Tech Corner

Try Open Office -- free and compatible

2010-05-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

OpenOffice.org 3 is free software. That means you are free to download it, free to install it on as many PCs as you like, free to pass copies to as many people as you like. You may use OpenOffice.org 3 for any purpose without restriction: private, educational, public administration, commercial... Free, really free.

OpenOffice.org 3 contains all the office software you need, in one single package. You don't have to worry which version to install: one installation program provides everything. The installation also includes features which some expensive rivals do not - for example, the ability to create .pdf files when you want to guarantee what the recipient sees on their computer. There is also a growing range of extensions: additional features that any developer can provide. OpenOffice.org releases release software several times a year so you can take advantage of new features as quickly as possible.
OpenOffice Info

Your Guide to Windows 7

2010-01-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

Whether you got a new PC loaded up with Windows 7 or you got Windows 7 DVDs to upgrade an existing PC, you should read this roundup of key stories to help you get started with the new operating system.
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new beta build for Google Chrome

2009-08-06T03:29:00.000-07:00

There is a new beta build for Google Chrome -- 3.0.195.4-- out today, featuring 30 percent faster processing and HTML5 functionality. I penned the details at eWEEK here.

I just downloaded Chrome 3.0.195.4 and welcome the new features. Website thumbnails were previously static on the New Tab page, but there is now drag-and-drop functionality, enabling users to click a thumbnail and move it anywhere on the page.

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Royal household turns to Twitter

2009-07-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

Buckingham Palace has revealed that the Royal Family has now joined the Twitter micro-blogging revolution. The Twitter account @BritishMonarchy has just gone live, following several weeks of testing.

A spokeswoman said it had signed up to harness the popularity of Twitter to spread news about the Royal Family. It will provide details of royal engagements as well as link to information about what members of the family are doing. But the spokeswoman said neither the Queen nor other members of the Royal Family would be tweeting personally. The intention," she explained, "is that it is a news service rather than a personal voice."
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Google Chrome OS: Web Platform To Rule Them All

2009-07-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

Google's plan to release its own operating system based on its Chrome browser is at once audacious and laughable. Microsoft Windows represents slightly less than 90% of the personal computer operating system market, a position it has held for years. Google's industry ally, Apple, has managed to steal a few percentage points of market share away from Microsoft in the past twelve years under the singular leadership of CEO Steve Jobs. But Windows remains the dominant operating system, more dominant even than Google is in search.

And with the forthcoming release of Windows 7, Microsoft appears to be well-prepared to defend its empire. Yet, the fact that Google has partners that share its vision says something about the shakiness of Microsoft's position. Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba are all working with Google to help it re-imagine the operating system. So too is Intel, as The Register reports.

Google's decision to target the netbook market may help the prospects of Chrome OS. Google may find it easier to compete in the netbook market because access to cloud-based services and software is more valuable on devices with constrained resources than on high-powered desktop computers.

The fact that Chrome OS applications will be written using open Web standards like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS might seem like a liability because Web applications still aren't as capable as applications written for specific devices and operating systems. But Google is betting that will change and is working to effect the change on which its bet depends. Within a year or two, Web browsers will gain access to peripherals, through an infrastructure layer above the level of device drivers. Google's work with standards bodies is making that happen.
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Learn about VoIP phone

2009-07-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wonder about telephone over the Internet? If you have a high speed link this could be your ticket to savings and new features. So here is a site that provides starting point to learning about VoIP telephone service.
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Hands On With Google Voice -This Is Really Cool

2009-06-28T02:03:00.000-07:00

Google Voice, but you're not really sure what it does. There's a good reason for this aura of mystery. Google Voice got its start as a phone service called GrandCentral, which the search giant bought in 2007. It's been in beta ever since -- but unlike other Google betas that are open to the general public, this one was limited to former GrandCentral users and a select group of industry elite.

But now Google is opening up the service to a limited number of new users, many of whom I'm sure will be as impressed as I am with Google Voice's power and elegance. Even better, Google Voice is free -- at least for now. It's likely that Google will need to monetize the service at some point, either via subscription fees, advertising, or some sort of newfangled revenue scheme. But for the lucky few using the service today, there's no charge.
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Google streams data center pods to world

2009-06-27T04:32:00.000-07:00

As has been rumored for years - and as The Reg confirmed this fall - Google pieces together its data centers using intermodal shipping containers pre-packed with servers and cooling equipment. The video - posted to YouTube - provides a six minute tour of the company's inaugural containerized data center, which went live sometime in 2005. Google calls it, well, Data Center A.

Google Pods

It's unclear where the facility is located. But presumably, it's one of three data centers Google has built in The Dalles, Oregon. According to Google, it holds 45 shipping containers, and each of these data center pods houses around 1,160 servers. The entire facility has a power capacity of 10 megawatts and a trailing twelve-month average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) value of 1.25.

The video tour begins in the outdoor equipment yard, which houses the cooling towers, the power-distribution centers, and the generator farm. Google says its transformer exhibits a better than 99.5 per cent efficiency, and boasts about the relatively small size of its cooling radiators.

After a shot of the generator farm, the camera follows the low-voltage cables that carry power from the distribution center into an indoor pod hanger, where they eventually connect to switch panels for each container. The video then jump-cuts to the facility's cooling plant, where a portion of the water streaming from the cooling towers in redirected to a sidestream filtration system.
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Microsoft Security Essentials: The First Test Results Are In

2009-06-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

When put against AV-Test's "WildList" collection of 3,194 recent, common viruses, bots, and worms, Microsoft Security Essentials detected and removed each and every one of the malware samples. How does this compare to other security products? AV-Test coordinator Andreas Marx notes that "several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet." In addition, Microsoft Security Essentials put up a perfect score with zero false positives—it didn't flag a single clean file as being malicious. AV-Test also took an initial look at Microsoft Security Essentials' rootkit detection, testing it against a few rootkit samples, and found "nothing to complain about."
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ASUS Netbook

2009-06-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

I bought the netbook with the N280 chip. it is excellent for portable use and has excellent battery life, but video streaming can be out of sync with the audio. In the Fall a dual-core version is expected which may have more powerful video processing. Meanwhile this is fine for travel use. -- Bill

Intel Shipping Upgraded Atom, HD Video Chipset

2009-06-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

While the N280 doesn’t differ from the N270 in clock speed, with both running at 1.6 GHz, the newer chip benefits from being paired with the new GN40, which brings with it HD video acceleration. As handy as netbooks have proven to be at casual web browsing and even the odd video, it does trip up when it comes to the more intensive multimedia features. The GN40 chipset adds hardware help for playback of 720p video, making the Atom N280 set probably a better companion now than a portable DVD player (particularly if you have high-def video encodes). The Atom N280 itself has a lower thermal design power at 2 W compared to the N270 at 2.5 W, but with the beefier chipset, the N280 and GN40 TDP jumps to 16.5 W. The N270 with the N945GSE has a TDP of 11.8 W.
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Amazon: ASUS with Atom N280
Tom's Hardware: New Asus Eee PC Features 9.5 Hour Battery

PC Hardware reviews

ASUS 1000HE review

YouTube reviews

Intel debuts new Atom N280, GN40 chipset

Atom N280 Getting Phased Out?

Wikipedia

Apple Patches QuickTime, Updates iTunes

2009-06-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Apple released software updates for media players QuickTime and iTunes. Eight of the patches concern Apple and Microsoft operating systems and two patches address vulnerabilities found only in Microsoft Vista and XP versions.

Apple, Inc. issued a slew of critical patches for its QuickTime media player and updated the digital media application iTunes. Version 7.6.2 of Quicktime received the majority of patches, targeted at patching holes that would allow maliciously crafted files to perform unexpected application terminations or arbitrary code executions.
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Intel admits that GN40 chipset is no match for Blu-ray

2009-05-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

We know, we're just being greedy at this point, but hey -- did you honestly expect anything less? We knew Intel's new Atom N280 processor, when paired with the equally fresh GN40 chipset, could deliver silky smooth 720p video playback. What we didn't know, however, was how well it could handle 1080p material. According to Fudzilla, an Intel product manager has stated that the GN40 is "designed to do 1080p HD playback for typical broadband internet content," but that it wasn't engineered to "enable full Blu-ray capability where the bitrates and demands of multi-layer content are significantly higher than that of internet HD content." The optimist within us is hoping that the GN40's successor will take the next logical step and handle BD films, but we wouldn't dare suggest you get your own hopes up that high if you're not good with handling disappointment.
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Hands On: Google Chrome 2

2009-05-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Google on Thursday unveiled the latest version of its Chrome browser, moving the product out of beta and promising speed boosts of up to 30 percent. Google touts a 30 percent speed increase for Chrome; my testing actually showed a 44 percent improvement.
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Intel's Atom Update Cuts Fans, Adds Battery Life

2009-05-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

Intel unveiled its 2009 platform for its Atom processor on Tuesday, and announced that the first beta of the Moblin 2.0 software it helped develop had been released. The new Atom is known as "Pine Trail," and shrinks the number of chips required to develop an Atom netbook, nettop, or some other device down to two: the CPU package, known as "Pineview," and the I/O chip, dubbed "Tiger Point".

