Trying Technology

READING PDF'S LESS INSECURELY

A lot of stuff on the web (and elsewhere) is in PDF format.

Most of us simply use the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.

In the past month (mid-February 2009), it's become clear this may pose a security risk.  

According to this article on Download Squad (one of the first Google hits on "Acrobat bug"), “Because of the way Adobe integrates into Windows explorer - to provide metadata information about PDF files - there is a chance that your system could become infected without ever opening a single file...That includes something as simple as hovering your mouse over the file icon."

I.e., you don't have to even open or download the file to be at risk.“

(FYI, one article I read said part of the problem is because of how Acrobat uses JavaScript in ways that don't benefit us users, but play a role in DRM and other content-owner-side things.)

According to Stephen Schenck, in Obsessable, “The bug affects only Windows computers running Acrobat version 7 or later."

Here's a YouTube video, from Schenck's article, showing the bug being exploited:



What should you (Windows users with Acrobat 7 or later) do?

• Update your computers, as Adobe releases patches, (which they've started to do, as of March 11). (UPDATE: According to Michale Kassner's IT Security blog in TechRepublic,  Adobe has released updates -- here's Kassner's advice on installing and double-checking the patches, and additionally securing FireFox (with the NoScript extension.)
• And here's a freeAdobe Flash vulnerability scanner from HP
  
• Meanwhile/instead, uninstall Adobe Acrobat completely (some of the components install into Microsoft Windows Explorer, so simply not using Acrobat won't do the trick), and install an alternative PDF reading application.

I'm now using the free Foxit Reader. There's some minor user interface differences from Adobe Acrobat, but it works fine, I'm happy with it.


AND WRITING PDF'S INEXPENSIVELY

During the past month, I've turned up two separate reasons to be able to not just read, but also write -- create PDF files:

• Saving copies of my articles from the web sites they appear on, for my "clips" (samples), in case the original becomes unavailable (e.g., the publication's site closes or changes, or the article is too old for them to keep it available).
  
  I've been simply saving these as web pages, but often these saves don't rebuilt exactly, or sometimes don't work at all.  And here I don't care about a "live" web page; I'm looking for a copy that's the equivalent of having torn/copied a page from a magazine: "here's what actually appeared."
• On a separate note, as I do more to promote my Dern Grim Bedtime Tales, I'm making up promotional handouts and other things, and want to provide a single document made from a bunch of Word files... and would rather not provide it as a Word file, in any case.

Again, legitimately-free software to the rescue; here, CutePDF Writer. This installs as a option in PRINT submenus, e.g., on FireFox and Microsoft Word.

So far, CutePDF Writer has been working fine, and doing what I'm looking for.

So: FoxIt Reader and CutePDF Writer, both recommended.  I'm sure there's other equally good free solutions... and I know that both these tools have a lot of features I haven't explored or put to use yet.

When it comes to browsing the web, I'm a firm believe in "Anything But Microsoft Internet Explorer (wherever possible)."

For the longest while, this meant using Opera.

Somewhat belatedly, I've moved over to Firefox as my browser-of-first-choice, with Opera at the ready -- not because Firefox is necessarily better (and even though my fingers still know more Opera keyboard commands), but because as someone who writes about this stuff, I try to use (some) mainstream tools.

And Firefox does have all sorts of nifty add-ons, extensions, and other features I've barely scratched the surface of.

Plus, Firefox works with ZoneAlarm ForceField, CheckPoint's "browser/email wrap-around" session protector, which works with MSIE, Firefox, even Netscape Navigator, MSN Explorer, and AOL... but not Opera.

To be fair, Opera may be secure enough to not need the ForceField's additional protection... but ForceField also offers a "no session data (cache, cookies, history and passwords) left behind" mode, which feels useful at times.

Anyway, so I'm using Firefox.

I'm one of these people that accumulates lots of open browser tabs as the day and week go on. Yeah, being a better bookmarker would make more sense. I can easily have twenty, thirty or more tabs, reflecting sites I'm currently using, or URLs I want to get around to checking out.

I've got Firefox Start set to "show windows and tabs from last time."

Inexplicably, this is not always working.

Even more inexplicably, sometimes Firefox will restart several times in a row with just my home page... and then, poof! there's my twenty-plus tabs.

This remember-and-forget-and-remember behavior continues across days, incremental Firefox version updates, with ZoneAlarm ForceField working or not... there is no apparent (to me) rhyme or reason.

I've taken to doing a Bookmark-All-Tabs every so often, to save things. Of course, it seems like Firefox sometimes loses track of my bookmarks when it does a version upgrade, or hides them for a few sessions. Bad browser!

Plus, Firefox's "warn me when closing multiple tabs" isn't working lately if I've only got one Firefox window open... although if I've more than one open, closing one Firefox window will. Just not the last window. Go figure.

I'm not about to abandon Firefox and go back to Opera, much less move to MSIE.

But I wish Firefox would go back to doing what it says it would do, and be consistent about it.

So I bought this shredder last year.  It's a good one -- cross-cuts into tiny diamond-shapped chads; it was on sale for like forty bucks.

Here's the thing:  The usage guidelines (which are, to the company's credit, on the device itself, not just in the printed instructions) say, up to eight sheets at a time, and, don't use more than 25 to 50 times per day.

Now, "eight sheets at a time" is pretty clear, and not too hard to do.

But the per-day advice... I'm not disputing the numbers, but y'know, a little incremental, resettable counter would make tracking this a lot easier.  (Or, I suppose, taping a mini-pad of paper on top, and just making counting marks.)

