Ya gotta love this: ever want to leave someone a voicemail without any chance you’ll actually have to speak to them?

You know the kind of message I’m referring to…  “Gee, boss, really sorry I missed you – I’d love to discuss that (subject you don’t want to talk to him/her about), – let’s chat about this later.”

Slydial is a free, super stealthy way to leave voicemails on mobile phones that eliminates pesky, messy conversations with human beings. From Slydial’s website:

The service is free (you’ll have to listen to a couple of 10 second ads), and absolutely simple to use:

To learn more about Slydial, check out their website:  Slydial Voice Messaging.

P.S.:  if you want to leave a message for someone who uses the same cellular provider that you use, most systems allow you to record a message and then send it to the Contact of your choice; just call your mobile phone’s voicemail service to do so.

As a card carrying, officially certified old fart, I sleep like a baby at night – about once a year. Most nights, I wake up several times, look at the clock, and go back to sleep. On some occasions, whether I’m preoccupied with something at work or for reasons which are inexplicable, I’ll lie awake for hours, unable to get back to sleep. For the record, this is not good.  It dampens my enthusiasm for a number of things, including getting up in the morning and actually doing stuff.

I’ve tried Ambien and Ambien CR, and pretty much hate both. Yes, they knock my sorry self out for 5 to 6 hours, but I awaken feeling hungover and lethargic. I’ve also tried Melatonin, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

Pat recently found an OTC product called MidNite (the name suggesting one of its primary benefits – you can take it in the middle of the night, as late as 3 hours before you need to get up).  The product is made with four natural substances: melatonin, lemon balm, lavender, and chamomile. (How this combination works for me when melatonin alone didn’t work, I have no idea; it simply does.)

A couple of nights ago I was lying in bed, unable to sleep, and I took one at 3:13AM. I got back to sleep within about 20 minutes, was able to get out of bed at a couple minutes before six, and felt fine.

I’m not sure where Pat purchased MidNite, but it’s sold at a wide variety of pharmacies, supermarkets, and general department stores (read: Wally World, Target, K-Mart). You also can buy it direct:  MidNite. There are 3 versions, MidNite, MidNite PM with a natural pain reliever, and MidNite for Menopause. The regular version sells for $12.95 for 30 tablets. For the record, I have absolutely no relationship with the maker of this product; I’m just happy that I found something that works!

Access your home computer from anywhere in the world!

If you’ve ever wanted to control your home computer from the road, viewing or sharing files, or looking up a piece of key data, it’s easy and free, thanks to Hamachi² and Pro², from LogMeIn.

Hamachi² and Pro² are free desktop apps which enable you to create a secure virtual private network (VPN) over the internet. You can access and share files, remotely control other computers on the network (Mac or PC), or use it for gaming. All Hamachi² and Pro² connections feature state of the art encryption; although the programs serve as the conduit for your network, its servers don’t listen in or gather any information from your activity. This brief video explains it more effectively than I can (sorry, this video auto loads, and I can’t figure out how to disable that feature):

Easy Download & Install

Creating an account at LogMeIn takes a matter of moments; after doing so, you can download and install Hamachi2. Installation is via a Wizard-like interface, and only takes a minute or two. If your computer is protected by a firewall, you’ll be prompted to allow traffic from Hamachi, and of course you want to do this.

Once installed, Hamachi² or Pro² will walk you through a simple tutorial to help you set up your network. You establish your network’s name and password, and give your computer a name. The simplest way to add other computers to the network is to log on to LogMeIn from each computer, using the User ID (your email address) and password. Once logged in, you’ll see a graphical representation of your network (see below) along with an “Add Computer” button.

Click on that button and you’ll be prompted to download the Hamachi² or Pro² app to that computer; set up takes about a minute, and when you’re done, you’ve added another device to your VPN:

In this case, I added my wife’s netbook (below)–

Note that both Macs and PCs coexist peacefully on your VPN; I can use the MB Air to access files on my home PC – or the netbook – from the road, which is especially handy if I’ve mistakenly left an important document at home. Also, were I to lose my driver’s license or some other key document while on the road, I could securely access an image of it stored on my PC; the possibilities, as they say, are endless.

Multiple VPN solutions

I am using LogMeIn’s Pro², vs. Hamachi². Here’s an explanation of the differences between the two:

You can determine which LogMeIn is a perfect fit for your needs here (free versions are available for all): Which LogMeIn product is right for you?

Note that the free version of either product supports up to 16 computers and is for personal or non-profit use; the paid version supports up to 256 computers and costs $199 per year.