The reduction in chips hasn't quite produced what Intel hopes to achieve in "Larrabee," its upcoming graphics chip, or what rival AMD has discussed with its "Fusion" plans. However, the 45-nm Pineview chip combines the Atom processor, memory controller, and graphics logic inside a single monolithic die. Serial ATA and PCI Express connections will be included.
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HP laptop batteries recalled for overheating

2009-05-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

After two reports of flaming laptop batteries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday that Hewlett-Packard is voluntarily recalling 70,000 lithium-ion batteries that shipped with several models of its HP and Compaq laptops. The recall affects nine models of HP Pavilions, nine models of Compaq Presarios, two models of HPs, and one HP Compaq laptop model sold between August 2007 and March 2008. For the full list, see the CPSC's site.
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Microsoft confirms Windows 7 RC coming next week

2009-04-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is racing towards a public release of Windows 7. The first release candidate will be made available to the public on May 5, the company said. Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc confirmed previous reports that Windows 7 RC will be released in early May, indicating that the company is well on its way to release the final version by late summer and provide PC vendors with the new operating system to support sales for the Christmas season. “I’m pleased to share that the RC is on track for April 30th for download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers,” LeBland wrote on the Windows Team blog. “Broader, public availability will begin on May 5th.”
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Yahoo Demolishes GeoCities 10 Years, $3.6 Billion Later

2009-04-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Yahoo announced that it will shut down GeoCities, one of the company’s longer-running units, later in 2009. Yahoo purchased the service, which allows users to create their own Web pages, for $3.6 billion in 1999. In the intervening decade, however, the rise of sites such as Facebook and Twitter presented a more user-friendly alternative for consumers than coding a personal home page, and GeoCities found itself eclipsed.

The plowing-under of GeoCities can perhaps be attributed to the rise of both blogs and social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, which offer a user-friendly template for individuals and small businesses to express themselves online without having to resort to hours of Web coding. GeoCities accounts will continue until the service shutdown later in 2009.
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Windows 7 gets virtual 'XP mode'

2009-04-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. will unveil an add-on to Windows 7 that lets users run applications designed for Windows XP in a virtual machine, the company confirmed Friday -- the first time Microsoft has relied on virtualization to provide backward compatibility. Dubbed "Windows XP Mode," the add-on creates an XP virtual environment running under Virtual PC, Microsoft's client virtualization technology, within Windows 7, said Scott Woodgate, the director of Windows enterprise and virtualization strategy.

According to Rivera's Within Windows blog -- Thurrott published a nearly identical write-up on his SuperSite for Windows -- Windows XP Mode will be offered as a free download only to users running Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise, the three top-priced editions of the new OS.
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Intel's Atom CPU goes dual-core

2009-04-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

The pint-sized processor moves into multicore mode for low-cost desktops and a supercharged Eee PC netbook! Mini-notes will gain maximum muscle next month when Intel releases its first dual-core version of the low-power Atom processor. The Atom N330 will roll off the lines in September and while it’s primarily aimed at low-cost desktops similar to the Eee Box, Asus president Jerry Shen has already announced it will be dropped into a new flagship Eee PC netbook.

While Intel didn’t reveal the speed of the N330 it’s widely tipped to be the same 1.6GHz as the single-core N200 series with the L2 cache doubled to 1MB. However, rather than bake both cores onto a single die, the package is expected to tie together a pair of N230 Atom processors in much the same way that Intel created its first dual-core and quad-core mainstream chips. This would create a larger package and explain why Intel’s primary target is the desktop market, for which it will issue the N330 alongside a new mini motherboard.

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Intel set to unleash dual-core Atom

Browser Showdown: IE 8 vs. Firefox

2009-04-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's newest browser promises faster page load speeds. Does IE 8 deliver? We put it to the test against the latest version of Firefox. Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is here at last--the newest entry into the ongoing browser wars. Microsoft packed a healthy number of new features into IE 8, and made security a top priority in its newest version of this venerable Web browser. But just as important as all that is browsing speed--that is, how quickly can IE 8 render your favorite Web sites? To get an idea of how IE 8 compares, we put it to the test.
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Scareware On The Rise

2009-04-08T19:33:00.001-07:00

In particular, rogue security software, also known as scareware, has "increased significantly over the past three periods," according to Microsoft's SIR. Specifically, rogue security software capitalizes on users' fear of cyberattacks by offering antivirus or antispyware that purports to clean up their systems. The attackers often leverage fear tactics delivered via some kind of social engineering to convince users to pay for "full versions" of the offered software that allegedly would protect them from Trojans and other kinds of malware. Often, the solicited software is actually malware that is used to drain bank accounts, steal financial and other critical information or infect computers to incorporate them in a spam-spewing botnet.
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Nintendo DSi

2009-04-06T15:53:00.001-07:00

The new Nintendo DSi portable game system ($169.99 list) follows Nintendo's new tack of making its consoles less about a given game and more about the overall playing experience. Other handheld gaming consoles, such as the Sony PSP focus on flashy graphics, high-res games, and video. And the iPhone is becoming a great gaming platform, thanks to its cool touch features and accelerometer. Nintendo aims to make the new DSi a fun part of your life, but, like its successful cousin, the Wii, not by loading it up with flashy features. Still, it does get some hardware improvements, like camera and larger, clearer screens. The result is decent upgrade to Nintendo's popular handheld gaming console.
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How to diagnose and defeat the dangerous Conficker worm

2009-04-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Want to quickly find out if your PC might be one of the millions infected by Conficker? Try clicking to Microsoft.com. Next try Symantec.com. Now try McAfee.com. If you can get to these sites, you're cool. But if your browser will not let you access any of these websites, then you very likely are infected with Conficker.

That’s because Conficker blocks you from reaching any web address that includes Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee, AVG, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, F-Secure, Panda, Sophos, SecureWorks or Sunbelt in the URL. It also blocks URLs that contain 103 other names and phrases that relate to security. You can see the full list by clicking to SRI International's repor there and scrolling down to the table listed under "domain lookup prevention." To get a full understanding of how jammed-packed Conficker is with sophisticated self-spreading and self-preserving features see this FAQ and this timeline.

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Windows 7 release & XP extension

2009-04-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Despite valiant efforts to push its Windows licensees to adopt Vista and the forthcoming Windows 7, Microsoft has one again agreed to extend the option of selling Windows XP for use on new PCs for another year, through April 30, 2010. The announcement hasn't been made publicly, but AppleInsider can exclusively report that according to a source within Hewlett Packard, Microsoft has granted the PC giant an extension to its existing rights to continue selling the nearly eight year old Windows XP on the company's business desktops, workstations, and notebooks in place of Windows 7 for another year.

Microsoft isn't excited about the XP extension, as the internal communique provided by the source stated, "It’s important to remind customers that Microsoft are still planning to retire XP Pro Mainstream support on April 14th 2009 and will only provide OS security updates beyond that date unless the customer has an Extended Hotfix Support contract. MS Extended Support for XP Pro ends on April 8th 2014."
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Wikipedia

Skype's iPhone limits irk some consumer advocates

2009-04-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Apple's (AAPL) unique treatment of the new Skype Internet calling feature on the iPhone — the free app works only on Wi-Fi, not the cellular or 3G network — is raising concern among public-policymakers and consumer advocates. They say it's a clear example of AT&T (T), the sole carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., trying to handicap a direct competitor.

"Consumers will pay the price for AT&T's blocking," says Chris Murray, senior counsel to Consumers Union. By using Skype on the iPhone, consumers can sidestep AT&T, allowing them to get by, potentially, with cheaper voice plans that offer fewer minutes. Consumers can also save a bundle on international calls.
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HP Is 'Studying' Android for PC Use

2009-04-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

Move over, Microsoft. Hewlett-Packard may give Google the entrée it needs to provide the go-to operating system for new lines of mass-market notebook computers. No. 1 PC maker Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is "studying" Google's (GOOG) Android operating system to determine whether the software might work well on HP's own computers, says HP spokeswoman Marlene Somsak. The company is evaluating Android's computing and communications functions, she says, though she declined to say whether HP would ship Android-powered products.

