Faster to Download Photos by USB or Card Reader?

Most card readers are in-fact USB devices themselves, so no matter what you are limited to USB speeds. Unless your camera or computer is in the signifigantly older category, it is likely USB 2.0 which means nothing more than, the second revision of USB, which as one might guess means its faster than the 1.0 version.

USB 2.0 is 480 megabit per second, or 60 megabytes per second, or to put it another way if you could take full advantage of the USB speed it would only take:

• 8.5 seconds for 512 MB
• 17 seconds for 1 GB
• 34 seconds for 2 GB

But in real life, it doesn't happen that quick, however there is a noticeable difference in speed between card readers that read the card from your camera and plugging the camera in directly. 90% of the time, the card reader is faster.

Here's the drawbacks to using a card reader:

• If you have only one card for your camera, your card is no longer in the camera while you're reading it which means you can loose it, forget it, or not have it for that quick picture.
• Taking the card out slightly increases the chances that it could get damaged, should something happen it would be akin to opening a film camera before rolling the film up into the canister. Generally however, the cards are made fairly well and can undergo quite a beating, and there are nifty cases that usually come with them to keep them safe.
  

Here are the positive aspects to using a card reader:

• If you have more than one card, you can keep shooting on the alternate card while you or someone else downloads the full card. Very nice for photographers, as it frees the camera to do what its supposed to do: Take pictures.
• Generally a card reader will be faster than the camera's connection as its optimized to read cards.

Which is better? You decide. I like using a card reader because its faster, I take 10 megapixel pictures (which are BIG!), and because I have multiple cards. If you take few pictures, only have one card, and/or your photography is of lower resolution (less megapixels) then perhaps downloading from the camera works.

How much is a card reader? You can get them for as little as $3. Check NexTag and PriceWatch for great prices (wayyyy cheaper than your local store).

Connect to your computer remotely

There is a service that is called LogMeIn that will allow you to connect to your home or work computer remotely for free. LogMeIn makes their money by charging for a premium version of their product with more features called LogMeIn Pro.

To get started you need to register at LogMeIn, then you would add the computers you want to access, it will install some software on those computers, in the future you would simply go to logmein.com and click on the computer you want to connect to.

It's important to note that if you install this software on your work computer (or any computer that you don't own) you should get permission first. Many companies have their own VPN and security in place and may frown strongly on a product like LogMeIn.

Another service that is very similar, however does not have a free offering is called GoToMyPC from the same people that make GoToMeeting, Citrix Online.

Save a receipt / webpage

Ever been on a webpage and your printer is not on, just happens to not be working, or you simply don't have on on the computer you are on and you need to save the receipt or webpage you are looking at for later reference?

In case you're thinking, well I'll just bookmark it, those readers who have tried that before know that will not work on the final pages of a checkout process or a ticket purchase most of the time. Rather than get into why that is, lets see what some solutions might be:

• Save the webpage as a PDF
• Save the webpage in HTML
• Copy & Paste Method
  

Save the webpage as a PDF

Saving it as a PDF is absolutely the best option IF you happen to have the full Adobe Acrobat ($449) or the FREE PDF995 software (however its a bit harder to get all setup).

The nice part of using PDFs is that what you see (or more accurately, what you print) is what you will store, exactly. And PDFs open using very common (and free) software called Adobe Acrobat Reader that is on or can be easily obtained for most computers.

The drawback is that you have to have specialized software to create the PDF, and software to read it / print it later.

If you have PDF995 or Adobe Acrobat Professional installed, either will have added a virtual printer to your computer which you can print the webpage to by going to the File menu in your browser, selecting Print, then selecting the PDF virtual printer and clicking OK / Print.

Both PDF creators will show a dialog of options and/or ask for the filename you want to save the PDF under after the OK / Print button has been pressed, simply choose the name for the file (if applicable) and click OK on the following dialog's buttons.

Save the webpage in HTML

Well you're on a web page, might as well save it as a webpage, right? Well, no not always. Some webpages have special content, javascript, Flash, or embedded data that may not work properly when saved as an HTML. Now the majority of web pages will work, and because of this I mention it, but before you assume it worked, check first.

In Firefox:
When you are on the wbepage you want to save for later consumption click File on the menu bar then select Save Page As... from the menu, make sure Web Page, Complete is selected in the Save As Type area and type the name you want to use. The browser will save the HTML and all of the associated images and files into a folder. Try opening that HTML file BEFORE leaving the webpage incase you need to try a simple copy & paste.

In Internet Explorer 7:
When you are on the webpage you want to save for later consumption choose the Page drop down on the toolbar on the right side near the top of the window to the left of Tools then choose Save As from the menu. Make sure that Web Page, Complete is selected in the Save As Type area and type the name you want to use. The browser will save the HTML and all of the associated images and files into a folder. Try opening that HTML file BEFORE leaving the webpage incase you need to try a simple copy & paste.

Copy & Paste Method

This method can get the data out of the screen but can loose all formatting or all images depending on the target of the copy and paste.

If you want the majority of the page and you have Microsoft Word try this:

1. When on the webpage you want, press CTRL + A (Select All)
2. Then press CTRL + C (Copy)
3. Then go to Microsoft Word, create a new blank document
4. Place cursor in document and press CTRL + V (Paste)

If you want to retain only the text (like a confirmation number, details, etc) and formatting is not important or you do NOT have Microsoft Word, then click Start and choose Run OR press WINDOWS KEY + R and type notepad and press ENTER. Then follow steps 1-2 above and go to the Notepad window and follow step 4.