that this error was a function error. So I thought it could be a web sever configuration issue rather than a Drupal issue. After sending a ticket to the server management company, I was told that we could fix this error just by including this module into PHP and doing a recompile. It took about 30 minutes for the entire recompile to take place. Only near the last few minutes did the website go offline for about 3 minutes. After that, the Drupal Opengraph Drupal module was successful installed and worked as indicated. Every article on the client site now contains 6 Opengrpaph meta tags and Facebook is indeed displaying the proper Like counts and image on a person’s wall after they have Liked an article.

If you are not seeing the Facebook Like button show the correct count or image,on your Drupal site, check out the Opengraph Drupal module. It just may solve your problem like it did ours.

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For those who have waited patiently for the Cisco Linksys E4200 Gigabit, Wireless-N, Dual-Band router to arrive in Canadian retail stores, your wait is over. Cisco officially launched the E4200 on March 27, 2011 in Canada. Before I publish a more detailed article about putting the unit through its paces in a real world environment, here is a quick tweak to speed up slow uploads through the E4200. Setup was easy and most settings can be left at the default level. But one particular setting at default resulted in a slow internet upload speed. The E4200 is currently the highest consumer grade wireless router made by Cisco Linksys so take advantage of the new options available in the latest Linksys firmware. Log in to the unit and under Applications & Games >> QoS ,there is a setting for “Upstream Bandwidth“. Default for this is “Auto“. Linksys has an online UI setup so you can see this setting here. When in Auto mode, I was only getting about 60% (1.6 mbps) of my maximum upload speed. Once I manually set Upstream Bandwidth to 10 mbps, I was able to reach my maximum upload speed of 2.5 mbps. If you are experiencing a slow upload speed with the Linksys E4200, try setting Upstream Bandwidth at 2-3 times your maximum upload speed and you may just speed up slow internet upload speeds.

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It came time for me to purchase a new SDHC card and the requirement was that it had to be fast enough to cope with the high demands of dSLR burst-shooting and HD video recording. Given the current price point in Canada, the biggest bang for the buck for a branded SDHC card at this moment is a Kingston 32GB SDHC Class 10 card. For me, this card (including 12% tax) works out to be $2.66 / GB. Kingston is a reputable brand and their memory cards are significantly less expensive than the professional Sandisk Extreme line of memory cards. So after checking a few reviews and speed charts, I decided to buy the Kingston card and noticed Canadian retailers carried 2 SKU’s for this product; SD10/32GB versus SD10/32GBCR. In general, the CR version was about 10-20% lower in cost. Kingston’s website does not show any references for the lower cost CR version. The good news is Kingston support has confirmed that these two versions are identical products. The CR designation is “an international part number which is used for marketing purposes only. There is no physical difference as far as the actual product is concerned.” This was good enough for me. Once I receive card, I will post back about its capabilities for use in a newer dSLR. So if you are considering a Kingston 32GB Class 10 card for your photography and video needs, be sure to check and see if your retailer carries the lower cost SD10/32GBCR version.

***UPDATE***
November 17, 2010
So after receiving the product, I can confirm that although the UPC code says SD10/32GBCR, the actual SD card shows SD10/32GB (just like the image in this post). Looks like these 2 SKU’s are indeed used for the same product. Just find the lower cost version and purchase that one instead.
************

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This is a review post of Panasonic’s higher end, consumer level HD camcorder, the HDC-TM700 or what most owners just call the TM700. As a detailed write-up has already been published by Camcorderinfo.com, this review will not be getting into the nitty gritty but only discuss issues from a first-hand perspective of using this camera for a few months. Hopefully, anyone considering the purchase of this HD camcorder will find some real world user insights helpful.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Product Overview

The TM700 is slightly larger in size than your typical Canon or Sony consumer HD camcorder. Larger in the camcorder world means less shaking during handheld recording but because of the larger size, it also means it may be more difficult to reach some of the function buttons located in various places on the camcorder. Colour, noise and sharpness performance was very good for a model in this price range. In brightly lit outdoor conditions, vividness and sharpness of the TM700 is truly amazing. I have seen detail in some outdoor footages that I have never seen recorded with any consumer level camcorder on the market to date. The TM700 also performs very well with with low light recording. It is a little grainy but low light performance is significantly better than the Canon HFM31. Overall, the TM700 produced very high quality videos.

