Google – incompetent, arrogant, evil, or all three?

Dear Todd,

Thank you for your inquiry. We were sorry to hear about what happened.

We are unable to transfer NOOK Books from one account to another because
publishers require Barnes & Noble to follow their policy for Digital
Rights Management, or DRM, to keep customers who buy eBooks from making
them freely available to others. The warranty is also not transferable
to subsequent owners of the device.

We hope this information was helpful. If you have more questions, or
need our help, please contact us at 1-800-THE-BOOK (800-843-2665) and
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Sincerely,

I’m still very much pro-eBook, but it is something to consider if you are involved in an estate with a collection of eBooks.  I’d suggest keeping the device registered and keeping the account open.

Certainly not a replacement for actual rechargeable batteries, but I can certainly see the utility of them.  A spare cell phone battery would be a great addition for those long days.

I picked up a new piece of software, a voice-recognition system by Nuance, called NaturallySpeaking.  I’m wearing a microphone and dictating into my laptop even as I drive along here in the van.  What you’re seeing on the screen is a capture of my voice with very minimal, if any, corrections.

The fascinating thing about the software so far is the accuracy.  Out of the box, I had to spend a little time training it, and the accuracy rate increases the more I use it.  I’ve always thought that voice recognition software wasn’t ready for prime time.  I picked this up a bit on a whim after seeing the demo online at their website.  And considering there was a $40 rebate on the package, which brought it down to nearly half price, I figured I would give it a try.  I have to say as a voice-recognition critic, this has sold me completely.  I’m amazed.  I’m driving at nearly 75 miles per hour and blogging.

Now if I could get something to generate compelling content.

While you’re there, don’t miss the link for AutoHotKey scripting.

By no means am I a useability expert, but I thought I’d pass along some tips that seem to make my life easier.

The Quick Launch Bar – Right click the task bar and enable the quick launch bar. You can stack your frequently used programs right there and launch them without having to minimize and search your desktop, or navigate the start menu. The particular configuration I use is double height, with the quick launch above the task bar. Everything I need it right there, and it makes for a smooth experience. It seems like a minor point, but I’m surprised at how many people don’t even have their quick launch enabled.

Daemon Tools and ISO Files – Frequently I’m using Windows or Office and I find myself wanting to access something that requires the CD. I don’t carry those around, but with Daemon Tools, I don’t have to. With the Tools, I have a virtual CD drive in my system tray, capable of mounting an ISO file as if it was a CD . An ISO file is a ‘snapshot’ of a CD, saved on my hard drive. By mounting it at any time, I have my CDs on hand all the time.

In addition, I keep all of my CDs in ISO format on my primary Desktop, and frequently use them through a network connection to rebuild the other PCs that I screw up through experimentation. It’s nice not having to swap plastic all the time, plus the installs go a lot faster that way.

Firefox – I plug this thing every chance I get. Go get it. There are so many extensions that improve the functionality of the browser. The number one item, for me, is the Google Browser Sync. I use two or three different machines every day, and with the browser sync, every machine has the same bookmarks, cookies, and history. If I add a bookmark on one, it shows up on every machine I use. Good stuff.

FireFTP is another great extension, integrating a nice FTP client right into the browser. I’ve always hated Internet Explorer’s FTP capabilities, and firing up a seperate client was a pain. Now I can launch it within a Firefox tab. Tidy.

And while I’m talking about browsers, here’s a simple tip. Type ‘CNN’ in the addres bar and hit CTRL-Enter. The browser appends the ‘http://www.’ and the ‘.com’ to the address. Saves some time. Shift-Enter makes it a .net address.