<div id="popup_box_thanks" style="display:none" onClick="close_popup_thanks('popup_box_thanks', 'ts')"><br>Thanks for submitting your tip! All submissions are moderated by an editor before appearing online. We've reset the form so you can enter another tip. Or you can close the tip submission box. <div class="x_close" id="thanks_upper_right"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onmousedown="close_popup_thanks('popup_box_thanks', 'ts'); return true;">Close</a></div></div>
<div class="tbf_row"><div class="tbf_wide_extra_top not_bold">Please submit only technical tips that will help other TidBITS readers better use their Macs, iPhones, and related software and hardware. All product announcements should be sent to <a href="mailto:releases@tidbits.com">releases@tidbits.com</a>.</div></div>
<div class="tbf_left">URL</div><div class="tbf_right"><input type="text" value="" name="tip_link_url" tabindex="3"><span class="tip_description"><br>Enter the URL to a Web page that supports your tip.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="spacer"></div>
<div class="tbf_row">
<div class="tbf_left">Linked text</div><div class="tbf_right"><input type="text" value="" name="tip_link_label" tabindex="4"><span class="tip_description"><br>Enter the name of the page linked above.</span></div>
<div class="tbf_wide"><input type="submit" value="Preview Your Tip" name="preview_tip" onClick="fill_preview('tipbits_enclosure_preview', 'ts', this.form); return false;" tabindex="7"> <input type="submit" value="Send Us Your Tip!" name="submit_this_tip" onClick="handle_tip_submission('ts', '', this.form, 'tip'); return false;" tabindex="8"></div>
</div>
<div class="spacer"></div>
<div class="tbf_row">
<div class="tbf_wide"><span class="fine_print">When you submit a tip, you give us permission to use it. Read <a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="generic_show_hide('tip_terms')">our terms</a> for more details. All submissions are reviewed before publication.</span></div>
<div class="tbf_wide"><span class="fine_print">Our terms: By submitting a tip, you agree to assign TidBITS Publishing Inc., a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual license to reproduce, publish, and distribute your tip in connection with the TidBITS Web site and associated products in any media. You agree that you created the content you submitted, and that you have the right to assign us this license. You give us permission to use your name, but your email address won't be publicly displayed or shared. We review all submissions before publication, and reserve the right to select which submissions we feel are appropriate for our readers and to edit those we publish.</span></div>
<div id="comment_thanks" style="display:none" onClick="close_popup_thanks('comment_thanks', 'comm')"><br>Thanks for submitting a comment! Please check your email for a link that, when clicked, will verify that you're a real person and cause your comment to appear immediately. <div class="x_close" id="comment_upper_right"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onmousedown="close_popup_thanks('comment_thanks', 'comm'); return true;">Close</a></div></div>
<div class="tbf_wide"><span class="fine_print">Our terms: We reserve the right to edit or delete any comment, so please post thoughtfully. We use your email address <i>only</i> to send you a one-time verification message confirming that you posted this comment. We also store your address to allow you to verify using other Web browsers in the future. For more info, see our <a href="http://db.tidbits.com/privacy.html">privacy policy</a>.</span></div>
<li><a href="/feeds/tidbits.rss" title="Subscribe via RSS" class="gettb">RSS <img src="/images/feed-icon-12x12.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Subscribe via RSS"></a></li>
<li><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=276986548" title="Subscribe to the podcast" class="gettb">Podcast <img src="/images/feed-icon-12x12_podcast.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Subscribe to the postcast"></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.twitter.com/TidBITS" title="Get Article Updates via Twitter" class="gettb">Twitter <img src="/images/feed_icon_12x12_twitter.png" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Get Article Updates via Twitter"></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/TidBITS/195314925519" title="Go to the TidBITS Page at Facebook" class="gettb">Facebook <img src="/images/feed_icon_12x12_facebook.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0" class="nav_img" alt="Go to the TidBITS Page at Facebook"></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" title="Sections" class="tabhead" onClick="return showhide('articleslist')">Sections <span id="articleslist_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_open.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="articleslist_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide('stafflist')" title="Staff" class="tabhead">Staff <span id="stafflist_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_closed.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="stafflist_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" title="Issues" class="tabhead" onClick="return showhide('issuelist')">Weekly Issues <span id="issuelist_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_closed.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="issuelist_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)" onClick="return showhide('abouttidbits')" title="About TidBITS" class="tabhead">About TidBITS <span id="abouttidbits_triangle"><img src="/images/nav_triangle_closed.gif" width="9" height="9" border="0" class="navtriangle" id="abouttidbits_tri_image" alt="Click to show or hide the contents of this section."></span></a></li>
<div class="center_top">Thoughtful, detailed coverage of the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, plus the best-selling <a href="http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/?pt=TB-TAGLINE" style="color:yellow">Take Control</a> ebooks.</div>
<!-- begin centercolumn -->
<div id="centercolumn">
<!-- begin rightcolumn_container -->
<div id="rightcolumn_container">
<!-- begin rightcolumn -->