The two concerns from this Panasonic HD camcorder is the fan noise recorded into the footages and the jittering or vibration that occur in some recorded footages. I will get more into this below.

Note the TM700 is flash-based. It has an internal memory bank of 32 Gigs and an additional SD media slot so you can record to an external flash card if needed. There is also a harddisk sibling called the HDC-HS700. Essentially, these are the same camcorders except for the storage method.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Video Format

The HDC-xx700 line has a recording signal of 1080 / 60p and 1080 / 60i. Although this HD camcorder records in AVCHD format (MPEG-4
AVC/H.264 (AVCHD standard compliant) for all resolutions, the format for 1080 60p recording is not AVCHD standard compliant (even though it is AVCHD). Who would have known that there is actually a non-standard format of AVCHD. In the real world, editing software that is compatible with AVCHD may not be able to recognize 1080 60p video from this camcorder. Many Mac users have been pulling their hair out trying to find an easy way to edit these TM700 files without needing to convert prior to editing. My choice of editing software happens to be Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 (for the PC), which is fully compatible with this non-standard AVCHD 1080 60p format. Thank goodness, I am a PC!

Most consumer HD camcorders produce files that are 1080 30p, 1080 60i, 720 60p or even 1080 24p. It’s difficult enough trying to edit HD footages but to be able to edit 1080 60p videos, Quad Core and lots of RAM is a must. I am using a Quad Core + 4 Gigs of RAM which works but what makes the editing easier was buying an Nvidia based video card. Premiere Pro CS5 can utilize hardware acceleration and offload some processing and exporting of videos to a compliant video card. Even if do not have an Adobe certified Nvidia card, here is a hack that allows CS5 to take advantage of the processing power of newer Nvidia video cards.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Handling and Usability

The TM700 has a 3 inch wide LCD touchscreen. Touch screen focus is easy and locks on to any subject that you touch. The video above shows a good example of this. There are many controls on this HD camcorder but you can choose to use iA (Intelligent Auto) mode, which works very well already, or you have the ability to tweak just about every setting that a typical user would want. The only function that I was missing was the ability to slow down the zoom speed when using the remote control to achieve those silky smooth slow zooming / panning shots for landscape shooting. Using the levers on the camcorder body to zoom tends to create slight movements in the recorded footage even when the camcorder is mounted on a fairly sturdy Manfrotto tripod. The only way to achieve the slowest zoom was to hand hold the camcorder and zoom out using the sensitive zoom lever on the top of the unit. But because of handholding and the sensitive lever (the more you move the lever, the quicker the zoom), the final footage is definitely not as stable as one taken with a tripod and using the remote to zoom out.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Image Stabilization

Panasonic has developed something called Power O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) in the TM700. There are 2 modes; Mode 1 is for normal shooting and Mode 2 is for recording while walking, which you will see in the video above. Both modes work fairly well when used correctly. The best image stabilization I was able to achieve was using either Mode 1 or Mode 2, mounting the camcorder on a tripod and then carrying the legs of the tripod and wakling. I even did a run sequence and the recorded footage was actually better than walking with the camcorder in my hands. The trick is to hold the tripod legs so your arms and elbows act like shock absorbers. I did not get a chance to include this sequence in the above video but holding the tripod while moving is a good technique to decrease camera shake during recording.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Highlights

• 1. Extremely High Quality HD Video: I cannot say enough of the high quality video capabilities. This HD camcorder has produced some of the best quality videos I have ever seen from a consumer level HD camcorder.
• 2. On-Board 5.1 Microphone: 5.1 microphones are not determining factors for choosing an HD camcorder but having one is neat when you are able to utilize it during playback if you have a digital surround sound audio system.
• 3. Lens Ring: There is a lens ring located near the front of the camcorder. You can use it to manually focus a scene or to zoom in and out. Very cool and easy to use, especially for manual focusing.
• 4. 1080 60p: For those who are looking for silky smooth videos, 1080 60p will deliver. As I mentioned in point #1, this HD camcorder is able to produce very high quality HD video.
• 5. Time Lapse Shooting: This camcorder can be set to shoot from 1 frame every second to a frame every 10 second, 30 seconds, one minute, or two minutes. You can get some pretty neat results with this function.
• 6. 18X Intelligent Zoom: Even though this camcorder has an optical zoom of 12X, Panasonic implemented something called Inteligent Zoom and allow you to reach 18X digital zoom without too much video degradation. This extra reach can be useful in many situations. I normally set my camcorders to only use optical zoom but because Panasonic’s Intelligent Zoom is so good, I can use 18X in confidence knowing that the quality in the final footage will still be acceptable.
• 7. Fairly Wide Angle Lens: Most consumer camcorders will not have as wide as a 35mm lens; the TM700 does. Without having to purchase additional adapters or lenses, this camcorder’s 35mm wide angle allow you record a fairly wide field of view. In other words, you won’t have to stand as far back to capture everyone in the frame during those family gatherings.

