Electronic stuff my friends recommended to me over the summer

Games for IPod Touch 4:

Settlers- $4.99- Somewhat fun. I can't play on any one mission for more than about five minutes before my enemies attack me and I have to start over.

SurvivalCraft- $3.99- I didn't actually get this because I don't have the money. From what I've heard it's exactly like Minecraft but with more species of animals.

Clash of Clans- free- Fun, but once your shield runs out people attack you like crazy. I got attacked four times in two hours. The good news is that if whoever attacks you destroys enough stuff in your village you get a free shield. NEEDS WI-FI!!!!

Total Domination: Reborn- Free- Fun. Like Clash of Clans but set in the future after a nuclear war. Rebuild civilization and become the top player. NEEDS WI-FI!!!!

Battle Bears Gold- Free- LOVE IT. Imagine an eight-bear ( Yes, you read that right) war with four on each side. You can choose from eight different bears: Sniper, Soldier, Heavy, Huggable, Demo, Engineer, Assault, and Chub Scout. I'm totally addicted to it. I even bought the green skin for Heavy. NEEDS WI-FI!!!!

Dumb Ways To Die- Free- LOVE IT. My current favorite non wi-fi game. Even has a little three minute theme song. You can listen to it at http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw. I've already driven my parents crazy because I've been singing it a TON for about two days. I even memorized the first three verses.

SPECIAL FEATURE: How to look like a hobo in Jetpack Joyride: Buy the paper bag, the barrel, and the diy jetpack and put them all on at once and (drumroll, please).......... a HOBO BARRY!!!!! (cue fanfare)

Videos:

Cat Flushing the Toilet: I nearly fell out of my seat watching this 46 second video. You can watch it at http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=saQcnblLinc

Dog Chasing a Rabbit in its Sleep: This is pretty funny. And the crazy thing is, the dog doesn't wake up until he hits the wall!!!! Watch it at http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=grEypMDqvTE

TV/MOVIES

Merlin: Arthur and Merlin are teenagers and Arthur is still a prince. Uther Pendragon is still king, Morgana Le Fay isn't (bwa ha ha ha) evil, and Guinevere is the blacksmith's daughter. Everything that happens is way different from the traditional story. I watched it on our TV by streaming it on Netflix with my mother's account.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: In my opinion, the most absurd and funniest movie ever made. What could be more funny than an enchanter named (bum bum bum buuuuuuuh) Tim???????

Disclaimer of the disclaimer.

I, John Hartman, wrote this post.

Batteries: Running Them Down and Charging Them Up

Packing the night before a 21st century vacation with kids sounds something like this, "Make sure you plug in your iPod and 3DS before you go to bed!" Depending on your mode of travel, whether by car or by air, you may face some serious battery issues.

The car travel problem
On our recent 6-hour drive from Tucson to San Carlos, Mexico the boys faced a major dilemma. They wanted to play games on their electronic devices, knowing they would run down the batteries. They also knew we had options for recharging the batteries while we were in the car. Battery life for any device depends on how you use it. I've noticed heavy wifi and bluetooth use run down my smartphone and iPad batteries the fastest. When the devices are in airplane mode the batteries last significantly longer. The good news for our car trip was that most of it would be out of cell phone range, meaning the boys would only be able to play games that don't require wifi or to watch videos they pre-loaded onto their iPods. Both boys started complaining about their batteries being low about 4 hours into the trip. At that point they had two options: 1) play games on their Nintendo 3DSXLs, or 2) recharge the iPod batteries. I assume talking to one another or to other people in the car was out of the question.

The car travel solution
My Toyota Highlander has two DC outlets, one on the dashboard and one under the dashboard. I have a car USB power adapter that can charge 2 devices at once. However, it will not charge an Apple device (more about that later). The Apple Store sells a proprietary car USB power adapter for $15 that works for Apple devices but it only has one USB port. If you have 4 people with 1-2 devices per person and only 2 DC outlets you are looking at a real power struggle. Furthermore, the charging cable that comes with the iPod Touch is so short it won't reach from the DC outlet to the back seat. That means the boys can't use their devices while they're charging. Oh, the humanity!

