Archive for June, 2011

Accelerate Android With Tips and Tricks

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

(excerpt from The New York Times)

PAUL BOUTIN, On Thursday June 23, 2011, 1:10 am EDT

Mobile phones that run Google’s Android operating system come in various shapes, sizes and features, unlike Apple’s iPhones. And while iPhone buyers are limited to AT&T and Verizon service, Android phones are also available from Sprint, T-Mobile and Boost Mobile, where a data plan can cost as little as $35 a month.

But despite the variety of Android phones, and of carriers, there are a lot of useful features common to all. Here are some tips on finding them:

THE LONG PRESS The key to many of these tips is the long press: Instead of tapping a button, word or icon on the screen, press and hold your finger on it for two seconds. Often, this will bring up a menu of options specific to the type of item, like one to bookmark a Web link. You can also long press the hardware keys on the phone, and the background of the home screen, to reveal various options.

In general, long-press functions are intended to save you from tapping through a series of menus to perform a common task. It’s the equivalent of right-clicking your mouse on a PC screen.

So, for example, you can long press the home key on your phone’s case — the one that looks like a little house — to bring up a menu of your eight most recently used apps. This lets you hop quickly between, say, an e-mail you are composing and your Web browser.

You can also long press the search key — it looks like a magnifying glass — to pop up a microphone icon labeled “Speak Now.” Android’s Voice Commands system understands at least 10 commands, like “Send text to Alison Wright, running late will see you at 6,” “Navigate to the nearest pizza place,” “Listen to Taylor Swift,” and of course, “Note to self.” If you don’t begin with a special command, Android will assume you are speaking a Web search.

Within the browser app, long press the back key — the one labeled with an arrow U-turning left — to snap open a screen with your bookmarks, most visited pages and browsing history displayed in tabs.

Long press on your home screen’s background to bring up a menu of options that includes Shortcuts. You can create a shortcut, which looks just like an app on your home screen, that links directly to a bookmarked Web page, a person in your contact list or a navigation destination. Android will label the shortcut with the Web site’s logo, the person’s face or an icon you choose for destinations.

Too many icons on your home screen? Long press on the screen to pop up a menu that includes a

Folders option. You can create a folder icon and call it, say, Games, into which you can drag all your game apps.

Long press a link on a Web page to pop up a menu that lets you open the link in a new window. To switch windows, press the menu key — the one that’s a grid of four squares — and tap Windows in the options that appear onscreen.

And long press can also be used for accent marks. To insert, say, an e with an accent grave into a message, long press the “e” on your keyboard. That pops up a menu of “e” characters with various accent marks.

FAST ACCESS TO PHONE, TEXT AND E-MAIL In your address book, don’t tap the person’s name. Tap their photo. That pops up a menu of icons to call, text or e-mail. There are also options to send messages through Twitter and Facebook.

TAKE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF Android cameras without a second camera for self-portraits have a Self Portrait mode in the camera app. Tap it, and the camera will begin searching for faces in its viewfinder using facial-recognition software. The phone will shoot a new photo of you every few seconds, adding the pictures to your camera roll. It’s more hit or miss than taking your photo in a mirror, but it’s more fun, like mugging in an old-fashioned photo booth.

FASTER SENTENCES Android picked up a trick from old-school BlackBerry phones: When typing a text or e-mail message, you don’t need to fumble for the period key at the end of a sentence. Just press the spacebar twice. Android will insert one period and one space much faster than you could type them yourself.

E-MAIL SHORTCUTS If you use Gmail on your Android phone, you can create separate shortcut icons, as described above, to specific accounts, folders and Gmail labels. This lets you have separate icons for work e-mail and personal e-mail, rather than opening whatever you last read when you tap the Gmail icon. Once you’re in the e-mail app, you can also switch folders by tapping the name of the current folder at the top of the screen.