Things to Improve on the TM700

There are 3 things that stand out for improvement.

• 1. Jittering / Vibrating When Zooming Out: For some reason, I am seeing quite a few recorded scenes where I would notice jittering or vibration of objects in the scene when zooming out from 18X to 1X (or somewhere in between). This happens when OIS is on for both modes and even when it’s off. I see less jittering when the camcorder is stationary and mounted on a tripod but it’s still there. Panning does not bring out this problem, only during zoom outs. I have a feeling it’s the OIS coupled with zooming out coupled with the autofocus that is causing this issue. Many users do not notice this but on a 24 inch computer monitor and a 50+ inch LCD, the jiterring is there and very irritating. In fact, you can see the jittering I am referring to in various parts of the video above.
• 2. Fan Noise in Recorded Footage: Panasonic decided to use an internal fan on this HD camcorder. Perhaps a unit like the TM700 that records in 1080 60p requires a lot of cooling. The fan noise is not noticeable until you record in quiet environments and this does not have to be a super quiet environment either. In most of my indoor footages, I can hear the fan noise. Many owners have commented it’s a non-issue but I have analysed their files and the fan noise is definitely there. They just do not hear it or simply takes it as the typical white noise that is common among consumer HD camcorders. The only saving grace from the TM700 fan noise issue is that white noise produced by this unit is very low as compared to the other HD camcorders like the Canon HFM31. And because white noise is low, the fan noise sounds noticeably louder (probably also enhanced by the ultra sensitive on-board 5.1 microphone). Despite many owners saying they do not have the fan noise problem, I have ran footages from these same users inside Adobe Sounbooth CS5 and found fan noise in all of them. Adobe Soundbooth CS5 allow you to visually see sound in frequencies so knowing that the Panasonic TM700′s fan noise has a frequency of around 800 Hz – 1,000 Hz, you can clearly see fan noise in these so called “non-issue” recordings. It comes down to whether one can hear it and/or are bothered by it.
• 3. Zoom Out speed Control for Remote: As I mentioned above, I wish Panasonic would have included a function to set zoom speed on the remote control. Or at the very least, allow speed adjustments on the camcorder body zoom levers themselves (like available on the Canon HFM31).

Conclusion – Panasonic HDC-TM700 HD Camcorder Review

The Panasonic TM700 is easy to use, fun and capable of producing extremely high-quality videos. There are very few consumer HD camcorders that record in 1080 60p and this is one of them. In normal and brightly lit conditions, video footage is detailed, vibrant and extremely smooth (thanks to the 60p). I must say, the videos from the TM700 is one of the best I have ever seen from a consumer HD camcorder. For those of you considering the purchase of an HD camcorder, you can check out the video above. No post-processing was applied to the footage; only transitions and titles were added. Happy shooting!

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Computers are a wonderful thing but sometimes, the simplest tasks seem to be the most difficult to accomplish. Have you ever been frustrated by repeatedly having to unplug your headset from the front of your computer just so you can hear audio from your speakers? Or are you savvy enough to have used a splitter so that both your headset and speakers output audio simultaneously. I am one to hate spending money on parts when there is absolutely no need to do so. So I am one of those who just plug in and unplug my headset. This workaround became such a chore and annoyance that I finally dug into my Windows 7 sound card setup and figured out how to output audio simultaenously from the speakers and the headset! It sounds like a silly discovery but for those of us who regularly use Gmail calling, Skype and various audio tools like Audacity (for editing our podcasts), this solution finally brought peace and harmony back to computing.

