So you received a new iPad or iPhone as a gift.  You’ve spent a good portion of your time playing with it, loading up all sorts of wonderful aps from the Apple App Store, and guess what, you really love it!. You might even have taught yourself how to sync all your devices using iCloud! Life is good… right?  Well so you thought, at least until you tried to figure out how to use some of your most important Microsoft Office applications while traveling.

You painfully discover that if you need to use Microsoft MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint or any of the MS Office suite back at the office, you’re are going to have a big problem using your new iPad mini, iPad Retina or iPhone5 to produce work using Windows based applications. In fact now you might also be thinking I sure wish this gift was a Microsoft Surface tablet instead!  Well now, that’s water under bridge. After all, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth do you?  So then just what IS the best approach and strategy to use your new iPad and iPhone on the road and still get the work done you need on the Microsoft Office Suite?

Solving this cross application platform problem is not as simple as downloading a free app or even a single paid for app for that matter.  More that likely you probably already discovered that sad fact!  Trust us, we have tried almost every editor and application out there.  None provide a one stop solution. At most you may be able to READ a file but not edit it. However we did some research and in doing so discovered and tested a clever way of using a few strategic apps together, most of them free, alongside a powerful PC utility coupled with free cloud based resources (no, not iCloud). If you set these up correctly the combination of these small applications provided below will allow you to work “on the go” across both your Apple Devices AND your PC based desktop / laptop seamlessly and without spending a whole lot of extra money!

This review will help answer these questions:

1. How can I use a free PC based cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive to share files across devices? (Between Apple and Windows PC computers)

2. How do I edit and save a file in MS Word, PowerPoint or Excel on-the-go with my Apple Device and still be able to edit that same file on my PC when I get to the home or office?

3. How to edit work in Microsoft Word .docx .ppt or .xls file using and iPad so that it can still be edited on a PC?

4. How to backup files on your Apple Devices and synchronize them with your PC Desktop so that the files are always CURRENT across all of your iPhone, iPad and also PC Windows based computers?

Overview:  After days of research we realized there was not one silver bullet solution. At least not yet thanks to the ongoing Apple / Microsoft war. However, we did find one clever way to do what we wanted without spending a fortune. You need to be willing to invest in a few low cost apps and interface them with one of the popular free cloud based services — not iCloud. Working alone, no one app will give you the full solution. However, if you use a few together in a certain way you will have the Windows / Apple iOS bridge you are looking for.

You will need to leverage one or both of the popular free cloud based services like DropBox and Google Drive (formally Google Docs). (Here is a short tutorial on what Cloud Based Services are all about in case you are unfamiliar with it). Using these services alongside a great downloadable app, CloudOn – that has a MS Office emulator -  that you can find in the Apple App Store, you will have what you need installed on your Apple devices.

Then you need a more advanced PC backup utility to be installed on your PC to sync your work files between these services which will in turn sync the files on your Apple products.  No matter where you are on the planet, you will be able to have access to the file you need regardless if its Apple Based or Windows Office based and still be able to open, edit and save it so that any of your other devices can do the same wherever you are!  Sweet!  Yes I know,  you may be confused a bit right now, but frankly once you set this up properly it is 100% automated and runs perfectly behind the scenes.  By cleverly using these seemingly unrelated software applications, file syncing and cloud utilities together in a certain way you can in fact bridge the divide between Apple and Microsoft and make your mobile computing life a whole lot easier!

What you will need to download and install:

• DropBox or GoogleDrive (formerly GoogleDocs) account — Install BOTH on your Apple Devices and your Windows based PCs.
• CloudOn App:  Install on your Apple Devices (iPhone 5, iPad Mini, iPad Retina – we have not tested the full range of legacy devices but IO5+ should also work using this process)
• SyncBack (SE -Simple Edition or SyncBackPRO):  Installed on your Windows PC based devices that you want your Apple work shared with your PC work. There are some free downloads below you can use that are trialware to make sure the process works for you before making any purchase. It should work on 99% of systems. Any sync software will work as long as it can schedule a synchronization of files between folders on your PC and cloud at least hourly. We feel these two products listed here are the best. SE may work for you.  We like PRO because of the extra features like synchronizing with Amazon S3 cloud!.  That’s probably overkill but if you like to use Amazon S3 and other cloud services, SyncBack PRO will certainly do the job and I promise, you won’t be disappointed.  It is a bit advanced, but if you have any PC chops at all you will find it easy to use and amazingly useful.  Its probably the most powerful backup utility for PCs on the market today for the price.  Try it first before purchase. There is a free download link at the end of this article.