SILENCING A CALL Most users figure out they can get rid of a phone call by sliding the red arrow that appears onscreen when the phone is ringing. But not everyone realizes you can stop the phone from ringing by pressing the power button on top of the phone or either of the volume buttons on the right.

FIND ON PAGE To search for words within a Web page, press the menu key, tap More, and then tap “Find on page.” A search box and keyboard will appear to let you type in search terms.

SHARE A PAGE ON FACEBOOK Another option on the browser’s More menu is the Share page. One of the options to share is Facebook. Tapping it will open Facebook in the browser (rather than using Facebook’s Android app) and set up the link to be shared, complete with a thumbnail image and a space to type your comments.

Thoughts on Death

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

by Sue Ricketts

I ran across this interesting article online at a source called Boing Boing. If you’re not familiar with it I highly recommend glancing through the articles posted there from time to time. There are stories on all sorts of topics. I found this one quite thought provoking, although it was somewhat annoying that nobody ran a grammar check to make sure that it was in good form.

Follow this link Death in Space – Boing Boing http://bit.ly/k2geqF to read for yourself.

I found it interesting because it discusses something which we just don’t deal with well in most societies. In my profession as a financial advisor I often get into discussions with my clients about final wishes. The vast majority of them say that they want to be cremated and not buried. Most express a wish for no ceremony and would just rather be buried in their own back yard without fuss, expense and bother. This is a shift in attitudes in Europe and North America over the last sixty or so years. Back then it was standard and expected that people would be laid to rest in communal parks. Families proved their love by erecting stones with remembrances on them, the bigger the better. It meant you loved them more if it was more elaborate. Families were expected to visit often and pray for the souls of the departed. But no longer.

In our secular society today the fashion is to put the remains in some kind of small container and folks express their desire to have the ashes spread somewhere or to bury them. In Britain today, ashes are spread on a stone grooved in the shape of a cross outside a church and allowed to be exposed to wind and rain and disbursed back to nature. In Canada, there has sprung up a tradition of planting either a tree or shrub in the name of the deceased as a living memorial to someone who is not with us any more.

Another thing I hear quite a bit is that we don’t want a big fuss and show. That’s often a reason people give for not planning any expense when they pass away using insurance. It’s odd that we all know that we will die someday. After all no one has every figured out how not to. But we persist in not planning for it, often because we are superstitious and fear that speaking about our death will somehow bring it on. Aren’t we marvellously complex as humans

I find all of that interesting because of all the reasons stated in the article about space burials. There is a serious human need to deal with death. Not for the deceased, but for the survivors. Whether we really liked that person when they were alive or not, we need time to process the event and to be able to talk about our feelings about both the person and death in general.

Have you spent any time thinking about your future demise? I don’t mean morbidly linger on that thought. I mean understanding the feelings and needs of the survivors after you are gone. Not only in financial matters but in the mental and physical well being of those who will be affected. Have you thought about a legacy? Left a letter to anyone you care about? Or made a video to say goodbye? I think these would be much more important than anything else you might do. What do you think?

Kilgannon

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

By Kathleen Givens

Here we find another retelling of the times that led to the breaking up of the Clans of Scotland. This tale is of the love story between Mary Lowell, a well-bred lady of London and a Scots Earl from the West Highlands who comes to steal her heart.

Mary decides eventually that she will forsake her beau Robert Campbell, another Scot, but from the lowlands and one who lives permanently in England although he is aligned to the Argyle Clan. Her doubts are around leaving the family and familiarity of what she has always known and going off into the wild unknown of places where barbarians live – or so she is told.

She does wed her Earl Alexander MacGannon – twice. Once in London with her friends and family around her in an Anglican ceremony and then again when they reach Kilgannon lands with a Catholic priest as their witness. The second wedding takes place in the kil of Gannon, the church which is the true heart of the Clan.

