President's Message

November, 2006

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this month’s column, I’d like to take a moment to remember the thousands of our fellow Americans who are at this time on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq… Thank you and God bless you.

As I’m pressed for time and the holidays are only moments away, I thought this would be a good time to suggest a few computer related gifts for the “geek” in your life.

Software
F-Secure Internet Security 2007 – FSIS 2007 is the Leatherman Tool of Internet security applications. FSIS includes everything you need: anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, a personal firewall and parental controls, all in a single user friendly product.
Contact: F-Secure Inc.
100 Century Center Court, Suite 700
San Jose, CA 95112
Tel. (888) 432-8233
E-mail: Info@f-secure.com
Web: www.f-secure.com
Price: $79.90

Webroot SpySweeper 5.2 – Spy ware is probably the fastest growing problem facing Windows users. I’ve tried just about every legitimate anti-spy ware application available. SpySweeper is the one I bought and use. Personally, I think it’s the best anti-spy ware application available today.
Contact: Webroot Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 19816
Boulder, CO 80308
Tel. (866) 612-4227
Web: www.webroot.com
Price: $29.95 for a 1 year subscription or $39.95 for a 2 year subscription.

Acronis True Image Home 10 – Backing up your computer used to be a lengthy process. Not anymore… With True Image Home 10 and an external USB or Firewire hard drive you can backup or restore your computer in minutes.
Contact: Acronis, Inc.
13800 Coppermine Road
Suite 231
Herndon, VA 20171
Web: www.acronis.com
Price: $49.95
DACS members should contact Linda and Gene Barlow at www.ugstore.com for special user group pricing on True Image.

Hardware
Western Digital Passport Pocket Drive – If you’ve used a USB Flash drive, you know what a great convenience they are. The only problem I have with them is their limited capacity. If you need to move several large files, you can quickly exceed the capacity of a Flash drive. That’s where the Western Digital Passport Pocket Drive comes in… With a 6GB capacity it’s big enough for most jobs and, at around $80, it’s competitive with 4GB USB Flash drives.
Contact: Western Digital
20511 Lake Forest Drive
Lake Forest, CA 92630-7741
Tel. (949) 672-7000
Web: www.westerndigital.com
Price: $79.99 (Amazon.com)

Casio Exilim EX-Z1000 Digital Camera – Have you ever wished you had a camera? You can stop wishing. Casio’s 10.1 megapixel gem is about the size of a cell phone so you can carry a camera without carrying a camera.
Contact: Casio Customer Help Center
570 Mount Pleasant Ave
Dover, NJ 07801
Tel. 800-706-2534
Web: exilim.casio.com
Price: $349.95 (Adorama Camera)

Adaptec ACS-200 Hard Drive Enclosure – If you’re like me you probably have a bunch of old hard drives lying around gathering dust… Drives that you could use for something other than a paper weight if you had a good external drive enclosure. I’ve tried a variety of external hard enclosures and this is the best of the bunch. The ACS-200 supports drives up to 1TB and includes both USB and Firewire connections.
Contact: Adaptec, Inc.
691 South Milpitas Boulevard
Milpitas, California 95035
Tel. 800.442.7274
Web: www.adaptec.com
Price: $55.62 (Provantage.com)

Distractions
We all need to unwind now and then, and I can’t think of a better way to do that than with some great science fiction.

Babylon 5 - The Complete Television Series – B5 was a unique experiment in the history of television. It was effectively a television novel in five seasons, consisting of 110 episodes with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Personally, I think it was the best science fiction show ever made. As good as this set is it isn’t “The Full Monty.” I’d also suggest investing in Babylon 5 - The Movie Collection which helps flesh out some of the back story and fills in some of the gaps in the series. Hardcore B5 fans may also want to invest in the B5 spin-off Crusade - The Complete Series.
The complete B5 series set is available from Amazon for $220.50. The B5 movie collection is $47.95.

Battlestar Galactica – No, not the cheesy, campy 1970’s space opera. I’m talking about the Ron Moore / David Eick remake that’s currently in its third season on SciFi. The new BSG is a contemporary adult drama in science fiction wrapper… Personally, I think it’s the best show on TV.
You can order the five disc season-one box set from Amazon for $44.77. It includes the 3 hour pilot mini-series, all 10 season-one episodes, deleted scenes and commentary tracks from Ron Moore and/or David Eick. Separate three disc sets featuring all 20 season-two episodes are available for around $30.00 each... Season 2.0 includes episodes 1-10, Season 2.5 includes episodes 10-20 plus the “directors cut” of Pegasus, the mid-season cliff-hanger… A must see for fans of the show.
BSG airs Friday nights @ 9:00 pm. on The SciFi Channel. See www.scifi.com/battlestar/ for episode details.
Some other worthwhile investments are Earth 2, Space: Above and Beyond, and Josh Whedon’s cult classic Firefly and the theatrical follow-up Serenity.

Toys for the easily amused
Last but not least, stop by www. thinkgeek.com... They’ve got everything from Star Wars light sabers and caffeinated soap to PC upgrades. Odds are you’ll find something there that will keep your “geek” amused for hours.

That’s pretty much it for this month… Have a safe and joyous holiday season. As always, you can contact me at jasetaro@mags.net or jasetaro@yahoo.com with your comments, questions, criticisms or book recommendations.
Happy Holidays;

—Jeff Setaro