Thankfully we have another solution that works for car trips. My husband has a Port A Wattz 300 power inverter and a DC outlet extension cord. When you plug the power inverter into the car 12 volt DC outlet it will generate 120 volts of AC power. I plug the extension cord into the DC outlet in the front of the car and the boys can put the power inverter, which has 2 AC outlets, on the back seat. They then plug their iPod AC wall chargers into the power inverter and they're back in business.

The air travel problem
Our next big trip is will take us to the east coast to visit family. We'll be flying and at the moment we all have middle seats so batteries are not our biggest concern. Assuming we can get the seating worked out we will still have to deal with battery usage. We'll be traveling without our power inverter and I can guarantee we won't have seats with DC outlets. I've heard of such a thing on airplanes but not the planes I fly on. So here's our new conundrum - if you drain your iPod battery on the flight from Tucson to Chicago, can you fully re-charge your battery during your layover before you have to board the flight to Buffalo?

A temporary diversion regarding chargers
There are 3 general ways to recharge your device battery: 1) an AC wall charger, 2) a DC car adapter, and 3) a USB port on a computer. The things I charge on a regular basis are my Android smart phone and my iPad. In my experience the AC wall charger is the fastest way to recharge them. I can't recall the last time I charged my smart phone using the USB port on my PC laptop although I know I've done it at least once. I use my DC car adapter to charge my smart phone on my way home from work and when we're on car trips. I find the DC car adapter to be much slower than the AC wall charger.

The Apple devices present a more complex issue. My iPad came with a wall charger and USB cable. The Apple wall charger and USB cable are proprietary hardware. This means the USB cable is not a standard USB cable, and that's not just because it's white. If you plug the iPad with its USB charging cable into a standard USB wall charger, a standard USB DC car adapter or a PC USB port, the iPad will not charge. You can only charge an iPad when the USB cable is plugged into an Apple wall or car charger or an Apple computer.

To my surprise, when Nathan bought his iPod Touch the device came with the USB charging cable but not an AC wall charger. I figured that was OK because I have a Logitech speaker stand I can use to charge my iPad. I let Nathan use the AC wall charger that came with my iPad to charge his iPod Touch. However, when John bought his iPod Touch we needed 3 ways to charge the devices. I bought John an official Apple AC wall charger for about $20 because I'd read that non-Apple chargers can be dangerous (http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html).

There's no good air travel solution
So now I can return to our airport problem. Let's say the boys drain their iPod Touch during the flight from Tucson to Chicago. At that point they can: 1) play on their 3DS, 2) talk to the person next to them, 3) read the airline magazine, or 4) make multiple unnecessary trips to the restroom. When we get off the plane in Chicago we will have to run to our connecting flight, which in my experience is always the farthest gate from wherever we landed. Will that leave us enough (or any) time to find an outlet to charge up our batteries before we have to board the next plane? Airports are getting better about having at least some outlets available for travelers but searching for an open outlet may be akin to searching for the Holy Grail. I often end up on the floor, crouched against the wall, feeling lucky to have found a single, free outlet. When I'm accompanied by the boys and their power hungry devices I fear we shall be denied our quest and thrown off the Bridge of Death into the Gorge of Eternal Death.

It is with great apprehension and uncertainty that we will start our journey to the east coast. We will charge our devices the night before, put them in airplane mode while in flight, and keep our chargers in our carry-on bags. We will then use our devices, always keeping an eye on the remaining battery life.

John's perspective: 
[Disclaimer: John still refuses to write anything but is always interested in discussing our topics. He proof-read this blog entry and laughed at "Oh, the humanity!" and the Monty Python references.]

Last week my husband took the boys to Lake Powell. It was a 6-9 hour drive, including the 50-mile detour around the US 89 road closure, depending on the wind and the number of vehicles in your caravan. Faced with the absolute certainty of draining their iPod Touch batteries both boys opted to plug into the power inverter the moment they left the driveway.

Regaining Parental Control

As a parent I often feel I have lost control of my kids. John doesn't hear a word I'm saying when he's absorbed in book. Nathan informed me he doesn't like to wear clothes that match and his favorite hair style is natural bed head. I figure you have to pick your battles because you can't win them all. In that vein I decided to take back the control that only parents can demand - "Parental Control" over the kids' electronic device access.