We will now present a top level overview on how to put this all together. Many of you can figure it out on your own once we explain the basic idea.

For those of you who might want a much more detailed step by step set of instructions with screenshots, and tips along the way, we are in the process of developing a downloadable eManual Guide that will take you through setting the full “system” up step by step.

Here is the basic idea:

Apple supports a number of applications that will allow you to create files while on the go and save them to their iCloud service. The files can be saved in .txt or in .rtf format using one of the many text editors you can find in the App Store. Thats fine for notes but what if you want to edit a file that is written in MS Word or create a new one as a Word document or convert and Apple document to Word or visa versa?  Your a bit screwed unless you purchase the iWorks suite of Pages, Notes and Numbers from Apple and there are limitations with them as you will painfully find out when it comes to working across Microsoft based applications.  There are some application out there that are FREE that will allow you to create a file and save it in .docx format so that Microsoft MS Word can read it.  One GREAT application for this is FREE and is OpenOffice now developed by Apache.  We won’t get into the origin of openoffice, but suffice it to say it has its roots in the open source software development community to come up with a FREE answer to applications like MS Word that has, for all practical purposes, the same power and yes, the same ability to convert in both directions. BUT — OpenOffice does NOT run on Apple products! You won’t find an app for that!  Well thankfully along comes CloudOn.  These guys have a brilliant solution. Simply brilliant. When you register to their service, your Apple device is actually using a scaled down version of MS Products but you are using THEIR cloud based MS APPLICATION on the cloud’s operation system so to speak and not your iPad or iPhone!   The neat thing is that the CloudOn app will let the file be copied to your DropBox or GoogleDrive account while you are actually editing it using CloudOn’s Microsoft Office application!  If you have either of those two services, then when you are in the office and on your Windows based PC, you can then simply open the file from a folder on your PC desktop in either of the two cloud storage systems and continue to work on the file right from where you left off.  (It also allows use with Box.com as well.  We have less familiarity with that particular cloud based solution.)

GoogleDrive — also has the ability to allow you to create .docx based files right in their cloud as well but does not handle the other formats very well. We have found that the most powerful combination is to use both networks and then sync DropBox and GoogleDrive using their local folders on your desktop.  Now this is where the SyncBack utility comes in on your PC based desktop or laptop.  SyncBack is a very powerful backup utility I have used for years.  What I do is run it every hour to SYNC the two folders (not copy one over other as that would create a disaster) they need to be a clone of each other. If I am on the road say on a train with wii-fii and using my iPad, I can work on a file that will either reside in DropBox or GoogleDrive and in an hour the latest version will be cloned on to both services.  This allows me to use editor apps on the Apple devices that might only use one service or the other and yet have FULL access to the files on the PC — if I need to edit in MS Office, I use the CloudOn application on my Apple device. Easy.

Apple Pages (relatively expensive app in the world of apps) will only use iCloud for saving work as far as we know. That is problematic. There is NO way as far as we know to sync iCloud with either Dropbox or GoogleDrive directly. If you find one, let us know!!   This is why CloudOn works so well.

We recommend doing a bit of research on these applications and give it a try yourself.  If you use SyncBack exactly the way we explained (we will have more details on setting it up soon in the upcoming eGuide Tutorial) you will find that using BOTH Dropbox and GoogleDrive is the way to go because between these FREE services you have virtually all your bases covered. You have the widest opportunity to create, edit and share file types and applications by synchronizing the two services together artificially on your desktop PC and on your Apple devices with CloudOn!

