Let us know what you think about Windows 7. We are all ears!!

Party Box Contents

If you applied to host a party and were chosen, Microsoft promised a party kit, and mine just arrived.

Inside the blue and green box were  streamers, balloons, a deck of Windows 7 cards, a Windows 7 jigsaw puzzle, Windows 7 napkins, and 9 large grocery-type fabric bags. The bags were a nice touch, but they are quite large and the only things that we were sent to give out to the party-goers were cards with special offers.

The offers included things like 40% off Norton 2010 and buy Nero 9 at 20% off and get Nero BackItUP & Burn free. Really, the best offer was a free year of Kaspersky’s Internet Security 2010. Although last time I used Kaspersky (2 years ago), I found it too invasive to recommend to the casual user. Microsoft also included a Zune pass to try the Zune music for free. Only problem is that it is a 14-day pass and I wish it would be a little longer. 14-days is not really long enough to get into the Zune website and get used to all that it offers. ( It is a wonderful site for a music subscriptions).

Although it didn’t get in the picture, Microsoft also included a cardboard table decoration, which really wasn’t worth photographing. Also included was the best part, a copy of Window 7 Ultimate to put on a computer to show off at the party. It was autographed by Steve Ballmer.

I don’t think the party pack was to exciting, but I did like the idea of it all. I just wonder how many people will take the party pack and the free Windows 7 and not have a party at all.

Well, I am committed. We will have a party, show off Windows 7 (which I like) and have some fun. After all, it’s not a bad excuse to have a party. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Windows 7

Windows 7

Those of you who are lucky enough to have someone in the family with a college address that ends in .edu will love this deal. You can order Wubdiws 7 Home Premuim or the Enterprise version for only $29.99. The special price is available now through January 3, 2010.

You can make the purchase at a special web page set up by Microsoft.The download is being handled by Digital River, a large, reputable company. The software will be available for download on October 22, the official Windows 7 launch date. You can also order a backup DVD.

If you have a .edu address, it a great deal!!

There are now many Flip imitators, but the Flip was the first in this market area, and it still holds up well against the competition. The Flip now also comes with a better resolution in a Flip appropriately called the FlipHD (1280 x 720).

The Flip has a pop-out USB connector, so there are no clumsy cables. Just insert it into your computer. The included software is also easy-to-use.

Here are my pros and cons:

Pros:

• Simple, easy-to-use controls
• Self-contained, easy-to-use software
• Easy uploads
• Quick start-up
• Good video quality
• Good in both high and low light conditions
• No cords
• Small and light
• Tripod mount
• TV playback

Cons:

• Plasticy feel
• Low resolution
• Few editing options
• Doesn’t always fit in USB port without hub or extender
• No optical zoom

You can read my more detailed review with pictures at HardwareSecrets.com. Although it a great little camera, the Flip is getting a lot of competition from cell phones whose video hardware is getting better and better! Buy one now if you want to have a small video cam and want to upload to Youtube quickly. Else, wait a while — these things just keep getting better and better.

Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder - White/Orange

Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder – White/Orange Flip Video Ultra is the easy-to-use, pocket-sized camcorder that allows you to shoot and share high-quality video anywhere and everywhere. Its flip-out USB arm and built-in FlipShare software make it simple and fun to view and save your videos, e-mail them, or upload them to popular video-sharing sites, including YouTube, MySpace and AOL Video.

This will allow you to buy that new computer now, and still get the newest operating system when it is released. The upgrade should be relatively easy, so I wouldn’t hesitate to get in on this offer. Just be sure that the place you purchase your new computer is offering this option and be sure to inquire about what paperwork you need to keep and/or to process now for your upgrade.

If you buy an upgrade copy of Windows 7 between June 26th and July 11th in the US and Canada, you can get a 50% discount over the estimated retail price for the two mainstream consumer editions. In the United States, you’ll be able to buy a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $50 or get Windows 7 Professional upgrade for $100. Microsoft just announced the retail price for those two versions to be $120 and $200, respectively. There are varying dates and prices for other countries.

The offer is available online from Best Buy, Amazon, and Microsoft’s own website. In case you’re wondering. The official release date for Windows 7 is October 22, 2009. I’ve been trying the pre-release versions for a few months and am loving it.

If your computer is currently running Vista, you should be able to upgrade to Windows 7 with little difficulty. If you are running Windows XP, install and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft’s website.It will scan your PC’s system, programs and devices and show you whther or not your computer meets Windows 7 requirements. It will also pinpoint any known compatibility issues with your programs and devices.

I am disappointed to see a retail price of $100 on Windows 7 Home Premium. I think it is too expensive. But I guess that Microsoft expected many of us to say that — so they have thrown us a bone with this offer.

Many of us were holding our breaths, hoping that Microsoft would follow suit. But they didn’t even come close. Today Microsoft announced the prices for their new operating system, Windows 7:

Windows 7 Home Premium will cost $120 for an upgrade, $200 for a full version

Windows 7 Professional will be $200 for an upgrade, $300 for a full version

Windows 7 Ultimate will be $220 for an upgrade, $320 for a full version

Reuters and others have reported that Microsoft has lowered the price of the new OS. That is true. Currently an upgrade version of Vista Home Premium costs $130. The upgrade for Windows 7 will be only $120. So they lowered the price a whopping $10.