For that matter, roughly how much shred does the basket hold -- another rough way to track, if you empty it out before a long day's shredding?  I suppose I could track it, and then put pieces of tape on to mark as another way to ballpark the daily shred count.

I'm just saying, we shouldn't have to think about this to know how we're doing.

I've been using Bluetooth headsets with my cell phone for about a year and a half (see my TechWeb review of three headsets), and recently tried out a few more (for an article that isn't up yet), and here's my overall thoughts on the matter (confirmed, or even pointed out first to me, by my colleague Ernest Lilley, editor of TechRevu.com):

• Probably the most important feature is using a standard charging port on the headset, i.e., mini- or micro-USB, which is what Jabra does, and also Plantronics on some, rather than something proprietary, which is what the Aleph Jawbone still does.

Reason: Without the cable, you've got a very small boat anchor (or ear decor). And these cables are easy to lose, misplace, forget to pack, not have on hand, etc., while you can probably get a mini/micro-USB cable at most drug stores. And it's easy to accumulate enough to provision your carry-bag, car, pocket, etc. And a growing number of pocket chargers come with these cables.

• Second, IMHO, is how well the dang thing stays in your ear, which in turn means, is there an ear loop, and how securely is it secured to the earpiece.

I lost one loopless headset a month or two ago, while doing chores in town. I sort of felt it pop out, but I wasn't paying attention, and by the time I realized it had fallen out, and retraced my steps five or six yards back from my car to the copy/ship store, I couldn't find it. No big deal, I've still got several headsets, but it's annoying.

On the Jabra I use a lot (partly because it has a mini-USB charging port, per above), the ear loop sometimes pops off. The Aleph Jawbone's is very securely connected, but (per above) I'm not using the Jawbone as much as I otherwise might.

• Button close to the edge, or whoops, didn't mean to hang up on you. The main button on some is easy to mis-hit, like when I'm adjusting the fit to my ear, and whoops, I've hung up on the call.
• How well can you hear me now? The big problem in selecting a Bluetooth headset is that while the callee may sound fine to you, you can't tell how you sound to them, short of having somebody call you using that headset. (Which Ernest Lilley and I have done many rounds of, often playing "Guess which headset.")

Lastly, a general observation: Be quieter. Pretty much every headset I've tried can pick up my talking at a conversational or even sub-conversational level, so quiet that you wouldn't hear me more than two feet away. I even conducted at least one test call from the stacks of my library, in a semi-whisper, and was heard well enough. You don't have to yell. The same goes for when you're not on a headset. So don't. If you have to talk loud when other people are around, go elsewhere or make your call later.

At the end of Jacques Futrelle's classic (and not just because it was written in 1905) mystery story, "The Problem of Cell 13," (read it online!) asked how he would have solved the problem if the plan he executed hadn't worked, Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen (a.k.a. "The Thinking Machine" *) replied, "There were two other ways."

(* Which always makes me think of the line from the a classic parody, which I can't identify offhand although I think it was Robert L. Fish, '"Was it Wednesday?" asked the Thinking Machine, thinking he was a washing machine.')

That's often how I feel about tackling computer problems...although, far too often, there turns out to be no (good) way, or, sometimes, the problem resolves itself (mysteriously stops being a problem).

Case in point: The "afternoon of network heck" on Wednesday, July 10, when, abruptly, my Internet connection went wonky.

Suddenly, the browsers (FireFox, with Opera as backup, MSIE only when absolutely necessary) on my near-new XP Pro desktop weren't accessing the web. I had a Putty SSH session open, and it kept working, so it wasn't the connection proper...but foolishly, I closed Putty, and couldn't regain the connection.

And, apparently, it wasn't just me having the problem, as I discovered a little later.

I remembered that a little earlier, Zone Alarm had "detected it was on a new network"... given that my desktop has a wired connection to my router, that's a little odd. I tried checking Zone Alarm for odd signs, but didn't see anything amiss. (I may not have looked at the right stuff, however.)

Events like this are often, of course, the result of some change, but at the time, I couldn't think of anything that might have been.

So I began to try things, starting with the easy and obvious:

• A quick check of the TV confirmed that cable service per se was still on.
• Ditto blinky-lights on the cablemodem, so I hadn't inadvertantly tapped the STANDBY button (which disconnects things).
• Transient glitch? Rebooting the computer, and then the cablemodem and router, didn't help.
• Loose network connection somewhere? I removed and re-inserted everything in the path.
• Bad router jack? The box has fallen a few times. I tried the other router ports.
• Bad Ethernet cable to the computer? I tried another CAT5 Ethernet cable between router and desktop.
• Try another computer. The press-loaner Vista notebook could access the Internet, via my 802.11 WiFI. This was partial clue I didn't pay enough attention to.

Then it was time for some serious Plan B's. Since at this point there seemed to be WiFI Internet access, I went rooting around for a WiFI adapter for the desktop, but:

• And old Travel Access Point's "simple three-step instructions" sheet showed, in Step 3, cranking open a browser window to configure something... but didn't actually give the IP address. (And the manual, which I was able to grab via the notebook, wasn't much more help.)
• I found a USB WiFI Adapter -- but not the CD with the driver. And the vendor web site showed drivers for two models -- neither of which was the model I found. By the time I'd reached tech support and got the URL for the driver, I no longer had enough net access to get to it. (And, as it turned out, this wouldn't have helped.)
• In case the problem was my desktop's NIC card, I started to try a USB Ethernet adapter -- but although I had the driver CD, I remembered this was pre-XP enough that I was nervous. (I had another USB/Ethernet right in front of me, but didn't see it.