The following are instructions and screenshots of a Dell Vostro 410 with an on-board Realtek sound card and the Realtek HD Audio Manager. Your setup may be different and simultaneous audio output to speakers and headset may not be supported by your sound card, but for those of you who also have this common setup, here is your solution.

Step 1: Open Realtek HD Audio Manager

- click on “Device Advanced Settings
- Make sure “Mute the rear output device, when a front headphone plugged in” is selected

Step 2: Click on Connector Settings Folder Icon

- Check “Disable front panel jack detection”

Step 3: Make sure “Speakers” is set as default device

This should allow you to send audio to your speakers and headset simultaneously without needing an external splitter. Also, be sure to go into your settings and select a higher Default Format since most speaker setups will only have a medium setting and most headsets can deliver a higher audio resolution.

So enjoy using both your speakers and headset without ever having to unplug and re-plug in the headset jack. I know I am!

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Since I have been using the iPhone 3G, email has been working perfectly until this morning. I have Outlook set to retrieve email via POP and my iPhone using IMAP. All of a sudden, I am receiving a copy of emails sent via the iPhone in my Outlook Inbox. This issue is definitely common, especially when connecting to a Gmail account using multiple clients such as an iPhone, web browser and Outlook. It is a known issue and well document here:

• iPhone: About Gmail and Recent Mode
• Topic : duplicate emails – anyone else?
• Gmail & iPhone Problem

My problem is a slightly different as it is happening on a non-Gmail account and the problem was non-existent until today. After some digging around, it looks like my iPhone’s setting got changed. Not sure how or why but there is a simple fix. On your iPhone, go to:

Settings >> Mail, Contacts, Calendars, there is a setting called “Always Bcc Myself”

For some reason, this was set to “on.” I disabled this and all is well again, no more duplicate emails being sent to my Outlook Inbox when I reply to an email from my iPhone. If you are also experiencing this duplicate email issue when sending emails on an iPhone, try this simple fix.

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This post is a review of Canon’s new mid-range HD camcorder, the Canon Vixia HF M31. As a detailed, technical write up on the pros and cons of this new HD camcorder has been published by Camcorderinfo.com, this review will deal solely with my first-hand experience of having used this video camera for a few weeks. Hopefully, others considering the purchase of an HD camcorder will find this article useful in their research. Note that the HF M31 / HFM31 (32GB internal memory) is part of a series from Canon that includes the HF M30 /HFM30 (8GB internal memory) and HF M300 / HFM300 (SD/SDHC memory card only).

HF M31 Product Overview

The new HFM line of HD camcorders from Canon is easy to use. The small size is great as a secondary camera for a camera bag already loaded with a large dSLR. But don’t let the small size fool you, this HD camcorder is a very capable piece of technology. Canon upgraded last year’s highly regarded HF20 and HF200 models with better image stabilization and a touchscreen LCD to produce the new HFM series. Colour, noise and sharpness performance was very good for a model in this price range. Image quality wise, Canon could have done better with low light performance. Having said that, indoor video quality was not poor but it also was not great; it contained a little more grain than I prefer and the image was not as bright as it could be. Overall, the HF M31 / HFM31 produced very high-quality videos.

HF M31 Compression & Media

The HFM series line of HD camcorders uses AVCHD compression (which is based on the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec) just like most consumer HD camcorders. It has 5 levels of HD quality settings but no standard definition recording just in case anyone absolutely needs this. At up to 24 mbps, we really did see very good quality image on a 50+ inch progressive LCD screen. Keep in mind that the camcorder’s three frame rates (60i, PF24, and PF30) can be used for recording with each quality setting. Do note that the PF24 and PF30 frame rates are not recorded natively. Recordings made using these frame rates are converted by the camcorder and recorded onto memory as 60i. In the real world, we saw good results from PF30 and would not consider using PF24 for any scenes with panning or lots of movement. In fact, just shoot at 60i as it has been around for a long time and very compatible across technologies. And, if needed, deinterlace the final video when you output from your video editing software. Note, to edit AVCHD files, you will need the right software and hardware. Even on a 64-bit quad core computer with lots of RAM, rendering out 1080p videos from AVCHD files required a lot of computing power.

