Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500

The main features include:

• Compact, easy to use “one touch” scanning
• A4 duplex compact colour scanner
• Colour / grayscale scanning speed: 20ppm (300dpi)
• Monochrome scanning speed: 20ppm (600dpi)
• Excellent image quality
• Compatible with all leading operating systems

Pricing

PC Version: Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 PC Version @ £309.99 ex VAT

Mac Version: Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 Mac Version @ £409.99 ex VAT

What Coverpoint like:

• Easy Install
• Simple Operation
• Double sided
• Fast
• Business card scanner

Don’t Forget:

If you are looking for a more mobile solution then check out:

Fujitsu S1300

Fujitsu S1100

Call us now to get buying!

For all first online orders, please use coupon code WELCOME for Free Delivery.

08445 44 44 45 OR email: enquiries@coverpoint.eu

The  Coverpoint Team

Coverpoint provide IT Support Services to Rich Mix Arts Centre in Bethnal Green, East London. We were therefore delighted to donate network switch gear and provide IT support to the Development Camp Project that is being run from Monday 25^th July, until Friday 12^th August at Rich Mix.

Local youngsters will be taught how to develop Smart Phone Apps, Face Book Apps and Web Apps in a series of free courses.

Coverpoint Owner, Mike Kirkland said, “This gives Coverpoint the opportunity to give something back to Rich Mix and the local community, and I am sure that the course attendees will benefit greatly from the experience. Who knows, we might even discover the next Mark Zuckerberg!”

More information about the program can be found here at the Rich Mix Website http://www.richmix.org.uk/devcamp

Adobe Printer Problem

Last week, a number of customers reported that they could no longer print Adobe Acrobat documents.

After a lot of head scratching, they all had something in common: they had all installed update 9.4.2!

I’m not going to rant (this time!), just provide everyone with the solution.

So, everyone ready to do Adobe’s job for them since they can’t be bothered to release a timely fix? (Damn, I said I wasn’t going to rant didn’t I?)

Unfortunately you can’t simply remove the update (unless you roll back your PC).

You will need to edit the Adobe.Manifest file. However, you may find that you won’t be able to edit it so you will need to give yourself permission to the file first.

So here’s the steps:

1) Go to c:\program files\Adobe\Acrobat\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat and locate the file: Adobe.Acrobat.Dependencies.Manifest.

2) Right-click on file and choose ‘Properties…’

3) Go to the ‘Security’ tab, choose your username, ‘Edit…’ and give yourself full permissions to the file.

4) Once done, open the file using Notepad (you may want to take a copy of the file first).

5) Remove the line: <file name=”atl.dll” />

6) Save the file.

7) Log off and on – hey presto! You should be printing again.

…and don’t even get me started about Adobe Acrobat’s incompatibility with Office 2010!

Thanks

Martin

I think that there is a bug in the Clock program. My alarm is set for 06:00am every morning and this morning it went off at 07:00am. This despite the fact my iPhone automatically put the clock back one hour on Sunday morning.

My theory is if the clock was already open in multi-tasking mode, it did not update when iPhone rolled the clock back.

It got me thinking about how much power Apple wields over us, and how much this little problem affected the UK economy?

Did anybody else get woken up an hour later this morning?

At first glance you might think that this was some form of strange alien code. People in the know will tell you that these symbols represent the most commonly used office applications in the world.  Nothing to report to the X Files yet then! What is unusual is that this is Office 2011 for the Mac, and the O represents Outlook.

The first and probably most important thing to mention is the price. The previous version of Office 2008 weighed in at an astonishing £399.99 for the Business Edition. This version is just £189.99 and for an extra £50 you can get an additional license as well. Well-done Microsoft. There is also an even cheaper Student Edition that does not include Outlook.

 So, cheap is good but is it any good?

I have used the previous versions of Office for Mac and enjoyed a love hate relationship. My biggest issue has been with Entourage, which is truly one of the worst email clients I have ever used. It did get slightly better with 2008, but was still a long way from a pleasurable experience. Also, composing documents on the Mac and then porting to Windows was completely hit and miss. You never quite knew how that important proposal or presentation was going to look when it reached your client at the other end.

Enough talking let’s get this thing installed.

Popping the DVD into the drive starts the installation and the first thing you notice is Rosetta is not required. This means code is running natively and not through a translation program. The installation screens are pretty and very easy to follow. Amazingly, the whole install process takes about 10 minutes to complete. As the product is only a few days old, there are no updates to apply and you are pretty much done.

We now have those instantly recognizable symbols in our dock, along with Messenger, Document Connection and Remote Desktop.

We are going to briefly look at two parts of the Office suite, the new Outlook Client and Document Connection. Rest assured the other applications feature the new ribbon interface borrowed from their Windows cousins, and look fantastic on the Mac. You will feel instantly at home with them if you have used Office 2007 or Office 2010 on Windows. Microsoft also suggests that they have nailed Mac to Windows compatibility.  I might just believe them.

Entourage is dead. Long live Outlook.

