John W. Scherer Video Professor Blog December 23rd 2005

Good News!
Despite what you read and hear every day, there is a lot of good news going on here at home and around the world. Finally, someone has put it all together and made it very easy to find.
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Attention MP3 owners
There are essentially two groups out there: Those with MP3 players and those who will get them for Christmas. Now Google has yet another search engine just for you!
Visit Site >

iLectures
Ok, I’m showing my age here, but when I went to college I took more notes in class than I ever care to remember. Pen, pencil and paper were the learning tools of the day. Students these days have many more options, from accessing class information and instructor schedules from the Internet to listening to lectures on their iPods!
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It’s not just a cell phone; it’s HBO
Popular HBO shows like Deadwood (one of my favorites) will likely end up on video iPods. HBO execs like the idea, and already are providing clips via Cingular Wireless.
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Willie is getting ready to sing
Turn out the lights; the party’s over. Something just not meant to be, including Microsoft’s version of Internet Explorer for Macs.
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Dell recall
It’s been a tough year for Dell, with lots of consumer complaints about bad service and the company has announced a recall of 35-thousand notebook batteries. Here’s to better things for the folks in Austin in 2006.
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Off-topic
I want to take a few minutes and express my best personal wishes to you and your families this holiday season. Regardless of your own personal faith, this is a time for togetherness and to count our many blessing. Let’s all work hard to continue the spirit of this special time throughout the entire year.

Video Professor has many exciting new titles coming out in 2006, and our entire team will continue to work hard to provide you with the best computer learning possible along with the customer service you’ve come to know and expect from Video Professor.

Your trust in the entire Video Professor team these past 18 years is very much appreciated.

Quote o’ the week
HO! HO! HO! -Santa Claus

Site o’ the week
Ok kids, fire up your PCs or laptops and track Santa courtesy of NORAD!
Track Santa!

Site o’ the week II (And our annual favorite)
An e-snow globe like no other! Enjoy!
View e- snow globe

E-mail me at CEO@videoprofessor.com

John W. Scherer
CEO and Founder
VIDEO PROFESSOR, Inc
Member: Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau.
View our report at www.denverbbb.org

John W. Scherer VIDEO PROFESSOR Blog December 15th 2005

Last Call to Deck the Hall(s)


Video Professor employees making a difference
Video Professor employees are something special. They have their own volunteer club called “Seasons.” This is an especially busy time for the club. They donated over 1,166 food items to the JeffCo Action Center to make sure needy families had everything they needed for a nice Thanksgiving.

And this week the Salvation Army dropped by TWICE to pick up items donated through the Giving Tree Project. During this special time of the year, our headquarters takes on the look of a department store filled with scooters, bicycles, dolls and all sorts of presents for kids and seniors. A total of 150 gift requests were filled!

Video Professor employee Mike Svoboda delivers food to JeffCo Action Center

Just some of the gifts donated to the Salvation Army Giving Tree

Never have so many, known so little, about something
Do you have High Definition Television at your house? Or do you think you have HDTV at your house? Does watching a program on an HDTV make it an HD program? What’s the deal about digital? If you’re scratching your head at any of these questions, don’t feel alone.
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Good morning Mr. Phelps
Remember the original Mission Impossible Series? Mr. Phelps would get a taped message with details of his team’s next mission, which then self-destructed. Corny, but cool! Well, now there’s a digital version of the very same idea, especially helpful for business people sending sensitive information back and forth.
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Space. The final (and profitable) Frontier
One CEO I admire very much is Richard Branson. He’s launched an offshoot of his wildly popular airline; this enterprise (no pun intended) is called Virgin Galactic. He already is taking deposits for flights into space. Expensive? Yes. Popular? YES!
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Thanks Brian!
I was watching FOX & Friends last week when co-anchor Brian Kilmeade got some ribbing from his colleagues on set about some digital pictures he’d taken. So I sent him a copy of our “Learn Photoshop” and he showed the product on the air the very next day! Thanks Brian, and good luck with Photoshop!

Beware the Grinch trying to steal e-Christmas
Shopping online is simply super. Easy, and everything gets delivered right to your door. Very handy this time of year. As we get within a few days of Christmas, the crooks are out in force.
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Quote o’ the week
“Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to h*ll.”-Iraqi Voter

Site o’ the week
I don’t know about you, but while I love buying gifts for family and friends, the wrapping part tends to be a bit vexing. Just in case you tend to have more thumbs than fingers and none of them seem to work well together, this site has some useful tips for you!
View Site >

E-mails, comments and interesting short stories are acceptable 24/7 by e-mailing me at CEO@videoprofessor.com

John. W. Scherer
VIDEO PROFESSOR, Inc
Member: Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau.
View our report at www.denverbbb.org

John W. Scherer VIDEO PROFESSOR Blog December 9th

“I’m making a list, and checking it twice and storing it all on an Excel Spreadsheet”-Santa Claus, December 2005.

Let’s talk tech and computing!

Video Professor featured in the Wall Street Journal!
As I told you a couple of weeks ago, we launched our exciting “Learn How to Buy and Sell on eBay” at the Country Music Association Awards in New York, which in turn caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal! You can see the article in the Wednesday December 7th edition.

Wikipedia-oops!
Utopian ideas always look great on paper. The problem often is in the execution as the folks at Wikipedia found out.
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Got computer? Help fight AIDS!
Christmas is a time where we all (hopefully) make an extra effort to help those less fortunate. But like others, you might be a little short on cash after a year of natural disasters, not the least of which being Hurricane Katrina. But if you have a computer, you can help make a real difference in our world!
Read More >

Virus alert!
Well, some worm has created another worm and this one is especially important to be on the lookout for if you’re an AOL customer.
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Stay current on the latest computer virus and protection news at the “Personal Internet Security” area of our website. It’s free and available to everyone!