I found enabling parental control and controlling parental control are two different things. I suffered my first set-back last weekend when my husband and I tried to stream the first episode of "House of Cards" on Netflix. After I selected the episode I got the message “This title cannot be played as it exceeds the parental level set for your account.” It appears I outsmarted myself when I found and set the parental control on my Netflix instant viewing account. I selected the "Older Kids" level of maturity, which allows PG-13 movies and TV-14 television shows, since that's what we often watch as a family. I had not considered that shows such as "House of Cards" would be rated TV-MA. Once the error message popped up on my TV screen I had to run to my computer and re-set the parental control settings. This is Netflix's solution to temporarily overriding your selected parental control preference. It is then up to the parent to remember to re-set the parental control level afterward. In my opinion that is not a very parent-user-friendly system.

Next I set out to explore the parental control options on my iPad. The default setting for the iPad disables restrictions. That's great if you're the only one using your iPad but my kids sometimes prefer my iPad to playing Minecraft on my laptop or using their iPod Touch or Nintendo DS. You can find the parental controls in the "Settings" app under the "General" menu and then under the "Restrictions" menu. If you decide to enable the Restrictions you will be asked to create and enter a passcode, which you should never divulge to your children. You can then choose which apps to allow (e.g., Safari, Facetime, iTunes) by setting them to "On" and which ones to disallow (e.g., deleting apps) by setting them to "Off". You can also set ratings levels for music, movies, TV, books, and apps. The most interesting setting to me was the one that disallows In-App Purchases (set it to "Off").

Once I figured out the iPad parental controls I thought I should set the parental controls on the boys' iPod Touches. The first problem I encountered is Johnny had password protected his iPod and I don't know the password. The second problem was he already set the parental controls on his iPod. That meant he created his own passcode to control the parental control. It also meant I had once again lost parental control. I had been foiled twice-over by a 10-year old!

My attempts at parental control haven't all been failures. I count Pandora as one place I've had success. The boys and I created several stations we like to listen to around the house and in the car. When I started my first Pandora station about one year ago I was shocked to learn the lyrics to the Nicki Minaj song, "Starships". I had no idea she was saying, "We're higher than a motherf****r" because I had always heard the song on the radio where the Federal Communications Commission requires the removal of profane language. I'm generally not in favor of censorship but I don't want to hear swear words when I'm listening to music with the boys. I discovered Pandora has an option for allowing or dis-allowing explicit lyrics. The only place to set your option is on the Pandora web site, as opposed to the app on your smartphone or iPad. When you log in to Pandora you click on your email address and select "Settings" from the pull-down menu. Under your basic account information you will find the "Explicit Content Filter". I set mine to "No. Do not allow explicit content." Now the boys and I can listen to Macklemore and Lewis's "Thrift Shop" and I don't have as much explaining to do. John knows the real words and likes to point this out to me but I don't think we need to hear the naughty words over an over again as we listen to the music and sing along.

I investigated Parental Control options for the Windows 7 operating system on my laptop computer. They are found in the Control Panel under User Accounts and Family Safety and then under Parental Controls. The Parental Controls can be customized for each individual user. The pre-installed options on my laptop include the ability to set time limits for when each user can use the computer. For example, you could only allow your child to use the computer between 3-5 PM on weekdays and 9-11 AM on weekends. You can also allow or block access to programs on your computer. For example, you could block your child from using the the internet by blocking access to the browser. I suppose this could be useful if your child is using the computer without supervision. There are additional Parental Controls that can be installed such as Web Filtering, which allows or blocks certain web sites, and Activity Reporting, which monitors the web sites and programs your child is using. I decided not to enable these features at the moment but it's good to know they're there in case problems arise in the future. However, if the power you have over your child's computer use gives you a sense of superiority keep in mind that Web Filtering and Activity Reporting can also be used by employers to restrict or monitor employee activities on work computers.

John's perspective

John set his own parental controls on his iPod Touch. He set Music & Podcasts to "Clean", Movies to "PG-13" and TV Shows to "TV-PG", Books to restrict "Explicit Sexual Content" and Apps to "12+". He said he did this because he doesn't want to see or hear inappropriate things. He doesn't know my Apple ID so if he wants to download an app he has to get my permission. We're currently debating the appropriateness of the "Kick the Buddy" app. John said he doesn't care if I want to monitor his web site usage or computer activity but at the same time he doesn't want me to restrict his usage and activity.