One possibility is that HP would load Android on the popular miniature laptops known as netbooks. Today the little machines mostly run Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows XP or the open-source Linux operating system. On Mar. 31, The Wall Street Journal reported that HP is considering using the Android software inside netbooks. Google is pushing Android for even broader applications, however. The software could also appear inside set-top boxes and in-car navigation systems, Android's creator, Google Senior Director Andy Rubin says.
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It's prime time for buying a TV

2009-03-28T05:04:00.000-07:00

Weak sales during the traditional peak periods and the rollout of new models translate to bargains for shoppers. In these tough times, shopping for a TV has become less about state of the art and more about state of the economy. This is a time of year when TV prices traditionally stabilize. The big discounts usually come at the end of the year for holiday shopping, then more price specials arrive leading up to the Super Bowl.

"This year the promotional pricing did not end" for the simple reason that TVs didn't sell as well as usual during the peak shopping periods, said analyst Riddhi Patel of the research firm iSuppli. "The volume seemed OK on the TVs 42 inches and smaller," said Paul Gagnon, director of North America TV market research for DisplaySearch. "It's the 47-inch-plus TVs that have gotten more difficult to move."

Another good factor for bargain shoppers: Stores are nearing the time when new models traditionally start showing up. "Retailers and manufacturers will make every effort to move out the older models before the new ones arrive," Gagnon said. "When there are new models out there, that's what people want."
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Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8

2009-03-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will release the latest version of Internet Explorer at noon Eastern time on Thursday, bringing major changes in a bid to hold onto the browser's dominance and fend off an increasingly crowded field of browsers, including the still-surging Mozilla Firefox.

Internet Explorer 8 brings to the table a number of new user-friendly features, increased standards support, and much improved security. The browser has been downloaded tens of millions of times since it entered public testing mode a little more than a year ago, constituting one of Microsoft's largest beta tests ever. Improved security is one of IE8's most significant features. NSS Labs released an independent study early Thursday showing IE8 significantly besting Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera in catching and blocking malware. With its SmartScreen filtering, IE8 Release Candidate 1 caught 69% of malware, while Firefox 3.07 caught only 30%.
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Bose 301

2009-03-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

I just received my new Bose 301 speakers and matching stands(extra). The speakers are excellent--especially for the price. Of course they do not compare with the Infinity 2 system I had previously, but I am very satisfied and would not consider replacing the much larger and more expensive Infinity system due to size and cost. -- Bill
Amazon

Apple unveils new iPod shuffle

2009-03-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

Apple on Wednesday introduced the next generation iPod shuffle. The shuffle has always been Apple’s smallest iPod, but now it is nearly half the size of the previous model. The new iPod shuffle features VoiceOver, which enables the iPod to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names. According to Apple, the third generation iPod shuffle is significantly smaller than a AA battery and holds up to 1,000 songs.
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Export Outlook contact list to Gmail

2009-03-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

Export Outlook Contacts

In Outlook, on the File menu, click Import and Export.
Click Export to a file, and then click Next.
Click Comma Separated Values (Windows), and then click Next.
In the folder list, click the Contacts folder, and then click Next.
Browse to the folder where you want to save the contacts as a .csv file.
Type a name for the exported file, and then click OK.
Click Next.
Click Finish.

Import Contacts into Google Gmail

Log on to Gmail, and then click Contacts at the top of the page.
The Contacts list opens in a new window.
Click Import Contacts.
Click Browse, and then navigate to the .csv file that you created in the "Export Outlook Contacts" section of this article.
Select the file, and then click Import Contacts.

After your contacts are imported, a dialog box appears and displays the total number of contacts imported.

Notes

Outlook Contacts without an e-mail address are not imported.
Outlook distribution lists are not imported. Gmail does not support distribution lists.
If an Outlook Contact that matches an existing Gmail contact is imported, your Outlook Contact information replaces the Gmail contact.

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OpenOffice.org: 7 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do

2009-03-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

OpenOffice.org 3.0 costs absolutely nothing but comes closer than anything else to letting you delete your copy of Microsoft Office. Here are a few that may not be obvious, as well as a few ways to make OpenOffice.org less annoying out of the box.

1. Edit two or more parts of a document at the same time. Microsoft Word has a nifty split-window feature that lets you divide the current window into two panes, so you can edit page 5 of your document in the top pane and page 505 in the bottom. To switch from one pane to the other, you don't have to waste time scrolling back and forth—you simply click in the other pane. OpenOffice.org doesn't let you split a window into two panes, but it offers an even better feature. Click the Window menu, then New Window, to open a new window that displays the same document you're working on. You can open as many windows as you want, each at a different place in your document; any change you make in one window immediately appears in all others. You can reduce screen clutter by turning off toolbars in one or more windows (use View | Toolbars), and you can tile or cascade the windows by right-clicking on the OpenOffice.org button on the Windows taskbar.

2. Use OpenOffice.org to open legacy documents. Years ago, older versions of Microsoft Office could open documents created by almost any of the myriad word processors and spreadsheet programs that were widely used before Microsoft monopolized the market. Recent versions of Office can't open many of those older formats—including old Microsoft Word versions such as Word 6.0. By contrast, OpenOffice.org continues to open Word documents dating back to Version 6.0. OpenOffice.org also opens WordPerfect documents, including files created in WordPerfect for the Macintosh 3.5 Enhanced, which not even WordPerfect for Windows tries to open.

10 Tips for Better LCD Image Quality

2009-03-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

When I first started using LCDs, the technology had obvious limitations. As with most new technologies, part of the issue was the newness of the technology, and part of it was the lack of infrastructure. For example, back then few video cards had DVI output ports and most LCDs were VGA only. This created the potential for image quality problems, as the video card would convert from digital to analog, feed the analog VGA signal to the LCD, which would then reconvert back to digital.

Today, of course, almost all new LCDs ship with DVI inputs; some now come with HDMI inputs, while a few are showing up with the new DisplayPort connector. Graphics cards, and even some motherboards with integrated graphics, have DVI and, sometimes, HDMI outputs. Still, I see people use LCD displays as if they were CRTs: pull them out of the box, connect them to the PC (usually via VGA), and run them at some non-native resolution. On top of that, the LCD makers exacerbate the situation. I recently unpacked an LCD display with DVI and HDMI inputs. But a VGA cable was pre-connected, implying that it was the cable that should be used. With that annoying thought in mind, let's dive into our LCD image quality tips.
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Testers get near-final Vista SP2

2009-02-19T16:51:00.000-08:00

Although most of the attention these days is focused on where things are with Windows 7, Microsoft is getting closer to releasing the next update for Windows Vista. On Wednesday, Microsoft offered some technical testers a near-final "release candidate" version of the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2. The company did not say when that version might be made publicly available. "We will have more to share on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 soon and are targeting final delivery in (the second quarter of) 2009."
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Google Earth takes a deep dive into the world's oceans

2009-02-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

Google finally put the world's oceans on the map. During a splashy presentation at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco today, the Internet giant unveiled new water features for Google Earth, the online replica of the planet that anyone can search. Three years ago, renowned marine scientist Sylvia Earle told John Hanke, who helped create Google Earth, that she loved the way the program helped people get to know the planet. But, she pointed out, Google had overlooked two-thirds of it.

"She turned to me with an evil grin and said: 'Why don't you rename it Google Dirt?' That kind of got under my skin," Hanke recalled. "She was right. We had been blind to the ocean." It reminded him of a Marshall McLuhan quotation: "We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us." The oceans shaped Hanke's priorities. Earle and others joined Google in a partnership to move beyond mountains and valleys to simulate the ocean so anyone can explore its vast surface and depths online.

Anyone can download the latest ocean-enabled version at the Google Earth home page. Earle said the program brings the ocean to life: Users can swim like a dolphin along the Monterey Canyon (deep in the Monterey Bay), discover critically endangered prehistoric fish called coelacanth and descend seven miles into the abyss known as the Mariana Trench.
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Choosing a Computer

2009-01-29T11:48:00.000-08:00

There are so many choices that it is really difficult especially if this is the first computer. So the question is, "What should I do to begin?" The usual answer is to first decide what you want to do with the computer. But, this becomes more difficult because what you need now may change when you use it for a while. So I have included articles that hopefully will help you learn what you need to make a more informed choice. Tech support can be really helpful in a pinch.

Do you want to run "point and shoot" games? They are very demanding and need a high end processor, fast video and plenty of memory (RAM). Less demanding is listening to TV and video on the internet or playing DVDs. The least demanding is checking email.

Then there is a choice between Apple and Microsoft. Apple can be a little easier, but Microsoft's Vista provides more software alternatives. Most programs will work with Vista these days, but there is often a problem running old programs with new operating systems so check compatibility first.

The monitor is also important. Today there are reasonably priced large monitors. I have a 22 inch Samsung, but now I prefer a 24 inch. They present a really beautiful sharp image that is really pleasant to watch and the price is not that much more than smaller less capable monitors.