HF M31 Handling and Usability

One of the biggest strengths of the HFM series is its small size but that is also its largest downfall in my opinion. Small size means you tend to use the gear more often; we all know how large cameras can sometimes deter it from being used. But small video cameras have a pitfall in that it is not as easy to get a steady shot. So I was quite surprised that hand-held footages were very acceptable. In fact, even when zoomed in at 15X optical (or even 60x digital), one press of the Power Image Stabilization button coupled with the right breathing and camera holding technique, you can get an extremely steady image. This is when the subject is not moving of course. By default, Dynamic Image Stabilization is enabled and this mode is meant for your everyday shooting. It does an ok job when used with care, even during a walking scene as you will see in the video above.

The biggest update from last year’s HF model was a new touchscreen LCD. Most controls are now accessed using the LCD screen. Think of it like an iPhone screen but less sensitive to touch. Images produced here are bright and saturated. The best use of the LCD screen has to be the focusing system. When face detection and tracking are enabled, the camcorder does a very good job at “finding” faces and making sure focus lock is on them. To override, just touch another subject on the LCD screen and the camcorder will lock and track this new subject. A segment of the video above will show you exactly how this works. The LCD focus system is probably the neatest and most useful update in this new HD camcorder.

Things to Improve on the HF M31

As mentioned above, I think low light performance and image stabilization could be better on this unit. But given all the pluses discussed above, I can live with some grain and a slightly darker scene during low light recordings. On the other hand, what I really dislike is Canon’s proprietary hot-shoe size. You have to buy proprietary Canon gear, such as microphones or accessories that attach to a hot-shoe because the shoe provided on this camcorder is slightly smaller than the standard size. You can always purchase a shoe adapter such as the ones found at DM Accessories but that adds costs and you may lose the “hot” side of things if you go this route.

The second thing that Canon should have provided was a mini HDMI to HDMI cable. If you choose to use HDMI to send a signal out to your TV or computer, you will have to purchase this cable as it’s not provided.

Lastly, when the camcorder is powered off, there is no locking mechanism for the image stabilization system. You should never shake sensitive equipment like a camcorder but even more so with this unit. You will hear the rattling of something loose inside. That is actually the image stabilization system! I am surprised that there is no way to park the mechanical parts of this system when the power is turned off on the unit. Once power is turned on, there is no more rattling as the stabilization system is activated and locked down.

Conclusion – Canon Vixia HF M31 / HF M 30 / HF M300

The Canon Vixia HF M31 is easy to use, fun and capable of recording very high-quality video. For a camcorder that records HD video at up to 24 mbps, I can live with, at least for now, a somewhat darker and slightly grainy image during low light shooting. In normal and bright light conditions, video footage is sharp, vibrant and smooth. For those of you considering the purchase of a new HD camcorder, you can check out the video above. All footages were taken on a cloudy day and no post-processing was applied; only transitions and titles were added. Happy shooting!

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One of the benefits of mass consumer adoption of mobile technology is that many companies are beginning to develop some very cool and useful applications. Not all Smartphone apps are useful but the latest app offering from Microsoft is an interesting one and the way they are making the offer is sure to trickle to other app providers. For a limited time, you can download the Top 100s by Year by Bing iPhone app for free. As the name of the app implies, you can literally listen to the Top 100 songs between 1947 and 2009… for free. No strings attached. You will, however, get popup reminders in between a few songs to remind you to download the Bing app. To be able to listen to thousands of songs for free, I think this is something all users can live with. I can only imagine how royalty payments (if any) are tracked and how long Microsoft will offer this for free. If you love music and have an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, install the app now.

Do you think this free giveaway will help Microsoft increase Bing app installs? Only time will tell but giving mobile users the ability to listen to thousands of Top 100 songs for free is definitely a great incentive for any campaign in my opinion; one that only few companies can even consider offering.

Note that you will need a US iTunes account or read these instructions from Apple on how to create a US account and then go download and install the app. Here is the official description

Hear thousands of the greatest songs of all time.

This $1.99 app is offered for FREE by Bing for a limited time.

Please help keep this app free longer by downloading the Bing app now.

What were the top songs for 2009, the year you were born or graduated from high school?

Spin the wheel to find the year you want to hear. Click and listen. View the list to find the #1 song for that year, from 1947 to 2009.

These lists are not solely based on the Billboard charts and record sales, instead, these are lists of songs that have stood the test of time based on their initial and lasting popularity, and on their impact on the overall scope of musical history.