Now it was time to call Comcast, my broadband provider, in case they knew something I didn't. However, the wait-time was too long, so I decided to talk Grep (our dog) out for a walk. While out walking, I called one of my colleagues, Ernest Lilley, who said "If you're using Zone Alarm, crank its firewall setting down a notch or two."

Since I couldn't do that until I got back, I tried calling Comcast, my broadband provider again, while still out walking. Aha! A few menu choices down, the recording advised me there was a known problem with a new Microsoft update conflicting with Zone Alarm--uninstall the patch and then check the ZoneAlarm site for further advice." (This assumed that the un-install would resolve the immediate problem, of course.)

And, in fact, it did.

That let me get to the ZoneAlarm web site, where they acknowledge the issue and offered a little more advice. They initially put this on their main page:

Sudden loss of internet access - Microsoft Update KB951748 is known to cause loss of internet access for ZoneAlarm users. We recommend that users uninstall KB951748 using "Add or Remove Programs" until the issue is resolved.

And subsequently issued a Security Advisory, and a press release, which in turn pointed to the Security Advisory.

I conceded to Ernest that he was right enough in his solution -- although Zone Alarm feels that lowering the firewall security levels is somewhere between ungood and plusungood (to cop a phrase from George Orwell's 1984 reduced-vocabulary lexicon). But, as I pointed out, he hadn't actually identified the cause of the problem.

A few hours later, there were news stories confirming the problem, workarounds and solutions. By the next day, Thursday, July 10, Zone Alarm made updated versions available "which solve the loss of internet access problem," which should make it safe to allow Windows to (re) apply the patch. (I haven't yet done the Zone Alarm update, but I will.)

Solving Solutions

Let's gloss over the annoying fact that Microsoft's "Add/Remove Software" doesn't have any (obvious) way to sort updates based on when-applied, much less a separate "Update/patch manager" the way some applications seem to. The Add/Remove approach worked, at least for me.

Had it not, there were, as Professsor SFXvD noted, at least two other ways I can think of. One, use Microsoft's System Restore facility to revert to the most recent Restore Point. (Memo to self: Create a new Restore Point at least once a week. I try to do one before any software install, but even so.) This might sacrifice an install and/or config -- I _think_ that doing a Windows "Save State" would give me some way to re-recover. But it sure should undo that nasty update.

Two, since it was a system problem rather than a network problem: Have a bootable Linux CD, with whatever key utilities I might need. I don't know if this would be able to see my Windows NTFS file system (hard drives), worth finding this out when I'm not in a hurry.

Three, crank up my old IBM ThinkPad, which wouldn't have the dread update, since it's normally off, and therefore should work.

Four, dial-up. I've got a modem card in my desktop. I think I've got dial-up access through an account -- another Memo To Self, find a zero-maintenance-cost dial-up provider for backup.

Or do without connectivity for a while, or trot over to the library where there's Internet computers... if they're not already in use by fellow XP/Zone Alarm sufferers.

Or, of course, copy files to a USB stick and go to the library and use one of their computers.

(If I had a Blackberry or whatever, I could always use that for checking/sending email.)

("Get a Mac" or "Go Linux" don't count as solutions; for bad or worse, I'm working in Windows. I'm used to it, it ain't bad most of the time, and it's what most of my readers use.)

The challenge, of course, is which solutions to invest time making ready, and keeping solutions up to date.

Computers. Networks. Pfui.

Adding interesting features to blogs and other web pages, like YouTube videos and Flickr slideshows is getting downright easy, in many cases -- as easy as creating and doing a blog.

Not only do you not have to write any HTML code, you don't even have to view and root through a site's HTML source.

All you have to be able to do is to copy and paste it HTML accurately. And maybe have done some searching to find what you're looking for.

YouTube, for example, shows two ways to access each of its videos: the URL proper, and also the HTML code to "embed" a clickable view within your page. YouTube goes even further, providing customization options including "include/don't include 'related videos,'" and borders. The only thing I haven't (yet) figured out is how to center an embedded YouTube video within my page.

For example, here's my YouTube video of a robot bookscanner: the URL, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2SzGcylZVE, and the "embed" code, as provided by YouTube, which I used to embed it on this web page (I've split up some of the lines to make the code clearer for us HTML amateurs):

 

<object 
   width="425" height="344">
<param 
   name="movie" 
   value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h2SzGcylZVE&hl=en&fs=1">
</param>
<param 
   name="allowFullScreen" 
   value="true">
</param>
<embed 
  src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h2SzGcylZVE&hl=en&fs=1" 
  type="application/x-shockwave-flash" 
  allowfullscreen="true" 
  width="425" height="344">
</embed>
</object>

There are third-party snippets, as well. Some require a little more knowledge of, and access to, what you're doing, like Exploding Boy's Add Links for Del.icio.us, Digg, and More to Blog Posts, which require access to your PHP files.

But others are as easy as YouTube's, like PictoBrowser, a "Free Flickr Slideshow for your Site or Blog." PictoBrowser turns a selection of your Flickr photos into a slideshow can embed (add) this turn a blog post or web page. (Kudo's to TechRevu editor Ernest Lilley for turning this one up.)

To create a PictoBrowse slide show (i.e., the HTML for one), find an existing PictoBrowse slide show, like the one in Ernest's BoltBus write-up. PictoBrowse asks for your Flickr screen name (but NOT your password, it's clearly searching for stuff you've designated as publicly available), has you select what you want slide-show'd, and then offers you code ready to copy and paste, or offers you the option to customize -- easy!