John's Club Penguin Video Capture with Jing

After the wild success of his Minecraft anti-bullying video, John agreed to try out another video-editing software program. We decided to try Jing primarily because it is free, but also because my friend's sons use it to make Minecraft videos.

Jing (http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html) lets you capture images and videos you see on your computer screen so you can share them with other people. You can add text and captions to screen images. You can also record whatever you are doing on your computer screen, along with your narration, in a video.

Next, John had to decide what to use as the subject of his video. The boys had recently revived their interest in Club Penguin so the answer was obvious.

As a general rule I don't like downloading unknown software onto my computer. It seems that whenever I download new software something evil happens and I start getting error messages or a virus hijacks my browser. Since one of primary activities I do on my laptop is write lectures and organize materials for my courses I always get nervous that my computer will stop working and I'll lose all of my work. At one point I instituted a policy of "no new downloads during the semester". Now that it's summer I'm feeling more adventurous about venturing outside of my comfort zone.

Our first step was to download and install Jing. Jing lives on the computer desktop so you can capture a screen or record a video on the desktop, in your browser or in any application you have launched. John opened Club Penguin and recorded the computer screen while he navigated the game and narrated his video. When he played back the video there was no audio (arrgh!) I Googled "Jing audio not working" and determined we hadn't selected our USB microphone as the audio source for Jing. Once we did that we were back in business. John narrated and recorded his new video and saved his file. He then uploaded the video to YouTube. Everything looked great until the end of the upload when YouTube announced the file was not compatible with YouTube (double arrgh!).

Have you ever heard of a .swf file? Neither have I but that's what Jing produces. I found out .swf stands for Shock Wave Flash, which is more commonly called Adobe Flash. Turns out there are a lot of different types of video files and YouTube only likes a small set of them. We recognized .avi files from the list of acceptable formats and set out to convert our .swf file to a .avi file. I Googled "convert .swf to .avi" and there were several programs available, many for free. I was hesitant just to start downloading a converter from any random website. I might inadvertently download a virus or some other source of evil. I decided to go with the  "Free SWF to AVI File Converter" download from the CNET.com site because I have read what I believe to be reputable information on the CNET website. CNET also collects reviews of the downloadable programs and I read through a few of them for the "Free SWF to AVI File Converter". I crossed my fingers and hit the "Download" button. The download of the .swf to .avi converter went well and I declined all the extra downloads that were offered as part of CNET's ad-supported service.

We installed our "Free SWF to AVI File Converter" and launched the program. The CNET reviews said the program wasn't intuitive so we used the program "Help" to figure out how to use it. The first topic in the "Help" file is called, "How to convert Flash to Video?" Clicking the link takes you to a video with the instructions for the conversion. The video is available at http://www.swf-video.com/guide/How-to-convert-flash-to-video.htm. We watched the video and following the steps to covert our .swf file to a .avi file.

John was then able to upload his .avi file to YouTube. His 4 minute 21 second video can be found at http://youtu.be/MexTi8F0mvA. If you don't have time to watch the entire video, here are some highlights;

0:00 - How to become a Club Penguin secret agent
1:25 - John's younger brother annoys him during the making of the video
1:55 - Bonus footage of how to throw suds at someone in the hotel spa
3:34 - Unable to put dots in the blog address

Managing Too Many Passcodes, Logins, Passwords and PINs

I'm not paranoid so why am I convinced someone out there is trying to steal my electronic stuff? Every day I expend a great deal of time and energy trying to protect my electronic devices and data from an unknown stranger lurking in cyberspace, casing my house or eying my belongings. Every time I use my smartphone, iPad or computer I have to enter a passcode or password. When I visit web sites I have to enter more logins and passwords. I have to keep track of my nickname and Apple ID for my iPad. I also have to remember the PINs for my ATM and library cards. And that's just my stuff. Now my kids have their own logins, passwords, PINs and nicknames. My brain has a hard time remembering and organizing all this information. It's downright overwhelming.