You can download or find out more about these applications at the links below:

SyncBack SE (Free Download – Worth trying – Download and install on your Windows PC)
SyncBack PRO (Free Download – Upgraded for Windows 7 / 8 PC)
Dropbox (Free 5GB of space!)
GoogleDrive
CloudOn

In upcoming articles we will provide more detail on this and other strategies that will help you select the best apps to use in tandem to work efficiently in a Windows and Apples work / home environment.

Welcoming in the  2013 Fiscal Overhang

With less than a few hours remaining in 2012, our so called “leaders” in Washington should still have plenty of time to find the most promising spot to kick on our fiscal garbage can in order to send it way down Pennsylvania Ave and well away from the White House for the next Congress to deal with.  Oh happy days!

Features:

• * Top-rated iPod transfer software – Easy and simple to use, powerful as well.
• * Supports all iPod / iPhone / iTouch models.
• * Auto-scans your iPod / iPhone devices.
• * Auto-searches by Album/Artist/Genre/Type.
• * Simple to install and operate.
• * Advanced settings supports Backup Folder Rule.
• * Index by Album/Artist/Genre/Type.
• * Easily and quickly backup your songs, videos, photos, playlists, podcasts and more from your iTouch / iPhone / iPod to any folder on your PC.
• * Supports manage iPhone / iTouch / iPod content, import and export files between devices and computer.
• * Supports not only iPod / iPod Nano / iPod shuffle, also iPhone and iTouch.
• * Supports play media file directly in our program without third party player.
• * Supports manage your iPod device on any computer.
• * Supports transfer photos from iPhone / iTouch / iPod to computer.
• * Supports locate music or video by album/artist/genre easily.
• * Supports multiple languages. (English, Spanish, Deutsch, Japanese, Chinese…)
• * Good value for money.

See more awesome products from CuCuSoft for iPhone, iPad, iPod, and other Apple products on their website!  This is one of the top software alternative vendors for Apple based software utility solutions.

An upgrade to Windows 8 is not compelling, say analysts

An upgrade to Windows 8 is not compelling, say analysts
Designed for touch, it requires a great touchscreen or a touch pad
Priyanka Joshi / New Delhi Aug 13, 2012, 01:13 IST

Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 8, has reached the release to manufacturing (RTM) stage. In simple words, the company has finalised the code along with the features going into the final version of Windows 8. Partners like phone or tablet PC vendors to original equipment manufacturers can now start using the platform to launch their products for the Windows 8 worldwide launch on October 26. But analysts believe domestic consumers and enterprises aren’t exactly pining for Windows 8.

Personal computer (both notebook and desktop) sales are expected to grow eight per cent in 2012, according to CyberMedia Research data. And analysts argue it would be driven by Windows 7. Sumanta Mukherjee, lead analyst at CyberMedia Research (Infotech practice), says: “Windows 8 is designed for touch which means you need either a great touchscreen or a great touch pad. We don’t anticipate the new OS (operating system) to be a compelling upgrade to Windows 7.”  Read More…

Man is perhaps one step closer at understanding the nature of the universe in a super sophisticated research facility on the Swiss / French border – perhaps in a few weeks!  What if Science does actually “prove” the existence of a single “force or power” that is the basis for countless human references to a “God” or  “gods(s)” or the concept of a central creator to explain why we are here and aware of ourselves?  We are in fact matter that is aware of itself which has evolved the “intelligence” to do this investigation which has developed over time and space on our corner of the universe.  If we can discover this surely other species in the universe may in fact have reached that same discovery in their evolution. Such a discovery would link our understanding of the universe in a cosmic mutual history as the search for physical truth should lead all scientific paths ( wherever it occurred in the universe) to the existence of this very same “god particle”…. Now think about this…  What other implications might this have?  Can we finally link Science and Religion?  The final bridge of understanding that removes the last vestiges of religious conflict? Who knows…?

