"As we look ahead to 2010, we're hoping it's the year the web becomes a truly great platform for working and connecting online. Here are five things we'd like to see fixed for that to happen."
December 22, 2009
December 16, 2009
Replacing a Tivo drive with one of the same size
My TiVo starting acting hinky recently, and I could hear the hard drive making unusual noises. I'd upgraded it a couple of years ago, because the drive that came in it was really loud and not very big. The drive that I had put in there was a quiet Seagate 80 GB, and I had another one in my spare parts, so I figured it would be easiest to just clone it. Unfortunately, the partition/format flavor that TiVo uses is not recognizable by the bit-copy tools I tried to use, so I had to go a slightly more complicated route and use the instructions for upgrading a drive. There's a great set of such instructions here, but just in case you are someone who is trying to replace a TiVo drive with another one of the same size (or a bigger size, and you don't care about regaining the extra space), here's what I did:
Removed the drive from the TiVo, jumpered it for cable select, and also jumpered the new drive the same way. Plugged them both into a computer that handles IDE drives (old drive as primary, new drive as slave, both in the secondary IDE controller, switching the CD drive to primary, as the software didn't seem to want to work if I put the HDs in the primary). Then:
- from Step 4: download Tiger’s Mfs Tools Boot CD and burn the .iso to a CD
- from Step 7, option 3, follow the isntructions for "Boot CD users"; I didn't ahve to do any of the non-Quantum A stuff... but I did have to change the dd command a bit because of how I plugged in my drives: dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd bs=1024k
- after a couple of hours of that running, I got the message about blocks in and blocks out, the numbers matched, and that was it!
- I swapped the new drive into the drive TiVo drive holder, jumpered it for master, and put it back in the TiVo, works like a champ.
The Complete Guide to Avoiding Online Scams (for Your Less Savvy Friends and Relatives)
"... here's a few tips that you should share with your less-than-savvy friends and family to help them avoid falling victim to an online scam."
December 10, 2009
What Everyone Should Know About Cameras
"Talking to a camera nerd—or even reading about new cameras—can feel like translating from a different language. But it doesn't need to! Here, in this here post, is everything you need to know about cameras, without the noise."
Fix Internet Explorer Not Prompting to Choose Save Location in XP
"If you’re still using Internet Explorer and Windows XP, you might have encountered a problem where you unchecked the box for “Always ask before opening this type of file”, and now you can’t get it back anymore."
December 06, 2009
Are terms-of-service enforceable?
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Ed Bayley has written an excellent introductory white-paper on whether click-wrap, browse-wrap, and other online terms of service are enforceable."
November 29, 2009
November 20, 2009
Buying a New Television
Humorous flowchart. I have a 19" tube-type TV next to my computer, and I'm happy as as clam.
Dumping Java cache improves browser performance
"If your browser takes forever to open, it could be due to an overloaded Java cache."
November 18, 2009
Allmyapps Bulk-Installs Your Favorite Apps, Makes System Rebuilding Less Painful
"Windows/Linux: One of the most irritating things about reinstalling your operating system is installing all the non-OS applications you love. Allmyapps lets you select all your favorite apps and roll them into a bulk installer to make rebuilding easy."
November 13, 2009
Send stealthy, encrypted missives via the web with Norbt
"Your recipient must correctly answer the secret question. Once they do, your note is decrypted and displayed for their eyes only."
November 10, 2009
Digital Tattoo Interface Turns Your Skin Into A Display
"She lightly pushes a small dot on the skin on her left forearm to suddenly reveal a two by four inch tattoo with the image of the cell phone's digital display, directly in the skin of her arm. She answers the call by pushing a tattooed button on her arm. While she's talking, the tattoo comes to life as a digital video of the caller. When she finishes, the tattoo disappears."
November 09, 2009
How Mr. Q Manufactured Emotion
"As a person walks from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, for example, each of the hundreds of speakers slowly fades in different melodies at different frequencies so that at any point you can stop and enjoy a fully accurate piece of music, but by the time you walk 400 feet, the entire song has changed and no one has noticed."
November 04, 2009
November 02, 2009
October 31, 2009
The Conference Call Is Dead
"Unlike other VoIP services, ShoePhone offers a long list of features that make it an ideal replacement for the old-and-busted corporate conference call. "
October 28, 2009
How To Start A Computer Business
"Here is a list of our free articles starting from the very basics of starting a computer business to the more advanced areas of improving an existing business."