While in London, both Mary and Alex are attacked by unknown parties who wear the Scots plaid but speak with markedly English accents. Alex and his Uncle Angus manage to save the day but are forced to kill the attackers and can’t find who sent them. While on a trading trip to France, Alex is poisoned by someone and near death for four days. They must find out who is doing this and stop it before Alex is murdered.

All through the story of setting up married life in Alex’s home, the drums of war begin to sound and there is talk of the return of James Stuart, the Pretender, coming to claim the throne of both Scotland and England when Queen Anne should pass away despite her having named the Electorate Sophie from Germany as her successor and then Sophie’s son, George, to follow her.

The political unrest ripples through Scotland and builds to the year 1715 when Alex must go off with the other Clans to join in the battles to fend off English enslavement. An interesting story set in a turbulent time of wars and politics and plots from all sides. The continuing story of Mary and Alex is told in the next book The Wild Rose of Kilgannon, published and available as paperback and ebook. Very readable.

Queen of Swords

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

By Sara Donati

This fifth in the series of books chronicling the American wars from 1794 through to 1814 again tells the stories through the eyes of the Bonner family of Paradise, New York on the West Bank of the Sacandaga river in the great forests.

When last heard from in Fire Along the Sky, Jennet, the wife of Luke Scott Bonner eldest of Nathaniel Bonner`s children has been kidnapped by an apostate priest named Anselme Degre and spirited away by ship to an island in the Gulf of Mexico. Her she lives with pirates who are rough and dangerous. She gives birth to Luke`s son and lives in fear of what may happen to him. Her only solace is her deck of Tarot cards. She manages to survive by reading the cards to the sailors who frequent the privateer’s ships.

The Queen of Swords is one of the two cards which she left as a clue for her fiance and her best friend, Luke and Hannah when she was kidnapped. Luke and his half-sister Hannah Walks-Ahead Bonner have made a pact to find their beloved Jennet no matter the cost.

Their helpers in this quest are a British crew led by a British-Canadian Captain named Kit Wyndham. This book does not relate their year-long chase to find her but tells of her rescue and the discovery that she was forced to give her child to a very shady businessman who has taken him home to Pensacola, Florida to be kept by his grandmother as his own child.

When they arrive in Florida they find that they child is now in Bayou St. John just outside New Orleans, Louisiana and that Honore Poiterin`s formidable Grandmere has no intention of giving up the boy named Nathaniel after his grandfather. When they arrive in New Orleans, the British are preparing to invade and the locals to defend the City in one of the epic battles pivotal to freedom in United States history.

Both Hannah and Jennet must overcome harrowing prejudice, illness and personal injury when Luke disappears for four months with no word of his whereabouts. The least of their troubles are finding themselves in a tropical place where Spanish and a completely different version of French are the common languages.

When Luke is able to get back to them, they find themselves entangled in plans for the saving of the City and fighting in the battles which occur along the bayous and cipriere along the Mississippi.

The arrival of a rescue party in the persons of Nathaniel Bonner himself and his friend Runs-from-Bears and their acquaintance with General Andrew Jackson gives incite into the thinking of the military defenders of the low-lying city built on the waterways at the mouth of the Big Muddy.

For history buffs who like to have a story told in the learning this is a great romp through some very trying times. All of the prejudices, beliefs and habits of the time are presented and nothing is varnished over.

Another very readable telling of the survival of the early settlers of North America, the Africans who came to serve them and the First Nations who were displaced by their arrival.

Client & EmployerTestimonials Give Prospects the Confidence to Become Clients

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

By Sue Ricketts

All salespeople are taught to get testimonials from their customers and use them when talking to new people. We should all be salespeople of ourselves at the very least and referrals are a great way to let others know that you are trustworthy and valued. The value is obvious; a new person can see that others have used your services and thought them worthwhile.

Many of your customers liked your services but don’t really know how to express their appreciation. Below is a guide to help make it simple for both the person giving the referral and also for you when posting or using them in printed media. They will all have a similar format and be credible to readers.