Another memo to self: Check garment pockets for electronic devices before laundering.

You're probably not old enough to remember the classic Timex watch commercials where Timex wrist watches -- pre-digital -- were put through a variety of funky tests and "keep on ticking." (I'm not sure I'm old enough -- I have a feeling what I'm really remembering is Mad Magazine spoofs on the ads.)

Some -- but not all -- of today's electronic devices can hold up to this.

• My digital wrist watch has survived being worn in the shower and swimming pool. (I look for "water-resistant" when I buy them.)
• My first NEC MobilePro 780 (that two-pound computer I have in my oversized shirt pocket at trade shows) never fully recovered from my spilling a glass over water on it, several year ago... and a one-third-working keyboard really isn't enough. (Lesson learned: don't hold a drink, even water, and a computer at the same time.)
• Some new notebooks, like Panasonic ToughBooks, and HP's new 2133 Mini-Note PC, claim they can survive about half a cup of liquid being spilled on the keyboard.

After a large dollop of shampoo got spilled on a SanDisk Sansa C1 flash MP3 player, it stopped working. It "wakes up," but the controls don't work beyond that. (I haven't yet given up hope of resurrecting it, though.)

But, I'm happy to report, my little SanDisk Sansa radio/MP3 player has survived a cycle through the washing machine.

When it comes to taking care of our own computers, it's easy to be smart, but even easier to be stupid. Even those of us who write about this stuff can be guilty of doing stupid, computer-killing things. Including yours truly.

And thereby hangs my admittedly long tale.

Aging Computers Get The Blue(Screen)s

I just picked up my new desktop computer will be ready on Friday. And not a day too soon, possibly thanks to my misplaced confidence, because where I briefly was back up to two working, albeit old, Windows XP desktop computers, I'm down to one, and that one's exhibiting new buggy behavior.

I bought my Athlon 1700 desktop back in Fall of 2001, and the Athlon 1800 early in 2003, from PCs For Everyone, a local (Boston-area) "white box" shop patronized by businesses, universities, along with Linux hackers, gamers, and folks like me who simply want a good computer.

(Here's articles I've written about this company, and more generally about buying from white box shops.)

They were, at the time, good, fairly priced systems configured more or less with "sweet spot" mid-range processors, a gig of RAM, separate hard drives for software versus data, and minor other frills, like nice lightweight Lian Li cases. Nothing fancy, just good systems for running the office and Internet apps I earn my living as a writer with. Although the Lian Li cases are easy-open, for the most part I've kept them shut, other than installing an eSata PCI card in one, a year or so ago.

According to most IT folks I've talked to in the course of researching articles, the standard "refresh" (replace with new) cycle for business desktop computers is three to four years.

So by any standards, my systems are, if not obsolete, entitled to be scheduled for replacement. However, up until this past year, they've continued to work. I've taken each in for service once or twice, over the years, resulting in a few hundred dollars of component replacement or upgrade, but, until this past year, they still worked fine.

But over the past year, my desktops had been so unusable for a few months that I was running off my notebook -- an IBM ThinkPad, itself at least four years old.

One system, nominally my "production" (do work on) system, was getting turgid to the point of uselessness -- it would boot up to Windows, but then often be slow, or incredibly slow. And the virus protection part of Zone Alarm kept turning itself off, a bad sign. Possibly I had an infestation of malware. Or Windows "Registry rot," or other inadequate Windows upkeep and maintenance.

The other system would boot up into Windows -- and then promptly crash, power cycle and reboot back into Windows, and then crash again.

I'd already been window-shopping a new desktop from PCs For Everyone. One project had me trying to run the Second Life client unsuccessfully -- it installed and ran once or twice, but on subsequent tries, it said, "not enough resources" or something like that.

And since I want to run XP Pro, not Vista, now -- before the end of June 2008 -- is the time to buy. (Vista Business offers a "downgrade" option that would let me switch over, but I've decided to get my desktop with what I plan to run, and worry about "upgrading" to Vista later -- or never.)

No Good Repair Goes Unpunished

I did manage to get both working again, to my pleasant surprise. At least, that's what I thought.

The one that was cyclically power/boot cycling worked fine, I discovered, once I removed one of its 512MB memory modules. (A lucky guess, on my part, as it turned out.)

The other machine -- which would finish booting into Windows and stay up, turgidly, proved t be fine in Safe Mode. So rather than attempt to reload Windows, I used Windows' System Restore utility to go back to the oldest Restore Point I had. This seemed to resolve the problem.

Voila, two working systems again.

Or so I thought.

Since my Test machine was down from 1GB to 512MB, I brought the apparently dead stick over to Micro Center (a computer-store chain which I like I lot), where the sales rep helped me a 1GB stick for $44 after rebate -- or 2 512's for a few dollars less. These both went into my Test machine, which seemed happier (faster).

Foolishly encouraged by my success in swapping RAM memory sticks, I said to myself, "I've got 1.5GB in my test machine, but only 1GB in my production machine... why not swap a module over?"

Even though the sales rep at Micro Center had made this point, I'd lost track that just because a memory module may fit in a motherboard slot doesn't mean it's compatible... and an incompatible memory module can have bad results.

My initial memory swapping simply caused my production machine to not boot, just beep. (These beeps have meaning, but I don't have the information at hand.)

The first memory slot had a lot of dust in and around it, so I took my can of compressed computer-cleaning air and gave it a zetz (little shot) of air, before replacing the module.

