The new blog address is http://blog.techstuff.ca/

Unfortunately, Canadians are not eligible for the $100 rebate, but we can take advantage of another "suite" deal. How would you like to get Office 2004 and Office 2008 for just $189 plus tax?

When you buy Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition, Office 2004 for Mac Standard Edition Upgrade, or Office 2004 for Mac Student and Teacher Edition, we'll send you Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition (a $500 value) for FREE - you only pay shipping and handling.

Yes, you read that right. The Super Suite Deal applies even if you buy the student and teacher edition. Amazon.ca has it for $179 - a sweet deal indeed.

Follow this link to buy Office 2004 from Amazon.ca.
Follow this link to get the Super Suite Deal application form.

Update: The Apple online store has Office 2004 at $149 for its one-day Black Friday sale. That's $50 off the usual price.

Bento is the new personal database from FileMaker that's as easy to use as a Mac.
Bento organizes all your important information in one place. So you can manage your contacts, coordinate events, track projects, prioritize tasks, and more -- faster and easier than ever before.

Unlike other FileMaker products, which are available for both PC and Mac computers, Bento is "designed exclusively for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard."

A free preview version of Bento is available for download from the FileMaker site. No price has been announced yet. (Update: Single user license will be $50; family pack will be $100.)

What's in a name?
According to Wikipedia, Bento is "a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine." This appears to be the metaphor for the product; the personal database is an empty box that you can fill with anything you like.

Long-time Apple fans may also remember that the OpenDoc compound document file format created by Apple was also called Bento.

I haven't had much time to play with Bento yet, but it looks promising. On the face of it, Bento's apparent focus on simplicity and function is a welcome departure from previous versions of FileMaker, which were powerful and feature-rich, but always seemed to require a team of consultants to set up and operate.

Amazonmp3 is not available outside the US yet, but I'm excited anyway because it doesn't use electronic copy protection (aka DRM). In other words, when you buy a song from Amazonmp3, you get a high quality digital version of the song with no electronic lockdown. It's a song you can freely enjoy, copy and use on any digital music player, not just iPods. I love iTunes, but this is very, very good for consumers.

If you like Amazon's latest offering, you can blame Apple:

The self-created headache for the industry is that the highly popular iPod and new iPhone only play music protected by Apple's proprietary FairPlay DRM solution or music that isn't protected at all. And Apple chairman Steve Jobs has repeatedly balked at licensing FairPlay for use on competing download services or devices.

Read more here.

I haven't tried the Windows version yet, but the Mac version works.

It's not a true game yet. There are only two planes, no sound effects, no assigned missions, etc. It's more of a Superman simulator really -- you launch yourself into the air, then fly around, enjoying the view from the air as you swoop around.

It's very fun. Download here. The list of keyboard controls is here!

iTunes Store To Stop Selling NBC Television Shows

Apple's agreement with NBC ends in December. Since NBC would withdraw their shows in the middle of the television season, Apple has decided to not offer NBC TV shows for the upcoming television season beginning in September. NBC supplied iTunes with three of its 10 best selling TV shows last season, accounting for 30 percent of iTunes TV show sales.

This means no more NBC television shows will be sold by the iTunes Store after the contract ends. That's especially sad news for viewers outside the US, many of whom have never had the chance to buy TV shows from the US-only service.

If you ask me, NBC is trying to avoid the unavoidable. They don't want to cede control of online video sales and distribution to Apple, but it's already too late. iTunes is the industry standard, the market leader, the 800 pound gorilla of online video sales. There simply is no direct competitor.

Of course, NBC could try to build an iTunes competitor.

Oh, wait. They are trying to build an iTunes competitor! Starting in October, TV shows from NBC and FOX will be available for download to testers of a new video service called Hulu.

Here's a blurb from the site:

The Hulu private beta will be available in October. In the interest of delivering a great customer experience and making sure that we can address any feedback that comes along the way, we're going to start small and grow iteratively in terms of the volumes of people that we invite to participate in the beta. Within that same timeframe, we will also be offering great programming through our distribution partner sites: AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo.

I'm assuming that Hulu will become widely available by January 2008, when NBC's contract expires. I guess we'll see.

There's no word yet on whether Hulu will offer videos for sale to viewers outside the United States. (Yes there is. See below.)

Meanwhile, since no legal options exist, many Canadians will continue to share episodes of NBC shows via peer-to-peer networks. This is legally murky, since the courts have ruled that Canadian copyright law permit downloads of copyrighted material, but uploads are illegal. (Many people don't seem to care. If you browse P2P networks, you'll find plenty of video files uploaded by CTV and Global TV viewers.)

Speaking on behalf of Canadians who are willing to pay for legal downloads, I hope Hulu (and iTunes) will soon make American TV shows available to Canadians.

My wallet is ready and waiting. Sign me up.

Update: Sigh. The Hulu Terms of Use page answers my question:

EXPORT CONTROL
Unless otherwise specified, the materials on this Site are presented solely to for use in the United States, its territories, possessions and protectorates. This Site is controlled and operated by Hulu from its offices within the state of California, United States of America. Hulu makes no representation that materials on this Site are appropriate or available for use outside the United States and authorizes no one to do so. Those who choose to access the Site in contravention of the foregoing from outside the United States do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent that local laws are applicable.

Before the standards wars between Beta vs VHS or Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD, there was A4 vs US Letter.

Ever downloaded a document or received a file from a friend only to have it print out badly?
There are lots of potential causes of such problems: different typefaces available to the creator and the printer; different operating systems and different versions of the same operating systems exposing limitations in supposedly cross-platform standards; different printer engines, especially when crossing between ink-jet and laser; and so on.
An oft-overlooked cause of problems, however, is different paper sizes.

Read the article here: A4 vs US Letter by Brian Forte

Tech blogger and former Mac evangelist Guy Kawasaki suggests the following three guidelines for PowerPoint presentations:

1. No more than 10 slides.

2. No more than 20 minutes long.

3. No font smaller than 30 points.

Simple, yes?

If you must make a presentation with PowerPoint -- and I think there are many arguments against any use of PowerPoint -- these are some good guidelines to follow.

Read the whole thing here.