First things first. When you ask for that comment on what you have done for them remember these steps:

Tell them that you would like to use the referral in your advertising
Ask to use their full name to prevent suspicion that you just made up a client
The testimonial should speak to your credibility in your chosen niche within your field
Keep it short, no more than three or four sentences, so that it won’t take long to do or be boring to a reader
Always thank them with a card or small gift.
You might also offer to write it down for them if they are reluctant to do it themselves. Spoken word is a great referral too.

The following excerpt comes from an article by Larry Distillo from Strategy Lab who defined the steps to a good testimonial as follows;

If you think of client testimonials from the perspective of addressing the worries of prospective clients, you have a starting point to creating the right message.

In the end, the testimonials will be structured in a format that will begin with wording such as:

“I originally thought that working with Mrs. Advisor would (insert obstacle), but here is what I discovered (insert benefit).”

To achieve this and bring testimonials to life, make a habit of asking these key questions when requesting a referral:

1. Before entering into our partnership, what was your main concern about deciding to work together? By asking this, we look to acknowledge an obstacle or objection we want to defuse by using a testimonial.

2. What did you find as a result when you made the decision to work together? The answer to this question has impact, as it will defuse the obstacle or objection. The client will share information on why their decision was beneficial, even with the obstacle or objection present.

3. What was the one most useful and beneficial service that was provided for you? This question asks the client to narrow the focus to one specific, positive story.

4. Could you tell me about three other benefits of working together?

5. Would you be comfortable recommending my/our services? If yes, why? As mentioned previously, the client’s reputation is at stake. The answer to this question is very important. If the answer is “Yes,” then the client will give reasons why someone should work with you.

6. What else would you like to add? Always give the client an opportunity to provide more information. The timing of asking for a testimonial is important. You will want to ask a client during a time in the relationship where you have helped them overcome a hurdle or achieve a specific milestone. This helps the client focus when answering your testimonial questions. These questions can easily be asked using email; asking in person is not important. Ideally, by using email, the client can put their thoughts into words in a more precise, complete fashion. It gives them an opportunity to spend some time thinking about what they want to say.

Having testimonials from employers and clients is not only a great boost to your self-confidence but will be of constant aid in advancing your career in the future.

What Your Credit Card Won’t Let You Buy

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

by Quentin Fottrell Friday, June 3, 2011

A little-noticed move by American Express to ban the purchase of medical marijuana with its credit cards has reignited a longstanding debate: How much can a credit card company control what you buy?

More from SmartMoney.com:

• Can Google Replace Your Wallet?

• Should You Apply for a ‘Personal’ Card?

• The New Best Credit Card

To the surprise of consumers, major credit card companies are making decisions about what they can and can’t buy with their credit cards. What’s off-limits? Legal purchases like gambling chips and donations to at least one controversial non-profit organization; in some cases, buying pornography is also restricted, and so, increasingly, is medical marijuana. Last month, shortly before Delaware became the 16th state to legalize medical marijuana, American Express told merchants that its cards could not be used to buy it.

Companies say they’re protecting themselves against legal risk, but critics say this kind of corporate policy is an inconvenience for merchants, infringes on consumers’ rights and amounts to moral policy-setting. “You ought to be able to use a credit card for any legal purchase,” says John M. Simpson from the non-profit Consumer Watchdog. “It seems to me that credit card companies are imposing their moral values on the world.”

The specifics of the companies’ policies vary. American Express is the most conservative of the big three: it bans the purchase of medical marijuana in the 16 states that have legalized it and online pornography. Visa and MasterCard allow both for their credit and debit card holders. Last winter, Visa and MasterCard prevented cardholders from using their cards to donate to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. (The site never accepted American Express.) All three forbid using their cards to buy chips in a legal bricks-and-mortar casino. (Paying for online gambling, which is illegal in the U.S., is also prohibited.)

