From the Dealsguy

by Bob Click
Greater Orlando Computer User Group
From the May, 2007 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter

A Great Trade Show

We recently worked the National Association of Builders show and it was very large with over four million pounds of freight just to build the booths and 105,000 attendees. Six large two-story modular homes were assembled in the parking lot for display, one worth over a million dollars, and many booths in the exhibit hall had a second floor. However, something very impressive to me was the Kohler booth. There was a stage for their selling activities and the background for it was a waterfall about 20 feet high and the same wide, but like no other waterfall you have ever seen. Yes, the water was tumbling down in variations, but it did other things. All of a sudden the water would stop its normal waterfall display, and the individual letters for KOHLER would drop formed with water, one at a time, then the entire name would fall, followed by other messages, spelled out with well formed letters made with the falling water. Many other patterns were also formed by the falling water. I watched it for about ten minutes and it never repeated the entire same pattern of messages during that time. It was a highlight of the show and I’m sure that display cost Kohler many bucks. I wish I had asked to see the control room.

Feedback!

Thanks for the comments that I received on the side effects of medication. Not many responded, but the comments were interesting and so far, the respondents agreed with me, but I would also be interested in other opinions. Perhaps I should start a blog about all this.

A Little Fun In The Sun

My wife and I decided to introduce our son and his wife to cruising during their stay at our beach condo, and while we did not want to take another Carnival cruise after our last experience, the spring break season gave no opportunity for deals. We finally settled on a Carnival 4 night cruise to Cozumel only because Carnival offered us the best price. We felt that since our son and his wife have never cruised they wouldn’t know a good one from a bad one, but we ended up being pleasantly surprised at how good the Inspiration (Carnival’s ship) turned out to be. The food was excellent, the shows were fantastic, and all in all, it was a great trip. As expected, it was a much younger crowd, including a lot of spring breakers, but we tried to stay clear of them the best we could, and had a good time. Shopping was fun in Cozumel. That ship did things much better than the Carnival Miracle we previously cruised on. Since the Inspiration was an older ship, there were a few things that needed improvement, but it will be going into dry-dock in September for some refurbishing and hopefully they will improve some of them. However, the shortcomings were nothing serious.

Here is an announcement, but remember I have not tried this or any of the others, and since I have edited to shorten them, be sure to check it out thoroughly on their Web site.

Remote Desktop Monitoring is Here, But Think of it as a Spy!

You can monitor the activity of all the PCs in your classroom remotely. Plus, you can share your screen with your students’ PCs, making demos and presentations much easier. Classroom Spy Professional from EduIQ.com http://www.EduIQ.com enables remote interaction between the user on the administrator’s computer and users of individual computers, even over LAN, WLAN, VPN and the Internet. Once installed and configured, the program lets you see what's taking place on the screens of remote machines and, if needed, take full control over the mouse and keyboard of any machine. There is also an ability to show your own screen to remote users and execute some administrative operations. The program encrypts screen data as well as mouse and keyboard input.

Because the program can run as a service on Vista, the login page and User Account Control (UAC) prompt are accessible. There is a live picture of the remote computer screens. Due to some optimization, the live screen doesn't use a high bandwidth, but even when the lower network bandwidth is required, the refresh interval can be extended using one mouse click. The activities of any student can be recorded for further analysis and assessment. The teacher can use the existing computer infrastructure to deliver a presentation directly to the screens of remote users.

It's also possible to execute various administrative commands, for example, log off users, turn off, restart, hibernate, or suspend one or all remote computers at once with a single mouse click. There is also an ability to schedule recording of remote computers desktops, and record remote activities, even when there is nobody monitoring the administrator's computer. The capabilities of Classroom Spy Professional can effectively be used not only in a classroom but also in offices.

Classroom Spy Professional 2.4.2 runs under Windows 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista, and costs $49.95 (US) for a three-computer license. User Group members are offered a 15% discount at http://www.ClassroomSpy.com using the coupon code PRUG788243. For other types of licenses, please refer to http://www.ClassroomSpy.com/classroomspy_pro.htm. Licensed customers are entitled to free technical support by e-mail. Additional information on the product, as well as a free 30-day evaluation copy is available from the Web site.

