Start a blog to keep friends, family updated on soldiers

Q: My son is stationed in Iraq. I keep friends and family updated via a mailing list. There are about 150 names on it. Can you recommend capable software for this purpose that also handles pictures?

A: Bulk e-mailing that many people isn’t easy. Instead, start a blog. I recommend Blogger, WordPress or LiveJournal. I have links to these at www.komando.com/news. Enable an RSS feed on your blog. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Your subscribers put RSS readers on their computers. This will pull the posts from your blog. It aggregates them for easy reading. Setting up RSS is easy. Basically, you flip a switch in your blog settings.

Q: I may hack my Palm Pre. I want to remove a preinstalled application. A friend is considering jailbreaking his iPhone. Are these hacks a good idea?

A: To remove the Palm Pre’s installed apps, you must “root” the phone. This will give you access to the root directory. Rooting a Pre is much like jailbreaking an iPhone. Jailbreaking lets you install unauthorized software. Or, you can unlock your iPhone to run on different carriers. I strongly recommend against rooting, jailbreaking or unlocking your phone. Hacking will void your warranty, or worse.

Q: I don’t use Microsoft Word. I’d like to share documents with someone who uses it. How can I convert the documents?

A: Word may be able to open them without conversion. Or, the recipient may need to install a converter. You could also use Zamzar. It’s a free online file converter that handles a variety of formats. It will convert multiple files at once. It’s a good option if you only need to convert files occasionally. Also, you can download OpenOffice. This is a free alternative to Microsoft Word. It will open and save Word files.

Q: My son has an iPhone. His iTunes collection is 13.3 gigabytes, stored on our hard drive. I would like to back up the music. What do you recommend?

A: You have several options. Flash drives are portable and easy to use. But their storage capacity is limited. And you’ll pay a premium for larger-capacity drives. External hard drives are a popular backup solution. They are large and affordable. You can get a 1-terabyte drive for around $100. But both of those options can fail. A safer option is an online backup service like Carbonite (one of my advertisers). Files are securely stored off-site. And backups are made automatically. I have a link at www.komando.com/news.