Lynda.com makes photo book production a breeze

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Online course explains how to plan, organize and publish a photo book on Blurb.com

Lynda.com Creating Photo Books with Blurb, showing book cover design

Self-publishing a book is a daunting task made relatively easy with the Lynda,com course Creating Photo Books with Blurb.

If you want to create a really special Valentine’s Day photo book as I suggested in How to make the best Valentine for under $50, the course takes about 2 to 3 hours to complete and costs $25 or $37.50 if you use their sample files. The fee is a one month membership so you can also try other courses. There also is a Lynda.com 7-day free trial.
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Google Chrome breaks computers again

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Installing Chrome browser with MS Office breaks the hyperlink feature

Sneak attack on MS Office and LiveMail

Google Earth comes automatically with Google Chrome browser. Installing Chrome on a Windows 7 computer which has either MS Office or Windows LiveMail will break the hyperlink feature.

Hyperlink allows to you to click on a link in a document and automatically go to the internet page in the link.

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iStrobosoft guitar tuner app review

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Peterson iPhone and iPad apps are accurate and low cost strobe instrument tuners

iStrobosoft iPhone app

Peterson has two apps for the iPhone and iPad that give the musician strobe tuning accuracy for about $10.  The iPad app is being discounted to $9.99 until January 31st, 2012.

I wanted to see just how accurate the iPhone Peterson would be. I was not disappointed, although the under $20 Snark SN-1 clip on tuner was almost as accurate.

Last night I was practicing guitar while the news was on. It was handy to refresh my tuning without looking for a tuner. I’m not sure if musicians will risk damaging their iPhones in a studio or stage environment to use the iStrobosoft app. The practicality of the iStrobosoft tuner for those uses is up to each person to decide.

Peterson Strobe Tuners have been the pinnacle of stringed instrument tuners for decades and known for accuracy and high cost.  Continue reading →

How to make the best Valentine for under $50

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Roses wilt and chocolates melt but a Blurb photo book of pictures will last forever

The longer you’ve been together the harder it becomes to wow her on Valentine’s Day.

Everything becomes old hat after awhile so I really like this idea from Blurb.com to create a Happy Valentine book from pictures. Continue reading →

Finding the dream job with Microsoft

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The dream job has arrived – learning, testing and recommending Microsoft’s new SQL Server 2012

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is about to ship on March 7, 2012.

Don’t even think about getting a copy unless you are one of the elite Microsoft beta testers or have the Release Candidate which is available now.

That’s right. You have to be connected to Microsoft to qualify to install and test the new release of SQL server which is better than Oracle in some respects.  Continue reading →

The iPhone Revolution is manned by slave labor

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Has Apple Computer become a corporation that lives off the blood, sweat and tears of Chinese slave labor similar to George Orwell’s novel 1984?


In the 1984 Superbowl commercial Apple Computer likened itself to the savior of a mankind enslaved to big government and big corporations.  The Apple Macintosh would smash the dystopian, conformist world.

In the New York Times story How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work, the author’s describe slave labor camps that build Apple iPhone’s where people work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for $17 a day. Apple saves $15 per iPhone by using Chinese labor.   Continue reading →

VoiceLive Play and VoiceLive Play GTX announced

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TC Helicon introduces downsized VoiceLive stomp boxes with harmony and effects for singers and guitar playing vocalists

VoiceLive Play - harmony and vocal effects at 1/3rd the price

TC Helicon has just announced at NAMM 2012 the latest version of the VoiceLive family – VoiceLive Play and VoiceLive Play GTX.

Both give vocalists harmony and vocal effects from the top-drawer VoiceLive family. The GTX model also has guitar effects and amp emulations so you don’t need a Marshall to get that sound. Continue reading →

One day internet blackout works but it’s not over yet

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Massive blackout of internet sites on Jan 18 influences lawmakers

The media stories have Hollywood corporate fat cats reeling from Wednesday’s shutdown or blackout of more than 12,000 websites like Wikipedia, Reddit and Wired. NJN Network did its small part by wearing black all day.
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NJN Network is darkened today to protest SOPA PIPA

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Wearing black for SOPA protest

Wikipedia goes dark for SOPA protest

If SOPA passes the US Congress in anything close to its current form, the internet as we know it will be essentially dead.

We are joining sites around the world to protest like Wikipedia, Flickr, and Reddit.
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Harlan Pepper on the move

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Performance at Seniors Home showcases alt country appeal with Kitchen Rag and Wine

It takes guts to video your gig playing in the lobby of a seniors home. It’s a tough room but Harlan Pepper turns a few smiles and gets them dancing in the aisles.

Since graduating from high school almost three years ago, Harlan Pepper have honed their chops with a fresh mix of alt country, folk and rock.
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Bob Dylan performs Blind Willie McTell at Critics Choice

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In honor of Martin Scorsese Dylan actually sounds like an old blues man

This video may not play in all regions. It will also not play on iPhone or iPad. VH1 is controlling who can see the video.

A recent Bob Dylan performance of Blind Willie McTell with Mark Knopfler follows the break.
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