Enjoy the search--learning can be fun. And if you live in our community join the computer club--we will be glad to help. There are also lots of books and internet sites that will help. If you belong to Costco, you might want to take a look at their offerings which include two year phone support. -- Bill

Choosing the Right Computer or Mobile Device for You
You can choose from a host of computers and devices, but finding the one that is right for you can be tricky. Your choice will depend on your workstyle and your needs.
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How to Pick Features on a Desktop Computer
When purchasing a new desktop there are many features to get through, in order to get the best value for the price. Here are the steps to save you time and money on your large purchase.
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How to Pick the Right Items for Your New Computer
Many people have trouble choosing the right type of computer for them. If you are one of those people you have come to the right place! Read on and find out how to customize your computer to fit your personal needs!
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How to Pick a Notebook Computer
The popularity of notebook computers has increased rapidly over recent years. The good news is that there are more choice than ever. The bad news is that with the wide range it is often difficult to decide what to get. What do you intend to use the notebook computer for?
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Take Time to Pick a Computer for College
Buying the best computer for college rarely translates to buying the most expensive model on the market. Instead, buying the right computer for college requires taking time to consider what you really need and what you can afford. A surprising array of options is available for making--or even delaying--your college computer purchase.
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Choosing a PC or Mac
PC or Mac? For years that question has plagued computer buyers. As I write this, Apple has less than 3% of the computer market, so it is obvious that most purchasers are opting to buy PCs. There are, however, still reasons to buy a Mac.
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Is Your ISP Throttling Bandwidth? Google Will Know

2009-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

Is your ISP throttling your Internet connection or is it just time to get a new computer? How much bandwidth are you actually using? Are you getting the Internet speeds promised by your provider? These may seem like basic questions, but they are not easily answered. At the root of last year's Comcast network management debacle was whether or not the cable provider was blocking access to file-sharing Web sites. Comcast said no, the Federal Communications Commission said yes, but we never got a clear answer.

Measurement Lab (M-Lab), a new open platform announced Wednesday, is looking to clear up that confusion. M-Lab is the brainchild of Google, the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute (OTI), and the PlanetLab consortium. It will allow a platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools in order to share data about their accuracy and reliability.
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Google gets competitive, taking Gmail users offline

2009-01-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

Google Inc. late yesterday launched an updated version of Gmail that lets users access their accounts without an Internet connection. The updated Gmail hosted e-mail service is designed to load in a browser even when the user doesn't have an Internet connection, according to Joyce Sohn, a Google spokewoman, in a company blog. The updated service, which the company said was developed in its Gmail Labs, will give flight to users who have been wanting to get some work done while on a plane, for instance. Now, even without an Internet connection, users can read e-mail, write new ones and archive others -- all while 30,000 feet in the air.

"This is an important development in the evolution of Gmail," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc. "With offline capabilities, Gmail now has at least arguable parity with Outlook, which opens up an entirely new market to [Google]. The addition of offline calendar functionality will move them into an even better competitive position."
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How to Find the Perfect Netbook for You

2009-01-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

This is the year of the netbook, a new class of portable computer that found a hot niche between hand-helds and notebooks. These PCs are light in the hand, light on the wallet, and for light computing only. Their processors are too weak and storage often too limited for serious video editing or number crunching. But most are mobile delights designed for bursts of Web and E-mail access. Their cheap prices put less at risk amid the tumult of travel. They can also handle word processing and simple spreadsheets with a bit of fumbling on their small keyboards and screens. Just about every PC maker except Apple has jumped into the game. We slogged through the many models now available to help narrow your choices, depending on who you are...
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Dial-up internet provider: Toast.net

2009-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

Less expensive 56K Dialup Internet Service Provider recommended by CNET - I have no other info. Dialup is OK to check your email, but is too slow for video. - Bill

Toll Free Phone Support, Fast 56K (V.90/V.92) Connections, Over 9,000 Access Numbers, Email accounts with AntiVirus & AntiSpam, Web Email, Personal Web Page with Photo Sharing, News Server, Excellent Tech Support, AOL Instant Messenger, Start Page with News, Weather, Stocks, and more. Static IPs available.
CNET review
Toast.net

Is 240Hz worth waiting for?

2009-01-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

Two of the most confusing letters thrown around in reference to LCD and TVs these days are "H" and "z." The confusion will just continue to mount this year, as numerous manufacturersannounced 240Hz displays at CES, doubling the 120Hz specin an attempt to lure buyers. But is it twice as nice?

Until proven otherwise, I'm saying no, 240Hz is not worth waiting for.

Before I get into why, it's probably worth writing a few sentences to sketch out what all these numbers mean. Standard LCD and plasma TVs refresh the screen 60 times per second, or 60Hz, which is plenty fast enough to eliminate flicker and create the illusion of motion from a series of still images. In fact, most sources sent to your display arrive at the nominal rate of 30 frames per second, and each frame is repeated once by the television to achieve 60 total fps.

The problem is that with LCD, some viewers can perceive motion blur in fast-moving objects on standard 60Hz models (motion blur like this isn't an issue with plasma or other display types, whether 60Hz or otherwise, because they use different methods to create the illusion of motion). To reduce blurring, most 120Hz LCD displays use interpolation--called MEMC for "motion estimation-motion compensation"--to create a new frame between each of the original frames, so there's one interpolated frame for every true frame. An interpolated frame is composed of the processor's best guess as to what should be there, based on the contents of each of the true frames.

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35 Basic Tutorials to Get You Started with Photoshop

2009-01-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful and versatile image editing/graphics creation application that is the industry standard in its category. Though Photoshop’s interface is intuitive enough for an absolute beginner to learn basic image editing tasks such as cropping and resizing, to be able to fully master and utilize all of its tools takes a considerable amount of time.

If you’re interested in honing your Photoshop skills to create spectacular compositions, this is for you. In this article, you’ll find 35 basic Photoshop tutorials for getting started with Photoshop.
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Google's Microsoft-esque landgrab for IE's market share

2009-01-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

The browser wars are heating up in earnest, with Google urging its customers to dump Internet Explorer 6 for the Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers. Internet Explorer commands a 68 percent global market share, according to Net Applications, but a full 20 percent of that share is for IE6.

With Firefox apparently picking up 66 percent of all IE6 defectors, according to TG Daily, Google is effectively subsidizing the open-source Firefox at the expense of Microsoft. In sum, Microsoft is getting a taste of its own medicine from the company that increasingly looks and acts like Microsoft. Google, of course, has good reasons for pushing upgrades, just as Microsoft has had its own good reasons for forced upgrades. Better security, lowered support burdens, etc. Just because a vendor wants its customer base to upgrade to a newer version doesn't suggest nefarious design. In fact, it often implies the opposite.
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Quad-core MacBook Pro on the way?

2008-12-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

Intel sneaked out a new low-cost quad-core mobile processor on Monday, prompting some observers to wonder if Apple will finally release a quad-core laptop. The lack of fanfare surrounding the 2.53GHz Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9000's introduction--it was merely added to Intel's CPU price list--is certainly interesting. It's a slow news week between Christmas and New Year's, so why not play it up, is how the logic goes.

APCMag.com says it's possible Apple's been waiting for the processor to arrive from Intel, and it just happens to coincide with Macworld next week. That could also explain why Apple redesigned and upgraded its 13.3-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro, but said little about the 17-inch MacBook Pro's eventual makeover.So far Acer, which immediately announced a new laptop using Intel's newest processor, is the only PC maker that has confirmed it is using it.
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Five Reasons Microsoft Wants A Pay As You Go Model

2008-12-29T17:39:00.000-08:00

With its traditional packaged software licensing model under pressure, Microsoft is eyeing a "Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience." The software giant last week received approval for a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office detailing technology to meter software use and access to specific computer hardware. According to the patent, fees would be charged against a prepaid or billed account for software and services that may include word processing, email, browsing and database access. Here are five reasons Microsoft is eyeing the pay as you go model.
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GeForce GTX 295 Performance: Previewed : Introduction

2008-12-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

Nobody likes being second place, especially Nvidia. Back when the company launched its GeForce GTX 260 and 280 boards, AMD was huffing fumes with its Radeon HD 3870. Not surprisingly, the GT200-based gamer cards extended Nvidia’s lead.

Having already professed its preference for smaller, more scalable graphics processors, AMD didn’t take long to unveil its Radeon HD 4870 X2, a single board boasting two RV770 chips, 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, and a PCI Express (PCIe) bridge over which to communicate. Suddenly, the tables had turned and AMD was the one with the fastest individual card on the market. Not only that, but it's been a full six months and a full lineup of RV770 derivatives have taken the battle to Nvidia’s once-untouchable mainstream armada, headlined by the G92.
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Liquid Crystal Displays

2008-12-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

TV manufacturers have just started turning to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a way to further enhance colors and picture quality on LCD HDTVs, which have previously been limited by the color gamut of traditional fluorescent backlighting. The Samsung LN55A950 LCD TV ($4,999.99 list), for one, is the company's second-generation LED-backlit LCD. Its 55-inch screen delivers impressive picture detail, color accuracy, and energy efficiency. Using an LED backlight scores big in terms of energy efficiency, but you'll pay a price premium over traditional LCD TVs, at least for now. Unfortunately, too, even LED-backlit LCDs are still plagued by the most common LCD complaint: a very limited viewing sweet spot.
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Mobile CPU buyer's guide

2008-12-15T23:47:00.000-08:00

These days, even average mobile CPUs are powerful enough to rival their desktop cousins in every application other than gaming (and they're catching up on that front, too). That helps explain why sales of notebook computers are beginning to overtake those of desktop machines. If you use a PC for business or personal productivity, it's vastly more convenient to buy a computer you can take with you.