<!-- rightcolumn is embedded within centercolumn so featured text wraps around it -->
<p><p>While Pear Note is primarily geared toward recording notes in the physical world, it's possible to use it to record things in the virtual world as well. For instance, you can use it to record and take notes on Skype calls. To do this:</p><ol>
<li>Download Soundflower and install it (along with the Soundflowerbed app that comes with it).</li>
<li>Download LineIn and install it.</li>
<li>Start Soundflowerbed, and select Built-in Output (or whatever output you'd like to listen to the conversation on).</li>
<li>Start LineIn, and select your microphone (e.g. Built-in Mic) as the input and Soundflower (2ch) as the output, then press Pass Thru.</li>
<li>Open Pear Note Preferences, select Recording, and select Soundflower (2ch) as the audio device.</li>
<li>Open Skype Preferences, select Audio, and select Soundflower (2ch) as the audio output and your microphone (e.g. Built-in Mic) as the audio input.</li>
<li>Hit record in Pear Note and make your Skype call.</li>
</ol>
<p>This will allow you to conduct your Skype call while Pear Note records both your audio and the other participant's.</p></p>
<p>Visit <a href="http://www.usefulfruit.com/tb">Useful Fruit Software</a></p>
</div>
<div class="tearoffbox_wide_bottom_tips">
<div style="padding-bottom:35px"><div class="tip_display" style="float:left"><p><br><a href="/tipbits/238">Link to this tip</a></p></div><div class="tip_display" style="float:right; width:150px">
<p class="credit">Written by<br><a href="/author/Adam%20C.%20Engst">Adam C. Engst</a></p></div></div>
<div class="tbf_wide_80" id="hc_rc_6707">To help us avoid automated posts and misuse of our site, please enter the words below.</div><div class="x_close_row" id="hc_upper_right2_6707"><a href="javascript:void(0)" onmousedown="HidePopupContent('hc_6707', 'hc', '6707'); return true;">Close</a></div>
<div class="featured_meta"><div class="meta_article">09 May 2005 | <a href="/article/8097?print_version=1">Print <span class="shift_up"><img src="/images/printer_icon.gif" alt="Printer-Friendly Version of This Article" border="0" width="9" height="10"></span></a></div></div>
<div id="article_box_6707"><P>From 1995 through 2001, Tonya and I participated in a stock investment club with a number of our Mac-using friends. It was a valuable learning experience, and the club did fairly well, though it was difficult to do badly in the stock market during some of those years. We worked mostly within the advice promulgated by the National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC), and although that system wasn't terribly data-intensive, we still found it difficult to enter data for stocks we were investigating and to keep up-to-date with stocks in our portfolio. Some online services offered downloadable information for a fee, but either the fees were too high or there was some other problem with the service, such as working only in Windows. Tonya and I bowed out of the investment club when we left Seattle, and without the structure and positive peer pressure of a monthly meeting to make time in our busy schedules, we've essentially stopped investing in individual stocks.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.better-investing.org/">http://www.better-investing.org/</A>></P><P>I can't say when or if we'll pick up investing again, but there's now a Macintosh application that looks as though it would provide the kind of data we wanted in a flexible manner. WillStein Software's Stock WatchTower downloads a vast amount of data covering thousands of stocks from a variety of freely accessible Web sites on its first launch (about 150 MB), and updates that data with much-faster but still significant (about an hour over a broadband Internet connection) downloads on every subsequent launch. Using that data, you can then filter and sort just the stocks whose data matches criteria you set: P/E ratios within a certain range, current annual earnings over a certain amount, prices nearing 52-week highs, and so on. Stock WatchTower can then graph each stock's data so you can more easily identify buy points, or, for stocks that you already own, prices at which you want to sell. You can create Watch Lists, which are manually generated lists of stocks much like playlists in iTunes, and WatchTowers, which are automatically generated lists akin to smart playlists.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.willstein.com/stocks/">http://www.willstein.com/stocks/</A>></P><P>Obviously, I'm not vouching for Stock WatchTower personally, since I haven't used it in any real way, but if you've been looking for a tool to help you accumulate and analyze stock data, be sure to enter this week's DealBITS drawing for 5 copies of Stock WatchTower, each worth $49.95. Those who don't win will receive a discount as well, and if you want to check out the software right away, WillStein offers a 30-day trial version and a 30-day money-back guarantee. All information gathered is covered by our comprehensive privacy policy. Be careful with your spam filters, since you must be able to receive email from my address to learn if you've won, and remember that you can increase your chances of receiving a copy of Stock WatchTower by telling your friends about this DealBITS drawing.</P><P><<A HREF="http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/willstein/">http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/willstein/</A>><BR><<A HREF="http://www.tidbits.com/about/privacy.html">http://www.tidbits.com/about/privacy.html</A>></P><!-- DealBITS Drawing for Stock WatchTower Adam C. Engst --></div>
<!-- end article text -->
<!-- PayBITS -->
<p> </p><div class="sponsorbox">
<div class="sponsortext"><A HREF="http://macte.ch/conf_tidbits"><IMG SRC="http://db.tidbits.com/images/badges/mactech-twitter-icon-48x48.jpg" ALT="" HEIGHT="50" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0" ALIGN="left"></A>MacTech Conference, for IT Pros and Apple developers, is Nov 3-5,<br />in Los Angeles. The 3-day event is packed with sessions & evening<br />activities. Learn from the best. Meet and spend time with peers.<br />TidBITS readers save $50 at <<a href="http://macte.ch/conf_tidbits">http://macte.ch/conf_tidbits</a>>!</div>
