It seemed like all the other TidBITS staffers were getting them, so Joe Kissell and his wife wanted one too. On May 20, more than three weeks ahead of schedule, their long-awaited new product was delivered in Paris. Featuring a multi-touch surface, high-resolution video input, a fingerprint-resistant anti-glare finish, a 3D position sensor, wireless networking, and a (somewhat unreliable) sleep mode, this hardware-software combo has been providing them hours of entertainment and education. Frustratingly, it came without any documentation, and they've been unable to locate a mute button, but the developer promised that future upgrades will include face recognition, speech synthesis, and a power source that can last more than two hours between charges. The user interface will also be localized in French and English!

Joe Kissell joins Gene Steinberg on an episode of Tech Night Owl Live to discuss, among other things, Joe's article about using and referring to the second button on a mouse, and the considerable (and widely varied) feedback that article has received.

In this three-part article in Macworld, Joe Kissell shares some valuable password advice: how to create stronger passwords, how to manage passwords, and how to remember passwords (with or without the help of software).

In 2006, Seagate (which had just acquired Maxtor) declared that June was to be known as "Backup Awareness Month." To mark the occasion this year and encourage more people to back up, online backup provider Backblaze is giving away one free year-long subscription to their service each day in June (regularly $50 for unlimited backups), plus holding a drawing for a Nikon P90 camera. Everyone who downloads and installs their software during the month is eligible to participate in the drawings, and a 15-day free trial is available to all.

Microsoft recently made a release candidate of Windows 7 available to the public, and according to this post on VMware's Team Fusion blog, it works well in the current version of Fusion - but users should make a few tweaks for best results.