Feedback is welcome at forums.nutsie.com.

The songs are streamed in shuffle mode like a web radio station through 3G, Edge or Wi-fi.

Enjoy!

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A recent move by Google to pull its business out of China made top headlines around the world. As Google controls nearly two-thirds of the world’s search results, it is definitely a big story when it makes a fundamental business decision to up and leave potentially the largest economy in the next 50 years to come. Yesterday, a story published in the Washington Post announced that GoDaddy, the largest domain name registrar, is also ceasing its service to lease out .CN (China) domain names. Does it not send a strong message to the Chinese government when two of the largest internet players are not interested in doing business in your country? Before we draw any hard conclusions, the reason for Google leaving China was due to censorship issues. Now GoDaddy is closing shop there due to recent Chinese regulations that any registrant of a new .CN domain name must provide a color head shot and other business identification, including a Chinese business registration number and physical signed registration forms to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a quasi-governmental agency. On the contrary, most domain name registries require only name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. One can only guess at what the Chinese government is trying to accomplish when imposing such strict guidelines but there may actually be some validity to this heavy-handedness.

Ability to Easily Hide Online Leads to More Stolen Content and Malware Sites

Consider this trend. Is there not an increasing amount of spam and hacking coming out of .CN IP addresses? You just have to ask your data center. Or read publications like The Register who published that “Domains in the PR of China rank second behind only those in Cameroon (.cm) as the most likely to harbour malware, according to a survey by McAfee published earlier this month.”

I for one think it makes good sense to know exactly who owns a domain name as this brings accountability to a world where hackers can easily hide behind IP addresses. For what it’s worth, I believe services that allow a domain owner to stay hidden are doing a dis-service to all web site owners out there. Whatever the reasons may be for some domain owners to hide their contact information, I am willing to wager that most of the domains that have their WHOIS info hidden are in fact hiding for a reason. Most likely, they are using these domains as a place to publish black-hat content; whether that be copyright infringed content or other types of spam and malware related content.

What Will Happen to GoDaddy Customers?

Every organization has a say as to how they want to do business. GoDaddy’s response was to leave China. The one question now is what will happen to the current customers who have already registered .CN domains through GoDaddy? I wonder how / if the company will help them renew these .CN domain names.

A Day When There is No More Copyright Infringement

What China has put into policy is a little strict in my opinion but I for one welcome the day when more accountability comes into the world of domain registration. There has got to be a way for great companies like GoDaddy to pioneer the way and help protect their customers from all the spamming, site scraping and malware web sites out there. I can only dream of an Internet where there is no need to police and shut down websites for copyright infringement or malicious activities. If the new policies in China are effective, we can hope that day will come sooner rather than later. But that will only be true if the rest of the world will follow China’s policy to up requirements for registering a domain name. We can only wait and see. Let me end this article by asking domain owners this question. Similar to verifying a Paypal account with a valid email, bank account or credit card number, do you think the industry should be moving towards some sort of a verification system for renewing and registering a domain name?

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Did you get a new computer and now want to sync all your iTunes and iPhone data to the new computer? For anyone going through this process, take comfort in knowing that there is a simple way to seamlessly transfer all music, photos, data and iPhone apps to the new machine. There are quite a few articles discussing this but having to wade through all the technical data is daunting. In short, here is a simple process that worked for me. Note, I installed Windows 7 on a new harddrive so I still had all my old data after the new install. If you are doing an upgrade, be sure to backup all your data for the move and you will still be able to use this migration method.

1. Upgrade to the latest version of iTunes (this will make the transition easier as the new machine will also be running the same version of iTunes)
2. Sync iPhone on old computer for the last time
3. Deauthorize iTunes on the old machine
4. Copy the entire My Music folder from the old computer to the new computer
5. Install the latest version of iTunes on the new machine
6. Plug in the iPhone on the new machine and sync
7. Re-setup any preferences (where to sync music, photos, videos, contacts etc…) and re-sync again on the new machine and authorize the new iTunes

My original setup on the old iTunes machine was pretty much default and I just let it control most of the settings. So by setting iTunes up on the new machine similarly, I was able to just copy the entire My Music folder (where the iTunes folder is stored in) and let iTunes re-sync everything. iTunes did not miss a beat and did not complain about any missing libraries (or anything else) on the new machine. To my delight, it just continued to sync with my iPhone as if it was running on the old machine.

