memory for your mother, for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is Sunday (May 9th). Lexar is suggesting that you consider giving portable memory storage (for data) as a gift...

At first thought, it may not seem like a great idea...but, hold on: it's something she can keep things on and take with her anywhere she goes. She can put important information on it, like a will and health records. Pictures and videos can be available for her to show-off. And, she can copy some music files so she can listen to them.

They can be very stylish. For example, Lexar has drives available in different colors and sizes:

16GB JumpDrive FireFly (Red)

8GB JumpDrive FireFly (Charcoal)

4GB JumpDrive FireFly (White)

2GB JumpDrive FireFly (Black)

"...It also serves as a fashionable accessory and comes with a key chain hole so it can be easily tethered onto a key ring, attached to a backpack, or hooked to a purse or briefcase..."

To enhance it as a gift, I thought you can: purchase a USB drive...copy files to it that she will love (pictures, audio recordings, and videos of and from family)...and then give it to her on Mother's Day. With a tissue, because there's a good chance she might think it's so sweet she'll shed a tear or two...

http://lexar.com/jumpdrive/jd_firefly.html

free software to access HFS/Mac file systems

For a limited time, Paragon Software is giving free licenses for HFS for Windows:

"HFS for Windows enables the use of Mac-formatted partitions in Windows operating systems...

"...Windows cannot read from and write to HFS+ partitions. This limits the ability to exchange or share files between Windows and Mac OS X file systems...

"Paragon HFS for Windows is designed to provide full (read and write) access to HFS+ partitions. It can be installed on all versions of Windows..."

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"HFS for Windows, the only software that lets you read Apple iPods, Macs and iPad data from a Windows PC...

"If you have an iPod you may probably know that it contains all your music inside some sly hidden folders. When you attach your iPod (excluding Touch models) to the system it can be seen as a simple Removable Flash Drive..."

Even if you don't need it now, do consider that having this software might be very helpful in the future...

how to link files and programs

During our radio show, Vincent called asking how to associate files with programs...

How to change which program starts when you double-click a file in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859

1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click a file for which you want to change the program that opens that file type, and then use either of the following methods to change which program starts:
• Click Open With to choose the program that you want.
• Point to Open With, and then click Choose Program to choose the program that you want.
2. Notice that theOpen With dialog box appears. Use one of the following methods to select the program that you want to use to open this kind of file:
• In the Programs list, click the program that you want.
• Click Browse, locate and then click the program that you want to use, and then click OK.
• Click Look for the appropriate program on the Web to browse the Internet for the program that you want.
3. Click to select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box if it is not already selected.
4. Click OK.

From now on, Windows XP will open all files that have this file name extension in the associated program. (To change this, follow these steps again and associate a different program with this file name extension.)

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This article contains more information about how to create file associations for a file types that are not associated with a program...

Windows Movie Maker files

Wayne called about converting (mov) files for Windows Movie Maker...

Per http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308464
File formats supported by Windows Movie Maker in Windows XP
Supported formats for importing content
• Video files: .asf, .avi, .wmv
• Movie files: MPEG1, .mpeg, .mpg, .m1v, .mp2
• Audio files: .wav, .snd, .au, .aif, .aifc, .aiff
• Windows Media files: .asf, .wm, .wma, .wmv
• Still images: .bmp, .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, .jfif, .gif
• MP3 format audio: .mp3
"Although you can play a file in Microsoft Windows Media Player, you may not be able to import the file into Windows Movie Maker even though this article lists that kind of file..."

Anyone have a (free) program to recommend?...