There are real threats out there so we do need to make some effort to protect our devices and data from being stolen. I like the convenience of online banking but I don't want someone breaking into my bank account and stealing my money. I also don't want someone pilfering my smartphone or laptop and gaining access to my personal information. I hope my bank will work with me to recover any lost money and if my computer is stolen I can replace it but there is a certain amount of time, effort and energy involved in doing so. It just makes sense to take some basic precautions.

How do I determine what needs a passcode or password?
Think about what would happen if a stranger picked up your smartphone. Could they turn it on and immediately access your list of phone contacts? Could they get into your email? If so, you need to protect your smartphone with a passcode. Most smartphones have a screen lock. My Android phone offers a pattern (you draw with your finger), PIN (usually a 4 digit number) or password (4 or more letters or numbers) option to unlock the screen. While these may be cracked easily they are better than nothing and give you a little time to realize your phone was lost or stolen before an unauthorized person can gain access to your data. iPads and iPods have similar passcode locks. It's a bit of a pain to enter your passcode or password each time you want to use your smartphone or iPad but it offers the first line of defense in protecting your device.

What if someone stole your computer? If the thief started your computer would they have immediate access to all of your files? A good place to start is to have at least one user account for you and/or your family and possibly individual user accounts for each member of the family. I've set up three individual user accounts on Windows 7 for myself and each of the boys. We have to type our own password to log in to our personal user account. I didn't plan on being a system administrator but here I am.

What do you do if your device is lost or stolen? Some operating systems offer a remote method to locate your device or wipe your device clean. Wiping the device will clear all data including apps, photos, and personal information. It's also permanent so only do it if you have no chance of recovering the device. You'll also want to investigate the locating and wiping options in advance to you make sure you have remote access set up for your device. My Android smartphone offers Where's My Droid and Apple offers Find My iPhone, iPad and Mac, which also includes the iPod Touch. The trick is to make sure you have enabled the service before your device is lost or stolen.

How do I come up with a secure password?
When you go to a new website and register a login and password you will often be given guidelines such as, "Your password must have a minimum of 8 characters, not contain more than 3 consecutive identical characters, and include a number, an uppercase letter, and a lowercase letter." Obviously the more complicated the password the more secure it will be. But at the same time it has to be a password you don't mind typing over and over again. It also has to be something you can remember.

One fun way to test your password strength is to go to the web site https://howsecureismypassword.net/. If you enter "password" you'll see a desktop PC can crack your password almost instantly. On the other hand, "password123" will take a desktop PC about 1 year to crack. It would take about 412 years to crack "Password123" and 4 thousand years to crack Pa$$word123".

But who are we kidding? It drains your mental energy to try to generate unique passwords for each new login. You should use a unique password for every device and web site so that if someone cracks one of your passwords they won't gain access to all your information. And once you create the password you have to remember it. 

How do I organize all the passcodes, logins, passwords and PINs? 
1) Memorize them. If you never write down your password then no one can come across it and steal it. But if you make passwords that are hard to crack then you have a lot to remember. I have about 50 web site passwords and about a dozen additional passcodes and PINs so I have absolutely no chance of this method working for me.

2) Write down the information on a piece of paper. That's not a secure method because someone could find your piece of paper or you could lose it.

3) Type all of the information into a spreadsheet. You could then email the spreadsheet to yourself or store it in the cloud in a place like Dropbox, which is password protected. This method is safer than simply writing the information on a piece of paper unless someone breaks into your Dropbox.

4) Email the information to yourself. This is a method I've employed until recently. Every time I create a new web site account I email myself the login and password. I don't actually email myself the password but rather a hint to remember the password. I use Gmail and I never throw away email because they give me so much storage space. I can simply search my archived email for a company or web site and find the login and password hint. This method works quite well for me but in researching this blog topic I see there are better options.

5) Allow your browser to store your logins and passwords locally on your computer. When you enter the information into your browser (i.e., Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari) for a particular website you can click on the "Always Remember" option and each time you go back to the site the browser will auto-fill the information to log you in. This is an OK solution if your computer is password protected but your browser may be storing the password file in a place that is easily accessible if someone breaks into your computer. For example, you can find all the stored passwords in Firefox by going to the Options menu and clicking on the Security tab. If you have enabled the "Remember passwords for sites" option you can click on the "Saved passwords" button to see all your logins and passwords for each site you've visited on that browser. Seriously, all your secret information is right there for the world to see. Another problem with this method is the logins and passwords are only remembered on your computer so the information won't be auto-filled if you are trying to access a web site from your smartphone or iPad or another computer. 