You can check out Hamachi² and Pro² here:  LogMeIn

Have you ever forgotten where you saved a file on your computer or network drive? When you’ve tried to locate such a file, have you been completely underwhelmed by the Windows search feature? 

Google Desktop harnesses the power of Google’s indexing and applies it to your documents, music, images, email (Gmail, Outlook, Thunderbird), contacts, web history (IE5+, Mozilla 1.4+, Netscape 7.1+, and Firefox), IMs, and calendar entries.

This very quick (< 1 minute) video provides a basic overview of Google Desktop:

Installation only takes a few moments, but indexing is best performed at night or when you’ll be away from your computer for a while. With my home PC, it required about six hours; your results will vary, based upon the number of files involved.

Google Desktop Search is launched by hitting the Ctrl key twice, or searches can be conducted from a deskbar, a floating deskbar (you set its location), or sidebar widget. The sidebar can be customized with widgets for the weather, news headlines, stock ticker, and so forth.

As I don’t want to lose any desktop real estate to (yet another) distracting time sponge, I’ve opted for the Deskbar option.

As with the latest web version of Google, search results are displayed instantly. I often find the exact item I’m looking for in the small list which pops up above the Deskbar:

Notice a few interesting things above when I entered “pizza” in the Deskbar (above): all manner of files are returned – an email, an image from our trip to Italy, a couple of recipes, and an Excel file; also, I can view all the Desktop results in a browser, or – at the very bottom – I could search the Web if I wanted. When I click on “See all 12 desktop results in a browser,” this is what I see:

If any of this gets you concerned about privacy, none of your data is shared with anyone, and although the search results look like the results of a Web search, that’s not actually the case,- the program is simply searching your local files and displaying the results in a browser. If you look at the above image, you’ll also note that results can be previewed by clicking on the “Preview” button – a nifty feature to let help you confirm you’ve found the correct file.

Google Desktop has a few uses which wouldn’t normally be obvious; here are just a couple:

• Use it to quickly navigate to your Control Panel – simply enter “Sounds” or “Mouse,” for instance
• Use it as a shortcut for launching programs – enter “Excel,” for instance

You can get Google Desktop here: Google Desktop. Versions in a variety of languages are available, by the way. One caveat: I understand that Desktop is not compatible with Outlook 2010.

An excellent resource for understanding and tweaking Desktop: Google Desktop Search Tips

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I haven’t made a big secret of my attempts to abandon conventional laptops while traveling on business. My current work-issued ThinkPad is a perfectly OK computer, but it’s a much better boat anchor: it’s a beast. At times I’ve used an iPad for travel, boasting once or twice that I could do pretty much everything I need to do with it; then I had connectivity issues at Luxor in Vegas, and tried to cut and paste some random text into an email without a lot of success while on another trip, encountered some other issues, and as a result became a bit disenchanted.

The iPad is a marvelous entertainment device, but speaking only for myself, its limitations coupled with the lack of USB ports has soured me a bit in terms of its usefulness as a netbook or laptop replacement. I still love the thing and all the apps that are available for it, but it’s a bit of a lightweight when it comes to business travel.

I’ve always wanted something light and elegant, with the capacity for handling MS Office documents, a reasonable keyboard, and at least one or two USB ports for using external drives, connecting a digital camera, and so forth.

A week ago I bit the bullet and bought an 11.6″ MacBook Air. I won’t detail this machine’s specs here, but I did order it with a few upgrades, and an external “Super Drive.”  I’ve had it for a few days and have been sorting it out and setting it up since its arrival on Monday. What’s made this a bit more interesting is the fact that I’ve never used Macs in the past, and getting used to the different operating system has been a bit of an adjustment. Another “old dog/new trick” has been adjusting to the MacBook Air’s keyboard, which is full sized but features chicklet-style keys which don’t have a lot of throw. In any event, I’m typing this at my normal rate (which is to say, perhaps 60 or 70 words per minute – a guess), without a lot of errors. Even this old dog is semi-adaptable!

Here’s a shot of the 11″ MB Air alongside a 1st Gen iPad:

Today (writing this on Wednesday) I plugged a Verizon USB760 3G dongle into it, installed Verizon’s VZ Access software, and it worked like a charm. This will enable me to travel anywhere (well, anywhere where Verizon has coverage) and get on the internet, which is huge. We usually have a couple of extra 760′s in the office, so I ought to be able to borrow one when I travel. If necessary and I felt it was justified, I could buy one, but the basic plan is $50 per month.

Anyway, this is just a quick update. I won’t review the MB Air until I’ve spent a lot of time with it, and feel comfortable attempting a review; it’ll likely be a month or two at the least. Here’s a hint, though – it’s sweet!