But shopping for a notebook can be a harrowing experience simply because they come in so many shapes and sizes. Manufacturers selling their wares online offer a handful of prebuilt rigs, but they also offer build-to-order machines where you get to decide which components you want. That's a great option, but it can also make the shopping experience even more intimidating because there are so many permutations to choose from.

It's easy enough to pick something like a Wi-Fi adapter: 802.11g is standard fare in many configurations (especially at the low end), with 802.11n offered as an extra-cost option. The same goes for the hard disk (bigger is better) and optical drive (faster is better). The real challenge lies in choosing the right CPU for your needs.
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Google Chrome: Review

2008-12-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

Chrome has two major things going for it: It's lightning fast, and it's from the biggest Web brand around. Now it adds a third draw: It's released software rather than a beta test program. Google's famous for leaving on the beta tag indefinitely, but the company needed to take off the beta tag in order to bundle the software with PC makers. Though the software is now officially "done," it's still lacking a lot of the richness available in other browsers, especially in the area of customizability. Nor, with the release of Firefox 3.1 beta is it any longer the fastest browser around, trailing the new Firefox by a small margin. I've taken a look at Chrome 1.0 to see what's changed since the beta, but few of my conclusions change.

With Chrome, Google set out to build a browser not merely as a viewer for Web sites and pages, but a platform for running Web applications. This is hardly a new concept—Firefox's developers have touted their browser as a "platform" for a few years. But Chrome has a couple of new tricks under the hood that suit it well for use with Web applications. And its spare, "get-the-browser-out-of-the-way" aesthetic complements this goal, too. In developer-speak, the term chrome refers to the window borders, controls, and general eye candy.
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Google Mail checks for virus

2008-12-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

Google Mail automatically scans every attachment delivered to your account and also performs another scan each time that you open a message. Attachments you send are also scanned. Checking attachments for viruses protects our users as well as their information and prevents the spread of viruses.
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What we have been working on

PlayStation users can enter virtual world

2008-12-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

Sony launched its PlayStation Home Beta service Thursday for the PlayStation 3 in the United States. The service allows PlayStation users to create avatars and interact with others in a virtual world. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Paramount Pictures are providing exclusive content for the service, including interviews and video spinoffs of films. PlayStation 3 users can get the Home service as a free download. However, those wanting to start a "club" or online community will have to pay an additional fee and some content will also require payment.
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Chrome: out of beta; is Google out of its mind?

2008-12-12T04:57:00.000-08:00

With improved speed and stability over the beta released in September, Chrome is hoping to grab a larger chunk of the browser market from Internet Explorer and Firefox. The company released Chrome 1.0 on Thursday, a mere 3-1/2 months after its initial release. And the speed at which Google is moving underscores Chrome's strategic value to the company.

Google describes its business as search, ads, and apps. Search and ads, it dominates. The online applications market remains contested, not to mention the mobile applications market. Google needs a browser of its own, so it isn't dependent on the goodwill of Apple, Microsoft, or Mozilla for access to its users. "The engineering team has been fixing a lot of bugs and working on stability, working on making the product really rock solid. We're pretty excited about that."
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Chrome: out of beta; is Google out of its mind?

CIO's Quick Introductions to Technology Topics

2008-12-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we all can use a refresher course—or we need to make sure our team and our colleagues are all on the same page. The following stories will give you and your counterparts a jumpstart on the fundamentals behind a variety of hot IT topics.

The ABCs of...

IBM Launches Microsoft-Free Linux PCs

2008-12-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

IBM has introduced a line of business computers that eschew Microsoft's ubiquitous desktop environment in favor of an amalgam of open source software. The system, which IBM calls the Open Collaboration Client, combines the Linux operating system with IBM's open source Lotus Symphony desktop package. Symphony includes word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet applications based on the Open Document Format.

IBM claims the system can save businesses $500 to $800 per user on Microsoft software licenses and an additional $258 per user "since there is no need to upgrade hardware to support Windows Vista and Office." Big Blue also claims the system's virtual setup affords savings of $60 to $118 per user on power and air conditioning costs, and that it will also help companies reduce IT support expenses.

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Anti-Virus on my Macs? Say it ain’t so!

2008-12-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

As fellow ZDNet blogger, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, notes, Apple now recommends the use of antivirus software on your Mac. UGH. Really? The relative immunity of Macs to the plethora of malware floating about the Net has always been a selling point for the machines, especially in schools. It’s one less bit of software to buy, one less thing to manage, one less worry. Will Snow Leopard be the end of malware on Macs? Probably not, but it certainly looks to have some features that will return OS X to the sort of viral safe haven that makes Macs so attractive in schools, despite a higher acquisition cost.
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Windows 7 beta in January?

2008-12-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

Windows enthusiasts were buzzing on Tuesday over a Microsoft blog posting that makes it seem as if a beta version of Windows 7 should be ready by next month. In a statement late Tuesday, Microsoft said only that it is still targeting early 2009 for the broader beta. "As we said at the PDC, we expect to deliver beta 1 in early 2009 and we continue to be on track to deliver against that development milestone," Microsoft said.
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Google Chrome and the extension conundrum

2008-12-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

Google appears to be on the extension bandwagon for its Chrome browser, but that also opens a Pandora’s box. In an extensions document (via Stephen Shankland and Aaron Boodman) Google outlines its plan to build extensions for Chrome. Extensions are the most requested feature for Chrome.

Enter the conundrum. Extensions are nice, but they often bog down the browser. Try Firefox with and without add-ins and extensions and you’ll often see the difference. As a general rule, I want as few extensions as possible. It’s just cleaner. Will Google’s Chrome browser (all resources, special report)–part of an open source project dubbed Chromium–be as fast with a bunch of extensions riding shotgun?

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Connect your computer to the TV

2008-11-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

I bought two cables to connect the TV to the laptop so we could watch video on the TV. It was an excellent move and now my wife is watching videos on the Vacation Ideas page with the TV. As you all know, it is very easy to use SoleraU and since most of us have a large screen TV, why not use it with the computer. Just make sure it has a VGA and audio input and that your computer has connections for an external VGA monitor.

Fortunately, I also got the short audio cable, just in case, which was fortunate as the audio connection was a bit close to the VGA input on my Visio TV and the diameter of the plug on the short cable was a bit smaller--and it just fit. Here are the cables I bought from Amazon... (the link)

Cables To Go - 43098 - 25ft HD15 M/M UXGA Monitor Cable with 3.5mm Audio (Black)

Cables To Go - 13787 - 6ft 3.5mm Stereo Audio Extension Cable M/F (Black)

Microsoft's 'Vista Capable' changes outraged HP, insider e-mails show

2008-11-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

A Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) executive was furious at Microsoft Corp. over the company's decision to loosen the requirements for its "Vista Capable" marketing campaign, internal e-mails unsealed by a federal judge on Friday show.

In early 2006, Microsoft relaxed the Vista Capable rules by allowing computers equipped with Intel's older 915 graphics chipset to qualify for the program. The decision pleased Intel, which had complained that it didn't have a sufficient supply of the more advanced graphics chipsets that would have met the original requirements. In fact, Intel's CEO Paul Otellini sent a note to Microsoft's Ballmer thanking him for the change.
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Google's voice search

2008-11-16T06:18:00.000-08:00

Google plans to release a groundbreaking mobile application that allows users to say a search query into their phone and have it transcribed and returned as a Web search. Surprisingly, the technology won't be exclusive to T-Mobile's G1 phone, the first commercial device to run Google's Android operating system. It's only going to be available on Apple's iPhone at first.
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The Best Graphics Cards for the Money: October 2008

2008-10-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget.

So if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to make the right decision, fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for the money.

September Review and August Updates:

As soon as we released last month’s “Best Cards for the Money” article, the mid-range Radeon4600 series was released and turned the sub-$100 video card market on its ear.