6) Create a master password for your browser. Creating a master password for your browser will store your logins and passwords locally on your computer but the information will be encrypted (i.e., saved using a secret code so it will be indecipherable by another person or computer). In Firefox this feature is available in the Options menu under the Security tab. Enable both the "Remember passwords for sites" and "Use a master password" options. Each time you launch your browser you will be asked to enter your master password to allow the browser to access your saved logins and passwords. This method is more secure than simply allowing your logins and passwords to be saved in an unencrypted file but has the same limitations as any method that stores the information locally.

7) Use a cloud-based password manager. There are several password managers (e.g., LastPass or SecureSafe) available that will store your information in the cloud. LastPass can retrieve any logins and passwords stored locally on your browser or it can keep track of the information each time you enter it on a new web site. LastPass encrypts the information when it stores it so if someone breaks into your LastPass account they will not be able to decipher your information. Each time you launch your browser you will be asked to log in to LastPass. LastPass can then decrypt the information on your local device and auto-fill the login and password information when you visit a web site. When you are done using your browser or if you're going to walk away from your computer you should log out of LastPass to protect your information. Password managers can also generate strong new passwords for you, taking the guesswork out of coming up with unique passwords for every web site you visit. Password generation is also useful for web sites that demand you change your password at various time intervals. Another bonus feature is that since your LastPass information is stored in the cloud you can access your LastPass Vault from your other devices, such as your smartphone or your mother-in-law's computer. A downside to LastPass is that you are out of luck if you forget your LastPass password. LastPass cannot help you retrieve the password because it is encrypted. Also, LastPass can't auto-fill your computer-level user login or device passcodes.

8) Use two-step verification when available. My Google account, which includes my Gmail, Google documents and blog editor, offers this extra level of protection. Here's how it works: The first time I use a new device to access my Google account I will be asked for my password and a unique, one-time use verification code. I can then tell Google if it should remember that device in the future. I set up my Google account so the verification code is sent to my smartphone. If I use a computer in a public library, or any device I haven't used previously to sign into my Google account, I will need to enter both the password and the verification code. Or if a computer hacker cracks my password and tries to log in to my Google account on their device they will also be asked for the verification code. Unless the hacker also stole my smartphone and cracked my passcode they would be denied access to my account. My online banking software also uses two-step verification. If I try to log in to my account from a new device I will be asked to enter an Identification Code sent to my smartphone or my email account. LastPass, Facebook, Dropbox and Apple ID offer two-step verification as well. One disadvantage of this method is to consider what happens if your computer and cell phone are stolen. You won't be able to get into your protected account if you try to use a new device. Some services allow you to register a backup device (a friend's cell phone) where they can send your verification code.

John's take on Passcodes, Logins, Passwords and PINs
(Johnny dictated his comments to me because it's the first weekend of summer break and there's no way he's going to write anything.)

1) Now that we have individual user accounts on our home computer it takes a lot longer to bring up his home page and start playing Minecraft.

2) Once his passwords are in his LastPass vault it's easy to keep the passwords organized.

3) It's confusing to figure out how the passwords entered into the Chrome browser are remembered by LastPass. Sometimes you get a prompt asking if you want LastPass to remember a new login and password and sometimes you don't. It might take a little practice to completely understand it.

John's Minecraft Anti-Bullying Video

John and I decided we should learn how to create and edit videos on the computer. It all started when my friend, Jenn, and I tried to make an audition video for The Amazing Race. Between John, me, Jenn, Jenn's sons and a few other 4th graders we asked, none of us knew anything about video editing so Jenn and I could only submit a video recorded in a single take. If Jenn and I aren't selected to be on the show it's because of our poor video editing skills.

Over the past couple of weeks John and I investigated our options. He wanted to make a Minecraft-related video but didn't have a specific topic in mind. During an unrelated conversation John told me his take on bullying. He used Minecraft as an analogy and the idea for his video quickly took shape.