Microsoft have done the humane thing and put Entourage to rest. They really had no choice, as any new version would have been dammed by inference. Anyway, the name always reminded me of that cheesy American TV show about teenagers behaving badly.

 Lets fire this bad boy up.

Configuration was always complicated on the previous versions. The wizards never seemed to work and you always had to dive in and set things up manually, ensuring information was entered in exactly the right format. The only information I have to provide is my full name, email address, server name, user name and password.  Done.

The familiar connected symbol appears in the bottom right hand corner and off Outlook goes bringing down all my stuff from our Exchange Server. No annoying status screens that keep appearing for hours on end and not actually doing anything. Everything syncs including Tasks and Notes. Nice.

The interface is very Outlook like and very pleasing on the eye. When you send or receive an email you get a very calming sound. You also get a very Apple Mail like status bar that shows you the send progress. When you copy multiple emails you get the Apple ‘star’ telling you how many messages you are moving. Attachments can be viewed using Apple quick look.

Everything is here. Out of Office options. Public Folders, opening other peoples calendars. It all works seamlessly and beautifully.  It now also supports Time Machine backup, as messages are stored as single entities. Also check out the conversations, which shows you the message thread in one view.

Ladies and Gentleman. I believe that we finally have the very best email and calendaring client on the Mac bar none.

 What is this Document Connection thingy?

I asked myself the very same question. Click on it and I can add a SharePoint location.  We use SharePoint extensively on our SBS2008 server. I wonder? Putting in our server address (remember to add port :987!) I am presented with a Document Management system that enables me to view, edit, checkout and upload documents to our Share Point directory. Now that is pretty cool!

So let me come back to my original question. It’s cheap but is it any good?

Office has finally come of age on the Mac. Outlook is absolutely fabulous and the rest of the suite superb. This is an essential package for the Mac and anybody who uses a Mac for work should buy it.

And if you buy it from us at www.coverpoint.eu we will be your best friends!

The Coverpoint Team

The good news is growth in this sector but more importantly an adoption of video calling across multiple platforms in environments that are better suited to all users. People on the move will most likely accept that “traditional” video conferencing is not only confined to the boardroom. The increase of productivity has allowed for home workers to access Video Conference calls on multiple devices namely: desktops, handsets and so on. The dedicated conference room will be part of a new wave of consumerism whereby video calling becomes more accessible thus making visual communications a must have and part of daily living! The exciting news remains that video calling is becoming more popular and all signs point to a surge of sales in the coming years.

Coverpoint have recently launched an online store with a good array of both Video & Audio conferencing products from leading market vendors. Our e- store will enable both prospects and customers to narrow their search in their quest to join the world of video conferencing.

Our philosophy is simple:

Consultancy – Listening to and analyzing all needs via a site visit or demonstration room facility.

Product supply – Codecs & all relevant accessories.

Installation – Across single or multiple sites.

Pre and post sales support.

We are here to prove that your ROI is better than ever and we look forward to a list of new opportunities from both customers and prospects.

Let’s all say cheese together,

The Coverpoint team

www.coverpoint.eu

I am still loving my iPhone 4 but my adoration is becoming somewhat dimmed by a stange phenomenon: 

During a call my ear inadvertently touches the screen and either mutes the call or cuts the caller off completely!
Occasionally I will even start a Facetime session spontaneously! 

The iPhone uses something known as a proximity sensor to deactivate the screen when close to your ear; or, at least, it’s supposed to. 

iPhone 4 Ear Problem

My colleagues weren’t experiencing it so I thought maybe the problem is more pronounced with left handers or that I simply had a duff one. 

The forum suggestions ranged from resetting the iPhone to opening an App mid-call to something like the Calculator to prevent you from ‘earing’  the wrong button! 

It now looks like Apple has come clean and admitted this is now a problem and say the next release (4.1) due for release next week should resolve it (ears crossed!). 

To my mind this has been a much larger issue than the antenna problem which in my opinion was a storm in a teacup and simply a badly handled media issue. 

4.1 should also address other bugs such as the Nokia Bluetooth problem (also experienced with my hands free Nokia car kit), and provide some performance boosts. 

Extra features also include Online Gaming and HD YouTube video uploads. (I can take or leave these). 

I would be interested to hear from anyone else with same issue – left handed or otherwise. 

Watch Apple’s official video of yesterday’s event – which covers new retail stores, iOS 4.1, and the new iPods and Apple TV – here.

So here’s my top 10 Windows 7 favourite tips & tricks.

10. Drag Maximised Windows. A big bugbear with XP users was that you had to resize a window before you could move or resize it. Not so with Windows 7. You can manipulate a maximised window in just the same way as a resized one.

9. Record a Problem. A useful feature for troubleshooting problems is the ‘Problem Solving Recorder’. To record the steps you took, simply type PSR in the run command box and press return. You can then open and click on each window or area of screen and Windows will take snapshots of each step. When finished click ‘Stop Record’ and you are prompted to save it as a zip file. This file will contain images of each step, which you can send to the support contact (OK, usually Microsoft!)