October 26, 2009
The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts
" Windows 7 adds loads of great shortcuts for switching between apps, moving windows around your screen, moving them to another monitor altogether, and much more. Here's a quick-reference master list of the best new Windows 7 shortcuts."
October 24, 2009
October 23, 2009
Lifehacker's Complete Guide to Windows 7
"Windows 7 officially launches today, but we've been testing, tweaking, customizing, fixing, and writing about this OS for a year now. We present here a guide to everything we've learned about the OS, from first install to final settings change."
Pandora knows what you like (or will soon)
If you haven't yet tries Pandora, it's a cool music service (free) that lets you rate songs as it plays them, so it knows what you like and can play more stuff you like.
http://pandora.com/
A brief overview may be found here: http://www.appappeal.com/app/pandora
And while Pandora runs in your web browser, there's a standalone player that can be used for more functions, and so you don't accidentally close it :-)
Vista users can get a sidebar gadget: http://www.pandora.com/on-windowsgadget
XP users can use OpenPandora: http://getopenpandora.appspot.com/
Here's a lengthy article that describes all the work behind the scenes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18Pandora-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine
QT Lite Frees You from QuickTime's Bloat - QuickTime - Lifehacker
"If you don't use iTunes (or any other Apple software), you can finally rid yourself of Apple's Software Update bloat by replacing QuickTime with QT Lite. QT Lite installs only what is necessary to play QuickTime files and nothing more. It still has all the same settings and preferences as the normal version of QuickTime, though."
October 21, 2009
Want To Design Smarter Intersections? Use Less Control, Not More.
"Drivers in the United States are faced with a constant barrage of traffic signs, lights and signals all meant to navigate them safely through the sea of cars, pedestrians and bicycles without incident. "
October 20, 2009
Windows 7 Recovery Discs Gets Your System Out of Tight Spots
"Boot your system from NeoSmart's CD, and you'll get a stripped-down Windows system with a window offering startup file repair, Restore Point returns, recovery from a whole-cloth image, memory testing, and a command prompt for those dire moments when only frantically Google-d terminal instructions can save you."
October 19, 2009
Millions tricked by 'scareware'
"Online criminals are making millions of pounds by convincing computer users to download fake anti-virus software, internet security experts claim."
October 18, 2009
Five Best Software Update Tools
"Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let's face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update's available, and streamline the updating process"
October 15, 2009
Ad Blindness Rules: Even Fewer People Clicking Ads
"Basically, it sounds like more and more people are simply ignoring online ads, which is to be expected, since they rarely (if ever?) add much of value. This is the advertisers' fault.
"
October 14, 2009
30 years of failure: the username/password combination
"... security involves a significant human component. Nowhere is that more true than the item at the heart of basic security: the humble password. "
October 13, 2009
What's wrong with Search Engine Optimization
"In the end, you're sacrificing your brand integrity in a Faustian bargain for an increase in traffic that won't last the month. And how valuable was that increase, anyway? If you're tricking people into visiting your site, those visits are going to be bad experiences. "
October 11, 2009
Photosketch automagically creates Photoshop montages from your sketches
"Photosketch takes rough, even stick-figure-like drawings you do in Photoshop, finds real images to match, and puts together a montage that looks a lot like what you were imagining when you drew those sticks."
October 07, 2009
HD TV and the placebo effect
"Participants were unable to discriminate properly between digital and high-definition signals..."
Email: The Variable Reinforcement Machine
"Does checking your email make you more productive or less productive? "
October 06, 2009
Volery Makes Installing Software Incredibly Simple
"Just pick the apps you want to install, download the Volery installer, then walk away and do something fun while it does all the work for you. The service installs the software with default settings and says “no” to any extra crapware (like browser toolbars) the installers might try to sneak in. "
October 02, 2009
October 01, 2009
US urges 'cyber hygiene' effort
"The US government has urged all internet users to play their part in protecting the network from attack."
September 28, 2009
5 free software applications for computer geeks
Google Chrome, 7Zip, Notepad ++, Windows Live Writer, and Syncback
September 26, 2009
An Interview With Wolfram|Alpha
"Recently, RevisingMRI sat down with WolframAlpha for an interview about MRI. Every answer is a genuine reply from WolframAlpha (links are provided)."
September 20, 2009
How to discover new and interesting music online
"What do you do when your music library gets stale and you can't stand commercial radio?"