The computer didn't work any better... but now I noticed a sudden bad smell. So I turned the computer off, and the next day, I toted the computer over to PCs For Everyone's service location a half hour or so away in Norwood. (Their Cambridge sales/service location closed down a year or so ago, and, depending on traffic, wouldn't have been less time to get to.)

Three hours after I dropped the machine off, I got the bad news: fried motherboard.

Given the age of the computer, they didn't have any replacement parts to sell me. I might be able to find a motherboard and CPU somewhere like eBay, but that was a crap shoot.

Ah well, I still have one working desktop computer, I reassured myself. And I've been planning to buy a new desktop anyway, I've just been delaying it because the technology writing biz has been a little slower than I'd like lately.

Except, I discovered, that when I plug any USB storage, the machine again goes through the crash, reboot to windows, repeat cycle like it had before I replaced the bad memory stick. Not if I plugged in my USB printer, or my Bluetooth headset's USB charger cable... but for USB flash drives, a USB hard drive or CD burner (each of which have their own power supply, note), either to a USB port on the computer, or to the USB peripherals port on my KVM switch. Go figure.

This means, among other things, I can't do local external backups. Since I'm using an online backup service Data Deposit Box (see my review in eWeek) for nearly a year now, that's not a big deal, but it also means I can't download pictures from my digital camera, or retrieve/save files to USB sticks, or add stuff to my MP3 player.

So I ordered my new computer (more on this in future post), which I had pretty much spec'd out. And when I go pick it up on Friday, I'll bring this working-but-troubled-one in for service, to see if it can be (affordably) fixed. (Fortunately, my current desktops have 'lifetime free labor' service warrantees.)

With luck -- and, hopefully no more than a hundred bucks or so replacement parts -- I'll end up with one fixed aging desktop, plus a lovely new one. (I'll post a note on what the problem, and solution, with the second machine turned out to be.)

Like I said, both my desktops are are old enough that they've more than earned out, and entitled to go to the computer equivalent of Doctor Dolittle's Home For Retired Cab-Horses.

I'm sad that one or both will be retired. I'm annoyed at myself for possibly -- probably -- hastening one's demise and retirement, but at seven years, it's entirely possible the mobo immolation was coincidental (although coincidence is always to be distrusted). And it's entirely possible that this or something else would have gone wrong soon.

The reality is that I should have bought a new machine sooner, because the toll on my productivity outweighed the "savings" of not making the purchase sooner than I might otherwise. (I was also waiting until mid/late-April, for availability of Intel's new Penryn CPUs, admittedly.)

So, I'll be picking up my new desktop computer at the end of this week.

Lessons (re)-learned:

• Don't fix anything that isn't broken, especially if you don't really know what you're doing. And just because a part fits physically doesn't mean it's necessarily safe to do that.
• Good backups -- local or online -- will get you through times of bad computers better than vice versa. I was able to download my data in about six clicks, allowing an orderly transition between machines.
• If working tools aren't working, they need to be replaced in a timely fashion, because when you're not working, you're not earning.

And if you want to play with computer hardware, that's what old computers nobody's using are for.

(Disclaimer: I'm sure I could have made my points here in a tenth the space... but I'm irked.)

One recurring complaint in chats I have with some of my similarly-aged friends is that it's not worth repairing a growing number of our techno-doodads, because for around the same price, we can simply get a new one that's better -- more features, faster, smaller, whatever.

(And, by extension, it's similarly not worth getting the "best" anything... because in one to two years, it'll be obsolete anyway. Case in point: the Olympus D490 'clamshell' digital camera I bought in 2001 for somewhere between $400 to $500. It still works as well as it did then. But its level of "well" is no longer state of the art. Last summer I bought a Canon A570 PowerShot that's about the same size, but has more zoom, more features, way more potential capacity -- and cost around $220.)

But what's bugged me even more over the past few months is that it's turning out to often be easier -- and close to more sensible -- to consider getting a new device than getting a new battery for it. In particular, for cell phones and flash MP3 players.

Losing Their Oomph

The rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in notebook computers, cell phones, media players and other mobile/portable devices, have a useful lifetime of, with luck, two to three years. (Some, like iPod batteries -- I'm told -- are more in the one-year zone.) Somewhere in this time frame, the battery stops holding as much charge.

The batteries on my cell phone and media player had, within the past several months, slid into the "not enough charge" range, particularly my cell phone when using it with a wireless Bluetooth headset. Even when I'm not talking, the mere fact of having Bluetooth turned on, on the cell phone, drains the phone battery much faster.

So I started looking around for new batteries.

And this brings me to the annoying, sad, irritating, really-piss-me-off grim reality of today's techno-gadgets, even worse than "you usually can't repair them and even when you can, it's worth it because you can usually get a BETTER whatever for not much more, perhaps even less, than the cost of repairs." Namely, that the same just about holds true for getting a replacement battery.

(Assuming you can even find the right battery, of course.)

For a notebook computer, the economics aren't quite as bad -- today's notebooks cost (mostly) between six hundred to two thousand dollars, so a hundred or two hundred dollars for a new battery, in return for another year of notebook life, isn't a bad trade-off, if your notebook's got enough power and you like it.

But for consumer/portable electronics, I'm discovering, not so easy.

Old cell phones get little respect

For my Nokia cell phone, which I've had, I think, for about two years, I've NEVER been able to find a replacement battery in either the Cingular/AT&T store I got it from, nor at any store. Cingular (the original Cingular, before they were bought by AT&T) didn't even have spares when I first bought the phone.

I've looked without luck since then, in Staples and other stores, as having a charged spare is often convenient when I'm travelling. (I'll write about RECHARGE IN YOUR POCKET another time.)