John started by taking a few Minecraft screenshots for his video. The first problem was finding the screenshots on my laptop computer. I had to Google "Minecraft screenshots" and go to the Minecraft Wiki (http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Screenshots) to get instructions for finding them. For some reason they were hidden away in a secret folder called %appdata%\.minecraft\screenshots.

Once we located the screenshots we had to figure out how to make them into a video. I thought we could put them in a Power Point presentation and then make a video of the presentation. I discovered you could convert a Power Point into a Windows Media file (.wmv). The .wmv file could then be uploaded to YouTube.

The next problem we encountered is that my laptop doesn't have a built-in microphone. I went on Amazon to see how much it would cost to buy one and as I looked at the products I realized I already had a microphone. We purchased SmartMusic for John when he started playing the baritone and the program required the purchase of a microphone. 

John decided he didn't want to narrate his video. Instead he made a title slide, a credits slide, and captions for each screenshot slide in Power Point. He wanted Minecraft music to accompany the video. We suffered a set-back when he wasn't able to get Minecraft background music to play reliably while he recorded his video. He decided to use the music from the "Fallen Kingdom" Minecraft YouTube video as his background music. He started the "Fallen Kingdom" video at the same moment he began recording his Power Point presentation and recorded the music through the speakers on the microphone. He practiced a few times to get the timing right (please make note of the lyrics that start when the video changes to the 5th slide). 

Once the video and music were recorded we uploaded it to YouTube. That was the easiest part. Here's the link to our 28-second video;  http://youtu.be/oVsrNmvllxc

Our next step is to investigate more sophisticated video editing software such as Windows Movie Maker and Jing. 

The Challenges of Streaming TV and Movies

Until a few months ago we didn't have a widescreen high definition TV. In the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention we're probably the last family on Earth that doesn't own a Wii, Xbox or PlayStation. Our cable company made the switch to HDTV last year and that forced us to upgrade our Tivo because our old Tivo was not fully compatible with the new cable box. The biggest problem was that Tivo wouldn't change the channel reliably so it often failed to record the correct show. I blame the cable company, not my beloved Tivo. As a result we bought a high definition Tivo that could accept an HD cable card. At that point we had an HD signal but we couldn't see it because our TV was so ancient. There was much rejoicing from my husband and the kids when we finally joined the HDTV era and put our old cathode ray tube TV out to pasture. Actually, it's sitting in the garage until I figure out how to dispose of it properly.

Prior to our TV upgrade I experimented a bit with video streaming. The first show I ever streamed was an episode of "Dancing with the Stars" during the era when my Tivo was having a communication problem with the cable box. I was able to watch an episode I missed for free the next day on my laptop computer through the abc.com website. Streaming to my laptop worked fine but who really likes to watch a TV show or movie on their computer other than college students in their dorm rooms? I prefer a larger screen with better sound while sitting on my comfortable sofa.

More recently I streamed free episodes of "Bunheads" on my iPad using the ABC Family app. Episodes were only available for a limited time so I had to watch them before they expired. I was the only one watching the show so the small screen size was acceptable but it would have been better if I could have watched the show on a big TV screen.

Armed with the streaming capabilities of our HD Tivo and our new widescreen HDTV I set out to catch up on "Downton Abbey". I had already I rented the DVDs for Season 1 with my DVD-only Netflix subscription. At the time Netflix did not offer "Downton Abbey" on their streaming plan. However, my husband is an Amazon Prime member ($79.99 per year, which includes free 2-day shipping on all Amazon orders), which entitles him to unlimited instant videos. The good news was Season 2 was available for free on Amazon Prime. The bad news was I couldn't watch it on my new HDTV because my HD Tivo could only stream Amazon Instant Video, Netflix and Hulu Plus but not Amazon Prime. I gave in and downloaded the Amazon Instant Video app, which includes Amazon Prime access, on my iPad so I could start watching Season 2. Since we bought the new TV with the intention of streaming video to a widescreen we decided to sign up for a free trial of Hulu Plus ($7.99 per month), which did offer Season 2 of "Downton Abbey". Finally, after many starts and stops, I finished watching Season 2 by streaming it on my new TV. When I was ready to watch Season 3 of "Downton Abbey" I found out neither Netflix nor Hulu Plus offer it as part of their streaming service. Amazon Prime does have Season 3 but even Prime members have to pay $1.99 per episode and I'd have to watch it on my iPad. That's when my husband bought a Roku 3 box ($99) so we could stream Amazon Prime on the new TV. I'm still holding out for PBS to re-broadcast Season 3 so I can record it on my Tivo.

