DCT Giveaway: Birthday Edition – Win an iPod Touch

[message type=”info”]THIS CONTEST HAS ENDED and the winner is… Kenneth Edwards! The number corresponding to Kenneth’s comment was drawn as the winner. He has been notified and we are awaiting his response.

I wish everyone who commented could have won. Unfortunately that would have been a bit outside my budget. I would like to thank everyone for their generous comments and encouragement. It means the world to each of us that put our heart and soul into bringing you this awesome site. I wish to personally thank each of you for your continued support. I really appreciate that you share your time with us when you visit DCT. There are millions of sites on the internet and the fact that you choose DCT means a lot!

Rest assured we will work very hard as we continue to improve DCT. Now get out there and spread the DCT word! ~ Dave[/message]

It’s our Birthday, but you win the prize!

Six short years ago DCT appeared on the internet. Yes, it is our birthday, but we don’t expect any gifts. In fact we intend to give a very lucky reader a very cool gift, but you’ll have to read the whole article to find out more! Yup, keep reading, there are details at the end.

For those of you who are new to DCT, or may have overlooked our “About” page, DCT began as an effort to help family, friends, and co-workers with their computer problems. We were returning from a vacation to the Smokey Mountains in mid July 2006 and I was searching for a method which would allow me to communicate simple computer advice without the usually email “banter”. My initial thought was to simply setup an email group and create brief newsletters, but a more reasonable approach that allowed family, friends, and co-workers to access the information more than once and at their leisure was evident.

Enter Daves Computer Tips. A domain name was purchased and a website designed. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but it was effective. My original goal was to update the site as new information became available and to send that information to my list of contacts once per month. The first Newsletter went out to 30 people.

Once per month became bi-weekly as I soon learned important information needed to be shared more frequently. I actually received nothing but support from the original newsletter bunch. It fueled my desire to provide information and I approached Carol Bratt with the request that she contribute her Microsoft Office knowledge to my effort. She agreed. If she only knew what she was getting into…

Since that time I’ve worked very hard (ask my wife) at growing our readership and the amount of information shared. It hasn’t always been puppy dogs and cupcakes as we have had our share of ups and downs.

In 6 short years DCT has grown from 1 individual to a total of 13 who are currently contributing, or have contributed, their knowledge and expertise to DCT so that you, the reader, are presented with tips, how-to’s, news, and software that is explained in plain language. We added a forum (2008) to allow users to ask questions or chat about computers and tech. For the first 5 years I manually created every page of DCT in html and in 2011 the decision to change to a blog type format was made in hopes we could better serve the readers and suit the needs of a new internet generation – hence to “2.0” you see in the banner logo.

You may have noticed I often use Our and We when referring to DCT. Why? I believe DCT is an extended family, of sorts. Without the contributions of those who have helped throughout the years and without each of you visiting DCT regularly there would be no DCT. Everyone who gives of their personal time contributing to DCT might have happier spouses if that were the case, but there would be something missing from their heart as each of us do it out of love and dedication.

I wish to thank each of you for your support and the time you spend reading DCT! It means the world to me personally, and I know the DCT Team feels the same way! As a token of my gratitude I have a gift for one lucky reader…

Apple iPod Touch 8GB Giveaway

We’re giving away a brand new, shiny, unopened, still in the box iPod Touch 8GB valued at $200(USD) to one lucky DCT reader! The contest is open to everyone and entry will be by adding one comment to this post as it has in the past, but we would greatly appreciate a “Like” on Facebook and a “Follow” on Twitter as well (you can use the buttons at the top of the page). If your comment does not appear immediately please be patient as we moderate a user’s first comment.

Feel free to share this with your friends and family! Don’t forget our Ashampoo Music Studio giveaway, which might be helpful for someone with a new iPod Touch! Please read the rules at the bottom of the post – to keep the contest fair any attempts at cheating will be handled appropriately!

The iPod Touch was purchased in the US and, as such, will have a US power adapter. This also means I cannot guarantee a warranty as this contest is worldwide and product warranties vary due to location. Other features are listed below:

Size and Weight	Height: 4.4 inches (111.0 mm) Width: 2.32 inches (58.9 mm) Depth: 0.28 inch (7.2 mm) Weight: 3.56 ounces (101 grams)
Wireless	802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Maps-location based service4 Nike+ support built in5
Display	3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 pixels per inch
Camera, Photos, and Video	Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; still photos (960 by 720) with back camera VGA-quality photos and video up to 30 frames per second with front camera Tap to control exposure for video or stills Photo and video geotagging over Wi-Fi
Input and Output	30-pin dock connector 3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack Built-in speaker Microphone
External Buttons and Controls
Power and Battery	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery Playback time Music playback time: Up to 40 hours when fully charged Video playback time: Up to 7 hours when fully charged Charging times: Fast charge in about 2 hours (80% capacity), full charge in about 4 hours.
Audio	Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV User-configurable maximum volume limit
TV and Video	H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format Support for 1024 by 768 pixels with Apple VGA Adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately)
Headphones	Earphones Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Impedance: 32 ohms
Sensors	Three-axis gyro Accelerometer Ambient light sensor
System Requirements	USB 2.0 iTunes 10.5 or later7 Mac: OS X v10.5.8 or later PC: Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP Home or Professional (SP3) or later Broadband Internet access required; fees may apply.
Environmental Requirements	Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C) Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C) Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Languages	Language Support English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese Keyboard Support English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese – Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Wubihua), Chinese – Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Wubihua), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese Dictionary Support English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German, Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
In the Box	iPod touch Earphones Dock Connector to USB Cable Quick Start guide

To enter simply comment once (and only once) below using a valid email address that you check often. Our birthday wish is that you tell us a little about yourself in your comment. If you don’t feel comfortable with that just tell us how you intend to use the 8GB iPod Touch if you win. Don’t forget to share the contest!

We wish everyone the best of luck and thank you for your continued support of Daves Computer Tips!

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Apple iPod Touch Contest Rules:

• Post one comment below to enter. A user’s first comment must be manually approved. Be patient if your comment doesn’t appear immediately.
• Comments must be received before 00:01(EST) on August 5th, 2012. Any replies after the cut off will be deleted and will not count.
• Post only one comment! Users who abuse this rule may have all replies deleted and be banned from the contest.
• On August 6th, 1 comment will be chosen by random number generator as the winner of the 8GB iPod Touch.
• All decisions regarding winners made my Daves Computer Tips are final.
• The winner will be notified by email at the email address used to comment – be sure to use a valid email that you check regularly.
• The winner will be contacted by email at the address used when their comment was left.
• The winner must reply to the notification email within 7 days, otherwise the contest will be redrawn.
• The winner must provide a valid shipping address, otherwise the contest will be redrawn.
• The winner agreed to hold Daves Computer Tips and any authors, partners, or contributors harmless

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