September 17, 2009
Free Comptuer Security Software
"This outstanding list has been compiled by one of our senior security editors, Antti Koponen. The products are listed with the best products first, as judged by Antti."
September 15, 2009
September 11, 2009
David Marusek's "Counting Heads"
Although I like to read science fiction, either it or I changed over the last few years, and I think I stop reading about a third of the books I check out from the library because they just aren't doing it for me (and this is after I am choosy at the shelves; and don't even get me started on how Fantasy and Horror are classified with the same spine sticker, oft leading me astray). But I just read a great book that I can recommend to anyone interested in what the future may hold technologically and socially: "Counting Heads" by David Marusek. The guy has quite an imagination, and the ability to incorporate technology into the story smoothly. And there's a *lot* of tech talk: almost every page has multiple introductions to cool futurist ideas; and the guy is a genius at naming things. I just inter-library-loan-requested his follow-up book, "Mind Over Ship".
Facebook strips down to Lite site
"'It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbies or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming and noisy,' said Rafe Needleman at technology website Cnet."
http://lite.facebook.com
September 10, 2009
Online disinhibition effect
"In psychology, the online disinhibition effect refers to the way people behave on the Internet with less restraint than in real-world situations"
September 08, 2009
September 04, 2009
50 things that are being killed by the internet - Telegraph
"The internet has wrought huge changes on our lives – both positive and negative – in the fifteen years since its use became widespread. "
Sansa Clip+ Review: Big Sound, Tiny Body
I've had an older-model Clip for a while, and they are indeed great, especially when combined with some Sony vertical-in-ear headphones. I've used a Sansa MP3 player to provide music for our school's talent show for the past three years, and it's worked out great.
September 03, 2009
Does less evening Internet mean Europeans lead better lives?
"Data from ISPs in Europe and North America shows big difference in peak Internet use. Europeans drop off quickly at 7pm, which Americans keep going strong until 11pm. Some wonder if the difference extends to quality of life."
September 02, 2009
The Internet Is Not Especially Dangerous For Kids
"We're regularly treated to alarmist stories about the growing problem of child predators on the Internet. But David Pogue has a great post putting the danger in perspective -- fitting well with recent studies showing the danger is overstated. "
August 31, 2009
Information Workers Want to Be Free
"locked-down computers 'infantilize workers… foster resentment, reduce morale, lock people into inefficient routines, and, worst of all, they kill our incentives to work productively.' "
August 30, 2009
Affixa Basic
"PCs snobbishly assume you want a desktop-based client--not a Web-based one--as your default e-mail client. Affixa bridges the gap between your desktop and services like Gmail and Yahoo Mail. It sets your Web-based e-mail application as the Windows default for quick and easy handling of mailto: links and file attachment. "
Warning: no user reviews as of this posting.
August 27, 2009
How to disable Back button in a web browser
There's not too many places where you'd want to do this, but in the few that make sense, it makes a lot of sense (for example: a form page just prior to submission, to prevent multiple submissions).
IT restrictions hurt productivity
"The restrictions infantilize workers--they foster resentment, reduce morale, lock people into inefficient routines, and, worst of all, they kill our incentives to work productively."
August 26, 2009
Identifying Hoaxes and Urban Legends
"Chain letters are familiar to anyone with an email account, whether they are sent by strangers or well-intentioned friends or family members. Try to verify the information before following any instructions or passing the message along."
August 25, 2009
August 18, 2009
Five ways to keep laptop thieves from jacking your data
"... once your laptop is stolen, in most cases, a burglar can access almost anything on it—that is, unless you take the right precautions with the extremely mobile window into your life. "
August 17, 2009
August 10, 2009
August 08, 2009
July 31, 2009
A Funny Video about Online Predators? Yup!
Good discussion, and great video, linked at the bottom of the article.
July 30, 2009
David Pogue launches all-out war on canned voicemail messages
"In case you've held off on owning a cellphone or calling anyone who has one, they go a little something like this: At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. (Beep)"
Remove Text Formatting the Easy Way with PureText
"Wishing that there was an easier way than using Notepad as a “middleman” to remove formatting from text that you are copying and pasting? With PureText you can easily remove that formatting with a simple Windows hot-key combination."
Benign security warnings have trained users to ignore them
"Researchers found that users won't hesitate to engage in this risky browsing behavior, especially since most warnings are for benign things like expired certificates."