From Nokia's web site, a new battery for my phone is $49. For that price -- or less -- I could get a whole free new phone from Cingular as many or more features (as long as I renew my contract). There's something wrong about this. I spent five or ten minutes looking over their choices -- I really should be trying out a Blackberry, and/or learning to text message, and all that, but I wasn't ready to be picking a new phone JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND A NEW BATTERY (at a reasonable price).

(Especially since I'd want another set of wall and phone chargers, for my travel kit, driving up the total price if my current ones didn't fit the new phone -- and that would mean that Bobbi and I would no longer have charger-compatible phones.)

You-Do-It Electronics Center, a great independent electronics store a few miles away, had a third-party one for $30, according to their inventory system. But the guy at the register couldn't find it in the wall rack behind him.

Fortunately, Googling turned up a number of choices, including, astonishingly, one for $9.95 INCLUDING SHIPPING. Other choices ranged form twenty to fifty dollars, some of which were for lower-capacity batteries, to boot.

After a day of brooding, I cranked up the browser (Mozilla), and Paypalled the $9.95.

It arrived a few days later -- labelled as from Nokia, although without the holographic sticker that's on my original battery.

For the first month or so, this one has been lasting a day and a half on, with Bluetooth on. This makes me realize my original battery's capacity had degraded to probably half at least six months ago.

I think the new battery's already degrading, but whaddaya want for ten bucks. Maybe it's time to go look for a new phone. Or maybe I need to buy a name-brand battery from a name-brand supplier.

Play It Again and Again, Sam

That left the media player -- a Sandisk Sansa C1, which I'd gotten at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show from Sandisk, as their attend-our-press-conference goody. It's got a great FM tuner in it--important, as I listen to radio more than tunes, and 1GB of internal memory. (And I've added two GB more, into the micro-SD slot.)

New, the C1 originally listed for a little under $100; I've seen them on sale for $49 on J&R.com, probably as a discontinued item.)

Naturally, the battery is a size not carried by Radio Shack, drug stores, etc. (I haven't tried 1-800-Batteries or other battery specialist stores.)

The new battery "kit" from Sandisk is $20.

A new MP3/radio player of comparable storage is like $40-50.

Happily, in informing me that they didn't carry this size battery, the Radio Shack salesperson asked me how long I'd had the player, and hearing "just under a year," informed me that Sandisk was offering replacements, under warrantee, and I should call them.

I did, and after a few minutes, Sandisk support said they'd send me a replacement battery -- advising me that when this one went, I'd have to buy a new one. (Fine by me.)

(Of course, it wasn't quite that simple... three weeks later, with no new battery in sight, I called Sandisk support back up, and they said, whoops. One batteryless month later, when I called, I found they'd gotten my address wrong. A total of slightly over two months later, the new free replacement battery arrived.)

So, that's two moderately-happy battery-story endings -- and also another happy-ending (with middling middle) tech-support tale.

I'm still philosophically peeved. But at least I can be listening to the radio or complaining on the phone while peeved.

And that's why, when I went looking for a new digital camera, my first criterion was "Must use AA batteries."

There were about 400 exhibitors (probably close to 300 uniques, since there some were at multiple events) at the multi-vendor press/analyst events I went to -- "CES Unveiled," Lunch@Piero's, Marty Winston's Cherry Picks, Pepcom Digital Experience, and ShowStopppers. (See my DERN @ CES Report #3, A Few Words (Well, Paragraphs) AboutThe Multi-Vendor Press/Analyst-Only Events".

I schmoozed with or otherwise looked, and took press materials from, at least a hundred of these several hundred exhibitors, including Diskeeper, D-Link, Lenovo, NetGear, Nikon, Olympus, Paragon Software, Sandisk, and Rebit, to rattle off a few from memory.

And there were over 2,700 exhibitors at CES 2008, with I-don't-know-how-many products. I saw probably a hundred, maybe two hundred of these -- many at the "Innovation Center" at the Sands/Venetian. (Fortunately, I'd already chatted with many of these folks, at the Pepcom, ShowStoppers, et c.

Here's brief notes on a sampling -- four dozen or so -- based mostly on the notes I typed into my trusty "pocket-sized" NEC MobilePro 780. (I've also got a one-foot stack of PR CDs, two dozen USB drives (totaling about 15GB) of press kits, and a modest two-inch stack of PR paper I brought back.) There were lots more interesting products, but I can't include them all (especially not in this forum, which I'm doing for free).

I'll do, and post to TechRevu.com, category-sorted summaries (including some stuff not noted in this report), and "Dern's Picks For CES2008." (And I'll go back and put links to them here.)

• Yoggie's USB-stick Linux-based firewall and security apps -- not just software, but also a processor, rather than consume your computer's CPU resources. Less than $100, I'm curious to try one.

• Sandisk is adding a auto-backup service to some of its Cruzer Titanium Plus flash drives, via BeInSync online backup using Amazon Web Services. The first six months of the service are free; $29.99 per year afterwards. Also, optional password protection and AES in-hardware encryption, and two years free BoomerangIt lost-and-found service. The 4GB flash drive should be available March 2008, MSRP $59.99.

• NRG was showing a solar recharging dock -- technically, a solar panel, and a separate, also AC-powerable, dock -- to help keep mobile devices charged, and provide a way to recharge them during (daytime) power outages. (Too) expensive for most of us, IMHO; available March 2008.

• Got data you want to protect from fire and other disasters, and aren't using an offsite data backup service? Or CD/DVDs and a few other things you want to (also) protect? Consider a fireproof drive or safe from Sentry Safe.

