We've had newsletter articles in the past stressing backup backup backup and we can't stress enough, think "what if" something happens to your computer. Ironically, last night I was getting ready to continue working on this newsletter and my SSD died. I heard a click and then it was game over! Fortunately, I am extremely disciplined on backing up using multiple backup systems and strategies and on top of that my OS drive which is a SSD (solid state hard drive) is only that, for the OS. I use additional drives (internal and external) for "my" files and on top of that I fully embrace the cloud. Are YOU prepared for your hard drive to die NOW??? It doesn't matter if you use Mac or a PC, what's inside the case is the same, hard drives, video cards, memory, electronics. It can and will die at some point, just don't let it catch you off guard. Stop what you're doing now and open up Logbook Pro and click File...Backup to Cloud and get your entire Logbook Pro database backed up to our handy cloud backup portal with ease. You are now protected from a catastrophe! You can create local backups at any time by clicking File...Backup to File. Any time you send a cloud backup Logbook Pro will also create a local backup for you as well. Password protect it if desired.

It is also important that you print a hard copy of your Logbook Pro logbook as well. Not only for presentation but also to have a hard copy backup. It's also a great idea to get familiar with printing from Logbook Pro if you've never done so. Review the documentation as needed and our prior newsletter articles on printing. You can search our forums in the newsletter archive forum for topics of interest and find what we've written in the past regarding printing to help you beyond the documentation. Also check out our videos on our web site and YouTube for assistance.

To help you get going with our Logbook Pro Cloud Backup as well as printing, we are nudging you to print and backup the entire month of July. Order Cloud Backup and/or Turn-Key printing and take 20% off using coupon code PRINTANDBACKUP. Turn-key print orders can be for any future printing so if you have an interview coming up or need a turn-key follow-on from a prior turn-key job, order now while on sale and print whenever you're ready. Be proud of your flying career, take a sexy Cirrus Elite binder flying with you and show your friends your logbook and your exciting flying career.

Happy Flying and don't forget BACKUP and PRINT in July and often

If you LIKE our Logbook Pro Facebook page or follow us on Twitter, you may have seen our recent post calling for Logbook Pro Mobile beta testers. We are hard at work on a significant update to our Logbook Pro mobile lineup and we've opened the gates to more testers to ensure this significant update gets to you flawless! We don't have but a few more slots for iPhone/iPad testers as Apple limits our test licenses but we can accept more testers for Android if you want to be on our Logbook Pro mobile beta team. Check out our Facebook post for details and send your request to beta test to beta@nc-software.com. We always welcome feedback on how to improve our mobile lineup and this is what we are working on, your suggestions for vNext.

While we simply can't say much about this jewel in the making, we will continue to keep you updated as much as we can. There are some questions asked on Facebook but I'm sorry, we just cannot provide details yet. While we'd love to just surprise you with this that wouldn't be fair either so we are sharing all we can. The good news is our "sharing" is going to pick up real soon!

Here is what we can share:

• Airline Pilot's Daily Aviation Logbook is now going to be named - wait for it - APDL
• The product will initially be available only for iOS which means iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (and mini). We know A LOT of you have Android devices and we intend to accommodate but we are focused and locked in solely on iOS at the moment. The reason is obvious - airline adoption. Keep in mind, airline pilots, of your tax deductions. If you ever wanted an iPad, this may soon be a write-off for you ala APDL. Also keep in mind the costs associated with APDL may also be tax deductible but the savings this amazing new product will save you alone will pay for itself
• Somehow the big wigs in the airline industry knew we were up to something and we have been knocking on our door! It is clear that APDL is THE airline pilot's app of choice and also the app that companies want their pilots using
• It will support FAR 117
• It will import your v6 data
• It will bridge with Logbook Pro Desktop
• There are some very important and well known people involved in this project
• It will be nothing like you ever imagined, it is simply amazing!

What we can't share at this time:

• When - I'm not offering hints either!
• How much - we have no idea!
• Everything else - we don't want those prying eyes to get any ideas!

Rest assured, it is coming and you do not have to worry about FAR 117. Let us do that for you! Do you want to test it? Get on our beta invite list by e-mailing your request to test to beta@nc-software.com. Tell us your experience with APDL, your experience as an airline pilot, and what you can offer in testing APDL for iOS.

The news has been on fire this week, personally I've heard three airlines already announcing their pilots are being equipped with iPads. With the above article, this is very exciting to us. And we are building APDL with the rules in mind set out by these airlines hoping APDL will be on your approved app list. The iPad is an amazing device and a perfect fit for the EFB concept. We have harnessed the power of the tablet in a custom design of APDL on top of our separate iPhone layout. Hopefully your airline will be next to follow, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't all get on board with the iPad soon! Armed with APDL and the other amazing apps for airline pilots, you will have a great device at your disposal.