When you look at Apple’s prices for a comparable operating system, you will also see, that, as in the past, Apple will offer a family version of Snow Leopard. This will include five licenses to use the operating system on five different computers. The cost for that will be $49. Apple also has only one version of the software that does everything. Microsoft instead has a the complex system of multiple versions that do different things. Only the Ultimate version of Windows will do it all.

So, a family who want to upgrade their five computers running the current Apple operating system to the best (and only) version of the new Snow Leopard operating system will pay $49. A family who is currently using five computers running Windows, will have to pay $1,100 to upgrade to the best version (Ultimate) of Windows 7.

Let’s face it. That makes Microsoft’s prices outrageous — 22 times Apple’s price. So, as usual, Microsoft makes a $$$ statement that will ire many. It certainly has made me mad.

I just found an great solution. Someone at a company called Burton Technologies came up with the brilliant idea of creating a soft in-ear

flexible overlay for the hard ear buds. They are called Acoustibuds. You simply pull them on over the hard earbud. They are flexible and can be angled so they can be adjusted to fit the shape of your ear canal.

Acoustibuds on iPod Earbuds

Acoustibuds on iPod Earbuds

It took me about two minutes to angle them properly for my ear and I immediately found them to be comfortable and to have a very secure fit. In fact, I even wore them while I worked up a good sweat on a treadmill and they still stayed in place.

I was also amazed by the fact that the music sounded better, although after I thought about it, that might have been expected. Since the Acoustibuds fit better in the ear, the sound obviously goes into the ear better. Also, they block out outside sounds better.

These would be perfect with the iPod Shuffle since you must use the hard Apple earbuds with the Shuffle. I also found that I can use them with my Jawbone and other Bluetooth headphones.

For $19.99 you get two different sizes in the box. One fit my ears, the other fit my husband’s, so they were perfect for us.

At last, a simple idea that works!

SPECIAL NOTE: QuickBooks has a limited time offer for QuickBooks Pro at 40% off with free shipping and 1 month free support. Click the logo below for this great deal.


If you use a Mac, the same great deal is available for the Mac Version of QuickBooks 2009.

QuickBooks 2009 keeps the standard QuickBooks well-designed, intuitive interface, and ease of installation, and adds some new features. The new features are well done and they improve the product without adding complexity. This is a good model for other software manufacturers. I especially wish that Microsoft would take note of it.
For me, the most valuable of these new QuickBook features is the Company Snapshot which gives an overview of all your business’s vital statistics on a single-screen. It is a useful tool to get a quick look at the overall health of the company without getting lost in the daily bookkeeping details.

Online banking tools have also been improved. Depending on your bank setting, this up may be simple or a bit of a pain. The best part, however, is that QuickBooks is so ubiquitous that all banks work hard at working well with the QuickBooks program.

QuickBooks 2009 has added a Live Community feature that can be accessed right from the program. This allows you to ask questions and get answers as you work. The value of this feature is hit and miss. We asked four questions. Two were answered fairly promptly. Two were totally unanswered.

This year’s QuickBooks also has support for international payments. It supports most of the world currencies. It also has better client data-review tools for accountants. Another added feature is that QuickBooks now comes with a free Web site for one year. After that Intuit charges $4.99 a month. Although you only get a few pages, Intuit has made the Website easy to set up and you can easily make it very professional looking using their built-in templates and tools.
I tested the $400 QuickBooks Premier, but most companies will find the $200 Pro version adequate for their needs. You can also purchase Pro or Premier versions for up to five simultaneous users. The Premier edition adds the ability to create business plans, to forecast sales and expenses, and to create special industry-specific chart of accounts and reports.

Although I have concentrated on the new features in QuickBooks 2009, new users to QuickBooks will find that it handles all the accounting needs of a small business, including printing checks, paying bills and tracking expenses, managing payroll, handling payroll taxes and sales taxes, creating invoices, and creating estimates. It also has professional-looking forms and business reports.

QuickBooks 2009 remains the best accounting program for small businesses, but it has a few drawbacks. The biggest is that there is no free support for setup issues. Although I installed it on several computers with no problem, I have been a QuickBooks user for years and am quite used to the program. A complete accounting neophyte might need some help and I wish that Intuit would at least offer free support for the first 30 days.

Also, in my testing, I received a consistent error on three different Vista 64-bit machines when trying to perform reconciliations. The program seems to always hang when it tries to write a PDF file, which it tries to do during the reconciliation process. I found no help at the Intuit website, but I did find a work-around at a Site called Practical QuickBooks. Please note that this problem only occurred on Vista 64-bit computers. QuickBooks 2009 ran fine on Windows XP or Vista 32-bit computer. Hopefully, Intuit will fix this Vista 64-bit problem soon.

Other than that one glitch, I can highly recommend QuickBooks 2009 as a great full-featured small business accounting program.