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 Keep In-Sync with Exchange & MobileMe
A number of years ago now, none of you had a PC – they didn't exist! Then came the ‘family computer’ which was shared fought-over by all members of a household, and now it seems that most people have their own PC or laptop. A growing number of users have more than computer – perhaps a laptop, a desktop and a PDA or Blackberry/iPhone/Windows Mobile!
That’s all very well until you decide to set up your email account on all of your devices, only to find that new emails appear on one and not the others, or that adding a contact or diary event isn’t replicated across the others either! Enter Microsoft’s Exchange or Apple’s MobileMe (the latter is available soon).
With an Exchange or MobileMe account you are allocated a certain amount of online storage space (called the ‘Cloud’ by Apple) where all your data is kept (emails, contacts, diary, etc). This ‘Cloud’ of data constantly synchronizes with all your computers, so if you add an event on one, it updates the cloud which in turn then updates all your other devices, keeping them in sync with one another. You can sync all sorts: your laptop, mobile phone, PC, iPhone, etc, and it takes just seconds. What’s more – it’s also like a backup: if your PDA is stolen, all your account information is still stored online! You just tell your new PDA to sync with your online account and all the information is downloaded!
This service isn’t free, and seeing as someone’s got to provide you with the online storage space you wouldn’t expect it to be. MobileMe will cost about £59 per year and Microsoft Exchange costs about the same. As with all things, MobileMe is available direct from Apple whereas Microsoft Exchange is available from numerous suppliers (such as Fasthosts), each offering different packages and varied sizes of online space.
So, if all your devices are in a muddle, get in-sync!
 AOL Desktop for Mac 1.1
Mac users who are unfortunate enough to be stuck using AOL's Desktop software can breathe a sigh of relief after AOL have released a long overdue new version!
It has been rewritten from the ground up and according to the website it has done the following:
- Fixed mail performance issues. Now, mailboxes with hundreds of messages (or even thousands) are synched on first run without slowing the system
- Fixed mail display issues with incorrect content
- Fixed Address Book issues that may have not properly switched to the correct screen name when syncing
- Fixed Address Book sync failures which resulted in no contacts
- Address Book sort by last name has been added to this release
- Fixed sorting in Address Book when clicking the column headers
- Fixed sporadic Leopard crash when clicking mailto: links
- Fixed Mac OS X 10.5.3 issues with Buddy List search
- Fixed Mac OS X 10.5.3 issues that may have caused a crash in AIM
- Fixed performance for auto-complete for AIM when user has a large Address Book
It is of course free. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later (ie. not Windows). Download it here.
 Beeb.net services closing on 30th June 2008
The closure of beeb.net will mean that you can no longer gain access to the internet or send and receive emails via Beeb.net. It also means that if you’re using beeb.net to host your website, access to your site will also cease.
The date for closure is 30th June 2008. However, you should act before then and register with another Internet Service Provider (ISP) to ensure that there is no interruption to your internet access. This is especially important if you’re using broadband because migrating to a new provider will take time.
All your questions can no doubt be answered in the Beeb's FAQ Section.
Microsoft Office - Pay Less for an Upgrade
If you are looking to upgrade your Microsoft Office suite to a newer version, you might not have to pay full price. If you already own a Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) you can just pay the upgrade price instead which is much cheaper! The software itself is the same as the full version - it's just the license that causes the difference in price. Be aware that some suites may ask for the CD of the previous suite to be inserted during the upgrade to verify that you do indeed own the previous version already.
To vew which versions can be upgraded click here (ignore the fact that the prices are in American!).
 Reminder: AVG is still free
Just a reminder to all those who are still getting the message from AVG Antivirus telling them they need to upgrade to a new version that the free version is still available! Just go to http://free.grisoft.com and choose to download the free version. Click here for the full article in last month's TechTips.
NEW: Microsoft Store
Consumers can now purchase and download Microsoft's most popular products like Windows and Office online through the new Microsoft Store. It allows the purchaser to then download the software directly to their PC for immediate installation, with the option of receiving a backup DVD of the software in the post too. So far the stores are available in Germany and the UK with other international stores coming online in 2008 and 2009.
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Claygate in Bloom - Judgement Day
Claygate Flower Show