We built Logbook Pro to make logging your flight and related information easy. None of us want to sit in front of the computer when we can be out flying, on a boat, on the golf course, or sipping our favorite drink relaxing. With that in mind Logbook Pro has features to make logging flights lightning fast. Here are a few suggestions and tips for you:

• When showing a calendar for the flight log date or a date filter for a report, CLICK the month name in the header and you'll see input controls reveal. Easily change the month or date using these input controls which is far easier than clicking the forward or back arrow 8,000 times to go back a few years! These calendar controls in Windows are very handy, click around and you'll discover some neat tricks. Click here to see the prior newsletter article with a demo of the calendar integration
  
• In Logbook Pro Desktop go to Options / AutoFill. For each aircraft type you can specify which columns will have the Duration input into the selected columns for you. If you always fly SOLO, PIC, etc. then speed up your logging by having these autofill for you. You can also specify whether a day or night landing should be entered for you (or none). If you're using our apps then sync your PC (click cloud sync / sync now) to sync these settings to your device which will also use them
• Once you have the duration entered in Logbook Pro desktop simply double-click into any other cell and the duration value will get entered for you. In our apps there are "copy here" buttons to the right of cells which will copy the duration value into the field for you instead of typing the numbers again.
• Logbook Pro desktop remembers your last entered values for the common fields and when starting a new flight just tab across the columns and they will appear for you. For the date field you can also enter "T" for today or "P" for the previously entered date. You can type R in a field and you'll be taken to the Remarks column. In the apps go to Settings/Flight Log and you'll see options for "new flight auto-populate" where you can control what is pre-populated for you

Take a look at the documentation and videos to help you get the most out of this powerful software for pilots. While we make it look basic and simple, it's packed with features for those that really want to put it to work for you. Take a few minutes to learn how.

You've flown, logged, now do you want to see something neat? Try Route Browser, it's free to try and see what it can show you from reading your Logbook Pro flight data. Display your flights on a map, report on useful statistics based on your flying activity, and even export images to the Windows Clipboard or to file for sharing. Post to your Facebook page or profile wherever you want. To learn more about this fun tool visit the Route Browser page and download your free trial today. Click here to download Route Browser now.

June has been an amazing month for software developers - yep - geeks! Early in June Apple held it's World Wide Developers Conference "WWDC" and announced iOS 7 and a new Mac Pro computer. Interesting is an understatement! It's going to be a very interesting road ahead for Apple. iOS 7 is a completely new look for iOS apps and for those of your Microsoft'ers out there, it sure looks a lot like "Metro" i.e. the interface in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Shocking in some ways! But they, supposedly, needed a new refreshed user-interface, the community may beg to differ. And we all hope for larger devices this fall as the iPhone is probably one of the smallest devices on the market.

This past week Microsoft had their turn at their major developer conference "//build". Microsoft sees the playing field as wide open and they are in after-burner mode in production! The developer tools have always been superior to anything else out there so as developers we are thrilled with more polish on those, but for the consumer, Windows 8.1, the free update to Windows 8 coming this fall, is now out in preview and was demo'd at the conference. As a Windows 8 user myself, I love it, and 8.1 is putting it right where it needs to be, they have a huge hit on their hands! Windows Phone 8 is also expected to be updated around the same time (rumor) and Windows Phone 8 is an amazing operating system, they are on to something here! I own not only a Droid, iPhone, but also a Nokia Lumia 920 and LOVE it! What a neat system, and yes, we are planning a Logbook Pro app for it.

The moral of the story is Microsoft has woken up from their perceived nap. They are coming back stronger than ever, and I mean that with all sense of the word. I can't remember Microsoft being more motivated and productive than this, the momentum is certainly leaning in their direction again. Apple's situation is unknown. They appear to be taking on water and the sense is their time has come and gone. The iPhone was one of the most innovative devices in a long time but the competition has dug in and the iPhone has become stale. I love my iPhone as many do, but what the future holds is a concern, and for those $AAPL stock holders like myself, we are concerned for other reasons as well! It doesn't look good!

Regardless, sit back and take a look at the computing devices we have at our disposal these days. Look at what our computers are doing these days, what has become of "the cloud". Computers and devices are amazing, no question about it! The software is amazing. Adobe's Creative Cloud is pure genius, Microsoft's new Office 365 (13) is another affordable and amazing subscription to a huge suite of awesomeness! The Microsoft ecosystem is rounding out well which Apple started with the Mac and iPhone ecosystem. Saving Word docs to your Skydrive account, syncing settings/preferences across Windows, it's just all so good! We live in an exciting day and age of computing technology! It wasn't that long ago we were taking first flight and our first manned space launch! We continue to innovate and do amazing things, there is no limit to what we can achieve.