Monday, August 26, 2013

Computer America Show line up for the week of August 26, 2013

 
Follow on Twitter @computeramerica and on their Facebook page!
 
Lineup for the week:

Monday
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Hour one: Adblock Plus blocks all annoying ads such as mobile ads, video advertising, banners, push notifications, display advertising, HTML5 advertising, in-app ads, and much more. Adblock Plus blocks ads while browsing and while using popular apps like Angry Birds and Facebook!


Monday
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Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Tuesday
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Both Hours:  It's Gamer Tuesday!  Joining us is Computer America's Gamer Correspondent - Grayson Hamilton.  Recently receiving his Masters Degree of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, he is now employed by Nintendo and is actively pursuing a career in video game journalism.  Tonight we talk about computer games and the latest news regarding gaming software and hardware!


Wednesday
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Hour one: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Wednesday
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Hour two: Dick DeBartolo.  Dick joins us every last Wednesday of the month.  Dick is Mad Magazine's maddest writer and one of our favorite correspondents!  Dick is known as "The Giz Wiz" and he certainly lives up to the name's reputation!  Dick finds some of the most unusual items on the Internet and shares the with up!  Click on the Link below to see the items Dick will be talking about!


Thursday
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Hour one: Bitcasa.  How would you like to have INFINITE storage for your computer, phone, and tablet?  Well it's possible with Bitcasa!  This amazing cloud storage service literally gives you as much storage as you want for one reasonable low fixed fee!  It works seamlessly with all your devices - your home computer, your work laptop, your phone, and your tablet - so you can access your stuff everywhere. Sending any file, even HUGE files, to friends and family is instant and simple.  So how is this possible?  Tune in tonight and find out!


Thursday
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Hour two: Craig and Ben do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Friday
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Both hours: Michael Miller.  Mike is one of Computer America's Special Correspondents. Michael Miller is a proven and successful non-fiction writer on a variety of technical, business, and lifestyle-related topics. He has written more than 150 books in the last two decades that have collectively sold more than one million copies. His best-selling books include The Ultimate Web Marketing Guide, YouTube for Business, and Facebook for Grown-Ups for Que Publishing. He has established a reputation for being able to explain difficult concepts to everyday readers in easy-to-understand language.

Tonight's topics include the new short-video sharing services, in particular Vine (6-second videos) and Instagram Video (15-second videos). Also we talk about MixBit (let's users shoot 16-second videos but then offers editing to make videos 1-2 minutes long) - not quite the same as the others, but some are lumping it into the group. We talk about how these services work, why the short-video time limitations, what types of people are using them, how popular they are, what types of videos they're producing, and how to get the most out of each service.


Saturday
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Both hours: On BlogTalkRadio this Saturday, it's the Memorial Day weekend so there is no live show.  Please enjoy one of our many archived shows on BlogTalkRadio and we will see you next week!


Monday, August 19, 2013

Computer America Show line up for the week of August 19, 2013

 
Follow on Twitter @ computeramerica
 
Lineup for the week:

Monday
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Hour one:  Crucial. You can never be too think have too much money or have enough computer memory!  Join us when leading computer memory manufacturer Crucial talks about DDR 4 memory, their Memory Advisor that scans your computer and advises you on what type and how much memory your computer needs, and more,  Don't miss it!


Monday
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Hour two: Craig and David do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Tuesday
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Both Hours:  It's our all Linux Show!  Every third Tuesday of the month, we have an all Linux show!  Joining Craig and Ben once again is Larry Bushey, the Creator and host of the "Going Linux Podcast."  Please join us!


Wednesday
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Hour one: Intel now appears on every third Wednesday of the month in this special Intel Sponsor Hour!  Each month, we will have an Intel representative speaking on new Intel products, services and news stories!  You don't want to miss this show!


Wednesday
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Hour two: Craig and David do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Thursday
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Hour one: Memoto.  The Memoto camera is a tiny camera and GPS that you clip on and wear. It's an entirely new kind of digital camera with no controls. Instead, it automatically takes photos as you go. The Memoto app then seamlessly and effortlessly organizes them for you.


Thursday
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Hour two: Craig and David do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Friday
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Hour one: Scheduled to appear is OverNear. Thanks to OverNear, the summer's newest raved about app, users are now able to see where their Facebook Friends are with corresponding alerts. OverNear ensures that individuals never miss out on social opportunities with those "over near" thanks to its Geo-temporal Remote Presence Technology that identities overlaps in temporal and physical space. Bringing social calendars to life, users' social lives will never have been so active and vibrant.