ATI pulled a real coup with the 4600 series by releasing a GPU essentially as powerful as its previous high-end champion, the Radeon 3800 series—the 4600 series has the same number of stream processors (320!) as the 3800 series and has twice the number of texture units (32 vs. 16). To save costs and to keep the 4600 from embarrassing the 3800 series, it was neutered with half of the ROPs and memory interface: 8 ROPs and a 128-bit memory interface. Despite these trade offs, the Radeon HD 4670 series is one hell of a powerful graphics card for $80 and trades blows with the 3800 series cards. The 4670 generally performs between the 3850 and 3870, showing especially well when anti-aliasing is applied. Add to this support for eight-channel LCPM over HDMI audio just like the 4800 series and the 4670 looks like a real people’s champion.

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Remove Unwanted Dual Boot in Vista

2008-10-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

Q: I purchased two copies of Vista, Home Premium 32 bit and Ultimate 64 bit. I was not sure which one I wanted, so I took two 500GB hard drives and put one OS on each. After a few days of switching back and forth from one boot drive to the other in the BIOS, I decided which one I wanted. But now the system comes up with a dual-boot message at start-up. I've removed the other drive, but I'm still getting the dual-boot screen. How can I remove this without starting from scratch and losing everything? Can I do this without a large headache?—William Watson

A: Cleaning up an unwanted dual boot is a lot easier in Windows XP than in Vista. XP's System Configuration Utility (Start | Run | msconfig) has the ability to delete dual-boot information for any operating systems that are no longer present automatically. See "Remove Windows 98 from Dual-Boot" for the skinny on this technique. In Vista it's rather more of an effort, but you can still do it.

Click Start and type cmd, but don't press Enter. You'll see cmd.exe up above; right-click it and choose Run as Administrator. When the Command Prompt opens enter the command BCDEDIT /enum. You should see several entries, including one labeled Windows Boot Manager and two labeled Windows Boot Loader. The latter two represent the two operating systems. There may be other items listed.

Each item will have a number of lines under it including an identifier line, like identifier {current}. Probably the identifier for the Dear Departed OS will take the form of a GUID (globally unique identifier) like cbd971bf-b7b8-4885-951a-fa03044f5d71. The command BCDEDIT /delete {identifier} /cleanup should do the job—here you will replace{identifier} with the actual identifier of the unwanted OS.

This is not something I have done myself; I've just read the instructions you get when you enter BCDEDIT /? and perused Microsoft's documentation on the Web. BCDEDIT will not remove the active operating system, so you should be safe from mistakes. But I'd be remiss if I said there was no chance of screwing up. Why couldn't it be simple, the way it is in XP?

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Eliminate Unwanted Window Animations

2008-10-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

Q: Something's been bugging me about Windows XP for quite some time, and only recently have I realized how annoying it is. I just got a new monitor and bought a utility that placed a taskbar on the secondary monitor. When I minimize and restore windows using that taskbar, the action happens instantly. I can click the button in the taskbar and the window disappears. Contrast this with clicking the regular Windows taskbar, which minimizes and restores the window, but with a little bit of animation, showing the window shrinking and then disappearing into a taskbar button. Try minimizing and restoring a window very quickly by repeatedly clicking on its button in the taskbar and you'll know what I'm talking about. I want windows to minimize instantly with no animation delay—Matthew Harrigan

A: Whether you're using XP or Vista, it's completely possible to control this and other user-interface animations. For your particular case:

Right-click My Computer (just Computer in Vista) and chooseProperties.

Click the Advanced tab in XP, the Advanced system settings link in Vista.

Click the Settings button in the Performance pane.

Click the Visual Effects tab.

Uncheck the box Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing.

Click OK, OK.

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OpenOffice: compatable with Microsoft Office - FREE

2008-10-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

Compatible with other major office suites, OpenOffice.org is free to download, use, and distribute. Download it now, and get:
Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

learn more and download

Quickly Change Desktop Icon Size in Windows Vista [How To]

2008-09-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

The icon size in Windows Vista is quite large by default and it is quite a pain to go to personalize and then change the icon size. Here is a quick tip for those you use Windows Vista and have a mouse with a scrolling wheel. To change the icon size of the desktop icons, click the Ctrl key while you are viewing the desktop and scroll your wheel upwards or downwards to change the icon size to your satisfaction. That’s it, its as easy as a click and a scroll. Watch a Techie Buzz production to see how you can easily change desktop icon size in Windows Vista.

How to change the font on Windows desktop in Vista

Gmail Blog

2008-09-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

Personally, I prefer Gmail and I like the way it allows me to organize and track messages. Now I don't need to guess which folder I used. There are some differences because of this and other features it provides. For years I haven't used the email service provided by my Internet service provider. Now I can keep my email address and address book when I move or change the ISP. gmail has lots of help on-line so here are some links. - Bill

gmail.com

gmail help center

gmail blog

Amazon: Digital Photo Frames Buying Guide

2008-09-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Over the next few years, digital photo frames will become a universal adornment in most houses and offices. Recently we have seen vast improvement in the picture quality, design, and feature-set of digital frames. And just as significantly, digital frames are becoming increasingly more affordable. Now when you shop for a digital frame, there are more options than ever. Size, design, functions, picture quality--these are all important features that should be considered before buying a digital photo frame. So, with that in mind, we have put together a simple set of guidelines to help you choose.
Image Transfer and Storage
Power Source
Screen Resolution
Screen Size and Type
User Interface

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More than 20 million homes have cut the cord on landline phones

2008-09-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

People of a certain generation remember when a wire connected the headset to your phone, your phone to the wall and your wall to the world. The big advance in the 1990s was -- amazingly -- freeing the handset from the wire, allowing you to roam more than a few feet while talking.

Now, according to new data released this morning by Nielsen, more people are taking the wire completely out of the equation. And the whole concept of a landline appears to be going the way of the bulky rotary phone (pictured at right).

More than 20 million U.S. households -- 17% of all homes with phones -- use only a cellphone, according to Nielsen. That figure has quadrupled since late 2003, when only 4.2% of households were wireless only.

"As wireless network quality improves and unlimited calling becomes increasingly pervasive, we expect the trend toward wireless substitution to continue," Alison LeBreton, vice president of client services for Nielsen Mobile, said in a news release. "In a tightening economy every dollar counts, and consumers are more and more comfortable with the idea of ditching their landline connection."

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Intel launches six-core Xeon monster chip

2008-09-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

At an event today in San Francisco, Intel formally launched its new six-core Xeon 7400 processor, codenamed "Dunnington." The new chip is basically three dual-core Penryn processors packed onto a single processor die, along with a large pool of shared L3 cache and interconnect logic. With six cores and three levels of cache on one die, Dunnington is a 1.9-billion-transistor monster.

This is almost as big as the company's latest 2-billion-transistor Itanium chip (launched in February), and it's quite a milestone for the x86 instruction set. In four- and eight-socket configurations, a supercomputer based on the new Xeon can now execute 48 or 96 simultaneous threads per node, a reality that's bound to help the architecture advance further in the high performance computing space. And at the very top end, there's also a 16-socket configuration on offer.

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Update: Google's Chrome: More Than A Browser?

2008-09-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

The question: Are the current browsers good enough to keep up with the user’s online needs? Apparently, Google thinks that the answer is no. And Google believes that while the Web evolved, our tools to search, discover and display information, the browsers, haven’t evolved that much. "For how much the Web has evolved, browsers haven't evolved that much," says Sundar Pichai, Google's vice-president of product management. "What we're trying to do with Chrome is make sure the browsers are really evolving with the Web," he adds.

Indeed, Google might have a point. For the past years, Internet Explorer has remained the major browser of choice and its competitors, like Firefox, Safari or Opera are still lagging behind in terms of market share. Therefore, what we need now is not only a new contender in the browser war, but a whole new approach. Systematically, with Google Mail, Google Docs and other various services, Google is building a new online ecosystem, in which Google Chrome fits perfectly. And more important, Google applications are OS agnostic. All you need to use them is...a browser.

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Sony Introduces Alpha A900 the World's First Full-Frame 24.6 Megapixel DSLR

2008-09-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

The A900 digital SLR from Sony sets a new benchmark for serious photo enthusiasts who demand the unrivalled quality and creative possibilities of full-frame imaging. The flagship of the Alpha digital SLR camera range features the industry's first ever 24.6 effective megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor. Developed by Sony, this groundbreaking sensor's ultra-high pixel count and large size -- equivalent to a 35mm film frame -- deliver extraordinary image detail and wide dynamic range.

The new-generation sensor captures flawless images with unprecedented fidelity, characterized by vibrant colors, ultra-real textures and subtle tonal gradations. Complementing the extremely high native resolution of the sensor, Exmor(TM) performs on-chip analogue/digital (A/D) signal conversion and two-stage noise reduction. This guarantees ultra-low noise image files that take advantage of the superb resolving power of high-precision Alpha lenses.