We wonder if all the money and effort put forth to understanding the physical universe, and its basic underlying indisputable truth, is just another form of “prayer” just based in “science” and is actually no different than the “prayer” common to all the cultures of the past ( and perhaps on other worlds) that made an effort to pay homage and seek a communication with a creator they could not see but intuitively believe is present in this world right along side us to explain their own existence??  Hmm…  for particle physics this is a BIG DEAL in that it may prove that in fact there is SOMETHING that is responsible for creating the universe…  it did not come out of nothing.  Where these particles come from and how they came to be will sound very much like a religious claim.  I would expect the explanation to be postulated:  “It was always there and always will be… without beginning or end”   …the underlying essence of everything?  So now what ?   We are still killing each other on this planet !!  — ZZB

GENEVA — Scientists working at the world’s biggest atom smasher plan to announce Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to show that the long-sought “God particle” answering fundamental questions about the universe almost certainly does exist.

But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, say they aren’t quite ready to say they’ve “discovered” the particle.

Instead, experts familiar with the research at CERN’s vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson — all but proving it exists — but doesn’t allow them to say it has actually been glimpsed.

It appears to be a fine distinction. Senior CERN scientists say that the two independent teams of physicists who plan to present their work at CERN’s vast complex on the Swiss-French border on July 4 are about as close as you can get to a discovery without actually calling it one.

“I agree that any reasonable outside observer would say, ‘It looks like a discovery,’” British theoretical physicist John Ellis, a professor at King’s College London who has worked at CERN since the 1970s, told The Associated Press. “We’ve discovered something which is consistent with being a Higgs.”  — AP NEWS via Washington Post >>> READ MORE !!

Republicans can turn this into a win for themselves – and with Sen. Marko Rubio (R), as a potential VP running mate, this tactic might just backfire on the President that would be King, Barrack Obama.

Some are wondering if this royal decree might not also apply to himself as many still question if in fact he was actually born in the U.S. Ok…a satirical title and idea? Sure we know, but why not play to the insanity emanating from Washington? It’s this year’s free three ring circus.

President Obama returned Friday to a trusted tactic — satisfying his political allies by not doing something.

Conservatives were angry when Janet Napolitano announced the administration would stop deporting certain undocumented immigrants but they should have seen it coming. On issue after issue – gay rights, drug enforcement, Internet gambling, school achievement standards – the administration has chosen to achieve its goals by a method best described as passive-aggressive…

… As of Friday, the federal government won’t deport undocumented immigrants under age 30 who came to the United States as children. It is a temporary, de facto implementation of a part of the stalled DREAM Act.

The result: a loud message to Hispanic voters to remember Obama in November.

On gay rights, too, the administration has asked agencies to do less. In February 2011 the Justice Department announced it would not defend DOMA against court challenges — an unusual step for the agency, which typically defends legal challenges to laws on the books. But the 1996 law, which bars the government from recognizing same-sex marriage, appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court via either the 9th or 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

In August, Obama’s DHS announced it would no longer deport the non-citizen spouses of gay Americans — a direct contradiction to DOMA as well.

The tactic has its start in the earliest days of the administration. In October 2009, the DOJ announced it would not prosecute medical marijuana users or suppliers in states where it’s legal, despite the state laws contradicting federal law. Federal law generally trumps state law in such matters.

 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77486.html#ixzz1xxfThj4d

Talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over inspections of suspect nuclear sites broke down on Friday, deepening pessimism over the prospects of a negotiated settlement to the international impasse over Tehran’s nuclear aspirations.

Negotiations at the agency headquarters in Vienna were aimed at agreeing the framework for an IAEA investigation into whether Iran had a nuclear weapons programme in the past, something Tehran has denied. The break-down of the talks is likely to further damage the prospects for broader negotiations between Iran and six major powers due to resume in Moscow on 17 June, aimed at finding a compromise over the Iranian uranium enrichment programme and forestalling Israeli military action.

An IAEA statement after the talks expressed “disappointment” with Iranian negotiating tactics, saying the Tehran delegation “raised issues that we have already discussed and added new ones”. The statement said no date had been set for a follow-on meeting.

The failure of the talks is a personal blow to the authority of the IAEA director general, Yukiya Amano, who flew to Tehran to finalise an agreement and returned declaring the deal all but clinched.