July 23, 2009
July 22, 2009
Kudos to TechHit support
I so rarely have a positive experience with anyone's tech support :-) that I need to give props to TechHit for their excellent support. In brief, I was having trouble dealing with a problem with Windows XP's sort order, in which three files would be sorted as so:
file1.ext
file2.ext
file.ext
I can't think of *any* good reason why the unnumbered file should sort after the numbered ones: according to all rules of alphabetization and common sense, it should be:
file.ext
file1.ext
file2.ext
and this issue becaome apparent when testing TechHit's MessageSave utility (http://www.techhit.com/messagesave/). I sent an email to their tech support crew, and they actually replied with some things to try, listened to my feedback, and ended up solving the issue! Good job, people. Note that it wasn't really their problem (ahem, Microsoft) and this was a pre-sales technical issue, as I hadn't yet purchased the product.
By the way, the resolution was to use an underscore as the separator (which is configurable with the advanced options of MessageSave). Then the proper sort order is achieved:
file.ext
file_1.ext
file_2.ext
So for those of you keeping score:
TechHit +1
Microsoft -1
July 21, 2009
Essay: Dumb-dumb bullets (concerning PowerPoint)
"PowerPoint is not a neutral tool — it is actively hostile to thoughtful decision-making."
July 20, 2009
The Computer Hardware Chart Identifies Your PC's Parts [Hardware]
..."helps you identify countless different types of hard drives, RAM, ports, CPU sockets, power connectors, and more"...
July 18, 2009
Get Smarter
"Pandemics. Global warming. Food shortages. No more fossil fuels. What are humans to do? The same thing the species has done before: evolve to meet the challenge."
July 16, 2009
NirCmd - Windows command line tool
"NirCmd is a small command-line utility that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any user interface."
June 29, 2009
June 24, 2009
How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet
"1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really."
This Douglas Adams article from 1999 is filled with funny things and lots of common sense.
June 17, 2009
Study: PowerPoint animations are comprehension killers
Most interesting: even just having your bullet points appear one by one seems to inhibit comprehension.
June 11, 2009
Bill would turn down volume on TV ads
"Under a proposal to be taken up today, the Federal Communications Commission would limit ad volumes to the average decibels of the TV show during which they appear."
Do you suffer from Internet fatigue?
"Do you ever get sick of your phone ringing? What about Facebook fatigue? Does Twitter sometimes give you stress headaches, making you occasionally wish you could just yank the plug on your online life?"
June 08, 2009
Guesses vs. Data as Basis for Design Recommendations
"Even the tiniest amount of empirical facts (say, observing 2 users) vastly improves the probability of making correct UI design decisions."
June 02, 2009
May 29, 2009
May 28, 2009
DTXTR helps you decipher txt msgs
"Do you feel lost when you read abbreviations and acronyms on Twitter and other web sites because you have know idea what PMIGBOM* stands for? DTXTR can help."
Files Over Miles does simple, direct transfers in your browser
Browser to browser file transfers. Hmm!
May 27, 2009
Don't Clean Dishes Before Putting them in the Dishwasher
My (really old) dishwasher's manual even says this. But it's hard to break the habit.
In praise of FrontPage
I like Microsoft FrontPage. It's good at building and managing websites (especially with multiple people doing the work). It can do things no other site management software can do (which is something I ask when other people talk about Dreamweaver, CMS systems, etc.).
I work for a company that builds most of its intranet with Microsoft FrontPage. I build and manage internet sites with it.
FrontPage put website-managing capability into the hands of people who were unable or unwilling to learn to code everything by hand. There's a lot to be said for the WYSIWYG interface. It's great if someone can code up a site with Notepad, but it's not the only way to do things, or even the most efficient.
A couple of our local school websites that I manage, formerly with FrontPage, have been converted over to a CMS system, and it is *not* a good change. The sites are much slower even for browsing, and editing is very, very slow and clunky, and I can only do a small subset of the things I used to do before. It is not progress.
May 26, 2009
The Science News Cycle
"Jorge Cham of PhD Comics (which stands for Piled Higher & Deeper, if you must know) nailed it with this cartoon panel, The Science News Cycle, about how a scientific finding gets exaggerated and distorted as it trickles down through "The Internets" and the media."