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Analysis: How Google Has Changed Our Lives

2008-09-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

Google wasn't one of those revolutionary technologies because it provided a search engine. Google changed the game because it did search so well. At the time, Yahoo! was doing just fine as the hub of the Internet. But if the Internet was a galaxy, Google became the black hole at its center: all of its information was inevitably sucked in, and the traffic and attention generated a technical sort of gravity, forcing its rivals to react, and, over time, orbit it. As it turned out, AOL's and Yahoo!'s business models were partially wrong: paying for and owning content doesn't generate as much revenue as simply owning the first step of accessing it, and selling ads on it. And today, what's easier: to scroll down a list of bookmarks, or just type the site's name into a Google search box?
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Intel Ships Mean, Green Xeon Machines

2008-09-09T06:52:00.001-07:00

Intel on Monday began shipping three new Xeon chips, including one 5400 series quad-core that tops out at 3.4GHz and another that reduces the power draw to just 50 watts, or 12.5 watts per core. The three available 5400 series quad-core processors and one 5200 series processor that Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel will begin shipping later are the first in the Xeon line to debut as entirely halogen-free, according to Intel. The giant further announced that previously launched Xeon 5400 and 5200 series devices will now be made halogen-free as well.
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HP extends laptop battery life to 24 hours

2008-09-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

HP will release a laptop next month that can run for to 24 hours using a high-capacity battery - but only if it's running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. The long-lasting notebook will be a special configuration of the part of HP's EliteBook line that the company targets at businesses. To get the best battery performance, the 6930p will have to run Windows XP rather than Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest operating system. Vista has been criticized as being a power hog, although some of its flashy, power-draining features such as the translucent Aero windows can be turned off.
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RealNetworks to Introduce a DVD Copier

2008-09-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

People have been avidly feeding music CDs into their computers for years, ripping digital copies of albums and transferring the files to their other computers and mobile devices. This has not happened nearly as much with DVDs, for both practical and legal reasons. But that may soon change. On Monday, the digital media company in Seattle, will introduce RealDVD, a $30 software program for Windows computers that allows users to easily make a digital copy of an entire DVD — down to the extras and artwork from the box. But RealDVD is also sure to be a controversial product — one that will easily earn its maker the ire of Hollywood’s powerful and litigious movie studios.
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Sony recalls 438,000 Vaio TZ laptops

2008-09-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Japan's Sony Corp has announced that it will recall around 438,000 Vaio portable computers affected by a potential hazard that is likely to cause them to overheat or even burn the user. This is one of the biggest computer recall since 2006, the earlier one being by Dell Inc, when it recalled 4.1 million notebook computer batteries, which incidentally also overheated and caused fires.

According to a Sony spokesman, there are currently around 72,800 computers in the United States alone awaiting recall. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission said that Sony has received 15 reports of overheating and one of a consumer suffering minor burns. The laptops in question are the Sony VGN-TZ100, VGN-TZ200, VGN-TZ300 and VGN-TZ2000 series...

If you have been following the news, you may recall that in recent years, Sony has had to recall of laptop computer batteries due to overheating and catching fire. The year 2006 saw Dell, Apple Inc, Lenovo Group Ltd, Toshiba Corp and some other PC makers recall more than 8 million Sony batteries. Sony has declined to comment on the potential cost that it will incur due to the recall.

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Google's Chrome: 7 reasons for and 7 reasons against

2008-09-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

The first beta of Chrome, Google's long-in-development Internet browser, became available Tuesday afternoon for Windows Vista and XP users, with Mac and Linux editions soon to follow. There's ample reason to be excited about the release, and just as much reason to be wary. Check out these screen shots, weigh the pros and cons, and then decide for yourself.

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With any new software I prefer to wait--I am sure there is more to come. - Bill

Text Messaging Abbreviations

2008-09-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

With the popularity and rise in usage of real time text-based communications, such as instant messaging, e-mail, Internet and online gaming chat rooms, discussion boards and cell phone text messaging (SMS), came the emergence of a new language tailored to the immediacy and compactness of these new communication media. If you have ever been in a chat room or received an instant message or text message from someone that seemed to be in its own foreign language, this Webopedia Quick Reference will help you decipher the text chat lingo by providing the definitions to over 900 chat, SMS, and IM abbreviations.

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View from the Top: Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google

2008-09-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

In 2001, as it started to be apparent that the search engine they had invented as graduate students was becoming a powerful, global company, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided they needed to recruit a more seasoned pro to be CEO. Their choice was Eric Schmidt, a computer scientist and Silicon Valley veteran who was then the chief of Novell.

Since joining Google, Mr Schmidt has been one of the troika guiding the company in its transition from start-up to international behemoth, including its controversial, but ultimately highly successful, IPO in 2004. In a video interview with FT.com at the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota, this week, Mr Schmidt speaks about Chrome, Google's new browser, arch-rival Microsoft, and explains why he thinks it is worth abiding by China's censorship rules. Edited highlights from that interview appear below.

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IE8 Beta 2 Fatter Than Firefox and XP

2008-09-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

"Consuming twice as much RAM as Firefox and saturating the CPU with nearly six times as many execution threads, Microsoft's latest beta release of Internet Explorer 8 is in fact more demanding on your PC than Windows XP itself, research firm Devil Mountain Software found in performance tests. According to the firm, which operates a community-based testing network, IE8 Beta 2 consumed 380MB of RAM and spawned 171 concurrent threads during a multi-tab browsing test of popular Web destinations.

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Google Seeks Route Around Microsoft With Chrome

2008-09-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Google is promising people faster browsing, better security and compatibility across multiple operating systems. Google ultimately sees Chrome as the doorway for broader use of its Web-based applications, which threaten the desktop-based software that has traditionally been Microsoft's domain. Google's announcement of Chrome "reads almost like an operating system release, not a browser release," said David Mitchell, senior vice president for IT research at Ovum.

The company has also taken a new approach to dealing with JavaScript, the coding language used to create more interactive Web pages and Web services. Google has created its own virtual machine for processing JavaScript faster. It means Web services such as Gmail will, in theory, work faster. But JavaScript can also be buggy on some Web pages and cause a browser to crash. Google says Chrome can manage that problem better, too. Tabs -- a common feature in browsers -- allow multiple Web pages to be opened. But if one of those tabs encounters bad JavaScript, the whole browser will crash. Google said that Chrome isolates those tabs so if one crashes, it doesn't crash the whole application.
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Miss a TV show? Catch it online

2008-08-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

A television revolution is underway. The concept of prime time is dying as many networks are putting full-length programs online, allowing you to catch popular shows and old favorites for free over the Internet on your own schedule. Like regular television, online TV generates revenue from ads, but don't expect to fast-forward through commercials on the Web as you would with a digital video recorder.

At least for now, however, there are fewer commercial interruptions online. You see a couple of minutes of advertising for each half-hour show. Some sites also use annoying pop-up ads, though. All you need to watch shows online is an Internet-connected computer. Your computer needn't be terribly powerful to watch regular TV shows streamed over the Web. Your broadband Internet connection speed is more important because video eats up bandwidth.
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Microsoft's 'Porn Mode' Browser

2008-08-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released a new internet browser which allows people to surf the web without leaving a trace of the sites they have visited. The 'InPrivate' feature, which has been nicknamed 'porn mode', hides the browsing history from other people who use the same computer. It is part of the global software giant's second version of Internet Explorer 8, Beta 2, which offers new features to the world's most widely used web browser.

The new feature is thought to be a blow to internet rival Google which relies heavily on users' browsing histories to deliver targeted advertising. Microsoft Corp say the new explorer enables users to browse the web in more secure, easier and faster ways. "With this version of Internet Explorer we are making sure people get to the online places they want to be faster and more easily."
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Cellphones may make wallets obsolete

2008-08-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Eight of the 10 biggest U.S. banks now provide at least basic services on cellphones, allowing account holders to check their balances by tapping away on their tiny keypads. Millions of U.S. consumers have signed up for mobile banking as those services grow increasingly useful. Depending on your bank, your phone and your wireless plan, you might be able to approve bill payments, transfer money and receive alerts when balances get low, all while riding the bus.

In one sign of where things are headed, Visa Inc. launched a pilot program last week with eight major banks to send text alerts to 2,000 consumers within seconds after unusual transactions. The customers could then cancel their cards before anything else happens. All the services are handy, free -- and may be just the beginning. The banks hope that getting you used to making payments with a phone will lead to the day when you'll be happy to buy things with it, as folks already do in Japan and South Korea. Phones there act as a virtual wallet, enabling their owners to ring up purchases with a wave of their handset near a sensor.
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New Microsoft Tech Converts Photo Soup Into 3-D Image

2008-08-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new technology and service Rackspace now offers green hosting solutions at the same cost without sacrificing performance. The system, currently available to users through a Web site, uses multiple snapshots of a scene to create a seemingly 3-D representation.