• HTC Shift - Mobile 3G Cell Devices with Big-Enough Keyboard Another entry blurring the line between big Internet-enabled cell phones and small cellular-broadband enabled notebook computers, the HTC Shift includes Vista Business, a 7" display, 30GB (or bigger) hard drive, tri-band, quad-band, WiFI and Bluetooth, in a two-pound package.

• Giving the finger(s) to handhelds and mobile devices: interface developer Synaptics Inc. is adding support for "pinch" and "momentum" finger gestures for touchscreens, in addition to its existing "ChiralMotion" scrolling gesture support.

• Online PC service/support/training firm PlumChoice was at ShowStoppers, providing service via remote access. I don't (yet) know how much it costs, what exactly they do, etc., but I'm sure it beats being asked by family and friends to fix their computers.

• Beceem has chipsets for mobile WiMAX, e.g. notebooks and handhelds with built-in WiMAX (or, for all I know, PCMCIA or other add-ons). Mobile WiMAX can be the metro alternative to cellco broadband, let's wish them luck!

• Brother was showing its HL-2170W WiFi-enabled laser printer, MRSP $149. (Other printer vendors, like Lexmark, already offer WiFi-enabled printers -- see my eWeek news story, and add-on WiFi print servers are appx $40-$100.)

• IoGear continues its foray into the pocket-sized mobile rechargeable power pack for cell phones and other handheld/mobile devices, with its GearJuice, MSRP $49.95 with six charging tips. Also shown: their smaller SlimCharger and Rescue Charger.

• Wenger's best-known product line is Swiss Army Knives, but they also do other stuff, like their new Ibex computer backpack, MSRP $89. No wheels or handle, but very impressive padding against the back. (Victorinox makes a nice wheeled backpack, although I'm still quite happy with my Targus 15.4" Rolling Notebook Backpack.)

• Samson Tech makes high-quality mobile stereo audio recording easy with its Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, MSRP $199, and H4 Handy Recorder (around $500, from the looks of it. AA-powered, very interesting!

• Energizer's moving beyond just-batteries to also offer Energizer Light on Demand-- lights plus rechargeable batteries, and a docking/mount, so they can act like normal use/emergency in-place or cordless mini-lights or removable flashlights.

• Want VoIP at home, in your small office, or on the road, but having trouble telling whether it's working? Vonage's new V-Portal router, with two RJ-11 (POTS) phone jacks, plugging into any broadband. It's got an LCD for install, calling, and troubleshooting info, and is small enough to be part of your portable tech kit.

• Clean gunk and germs from device screens with Monster Screen Clean.

• Fujitsu has added Wide-Area Networking to its already sweet 1.5-pound ultra-ultra-light Lifebook u810 Mini-Notebook PC, MSRP around $1,000 (not counting WAN service). On the list of "Things I want to try."

• Amiga fans, interesting (good?) news - Amiga, Inc. has added more multimedia and gaming features to version 2 of its AmigaAnywhere "run anywhere" platform that lets apps be run on a bunch of platforms. It's an environment, not an "OS," incorporating all sorts of personal and other config data.

• Also for mobile recording-oriented audiophiles and dictationists: Olympus' LS-10 Linear PCM Audio Recording Device, MSRP $399.99. 

• Invisio was showing its consumer line of Bluetooth headsets -- small! I'm curious to see what they sound like (at both ends). The Invisio G5 includes a charging case that can recharge the headset five times before itself needing a recharge. The Invisio Q7 will use bone conduction technology.

• Joby, the folks who brought us the GorillaPod flex-leg camera mini-tripod, was showing its Zivio Bluetooth headset, featuring a telescoping microphone boom intended for environments like high-noise public areas and moving automobiles which have traditionally tasked headsets to provide clear audio.

• Ricoh announced half a dozen new single-pass laser color printer/multi-function devices (MFPs), from $399 to $849, intended for small offices and other lowish-end business users, with features including front-panel access and short-paper-path.

• Via Technologies had several tables' worth of UMPCs and other products and prototypes at Lunch@Piero's, using their small-to-real-small motherboards, including MTube, the world's smallest x86-based computer.

• In the sub-$500 sub-notebook range, Everex was at Lunch@Piero's with their CloudBook ultra-mobile PC -- 7.1" screen, same form factor and price zone ($400-ish) as the Asus EEE, but with 30GB hard drive instead of flash RAM, DVI output, camera, and media readers. It's running gOS Rocket, a Linux derivative. (I and others suggested they should also offer Windows, for Windows users willing to pay more to run in an environment they were more familiar with.)

• Penton Overseas has ported their DVD-based foreign language learning programs to iPod versions.

• Hughes Network Systems is up to 365,000 users of their satellite broadband service (for when you can't landline or metro wireless broadband), and has a number of new distributors.

• New USB drives from Kingston include a 2GB Traveler that includes Migo software, and an 8GB HyperTraveller.

• Internet-enable your pill bottles with GloCaps; they won't confirm that pills have been taken, but can do a light and sound alert on the bottle to remind the user it's time to take 'em.

• Flir's new infrared video cameras are a good add-on for vehicles (BMW's mounting them below the headlights) to let you see obstacles you'd otherwise not detect in time, also for security applications.

• ZPower's silver-zinc rechargeable batteries will be challenging LiON for use in notebook, cell phones and other portable electronics; the vendor claims they'll provide 40% more run time in the same factor as LiON cells.