May 24, 2009
Desktop Linux For The Windows Power User
"This article will walk you, the Windows power user, through the Ubuntu installation process from downloading the CD image to finding help online. "
May 21, 2009
How to change the Ubuntu login screen
"This brief tutorial will guide you through changing the Ubuntu login screen, and provide a few resources so that you can download some additional themes. "
May 19, 2009
A microwave I wish I hadn't purchased
I can't find this thing anywhere online in order to post a review there, so I'll put this here in case anyone searches for it and I can do them a favor by letting them know some facts about it.
I purchased an Oster model OM1201E0VG microwave a few months ago, after our existing microwave broke, then another model I ordered on-line arrived broken (the door had to pulled open with two hands and then wouldn't shut, lots of fun shipping *that* one back!), and then the first one of these I bought at a local Target was dropped during shipping and had one corner caved in, and at the time my life was very hectic so when I finally got one that worked by exchanging it at a Target in another city (each store only had one), I was willing to just live with it, because you have no idea how much you use a microwave until you go a week without one.
Anyway, here's what I imagine the R&D guys talked about when coming up with this model:
- "Let's give it a light inside, but let's not have the light turn on when the door is opened, but only work when the food is cooking and your view is almost completely obscured by the mesh in the window!"
- "Let's help our customers realize when they've opened the door by having the beeper beep when they open the door, you know, because they might not realize they were opening the door without that extra audio cue."
"Good idea! Let's also not allow any change in beepiness, as some other models allow via special control panel keypresses, and just in case some end user wants to make his home a little more serene by unhooking the beeper, let's use security bolts on the back of the unit so he can't open it." - "Even though this is a standard 1000-watt microwave oven, lets have it use so much power that it sends any computer UPS in the house into battery mode when anyone heats anything up."
- "Finally, let's give it a Timer function, but with a twist: after the timer is timing for a bit, let's have the countdown display stop displaying, so people never know how much time is left; and let's make the end-of-timer-time indicator noise be just one single beep!" "Good idea, there's got to be a market out there for people who don't really care when the timer go off!"
My inability to find this thing anywhere on the internet gives me pause. And the support website, as listed in the manual, is dead (http://www.osterliving.com/; WHOIS says the domain is registered, but has no site associated with it).
To be fair, there are a couple of good features:
- it has an actual handle, one of the things we looked for, because you can control the opening and closing much better (and do it more gently/quietly).
- if you heat something in it and forget to take it out, it will triple-beep at you to remind you after a minute or so.
But the negatives outweigh the positives. So much so that we've just replaced it with one of those barely-bigger-than-a-plate models that probably cost $40 new (we got it at a garage sale). It works much better.
May 16, 2009
Fixing a blank screen in Ubuntu 9
After installing Ubuntu 9 on an old laptop, I found that the computer would boot to a blank screen sometimes, because the video adapter or monitor couldn't handle the resolution being attempted. There are two methods I've tried to fix this.
- when you start the computer, and see "GRUB loading" -- press ESC to get to the GRUB menu
- choose recovery mode
- arrow down to the xfix option: "Try to auto repair graphics problems"
- resume normal boot
- when you start the computer, and see "GRUB loading" -- press ESC to get to the GRUB menu
- choose recovery mode
- choose "drop to root shell prompt"
- at the prompt, type:
dpkg --configure -a - then:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg - then you'll get a screen of blah-blah :-), and you should use the arrow keys to choose "Yes" where asked to use the "kernel framebuffer device interface"
- click no for the keyboard layout question
- hit the Tab key to choose highlight "OK" for the next question, and same for the rest of the questions
- when you get back to the prompt, type EXIT
- choose to "Resume normal boot"
Hopefully at this point all should be well... but you've reduced the video capabilities somewhat by not allowing direct communication with the video hardware. So you should look into figuring out what the exact capabilities of your hardware are, and changing your Ubuntu parameters to meet those limits. I have no idea,yet, how to do this.