"Photosynth is is very creative, technically very good. This is a hard problem to do on an ordinary PC in reasonable time. Reconstructing 3-D environments is likely to be important in lots of ways, such as medicine, construction, various sciences as well as the publicized use for travel and scene sharing," Don Retallack, a lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told TechNewsWorld.

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FCC slaps Comcast, but lays foundation for future bandwidth restrictions

2008-08-21T15:00:00.001-07:00

Opinion – Some companies are more equal than others. That is an impression some may take away from an order issued by the FCC against Comcast, requiring the cable Internet service provider to disclose details of its network management practices, submit a plan of compliance with current rules and regulations, stop unreasonable and, perhaps most importantly, disclose future plans of bandwidth restrictions. Comcast lied and deceived. It violated federal policies and ends up with an opportunity to discuss bandwidth restrictions. You may call that unfair. Others may call it business brilliance.

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Micromanagement: Every move you make

2008-08-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Mr Waber and Dr Pentland made this discovery using high-tech identity badges that capture a wearer’s movements and interactions second-by-second. Each badge is fitted with a set of motion-sensors, a microphone, a microprocessor and a radio transceiver that allow it to sense and broadcast back to base a person’s location, the direction he is moving in if walking, the movements of his body if he is stationary, and the timbre and inflection of his voice if he is talking—together, of course, with the length of the conversation and the identity of the other party if he, too, is a badge-wearer. This information, when combined with data on productivity, can illuminate which habits of work are most effective and illustrate which social networks within a company are of value.

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Who Says You Need Four Cores?

2008-08-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. Although I work in a lab filled with the latest hardware, my workstation still consists of a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor. Sure, it features Hyper-Threading, but the chip is six years old. Why am I still using it? Because it runs on a platform that has given me nary a problem. It’s stable, fast enough in Vista to drive four monitors with 15 different windows open at any given time, and remarkably quiet in its little Shuttle box.

Zoom

But everyone has their limits, and after six years, it’s definitely time to move on. As I considered the pieces for my next PC, I first contemplated an affordable quad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUaD -core box based on Intel’s Q9300 or AMD’s Phenom X4 9850 BE. No—I’d rather see how low I could go on the system’s thermal footprint while still achieving reasonable performance.

And then it hit me. Do I really need a quad-core processor? Is the software I run really benefiting from the extra complexity? Could I not get more horsepower from dual-core chip? After all, it’d still be a tremendous upgrade from that 2.8 GHz Pentium 4.

In the interest of full disclosure, my workstation doesn’t touch gaming—nor could it, sporting Nvidia’s Quadro NVS 440. For entertainment I turn to a dual-processor Xeon-based machine that can’t be run after 10:00PM for fear of a noise complaint from the neighbors. Nevertheless, I have to imagine that there are plenty of enthusiasts out there with a solid little desktop sputtering along doing menial productivity-type tasks. So let’s take a look at what it means to upgrade to an affordable configuration with modern components as I build my next six-year system.

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Scam Alert: Block That Pop-Up!

2008-08-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Online pop-up advertisements can trigger more than just waves of annoyance while you’re surfing the Internet. Clicking on these small ads that suddenly open in a separate window with enticing offers can enable others to capture your personal information—or secretly steal your money.

In the past year, the Better Business Bureau has received 1,800 complaints about one company—the Affinion Group, based in Connecticut—that allegedly used pop-up ads to trick online shoppers with money-saving offers, only to sock them with credit card charges ranging from $12 to $60 per month for services and products they never ordered. The BBB charges that Affinion pop-up ads appeared during transactions on legitimate sites selling goods and services. The ads offered rebate cards for products on the website or promoted other incentives, such as “Click here for your 10% savings.”

By clicking on those pop-ups, the BBB says, consumers unknowingly were enrolled in unwanted Affinion services, such as Privacy Guard, Shoppers Advantage, PC Safety Plus and others. Online shoppers didn’t provide their credit card information for the unauthorized charges, says Michael Clayton of the Southeast Texas BBB; the websites where they made their purchases had agreed to automatically transfer that information to Affinion when a pop-up was clicked.

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AMD to Nvidia: Two chips are better than one

2008-08-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

Advanced Micro Devices announced on Monday its most powerful graphics technology to date, going after Nvidia in the rarified--and closely watched--enthusiast game segment. This also marks the current performance pinnacle of AMD's strategy to beat Nvidia at the high end by building comparatively smaller chips and then ganging them together for better performance.

The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics board houses two 4870 graphics processing units (GPUs) and competes with Nvidia's fastest board, based on the GTX 280. In chip-to-chip competition, Nvidia's GTX 280 generally beats a single 4870 in performance because it's bigger and faster: the Nvidia chip packs 1.4 billion transistors onto one chip, while ATI has about 950 million. But because AMD puts two chips on one board and has improved chip-to-chip communication, the 4870 X2 is is expected to equal or exceed the Nvidia chip in many cases.

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Intel Releases USB 3.0 Interface Specifications

2008-08-14T18:19:00.001-07:00

Intel has released a draft specification revision 0.9 for the Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI). The revision, released Wednesday, comes in support of USB 3.0 architecture, also known as SuperSpeed USB. The draft specification provides a standard method for USB 3.0 host controllers to communicate with the USB 3.0 software stack.

One important factor in adopting SuperSpeed USB products is interoperability between multiple devices from different manufacturers. The xHCI draft specification revision 0.9 aims to make interoperability easier to implement, while also making it easier for developers to create software support for the market.

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Open Source Copyrights Legally Enforceable, Appeals Court Rules

2008-08-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ruling on an appeal brought by software developer Robert Jacobsen, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Wednesday that open source users that do not comply with the software's strict licensing terms can, in fact, be sued for copyright infringement -- even if the software is free.

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Intel PCs will take a wake-up call over the Net

2008-08-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Intel is unveiling new technology that will let computers wake up from their power-saving sleep state when they receive a phone call over the Internet. Current computers have to be fully on to receive a call, making them impractical and energy-wasters as replacements for the telephone. The computer can activate its microphone and loudspeaker to alert the user, then connect the call. "This certainly helps the PC become a much better center of communications in the home," said Trevor Healy, chief executive of Jajah, which will be the first Internet telephone company to utilize the feature.

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How to Keep Your Family in High-Tech Touch

2008-08-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

With the softening economy and fuel prices staying high during the peak summer travel months, many families are finding it harder to cross great distances to share time together. Fortunately, technology is allowing some adventurous families to remain close with their progeny, often despite great distances. Now you can keep tabs on your far-flung progeny through video conferencing and instant messaging, photo-sharing websites and, of course, blogs. Sound complicated and expensive? “It’s so easy,” says Jepsen, a 61-year-old high school testing coordinator. “What more can a grandparent ask for, other than to live across the street?”

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Delta to offer Wi-Fi in the sky

2008-08-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

The airline expects to outfit 330 planes by next summer, making it the first major U.S. carrier to offer Wi-Fi on its entire domestic fleet. It will cost $9.95 for flights three hours or shorter and $12.95 for longer flights. Delta will offer it first on its MD-88 and MD-90 planes and expand to its Boeing 737s, 757s and 767s by next summer, the company said.

American Airlines has been testing Gogo and plans to offer Wi-Fi on selected flights, including those from Los Angeles International Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Virgin America also will be offering the service, according to Aircell.

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Why I went Mac but still keep my PC

2008-08-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

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What's Holding You Back?

2008-07-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Does it seem as if something's dragging on your Internet connection? To see what programs are tying it up in Vista without downloading a separate network-monitoring utility, go to Control Panel | Administrative Tools, then click on the Reliability and Performance Monitor (or simply search for the monitor from the Start menu). This shows graphs and percent of capacity being used for CPU, Disk, Network, and Memory. If you click on the Network bar, it will expand to show you the programs using your connection, as well as how many bytes per minute each sends and receives. If something shows up that you don't want communicating, close the process in the Task Manager.

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Public to get look at space mothership

2008-07-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

Aerospace engineers have been holed up in a Mojave Desert hangar for four years, fashioning a commercial spaceship to loft rich tourists some 62 miles above Earth. British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan are due Monday to show off their mothership, which is designed to air launch a passenger-toting spaceship out of the atmosphere. full story

FCC May Prohibit Comcast Traffic Management

2008-07-24T04:36:00.001-07:00

The Associated Press reported Friday that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will recommend that Comcast be reprimanded for slowing P-to-P (peer-to-peer) BitTorrent traffic. Comcast says it throttles the P-to-P traffic only during times of peak congestion, but Martin and a study from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Germany have contended that Comcast blocks BitTorrent traffic during off-peak hours as well.

Martin told The Associated Press that Comcast's actions have violated FCC principles intended to protect Internet users by arbitrarily blocking some traffic and not telling its customers. The so-called net neutrality principles say ISPs (Internet service providers) shouldn't block or impair legal applications unless the blocking is part of "reasonable network management."

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