So if you are moving to a new computer and want to sync your iPhone to a new computer, give the above process a try. As with any computer move, just be sure to have backups of all your data before the move. Smooth syncing!

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There was a time when a personal computer would just do what it was supposed to. I am referring to the tried and true Windows XP operating system. Over the last two years, newer computers came loaded with its successor Windows Vista. I have to admit, I liked the new user interface and some of the powerful tools that came bundled with Vista. In fact, the install disc contained a tool that fixed one machine (twice) when Vista just refused to boot. I can remember both times thinking to myself how cool it was that a corrupted OS can self heal. Thinking back now, if Vista did not break itself, I would have had to use that boot-up disc at all! Enough about Vista. The following is a recap of my own experiences upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 and why I feel ripped off by Microsoft. It is not what you may think.

After much encouragement from a colleague, I finally dedicated some time to upgrade my Vista Business machine to Windows 7 Professional. The funny thing was, this colleague had never even used Windows 7 but like many others (including myself) had just heard many good things about this newest operating system from Microsoft. I had a gut feeling that they just wanted me to be the guinea pig and report back. Nonetheless, I performed a clean install of Windows 7 Pro on a new hard drive in my machine.

Microsoft Ripped Me Off

Since installing Windows 7, I felt totally ripped off by Microsoft over the last 2 years having to endure Vista all this time. It was not until I installed Windows 7 on my first machine that I realized I had been forced into a life of time-wasting; either waiting for Windows Vista to load, trying to fix software and hardware incompatibility issues or unknowingly agreeing to run my computer slower than the hardware would dictate otherwise due to all the overhead that comes along with running Windows Vista. Based on the overwhelming comments on one single article I posted called How to Fix Windows Vista Slow Network Transfer, I know that there are many other frustrated Vista users out there.

No cure for a deadly disease was discovered and it has only been a few weeks or so since the Windows 7 upgrade but I must admit, I feel completely liberated – if there is such a thing when describing about a piece of technology. Just knowing that my personal computer will once again do what it’s supposed to and do it rather quickly is a comforting feeling. Nonetheless, I still created a recovery disc for Windows 7. You never know when that might come in handy. I am hoping never.

Benefits of Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7

As a heavy computer user, here are a few things that I can share with you about upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7.

1. Boot up is speedier in Windows 7.

2. Logging in to Windows 7 is also much quicker.

3. Network transfer speeds are fast and stable. It took tons of effort to tweak Vista to get decent transfer speeds but the higher transfer rates were not sustainable. Right from a fresh install and without any tweaking in Windows 7, LAN transfer speeds averaged about 50MB/s on a gigabit network. For those who may not be familiar with network speeds, this is pretty fast for consumer computer gear. It means you will be able to transfer 6 GigaBytes of data in 2 minutes (which is about the size of a high definition movie). Often times, it may not even be possible to achieve this speed between two internal hard drives within the same computer let alone through a network. Network transfer speed may be very important for those who run a NAS or server to share files, stream media or backup data across a network.

4. Windows 7 has a much sleeker look and feel and there are lots of easy tweaks for customization.

5. Again, it’s only been a few short weeks since running Windows 7 but it feels very responsive and stable. And a bonus for all irritated Vista users, U have experienced significantly less hard drive thrashing under Windows 7.

More Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 7

For many of you sitting on the fence and wondering if you should upgrade your Vista machines, take comfort in knowing that when you do upgrade to Windows 7, your effort will be highly rewarded. Of course, remember to download and run Windows 7 Advisor to make sure your computer is ready for the new OS. In addition if you do plan to upgrade instead of do a clean install, do your research and know which version of Windows you currently have as there is only one specific version of Windows 7 that will allow you to smoothly run the upgrade.

I have performed a clean install as well as upgraded a Vista Business computer to Windows 7 Pro and both times, it brought new life to these machines. I am very happy to announce that I have been completely purged of Windows Vista. Three cheers for Windows 7 – hip, hip hooray! And yes, the more I use Windows 7, the more I feel that I have been ripped off by Microsoft for having to put up with Vista all this time. It’s going to be smooth computing with Windows 7 and XP from here on. We must have hope right?

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