Also, if your video system is not a separate card, but just a motherboard resource, be sure that you've told your computer's BIOS to devote as much RAM as possible to video (on my laptop, the choice was either 1 MB or 12 MB).Removing a screensaver from Ubuntu 9
I'm a Linux newbie, but liking it a lot. However, having installed Ubuntu 9 on an old laptop, where almost everything else works great, I found one screensaver, JigglyPuff, that would lock up the system (meaning even after a reboot I couldn't enter the screensaver config to change it). I found that, to remove it, one has to enter into Terminal mode (from Applications/Accessories), and type (all on one line, with spaces between sudo and rm the last bit):
sudo rm /usr/share/applications/screensavers/screensaver.desktop
where "screensaver" is the name of the screensaver you wish to remove; in this case, the command is:
sudo rm /usr/share/applications/screensavers/jigglypuff.desktop
May 14, 2009
How to fix tooltips that show behind taskbar in XP
"One really annoying problem that I have come across often, but never bother to fix, is the fact that sometimes the system tray tooltips (when you hover your mouse over an icon in the taskbar) do not show up in Windows XP!" Method 4 works great.
Cable Industry Starting To Realize That They Need To Let Go Of the Box - Third party set-tops
"But perhaps it's time to examine the cable industry's lease model. Is having all of those logo-branded boxes on the balance sheet worth the pittance consumers pay to rent them? Is it worth dooming customers to a clunky experience when a third-party box could do the job better?"
Introduction to Wolfram|Alpha
This is a demo/introduction to the new WolframAlpha search engine (although it not quite, and much more, than a search engine).
The Hidden Secrets of Online Quizzes
Why those fun little on-line quizzes and facebook applications are dangerous.
May 11, 2009
Digitize Everything for Lasting Family Archives
"Furniture and buildings can be replaced. But what about old family pictures? Paintings your children made in kindergarten? Trophies? Award plaques? Objects passed down from previous generations?"
May 07, 2009
Fixing the mailto: problem in Firefox and Yahoo Mail
I was recently helping someone (using Ubuntu 9 on a laptop, which works great, after having switched from XP, which was having registry corruption, even after a wipe/reload), and one of the final cleanup issues was a problem he was having with Firefox and clicking mail links on web pages... the problem is that Yahoo Mail would display the full code of the mailto link in the TO: field, such as mailto:address@isp.com, or if the subject was specified in the link: mailto:address@isp.com?subject=ThisIsTheSubject and he'd have to clean it up before he could send. I finally found a mention somewhere that this happens when the person was using the old version of Yahoo Mail. I was able to reproduce both the problem and the solution on my computer. Switching to the "new" Yahoo email is the answer.
May 03, 2009
AppSnap
"AppSnap is an application that simplifies installation of software. It automatically figures out the latest version, downloads the installer and then installs the software in one seamless step." Good for restaged Windows computers... I'll be trying it soon, I'm sure.
April 25, 2009
Ubuntu help
To enable proprietary hardware drivers in Ubuntu:
- choose Add/Remove Applications on the Applications menu
- search for hardware drivers
- check the box next to the Hardware Drivers application in the search results
- click Apply Changes
- Next, choose System, Administration, Hardware Drivers
- Follow the instructions for activating the driver
- To enable most of these proprietary plug-ins and codecs in one step, go to the Add/Remove Applications utility and search for, and install, Ubuntu Restricted Extras
- Super Ubuntu (now known as Super OS) is regular Ubuntu with such things installed
April 17, 2009
Back In Time Does Full Linux Backups in One Click
"Back In Time, a Linux backup app inspired by Macs' Time Machine and offering the same kind of no-worry, space-saving snapshot protection, is worth adding to your must-install list."
Audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster Cable and coat hangers
Coat hangers. Excellent.
April 14, 2009
YouSendIt and Websense and the "Special Yearly Offer" (Special Retention Offer)
I was a happy YouSendIt (yousendit.com) account holder for some time. Then my workplace, or rather the Websense service they use, classified the site as "Personal Network Storage and Backup", and blocked it at our firewall. YouSendIt's service is not usable for either network storage or backup, but my own company's IT group would not or could not understand that (or more likely, were not willing to contact Websense regarding the improper classification), so I was forced to cancel my $30 a month Business Plus account, which had served me well up until then.
When I tried to cancel my account, I was presented with a "Special Retention Offer" that listed several major components of their service (that I already had as a Business Plus customer), detailing max file sizes, bandwidth, etc. and then said "In other words, you get the same great YouSendIt service at a lower price." Figuring I could still use the service from home, I signed up for this deal, only to find out shortly thereafter that several major components of the Business Plus plan were *not* included in the Special Retention Offer, including the big one, the Dropbox (which allowed people to send *me* things). Of course they'd already posted the $20 charge to my credit card, even though I had weeks to go on the old plan, and I had to wait until that time to cancel my account (because my account was already in a "pending downgrade state"), and then they refunded the $20 as a "service gesture".