Track holiday flights!
It’s likely you’ll have loved ones traveling to your house this Christmas. (If not the other way around) If they’re flying commercially or privately, I found this handy little site to help track you or your family as you or they head home for the holidays!
Visit the Site >
(I haven’t found the tail number for Santa’s sleigh yet but I’m working on it One source says it’s 1225SC.)

NBC gets on the iWagon
Looks like Apple’s new video iPod is taking off like a rocket with program providers lining up to offer programming for the new device. The catalog is filling up with both first-run programs, and classic hits from the past.
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Wonder if Lassie has one?
Just in case your kids are bugging you for their own cell phone, here’s a preview of what’s next. Cell phones for dogs. Yep, dogs!
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Off-topic

157
Combined ages of Penn State’s Joe Paterno (80) and FSU’s Bobby Bowden (77) when they meet in the 2006 Orange Bowl. And yep, both likely will be back next year. Great coaches are like fine wine. And very, very rare.
712
Combined victories of these two legendary coaches.

Reality Check (again)
I’ve seen Saddam Hussein yelling and waving his fist around the courtroom this week, screaming about how brave he is. So, why was he hiding in a dirt hole when American Troops captured him? Talk is cheap. Justice will be sweet.

Clark Griswold would be green with envy.
Just when you think you have the best Christmas lights on the block, someone comes along and raises the bar.
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Quote o’ the week
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."-Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Japanese Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, 64 years ago this week.

Site o’ the week
Paper Airplanes anyone?
www.amazingpaperairplanes.com

My e-door is open 24/7; send e-mails to CEO@videoprofessor.com

John W. Scherer
CEO and Founder
VIDEO PROFESSOR, Inc
Member: Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau.
See our report at www.denverbbb.org

John W. Scherer VIDEO PROFESSOR Blog December 2nd 2005

Let’s talk tech and computing!

One out of six, do I hear two? Or three?
More and more people are selling online. In fact, one out of six of us have sold something through an online auction or Internet sales site.
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So what the heck are you waiting for? Five out of six of us AREN’T selling online. But guess what? It’s EASY! Check out our new eBay tutorial at www.videoprofessor.com and start buying, selling or both, online.

Internet shopping, it sure beats getting trampled.
Do you remember seeing the news story about the poor lady who got trampled by other shoppers the day after Thanksgiving? It looks like a lot of folks saw that picture and decided shopping on the Internet is far safer!
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For many folks, like the lady who got trampled, the Internet remains a mysterious place. It’s anything but, and I can prove it to you!
Visit:: www.videoprofessor.com

New Orleans and Wi-Fi. A bold new step to the future.
New Orleans is slowly rebuilding. The city leaders know full well the importance of communication after Hurricane Katrina. The city is launching the first municipally owned wireless Internet system in the country. And the new system will be free and open to all users.
Read More >

Brian Williams- “You’ve got mail!”
NBC’s Brian Williams answers his e-mails. And it pays off. Here’s why.
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Black day for Blackberry
Bad legal news for the folks who make the ubiquitous Blackberry. It’s so popular it even has its own ailment, "Blackberry Thumb." But a legal decision is causing some real pain.
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Bose takes on potholes?
If you’ve never heard music through a Bose sound system, you just haven’t lived. Absolutely magnificent. But despite all his success, something more mundane bothered inventor Arman Bose. Potholes. And he’s doing something about it.
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No pay, no start
Looks like folks in the repo business should start looking for new careers. Car dealers that sell to high-risk customers are turning to tech to make sure they get paid!
Read More >


Off-topic
Rebates-use them!
I urge you to read a fascinating article about rebates in the December 5 issue of BusinessWeek. Did you know that 40% of rebate offers never get redeemed? That adds up to more than 2-billion dollars of extra revenue for retailers and suppliers. BusinessWeek reports that many consumers are “just too lazy, forgetful or busy to apply for rebates.” For those of you who do take the time (and it’s worth it!) keep the pressure up on some of the companies that take a little longer than promised to redeem your rebate. But rebates can make for some incredible bargains.

Saddam on trial
Saddam Hussein can bluster all he wants, but he’s the one sitting in the cage. His latest rant was about having to take the stairs up to the courtroom because the elevator wasn’t working. Sadly, this trial will take forever and a day. But justice will rule out and Hussein will pay dearly for his crimes. He’s right where he belongs.

See it Now, again.
Finally, it’s rare these days that a movie deserves a second look, but in the case of “Good Night and Good Luck,” you should. The message is especially relevant. In the movie, we see how Senator Joe McCarthy realized that he could smear anyone, anytime, simply by speaking into a microphone and the facts be darned. Once what McCarthy said was “out there” the damage was done, regardless of accuracy. The Internet is an extraordinary part of our culture, but like anything else, it can be abused and it’s too bad a few people are abusing the Internet for misinformation and half-truths. Just because it’s on the ‘net, doesn’t make it true. But just like Ed Murrow, we can and should, stand up to bullies because when you do, they cave, and quickly.

Quote o’ the week
“If you don’t,” he said, “I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot. Then you’ll be sorry.” –Now former ABC Nightline Anchor Ted Koppel, after urging viewers to give his successor’s a chance.



Site o’ the week
The National Zoo in Washington has a new star. Meet Tai Shan, who conducted his own version of ‘Meet the Press” this week. Check out the Panda-cam here on the zoo’s website!
View the Panda-cam

My cyber door is wide open; send e-mails to CEO@videoprofessor.com

John W. Scherer
CEO and Founder
VIDEO PROFESSOR, Inc
Member: Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau.
View our report at www.denverbbb.org