Navigating streaming media services is quite a challenge. We already pay a lot for cable TV so my first instinct is that I don't want to pay extra for streaming. But that limits me to TV shows available for free on the internet and whatever TV shows or movies Tivo can find on broadcast TV. If you're willing to pay for streaming service your options are much greater. Streaming is definitely worth investigating, especially if you are considering giving up cable service altogether. One problem is the content provided by various services changes over time as companies gain or lose rights to content. Another problem is trying to figure out which service best meets your needs based on cost and content. Yet another problem is that not all streaming services are compatible with all electronic devices (TV, iPad, Xbox, etc.). In the end you might need to subscribe to multiple services or invest in additional devices (Roku or Apple TV) to have the most options.

Currently the most popular streaming media services are Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Netflix, and Hulu Plus. With Amazon Instant Video, iTunes and Vudu you pay per show/movie you want. Amazon Prime Instant Video charges an annual subscription for for unlimited content. Netflix and Hulu Plus charge a monthly subscription fee. Despite the subscription fee, Hulu Plus forces you to watch commercials during the video. While most services work with a wide variety of devices, iTunes streaming only works on Apple devices. Pay-per-content services tend to have the best selection, especially for recent movies, but they tend to be more expensive. Subscription services are more reasonably priced as long as you don't mind waiting a little longer to see the latest releases.

John's streaming test cases

To test the availability of content on the various streaming services, we decided to search for several movies and TV shows John wants to watch. We limited our search to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video and Amazon Prime, which we could stream to our TV, and iTunes, which we could stream on my iPad. We discovered it's not necessarily easy to search the various service providers for specific content. John decided the Roku user interface was slightly faster than the Tivo user interface. In both cases you had to use the up, down and sideways buttons to enter your search term on the TV screen and there was a significant time lag with Tivo. Searching in this manner was a tedious task. We found it was much faster to search the streaming service websites (netflix.com, hulu.com, amazon.com) or apps (iTunes) on my laptop computer or iPad. The biggest obstacle we came across is you can only search Netflix streaming content if you have a subscription to the streaming service (although a Netflix customer service rep I spoke to suggested trying instantwatcher.com). In the end I changed my Netflix account from a 3 DVD plan to a streaming plus 2 DVD plan. All of the other streaming services allow you to search content without a subscription. Well into our search I found the website canistream.it, which allows you to search for a specific title and reports the format availability.

Here are the results of our less than scientific survey:

Movies

1) Star Wars Episode 1

• Netflix: DVD only
• Hulu Plus: not available
• Amazon: not available
• iTunes: not available

2) Iron Man 2

• Netflix: DVD only
• Hulu Plus: not available
• Amazon: $2.99 to rent instant video (which can be streamed or downloaded) on Amazon, even with a Prime membership
• iTunes: $19.99 to buy high definition version and $14.99 to buy standard definition version

3) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

• Netflix: DVD only
• Hulu Plus: not available
• Amazon: $1.99 to rent instant video (which can be streamed or downloaded) on Amazon, even with a Prime membership
• iTunes: $14.99 to buy or $3.99 to rent the HD version and $9.99 to buy or $2.99 to rent the SD version

TV shows

1) Star Trek Original Series

• Netflix: streaming and DVD
• Hulu Plus: streaming
• Amazon: free streaming on Amazon Prime
• iTunes: $2.99 per episode for the HD version (or $34.99 for whole season), $1.99 per episode for the SD version (or $24.99 for whole season)

2) The Andy Griffith Show

• Netflix: streaming and DVD
• Hulu Plus: not available, but they direct you to tvland.com where you can view 5 episodes for free
• Amazon: free streaming on Amazon Prime
• iTunes: not available

3) The Brady Bunch

• Netflix: DVD only
• Hulu Plus: not available, but they direct you to cbs.com where you can view all episodes for free
• Amazon: not available
• iTunes: not available