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Christmas for Techies, second year.
Since the Christmas season is upon us I present my annual column listing gifts for the computer geek in your life. If any of you still have last years column, the prices are about 30% less for the finger print reader and one terra byte hard drive. The dictation software (Dragon Naturally speaking) has gone up in price but can (as of this writing) be found at under $60.
I think this year’s hot item is a flash drive. A flash drive is a portable storage unit that allows a computer user to back up his/her files quicker and easier that using a CD. Last year a four Gigabyte flash drive cost (on sale) $20, this year I expect to see eight Gigabyte flash drive for close to that price. Dell offers a 16 Gigabyte flash drive for under $50.
If you need even more storage, Dell has 250 Gigabyte portable hard drive, in pink, for $99. With 250 GB you can store 125,000 songs or 200,000 pictures. Or you can backup every file you have created for the past five years and your e-mail too.
Digital cameras are better-faster-cheaper this year. To go along with the camera you might want to get a digital photo display. This looks like a picture frame but the picture displayed changes every 20 seconds or so. For well under a hundred dollars you can buy a 7" frame. With a four gigabyte memory chip and changing pictures every 20 seconds you could watch for 200 hours before you would see a picture the second time.
If watching pictures for 200 hours is not your style then how about a key chain viewer that hold 90 pictures for under $20 at Walmart? The screen is an inch or inch and a half, depending or which viewer you buy.
One item I must recommend against is a gift card from any of the electronic stores. Anytime you give a gift card you run the risk of the store going out of business and not being able to honor those gift cards.
Merry
Christmas
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NO COMPUTER CLASSES FOR DECEMBER
We would like to hold an email class in the new year, on Wednesday, January 21. 2009, cost $11. Please call Katy at (727) 847-1290 to register if you are interested in this.
OTHER QUILTING
NEWS
We are still looking
for an Instructor for the Thursday morning Quilting with
Instruction group that meets at 9:00am. If you quilt and are
interested in volunteering to lead this group, please call Katy at
(727) 847-1290.
CONDOLENCES
Long-time Elfers volunteer Jack Dare passed away on Saturday, November 22, 2008. Jack was a faithful volunteer at the weekly Bingo sessions on Monday afternoons for the past 10 years until suffering a heart attack several weeks ago. His familiar figure will be sorely missed by the Bingo organizer and volunteer Jim Melito, caller Dottie Harran, and all the players. Jack was a volunteer in earlier days at the Elfers school so his association with the Elfers Center was long. We appreciated his unstinting help and giving nature while he was with us and send heartfelt sympathy to his wife, Diane. She accompanied Jack every Monday to Bingo and has also volunteered at Elfers for many years. Our thoughts are with you Diane.
Our Thrift Shop has recently lost two volunteers: Flo Devlin, who worked on Wednesdays afternoons, passed away on October 17 at Community Hospital. Flo was 81. She leaves behind son Mark and grandson Sean of Germantown, TN. Flo was a tireless worker and we miss her. Reva Teeling, who volunteered in the Thrift Shop several years ago and spent the last three months at Brighton Gardens in Tampa, passed peacefully in her sleep on October 16, 13 days after her 90th birthday. Bob Teeling, her son from Minnesota called by the Elfers office to let us know.
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