But the gambling restrictions also point out the gray areas in these policies, which critics say don’t always make sense. While cardholders can’t charge gambling chips, they can use their cards to get a cash advance at a casino’s ATM — cash they might then use to buy chips. “It’s arbitrary,” says Curtis Arnold, founder of the credit card comparison website CardRatings.com.

MasterCard and Visa said that their cards can be used for any legal purchases, though they declined to comment on the legal purchase of gambling chips. A MasterCard spokesman also said that the company has a number of programs that it uses to “combat illegal or brand-damaging behavior.”

American Express explained a more nuanced calculus: It said its business model, which primarily issues cards directly to customers instead of through a bank, requires it to be more conservative about risk. The company says it abides by federal law and prohibits transactions where the risk of dispute is unusually high.

The company also says its total ban on online pornography helps in the fight against child pornography, which is commonly disseminated or sold online. The ban on all pornography, even legal adult material, is “an additional safeguard,” said company spokeswoman Christine S. Elliott. As for marijuana, American Express points to federal law, which still prohibits the use of marijuana even for medical purposes. “We wouldn’t want to unduly inconvenience cardholders,” Elliott says, “but we are adhering to federal law.”

That’s not unreasonable, says Warren Redlich, a lawyer in Albany, N.Y., who specializes in consumer issues and criminal law. If the federal government were to ramp up its efforts to stop the sales of medical marijuana in states, it could theoretically try to implicate financial services companies that support the industry, he says. “You could sympathize with Amex’s position,” Redlich says, “I wouldn’t be surprised if MasterCard and Visa eventually go along with it.”

Some of these policies have been longstanding. American Express first banned the purchase of online pornography in May 2000, saying it faced an unacceptably high level of disputed transactions. “It’s a risk-based decision,” Elliott says. “This is not a moral judgment.” The company allows the purchase of pornography from brick-and-mortar stores.

But as more states legalize marijuana, the company’s policies are drawing criticism from new sources, including medical groups and doctors who support the medicinal use of the herb. Lester Grinspoon, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus at Harvard Medical School who served for over 40 years as Senior Psychiatrist at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston, notes its medicinal properties to lessen nausea, incontinence and symptoms of Tourettes’ Syndrome. “Yet you get American Express saying they won’t honor a charge for that purpose,” he says. “That’s amazing.”

As of now, there has been little pressure on credit companies to reverse their policies. Industry experts says consumers may have little choice but to watch credit card companies further restrict their spending habits, especially where there is a legal question mark. Arnold says, “Given their track record they’re going to be much more cautious when it comes to these grey areas given the increasingly strict regulatory environment.”

In other words, when in doubt, pay cash.

The Land of the Painted Caves

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

By Jean M Auel

I bought this book with high anticipation. Having read the previous five stories in this series, I was looking forward to revisiting Ayla and Jondalar in their home in the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. The previous books had chronicled Ayla’s life from about five years old through to her age twenty-two.

The latest book tells about her struggles as the mother of a young daughter trying to survive and thrive while balancing home and family with her studies to join the Zelandoni leadership of those who worship the Mother Earth.

This story in and of itself is an interesting telling of humans’ daily life during the ice age about 10,000 BC. The story is told by a lady who was fascinated by the caves which were the primary shelters of those who lived through a Europe which contained glaciers as far south as Spain, France and northern Italy. The habitat and animal life are described in great detail and give the reader a true feel for the places where the main characters live.

Ayla’s tale has taken us from the far eastern regions of Europe to the western sea and told tales of the many different tribes of people and how they lived. It talks of their culture, their habitat, what brought them joys and sorrows. The characters in this series are unforgettable.

Some of those people whom Jondalar and Ayla met in their year long journey on horseback to return to his homeland and people show up at a summer meeting allowing a retelling of some of their adventures which readers will know from the past books.