Saturday
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Both hours: On BlogTalkRadio this Saturday, Sandy Berger.  Sandy is our Consumer Electronics Expert Correspondent on Computer America.  She talks about the latest technology gadgets and trends in the industry with us.  You don't want to miss this show!  Join us!


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Poor Ole' Blue


A young cowboy from Texas goes off to college.
Half way through the semester, having foolishly
squandered all his money .... he calls home.
"Dad," he says, "You won't believe what modern education is developing! They actually have a program here at A&M that will teach our dog, Ole' Blue how to talk!"

"That's amazing," his Dad says. "How do I get Ole' Blue in that program?"

"Just send him down here with $1,000" the young cowboy says "andI'll get him in the course."

So, his father sends the dog and $1,000.

About two-thirds of the way through the semester, the money again runs out. The boy calls home.

"So how's Ole' Blue doing son?" his father asks.

"Awesome, Dad, he's talking up a storm," he says, "but you just won'tbelieve this -- they've had such good results they have started to teach
the animals how to read!"

"Read!?" says his father, "No kidding! How do we get Blue in that program?"

"Just send $2,500, I'll get him in the class."
The money promptly arrives. But our hero has a problem.

At the end of the year, his father will find out the dog can neither talk, nor read.

So he shoots the dog.

When he arrives home at the end of the year, his father is all excited.

"Where's Ole' Blue? I just can't wait to see him read something and talk!"

"Dad," the boy says, "I have some grim news. Yesterday morning, just before we left to drive home, Ole' Blue was in the living room, kicked back in the recliner, reading the Wall Street Journal, like he usually does".

"Then Ole' Blue turned to me and asked, so, is your daddy still messing around with that little redhead who lives down the street?"

The father went white and exclaimed, "I hope you shot that lying dog before he talks to your Mother!"

"I sure did, Dad!"

"That's my boy!"

The kid went on to law school, and now serves in Washington  D.C. as a Congressman
.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Computer America Show line up for the Week of 12 August, 2013

 
Follow Computer America on Twitter, @computeramerica, on Facebook and sign up for teh Buddy List to win prizes!
 
Monday
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Hour one:  IBM.  According to a recent report from the e-tailing group, more than one in three shoppers made at least one purchase with their mobile devices during the past six months.  But do any of us really consider the security implications with that one quick scan of the smartphone? Joining us will be Lynn Price with the IBM Institute for Advanced Security!  Don't miss it!


Monday
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Hour two: Craig and Charles do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Tuesday
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Hour one: EzWebCalendar joins us to talk about their newest features now and upcoming with their cloud-based calendar that lets you organize your tasks with many others. Our guest will be Greg Benson.


Tuesday
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Hour two: Craig and Charles do Computer and Technology News, brought to you by Slimware Utilities, the Official Optimization Software of Computer America, and answer your computer questions!


Wednesday
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Both Hours: Sandy Berger.  Sandy is our Consumer Electronics Expert Correspondent on Computer America.  She talks about the latest technology gadgets and trends in the industry with us.  Tonight we focus in on the newest cell phones available, and reveal why more megapixels in a digital camera doesn't necessarily mean it's a better camera!  You don't want to miss this show!


Thursday
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Both Hours: Charles Tendell.  Charles is a Certified Ethical Hacker and one of our Computer America Correspondents!


Friday
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Hour one: Scheduled to appear is CHAMISA.  Hear about their new PCTechMate that runs deep scans of your system in both normal and safe modes to ensure every potential infection is detected and repaired. With powerful privacy and cleaning functions plus system optimization, it removes unused files from your system freeing up valuable hard disk space and allowing Windows to run faster. It also cleans your registry and traces of your online activities such as Internet forms history.


Saturday
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Both hours: On BlogTalkRadio this Saturday, Michael Miller.  Mike is one of Computer America's Special Correspondents. Michael Miller is a proven and successful non-fiction writer on a variety of technical, business, and lifestyle-related topics. He has written more than 100 books in the last two decades that have collectively sold more than one million copies. His best-selling books include The Ultimate Web Marketing Guide, YouTube for Business, and Facebook for Grown-Ups for Que Publishing. He has established a reputation for being able to explain difficult concepts to everyday readers in easy-to-understand language.


Sunday, August 11, 2013

Poem About Growing Older

I hope this poem has the same effect on you as it did on me - then my forwarding it will be worth the effort. Walk with me by the water

A BEAUTIFUL POEM ABOUT GROWING OLDER:


CRAP...I forgot the words.

Friday, August 09, 2013

TechTeach revisited - The Keyboard



I first published these back in 2009 when I opened this little blog.  Made 16 of them and then.... stopped.  So I've decided to go through the oldies, updated them and re-post them.  And hopefully add new ones.
 
