Written by Mark on 24 April 2009
A full day of learning and fun is planned at the upcoming Hawaii Macintosh & Apple Users’ Society (HMAUS) Mac Springfest. JAIMS (6660 Hawaii Kai Drive) will be the site for all the Mac Fanboy Love you can spread around. Topics include:
- Mac 101 for beginners,
- Adobe’s Lightroom,
- Social Networks and Livefeeds,
- and Time Management with Apple products
If you’ve been thinking of switching to a Mac, or, been using one for years, it should be a great day with prizes, food, and all the Mac experts’ help you could ever need!
Learn more at HMAUS
Tags: Events, HMAUS, mac
Posted in Apple, General, hawaii | No Comments »
Written by Mark on 11 January 2009
If you’ve read the paper recently you know that Hawaiian Telcom is facing bankruptcy. What exactly might happen if the company were to shut down is not a pleasant thought:
Speaking at a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King yesterday, PUC Chairman Carlito Caliboso said much of the state’s banking transactions, access to the Internet, alarm services and wireless communications would be affected, if not halted, if Hawaiian Telcom were allowed to be shut down. [Honolulu Advertiser]
However, the stability of service does leave customers to wonder what WILL happen. Our family has a landline still, but have been debating about just killing it off (as so many others have), and just use our cells. One of the reasons we haven’t is our need to occasionally fax.
Yes, fax. That antiquated technology still used by so many businesses. In fact, in Japan, it’s very common to use still. I still get requests from clients that would like a faxed copy of an invoice. So, how to fax without using a landline and modem…?
There are some options that I’ve been looking into that are FREE and not completely horrendous. (Of course, for a monthly fee, there are many other options, however, when you fax only once a month *maybe* it doesn’t make sense to be tied to a monthly contract.) Here’s what I’ve found:
Sending fax: Faxzero.com — free. Print to PDF (use the free plugin to Firefox: PDF Download), then upload it to Faxzero. They will fax it to the number you choose in about 30 minutes. Drawback: coverletter has advertisement on it. (Pay $2/fax to have the ad removed.)
Receiving fax: Drop.io — free. People can fax you documents into your drop for free. Drawback: in order to get to the right drop, they have to use a special coverletter and fax to a long-distance phone number. (Learn more: Drop.io and Lifehacker.). A fax you receive will show up in your drop about 30 minutes for viewing online or downloading.
Since I typically just send faxes to others, I’m not so concerned about the limitations of Drop.io, but it does provide an option. And since so many others have given up their landline, I’m curious if some of you have found a great FREE fax solution…
Tags: efax, free fax, Hawaiian Telcom
Posted in General, hawaii | 1 Comment »
Written by Mark on 10 January 2009
An upcoming event that sounds very interesting: Unconferenz. Using Pecha Kucha which is basically a open discussion with limitations on each speaker of 20 slides and 20 seconds each slide.
Date: February 7, 2009, Saturday
Time: 8:00am to 4:00pm
Place: JAIMS (in Hawaii Kai)
6660 Hawaii Kai Dr
Honolulu, Hawaii 96825
Attendance: 50 – 100 Limited
Cost: $25 – This will include a t-shirt and lunch
Check out their site to register and get more information!
Tags: conference, hawaii, social media
Posted in hawaii, interaction, technology | No Comments »
Amazon has Snow Leopard Mac OS X version 10.6 (the upgrade to Leopard) available for pre-order on its site for $29. Their Free-Shipping option works even to Hawaii!
Amazon also has Windows 7 available for pre-order. Prices start at $119.99 for the Home Premium Upgrade, or $199.99 for the Professional Upgrade. The difference depends on the features you need, see this chart for more information.
