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My brother copied some old home movies on to a CD thinking that we could all play them. Well, we could, but on on the tv or any other device aside from the PC.  If it had been a DVD format it would have been no problem.  The movies were actually on a DVD, but the format just didn’t transfer.  Imtoo now has a DVD Ripper which would have been helpful if he had it last year.  You can easily take a DVD like that one and adapt it to about 14 different video formats, or a few different audio formats.  Then, you can watch it on your iPod or share it with family members who may not have the same viewing software as you do.  What’s more is that you can add captions and different effects, which is really helpful when the people who know who the periphery characters in old home movies are pass away…and the info along with them.

This is all fine and good, but is there a DVD Ripper Mac version? Yup. Rip those DVDs right iPod, iPhone and iPad as well as Android formats.  Want to do more than just rip and add a few effects? Video Converter for Mac allows you to take your videos and add soundtracks, and clip and merge, and recognizes over 150 video formats.  I had no idea there were even that many, but I suppose with different generations of technology, there are probably more formats out there than the household names.

Have you tried a ripping program before? If so, what did you think? Can’t live without it?

Posted in Product Reviews and Mentions | No Comments »

It’s a jungle out there when it comes to web site hosting. There are so many businesses clamoring for my attention. It is easy to randomly select a company when you are in the market solely for domain hosting and be sorry later when you begin to develop websites at those domains down the road.  Some folks register one, two, or dozens of them for percolating ideas and grab the first web hosting company they see, sometimes not realizing that its so important to evaluate the companies carefully.  What if you wanted to expand someday into more of a business hosting package rather than just a parking spot for domains and a personal family website?  Business hosting not only involves a website that has a commercial name, but shopping cart software and promotional tools may also be in order.

Webhostinggeeks.com has a variety of charts that compare hosting services for various needs, including low price hosting, Linux hosting and more.  There are a few sites on the internet that also have star ratings and reviews for hosting services, but others are clearly affiliate sites where only hosts that the webmaster has affiliate deals with are highlighted.  Since this is not one of those sites, the playing field is a bit more even. Of course, the more people who opine, the more reliable the rating percentages will be, so rate away. Some hosts have many reviews, but some do not have a big enough cross section of ratings, yet, but the trends mentioned are helpful.

I do caution you to take a deep breath, or refrain from reviewing the host in the midst of an outage or a problem, as the site is not designed to solve technical problems with your host.  Who knows…you could also end up changing your mind based on the customer service of the complete experience.

Posted in Product Reviews and Mentions | 4 Comments »

Quite a while back, I bought and reviewed the Targus 32 in 1 card reader. What initially attracted me to it was the plug and play capability that it had for Mac. It has been quite some time since I used the reader, so thought I would add a sequel to my initial review.

The card reader only last about a month or two. It intermittently was not recognizing a standard Memory Stick, though it was picking up the vibes of an SD card right away. I tried wiggling the card, I tried taking it out and putting it back in quickly. The old method of unplugging it from the USB and plugging it back in had failed as well.

Then, I did something that perhaps was not too smart. I figured since it was working with the SD card, perhaps it was in the space of time when nothing was in the reader that it was failing. I put the Memory Stick in another slot while the SD card was in, and then proceeded to remove the SD card.

What happened next was not what I suspected. I fried both cards and the Targus reader never worked again under any circumstances. The cards survived after a reformatting, but not the reader. Of course, this was my fault, but nothing in the literature ever said anything about this on the “DO NOT DO” list. In fact, I don’t think there was such a list.

I do have a new card reader, I paid several more dollars for, and I will review that one in the near future.

Posted in Product Reviews and Mentions | 6 Comments »

My new IMac didn’t come with a built in card reader.  At first I scratched my head as to why, but I actually like the idea.  My reasoning is that data storage changes so fast, with no shapes coming out all the time, that it is better to plug and play the latest reader or drive than be stuck with one that is obsolete.   Macs last quite a long time just for the fact that you can usually don’t have to scrap your current Mac to make it compatible with the newest programs.  In fact, I borrowed someone’s original Mac once.  You know, the little teeny one.  I was able to use current word processing programs with it.

Today I am looking at the Targus 32 in 1 Card Reader, available at Walmart for $12.99.  This product was attractive to me because I have more than one type of memory card to read, and the price was right.

The upside:
Great price
Reads many card formats
Plug and play

Downside:
Computer doesn’t always read the card right away.  I had to plug and unplug it from the USB slot several times to get it to read.  Maybe I thought the next try would be the “magic touch.”  Also, the card, especially the long Memory Stick needs to be in absolutely straight. I tried this on other computers (including PC) and it is the same story.

I think the design could be improved by making a deeper berth for the cards.  If they have to slide in further, they are more likely to stay straight.

Overall, until I shell out more money, what do i really want or expect for $12.99?

It definitely works, and is extremely small and compact. If you are looking for a bargain, it is a good buy. If you are a very impatient individual, you might want to pass and look elsewhere.

Posted in PC/Mac Compatible, Product Reviews and Mentions | 2 Comments »