Direct download link: http://www.ClassroomSpy.com/dwn/classroomspypro.exe (3.6 Mb)

A Bonanza of Goodies

Paul Witheridge from the Sarnia Computer Users Group in Sarnia, Ontario, sent me some items that my readers might be interested in. I’ll list them, but be aware that some may already be expired by the looks of the coupon codes. I’m sorry that I didn’t have room last month. I’m making them short so I can fit them all in. It’s always good to have a friend with a sharp eye.

Acrobat is an expensive product and now they have their product activation which many resent. Here is a deal on another PDF product. How about a $20 discount on Nuance PDF Converter Professional 4! Coupon code PDF$20OFF; Link.

DealsGuy note: I read a negative review of PDF Converter Professional in the December issue of SouthEastern Michigan Computer Organization’s DATA BUS. http://www.semco.org

10% off any purchase at the CA store. Coupon code DecAFFOFF10; Link

$10 discount on CA Internet Security Suite 2007. Coupon code DecAFF10ISS; http://www.digitalriver.com/affiliate/areview/ca/lp/iss.html

$10 discount on CA Anti-Spam 2007. Coupon code AFFAS07; http://www.digitalriver.com/affiliate/areview/ca/lp/anti-spam.html

$20 discount on CA PC MacLAN. Coupon code AFFML07; http://go.lockergnome.com/649. http://shop.ca.com/file_sharing/pc_mac_network.aspx

$10 discount on CA Personal Firewall 2007. Coupon code AFFFW2007; http://www.digitalriver.com/affiliate/areview/ca/lp/firewall.html

$10 discount on Allume Anonymous Surfing Platinum. Coupon code 285678; Link

$5 discount on Allume Bass Screen Saver. Coupon code 266358; Link E=&CACHE_ID=280604

$10 discount on Allume Morpheus Photo Animation Suite; Link

20% off Laughingbird Web Graphics Creator. Coupon code Holiday20%off; http://www.webgraphicscreator.com/

20% off Laughingbird Logo Creator. Coupon code Holiday20%off; http://www.thelogocreator.com/Corporate_logos.htm

10% off Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 Suite. Coupon code SAVE10C9; http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/creator/suite/overview.html

$10 discount Roxio Popcorn 2 (DVD copier). Coupon code P2SAVE10; http://go.lockergnome.com/657. http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/popcorn/standard/overview.html

20% off ACDsee 9. Coupon code AFFACD9; http://www.acdsee.com/products/acdsee/index

20% off ACDsee Photo Editor. Coupon code AFFPHOTO; http://www.acdsee.com/products/photoeditor/index

25% off ACDSee Pro Photo Manager. Coupon code AFFPRO25; http://www.acdoffers.com/en/na/acdseepro/index.htm

$400 discount TurboCAD Deluxe v12.2 Upgrade; http://www.turbocad.com/prodinfo.asp?t=1&mcid=382 (DealsGuy note: There is a problem with the stated discount, which doesn’t make sense, so you should check on where the mistake is.)

20% off Net Nanny products. Coupon code 270355; http://www.netnanny.com/

$5 savings on Big Hammer Patio Designer; http://www.bighammersoftware.com/affiliates/patio.aspx

$5 savings on Big Hammer Deck Designer; http://www.bighammersoftware.com/affiliates/deck.aspx

$10 savings on Big Hammer Garage and Shed Designer bundle; http://www.bighammersoftware.com/affiliates/garage_shed_bundle.aspx

10% off on Rising Antivirus. Coupon code ONDISCOUNT10; http://go.lockergnome.com/666. http://www.rising-global.com/CategoryDetail.aspx?MenuId=1&CategoryId=3

10% off on Markzware (Tools for Printing). Coupon code PILOT10; http://www.markzware.com/store_usa/

20% off RadarSync System Checkup. Coupon code RadarSync2in1-11; http://go.lockergnome.com/668. http://www.radarsync.com/

That's it for this month. I’ll have some new product announcements on my Web site. Meet me here again next month if your editor permits. This column is written to make user group members aware of special offers or freebies I have found or arranged, and my comments should not be interpreted to encourage, or discourage, the purchase of any products, no matter how enthused I might sound. Bob (The Cheapskate) Click bobclick@mindspring.com. Visit my Web site at http://www.dealsguy.com.



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Tulsa Computer Society 05/01/2007
Don Singleton, President