I found some parts of this book disjointing, as if they were written as a serialized short story exercise instead of a book. The authour seems to have forgotten that she explained a particular event, memory, or a past relationship, two or three chapters before in this book. Taking out those repeated tellings would have shortened the book by a couple hundred pages and made it much more action-packed. It also would have justified a price decrease on this hard-cover book. In short, I felt that the authour is stretching the story and not adding to the tale. It seemed an obvious grab for a bigger cover price. Although this probably has more to do with the publisher’s desires than the authour’s.

When the next book is written continuing the story’s many dangling loose ends, I hope that they keep brevity in mind.

Bravery in the Face of Provocation

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

By Sue Ricketts

Teacher Clocks Threatening Student

Not all acts of bravery and heroism occur on the battlefields with soldiers and other combatants taking part. There are some very real battles being fought in what’s considered normal everyday society.

I read an article from the Huffington Post titled Child Abuse Charges Dropped http://huff.to/l3i71P and it confirmed that teachers, particularly of teenagers are truly brave souls. After being yelled at, sworn at and threatened face-to-face, the plucky 64 year old teacher smacked the much taller kid in the face a couple times to make him back down.

You can check out the video at Cell Phone Evidence for yourself.

There’s even a typical student in the classroom suggesting that the teacher has no right to do what she did. What has this world come to when we expect someone to stand still and let someone threaten them? I notice that none of the others present in the room had the sense to try and contact someone to stop what was going on. After all, if there were cell phones present, why wasn’t the school office on speed dial on any of them? Parents are all into having their contact numbers available instantly but what about quick dial for faster help in an emergency?

This woman was then nearly charged and taken to court for her actions. Ultimately, the State’s Attorney General of Florida decided that there was not enough evidence to charge the teacher. The article never mentions whether they laid a charge against the young man who threatened her. We don’t see what lead to the confrontation but I’m sure it didn’t just happen out of the blue. There will be two sides or maybe more from those present.

It makes me wonder why children today are so disrespectful of adults. Is it because most adults are not deserving of respect? Or is it because they need to prove their bravery to their peers by showing how fearless they are? And more than that what about civilized behaviour in society?

Have adults stopped teaching our children how to get along with the other people in their lives? Taking others out of their lives by homeschooling and such is not always preferable. I was always taught that it was not necessary to like everyone with whom I had to deal on a frequent basis but that it was my job to get along. Maybe in taking children to organized sports and predefined play we never allow them to learn the valuable skill of interacting with others who don’t think and act as they do about everything.

This attitude seems much more prevalent in the United States than in Canada. Canadians, by and large, make much more effort to live in harmony. We don’t seem to prize individual freedom to do whatever we want so highly. That doesn’t mean that we don’t stand up for what we believe in or protect ourselves and our family and friends. It means that our first thought is not to be confrontational and exert our personal agenda over everyone else. I think it boils down to the concept of Individual Freedom versus the Common Good.

Isn’t it amazing how two sets of people living side by side on the same continent can have such markedly different ways of looking at the world? Canadians and Americans have so very much in common but see through different eyes. Generically Canadians are very tolerant. I don’t question your beliefs and attitudes unless they truly hurt or injure others. I think that’s why religion is considered private and not flaunted here. Because of the nature of our country’s existence, we don’t confront people and have as a consequence created a society with far fewer frictions than others.

Americans broke away from British rule through war and have convinced themselves that they are as a result better, more superior and wiser than the rest of the world. Canadians never got that concept. In an odd way, the United States psyche is very much like the English were in the days of The Empire. When they went abroad the English never for a moment questioned that their way of doing things was not the best or the only way to do them. The slogan was “ours is not to question why, ours is but to do or die”. In like manner, it seems that most Americans aren’t questioning why others are doing things before they react in defensive and threatening ways to others. Isn’t it interesting how some folks cling to attitudes which their ancestors rebelled against?

The deeper question in this story is who should we be supporting in a situation like this? Who was the braver person? Why was this confrontation necessary? Thoughts to ponder on a beautiful Monday morning.