At the heart of discussions was the IAEA inspectors’ wish to visit a military site at Parchin as a priority, in order to look into intelligence reports that a special metal chamber had been installed there in 2000 for testing high-explosive components of a nuclear warhead.  READ MORE>>>

People all over the world are finally getting fed up with bailing out people and countries that have made an art form of sucking off those who have been paying working hard and paying taxes and contributing for years to saving for their own personal future.  Now, more and more central governments want to spread fiscal wealth to those who have sucked off the system rather than risk the loss of votes and civil unrest.  There will be a price to pay…  I say let them fail and force them start over without perpetuating the flawed concepts of domestic entitlements . Just like an individual who needs to declare bankruptcy because of their inability to balance their finances, Greece should follow suit.   This too will pass… German people, like many in the U.S. are fed up with central governments making decisions that bleed their own people dry in support of incompetent and dysfunctional governments.

 

Germans hate the idea of covering the debts of the big spenders of Southern Europe, but the hottest new idea for sharing Europe’s debt burden comes from … Germany.

Surprising but true: Germany’s opposition parties have gotten Chancellor Angela Merkel to reconsider an idea floated last winter that involves joint European liability for nations’ sovereign debt.

The idea comes from the German Council of Economic Experts, also known as the “wise men.” It’s called the European Redemption Pact (PDF), which sounds a bit religious to the American ear but isn’t intended to be.

Since fresh thinking on the European debt crisis is badly needed, it’s worth taking a look at what the wise men advise. Here’s the plan in a nutshell:

The debt of the 17 countries belonging to the single-currency euro zone is split into two parts. The portion up to 60 percent of each nation’s gross domestic product stays on the books, unchanged.

The portion of nations’ debt exceeding 60 percent of GDP is transferred into something called the European Redemption Fund.

The 17 countries are still liable for the portion of their debt that’s transferred in the fund. They have 20 or 25 years to pay it off.

Legally, however, all 17 nations are jointly liable for the debt placed in the fund. This is a way for low-debt nations such as Germany to backstop high-debt nations like Greece, giving peace of mind to their creditors and lowering interest rates.

To make sure countries pay off their debt in the European Redemption Fund, some of their national tax revenue would be earmarked for repayments. They would also have to commit to fixing national finances to free up money for debt service.

Having gotten the rest of their debt down to 60 percent of GDP, countries wouldn’t be allowed to run it back up. There would be automatic “debt brakes,” as Germany and Switzerland already have.

The responsibility of Germany and other creditor nations is strictly limited to the amount of money that’s put into the redemption fund. That makes this plan different from “euro bonds,” which some countries are pushing. Euro bonds would be new bonds for which all the euro zone countries would be jointly liable. There would be no cap on the size of borrowing via euro bonds.

Volker Kauder, the floor leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, told reporters that the opposition agreed with the government that euro bonds “are not up for discussion.” He said the two sides will “exchange studies” on the debt-sharing proposal.

Befitting a plan originating in Germany, the proposal is not exactly generous. It’s hard to imagine how a country like Greece could immediately begin repaying the European Redemption Fund while keeping the debt remaining on its books at a mere 60 percent of GDP.

But at least it’s something. Establishing the principle of joint liability for debt could open the door to a more forgiving (read: realistic) plan in the future.

There’s a nice touch of human understanding in the wise men’s explanation of their own plan, stressing the twin requirements of “solidarity” and “accountability”:

“Proponents of solidarity are stunned that their Eurozone peers let them stand in the rain, even at the risk of their own peril, while proponents of accountability maintain that they have been disappointed by empty promises once too often. In order to de-escalate the situation a mechanism is needed that allows for combining these two principles.”

Correct. Now it’s just a matter of getting the solidarity/accountability ratio right.

Read more… Bloomberg News.

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There have been excellent reviews on this particular software so we thought you would like to know that it is now released. The following excerpt below from ParetoLogic, a Microsoft software partner, explains some new features of this excellent PC speed optimizer utility. Its simple and easy to install and run.  The free demo below will let you know if there are issues with your PC that need clean up. The software is fully automated to fix those issues for you with one click. No computer knowledge is needed to run it!  (This software will NOT run on an Apple PC… it is designed for Microsoft Windows users only…)

Your chance to upgrade to RegCure Pro!