• In addition to cool mobile peripherals like their CardScan business card scanner, Newell Rubbermaid now offers postage-printing devices with features like no-monthly-fee, your graphics (e.g. pix) as stamps.

• Paragon Software was showing Partition Manager 9.0, and Drive Backup 2008 Server Express; the higher-end version of Backup includes CDP and other additional features.

• IBM is using virtual worlds ("intraverses") for a fascinating range of internal applications, including data center monitoring, bringing in retired (IBM) experts, working with multiple companies. Way cool!

• Recognizing that some peripherals don't need to be on when the computer's off (and often don't have power switches), APC's adding "slaved" outlets that turn off when the device plugged into the "master" outlet is turned off or "goes to sleep, on devices including its MSRP $99 Back-UPS ES 750 (1 master + 3 "slaved" backup'ed outlets, plus 4 other power-backed and 2 surge-only outlets), and its Power-Saving Surge Arrest, MSRP $39, 1 master outlet, 3 "slaved," 3 additional.

• Speaking of power monitoring and saving, PC International had both their MSRP $49 KillAWatt EZ single-out power monitor, their KillAWatt PS Power Strip (MSRP $99), which displays how much power is going through them. And they will be introducing a wireless monitoring unit that can send its information to a display (which will monitor up to 8 remote units).

• Xantrex, now working with/through Duracell, has nifty mobile chargers and power devices, ranging from the smallest third-party power "brick" for notebooks, through their $99 PowerPack 300 lead-acid-based home/auto 12Ah 300-watt battery/inverter and air compressor combo suitable for, among other things, jump-starting a car.

  • Their Pocket Inverter 100 and 175 convert 12V automobile power into standard AC out.
  • The XPower PowerSource Mobile Mini is a rechargeable pocket power pack with a USB port and a swing-out mini-USB 'arm.'
  • The XPower PowerSource Mobile 100 has a small battery -- and an AC outlet so you don't need adapter "tips"...plus two USB charging/power ports.
  Duracell was also showing their 130V and 90W PowerPro Universal Power Adapters, which are the smallest power "bricks" I've seen to date -- available through retail around April.

• Sandisk's new Sansa TakeTV PC to TV Video Player lets you, like the name implies, moved video from a computer and play it directly on your TV (using the connector cradle). Convenient. The $99 model holds 5 hours, the $149 holds 10 hours.

• RiData's new Yego Y-shaped USB drive has two USB ports, so you gain, rather than lose, a USB port when plugging the drive in.

• D-Link's new DLife.com service will autoconfigure your (DLink) equipment, making it easier to set up a home network, including peripherals.

• Norazza had two interesting products: its Pocket RAID for portable RAIDed disk storage (sample pricing, $499 for 2x80GB), and its Hard Drive Destroyer, which punches holes in a hard drive's platters, rending them unreadable. At $8K, the disk destroyer's not for (most) end users, but maybe you'd pay a buck or two for walk-in access?

• What do you get when you cross roller skates with a Segue? Answer: iShoes -- rechargeable battery-powered wheeled twelve-pound pair of shoe accessories. A charge takes you two to three miles, at up to 13.5 miles/hour. About $599.

• Medis soon won't the only company with disposable fuel-cell-like pocket power for mobile devices. PowerAir's ThinkZinc portable power pack packs 40WaH -- about 40 AA cell's worth -- of power into an easily-pocketable shell -- $30 including cable and USB adapters, additional adapters $2.99 each. ZincAir refill packs are $20 each. Scheduled to start shipping October 2008.

• CallPod's mobile accessories include their ChargePod -- think a six-outlet charger for mobile devices (pricey, but maybe worth it in space/weight savings) -- and their longer-range -- up to 300+ feet -- Dragon Bluetooth headsets.

• Techsonics was showing a interesting bunch of rechargeable GoGo PowerPack mobile chargers, including its $49 PowerPack and $24.99 PowerBurst.

• The $9.95 CamGrip, like the name suggests, is a hand-sized grip that screws into your camera or camcorder's tripod socket, to hold it more steadily -- particularly helpful with the smaller cameras available today.

• The Data Locker external USB hard drive includes a touchscreen PIN pad, which adds password protection to the drive's boot sector -- i.e., removing the drive from the case won't bypass the password protection. $99 for barebones case, $129 with 80GB drive up through $299 with 250GB drive.

• Want 802.11n speeds on your local WiFI -- without replacing your router? Or add WiFi to your wired router? Try TrendNet's $49 300Mbps Wireless Easy-N-Upgrader,

• WIth Com One's $249 Phoenix Wi-Fi Radio, you don't need a computer to listen to Internet radio stations. (You'll need WiFI, of course -- and a computer to do any station set-up.)

• Want to try out a mobile phone before buying? Try the TryPhone site, which has virtualized versions of a growing number of models, along with links to reviews, demos, how-to help (and, of course, buy-me's).

• New optical drives from LiteOn includes their more-affordable-than-read'n'write BlueRay read-only-capable internal drive, for about $150, and an MSRP $289 external version. Also seen, a soon-available external slim DVD writer in the $99 range.

• Want RAID-like external storage redundancy without the management hassle? Data Robotics $499 Drobo lets you mix-and-match any-capacity drives as an external USB device, and the $199 Drobo Share lets you put your Drobo on the network. (I'd want to know more, try this, and compare it to two-bay SOHO RAID NAS devices along with NetGear's pricier high-featured ReadyNAS line.)

And there were hundreds of others I saw, and thousands I didn't, but like I said, I couldn't possibly have gotten to see everything, and don't have time to report here on the ones I did see.