8. Show Desktop. I often get asked: ‘Where has my Show Desktop icon gone?’. With Windows XP it was fairly obvious; not so with Windows 7. It is now hidden away at far bottom right of screen as a vertical bar (see below). Hover over it and it will ‘preview’ minimise of all Windows and clicking on it performs the minimise. Hitting Windows Key + D has the same effect (or Windows + Spacebar to preview minimise).

Show Desktop in Windows 7

7. Alt + Tab. Windows XP users will be very familiar with this shortcut for cycling through all open Windows. Windows 7 has taken this a step further by giving a view of open applications, showing a preview of each. This functionality has been further extended with the Windows + T keys. This cycles through a ’3D preview’ of open apps along the Taskbar. Give them a try.

6. Launch Web Pages from TaskBar. If you want to save time opening your Web Browser you can put the address bar directly onto your Taskbar. Just right-click on the Taskbar and choose Properties, go to Toolbar tab and click ‘Address’ and choose OK. Marvellous.

5. Easy as 1, 2, 3… Another shortcut combo of Windows + 1, 2 or 3 allows fast opening of applications. Windows assigns numbers to each of the programs pinned to the taskbar, beginning with 1 at far left. May not look useful at first glance but it means that by putting your most frequently used programs in order along the Taskbar, you can very quickly open them up when you first log in. For instance, I put Internet Explorer at far left and can quickly open using Windows + 1 key (saves me all of 1/2 second!)

4. Find Hidden Themes and Desktops. If you navigate to c:\windows\globalization\MCT folder you will find folders beginning with names such as MCT-GB and MCT-US. These are regional folders for various countries. Inside these you will find a Themes folder and a folder with the name of the country. Double-click on a particular theme inside a Themes folder to install and activate or choose a desktop image from within the country folder, right-click and choose ‘Set As Desktop Background’.

3. Side by Side. If you want to organise 2 windows on the screen just drag one to the far left and one to the far right. They will line up magically side by side! (If it doesn’t seem to be working, keep dragging each further than you think until a new outline appears).
You can also manipulate windows using the keyboard – Hold down the Windows key at bottom-right of your keyboard and hit:

Left Arrow to dock window to left of screen
Right Arrow to dock window to right of screen
Up Arrow to Maximise window
Down Arrow to minimise window
…and
M key minimises all the windows, whilst
Home key minimises all but the window your working on!

2. Snip! As I do occasional web development, one feature I use all the time is the ‘Snipping Tool’. It is very useful for ‘grabbing’ certain areas of the screen. You can then paste what you have grabbed into your favourite Paint program. The Snipping Tool can be found in the Accessories folder.

1. Hold & Shake. When you have multiple Windows open the screen can get a little cluttered. If you want to concentrate on one particular window, just grab the header, give it a shake and watch the other windows just fall away. Very iPhone!

It was not long ago that we were all affected by severe snow storms in the early part of 2010. Then too, air travel was badly affected and came to a grinding halt. These natural disasters will most likely continue to affect productivity, and most businesses can ill afford this as we continue moving out of a recession.

This leads to my point. Quite simply, the Volcanic ash cloud caused an eruption in video conference calls, which Polycom reported. Many businesses resorted to teleconferencing as airports closed. Now is the time to make the investment, before Eyjafjallajökull causes further misery.

With that said, our sales team is now on high alert thanks to the ash cloud. The message is loud and clear, it is now time to pick up the phone or send us an e-mail.

The New iPad

I am already a convert to the iPad having neither held one nor seen one in the flesh.

So why do I want one? Well I do love my gadgets but I have also become increasingly choosy with age. I partly blame Apple for this – in my younger days I would change my mobile every few months;  since the iPhone, I haven’t even considered another as they all seem so plain  and drab by comparison. Having said that I am not an Apple evangelist – I still love my Windows 7 PC as well.

If I am going to add to my gadget collection, it has to either simplify or add something to my life. To this extent,  the iPad for me has so many things going for it, particularly the 3G model: the ability from anywhere to read and compose my e-mails , update my diary, browse websites with ease, read a newspaper or an e-book, watch a video, listen to some music, browse my photos, play games, the list goes on.

I am also hoping to use the LogMeIn App to support my customer’s PCs and Macs – I’ll let you know how this goes. If it is a smooth experience, it will mean that my heavier Macbook can stay at home, whilst I travel to London with my iPad.

However, not everyone is as enamoured by the new iPad as I am. Looking at lots of blogs on the subject, many people are complaining it doesn’t have the same features as a notebook, such as HDMI or usb ports, multitasking, or a huge disk capacity. (There were even some complaints that it won’t run Windows products!) I think they’re all missing the point. The iPad was never meant as a replacement for your notebook, rather a supplement.  Of course there will always be times when only a PC or Mac will do, but after reading the blogs I do wonder at some people’s thought processes!

And no, a stylus would not be a good idea!

By the way, I hate marmite…