Next time I'll use the "NO THANKS" button.
April 10, 2009
April 09, 2009
April 08, 2009
Quote of the Day
"When we go online, each of us is our own editor, our own gatekeeper. We select the kind of news and opinions that we care most about.
"Nicholas Negroponte of M.I.T. has called this emerging news product The Daily Me. And if that's the trend, God save us from ourselves.
"That's because there's pretty good evidence that we generally don't truly want good information -- but rather information that confirms our prejudices. We may believe intellectually in the clash of opinions, but in practice we like to embed ourselves in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber."
- Nicholas Kristof, in The New York Times
April 03, 2009
Giving Linux That 'XP' Factor
"...there's an increasingly common consensus amongst the Internet digerati is that there are four operating system choices: Windows, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, and 'other Linux'."
And Super Ubuntu is even one step better.
March 31, 2009
March 30, 2009
YouTube - Twouble with Twitters
YouTube - Twouble with Twitters
I just quit Facebook, and I pretty much feel that Facebook is slightly more complex version of this.
March 22, 2009
Display Your Desktop Icons in List View in XP
"DesktopListView is an really tiny application that activates a list view of small icons on your destop, giving you more room for an intriguing desktop or custom-sized windows."
March 16, 2009
March 11, 2009
How to Delete Accounts from Any Website
"Deleting accounts you've created on Facebook, MySpace, AOL, and elsewhere on the Web isn't always easy. Here are the details on leaving 23 services behind"
March 09, 2009
GreenPrint World
"... scans print jobs and removes pages that it determines are waste, like Web pages with just one line of text. It also removes most ads from Web pages automatically; lets you preview print jobs and remove images, text, or full pages; creates PDFs; and tracks the paper, money, and greenhouse gases you're saving. "
Privnote
Privnote is a free web based service that allows you to send top secret notes over the internet. It's easy and requires no password or user registration at all. Just write your note, and you'll get a link. Then you copy and paste that link into an email that you send to the person who you want to read the note.
March 06, 2009
March 02, 2009
FCC wants big fines for cable giants over channel switching
"FCC Chair Kevin Martin goes out swinging at the cable industry, proposing fines for switching channels from analog to digital tiers."
February 27, 2009
February 24, 2009
So Amazing, But Nobody is Happy
Funny video of (a here rather restrained) Louis C K doing what he does best: ranting. He makes some good points here about how we take technology for granted.
February 22, 2009
Rescue files with a boot CD (Knoppix)
Have a computer that won't boot into Windows? Use a Knoppix live CD instead, and copy off your important files before doing anything else.
February 16, 2009
February 10, 2009
February 09, 2009
February 03, 2009
February 02, 2009
YourFonts
"With YourFonts you can make a True Type font from your own handwriting for free. The process is simple, quick and basically idiot-proof. Print out a template from the site, write in your letters, scan, upload and -- voila -- there you have it."
January 25, 2009
The End of Solitude
"Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can."
January 23, 2009
Tom's Intl. $750 Cheap Computing Challenge
"Thus, we were presented with a challenge to start off 2009: build a desktop PC for less than $750. Achieve the best performance possible while using the least amount of power, yielding optimized performance per watt."
January 21, 2009
Microsoft Windows Does Not Disable AutoRun Properly
"Disabling AutoRun on Microsoft Windows systems can help prevent the spread of malicious code. However, Microsoft's guidelines for disabling AutoRun are not fully effective, which could be considered a vulnerability."
January 19, 2009
NiceCritic Sends Awkward Messages Anonymously
"Save yourself an embarrassing moment with the NiceCritic.com website, which can anonymously tell that co-worker to wash their hands before they leave the bathroom, or at least stop trying to shake your hand."
January 14, 2009
Tim Sneath : The Bumper List of Windows 7 Secrets
Windows 7 is looking pretty good. We'll just forget that whole Vista thing happened. :-)
January 09, 2009
PowerPoint Karaoke
"In a typical event, a few brave people volunteer to "present" a random deck of slides pulled off the Web, or borrowed from friends or employers."
January 05, 2009
Super Ubuntu Rolls Multimedia and Helpful Extras into Ubuntu
"Most anyone using Ubuntu Linux has to install Adobe Flash, Java, DVD playback, and other plug-ins to actually enjoy it. Super Ubuntu packs all that essential in from the get-go."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)