TechTeach, issue One:  Keyboard Part 1

  I hope to keep these short, informative, and easy to read.  If there is any questions, I hope to incorporate those into the next “issue” for everyone to read and gain knowledge from those questions and answers.
  In this first issue, I’d like to talk about something we see every time we sit at a computer, we touch it, we see it, and it does a lot more for use that just make letters on the screen.  That would be your keyboard.  Most basic keyboards are the 104-key variety, some have less (like laptops) and others have more (for multimedia functionality).  They come in black and beige and some even have lighted keys.
  Most importantly, your keyboard has some hidden talents.  If you look at the keys on either side of the spacebar, you’ll notice one marked “ALT” and another marked “CTRL.”  The Alternate key can activate menus in the toolbar of a program.  That would be the bar with the File, Edit, View, and other menus at the top of the screen are located.  Notice that in those menus, a letter in each word is underlined.  If you hold down the ATL key and that letter, the matching menu will open, and then you can hit another letter, or use the arrow keys to scroll down, or use your mouse to pick the entry you want to use.
  The CTRL, short for Control, key has uses that are right on the keyboard.  Some keyboards will mark those tasks, such as copying and pasting text, printing, changing text to bold or italics.  Some keyboards with have these keys marked, like the keyboard I’m using now.
Some common keyboard shortcuts are:
Copy               -C
Paste                -V
Cut                  -X
Print                -P
Underline        -U
Italic                -I
Bold                -B
Select All        -A
Undo               -Z (my favorite)
  There are even keyboard shortcuts that use both Control and Alternate, or Shift in combination with other keys.  And these can change from one program to another.  The following link is from Microsoft, and has a pretty good list of keyboard shortcuts to try out.  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

Thursday, August 08, 2013

TechTeach 17, GMail, August 8, 2013

Golly, I haven't done one of these in years, and I really should put up more.  I write these for the classes I teach locally, but will put some up here for general reading.  This document is for next Monday's class.



Computer Class for Monday, 12 August, 2013

Gmail

                Gmail is short for Google E-Mail.  It’s a free e-mail service from Google that allows up to 15GB of storage, 25MB of attachments and other features.  Best of all, it’s free.
                I’ve been using Gmail for over nine years now.  Since 2 September, 2004.  I know because I still have the first email I ever received, from the Gmail Team.  Along with (as of this writing) 8990 other emails.  I tend to keep everything.  It’s good for being able to look back and follow the “paper trail” of communications.
                If you are interested in Gmail, you can go to GMail and sign-up in a pretty easy and painless process.  When the page opens, you’ll have a screen that says Google and Gmail at the top left.  On the right side there will be two fields for Username and Password.  Below that is the Sign In button.  Above all that on the right top is a big red button that says Create An Account.
                After clicking that Big Red Button, you’ll be asked for:

 your First and Last name
 your username (which can be just about anything, but please do try to avoid anything with your name in it), create a password (12 to 18 characters, longer is better, write it down and keep it safe)
 your birthday (good place to shave off a few years)
your gender
your mobile phone (which I don’t enter)
your current email address (can be left blank also)
you can uncheck the “Set Google as my Home Page” button if you wish
then type in the letters in the box to prove you aren’t  robot
they also want your country
next, click in the box to show that agree to the terms
and finally, I would uncheck the last box about Google being able to use the account information
then click the blue “Next step” button

                “But aren’t we done yet?”  Nope, just a couple more things.  Gmail will ask if you want to use a picture for your Gmail account, you can opt to not do that, and then it should let you into your shiny new Inbox.
                The Inbox presents with a column on the left that has the following:  Gmail (with a little down pointing arrow), a big red Compose button, and (yours might be different):  Inbox, Important, Sent Mail, Drafts, All Mail, Spam, Trash, and then my user created folders.  There is a More button, where other things that aren’t commonly used are listed.  Mostly, you’ll find more labels/folders there.  Below that is the Gmail chat for sending real-time messages to other Gmail users.
                In the middle of the window, you’ll find the email list.  Normally, this is the Inbox.  But it will change if you use the other selections on the left.  Above that is how many emails are in the Inbox.  You might see something like “1-100 of 8991” and then two buttons with arrows.  If you want to change the order of the email by date, just hover your mouse over the numbers and then click on Oldest or Newest.  The arrow buttons move you back and forth by 100 emails.
                Next to the right is a button with a gear in it.  This is where the settings reside. 
                If you click on Settings, you’ll land on the General tab.  Probably won’t need to change much here unless you want a signature.  I put in my blog, Voices From The Future, and my Twitter account, @StarFortress.  There are also settings for:  Language, Phone Numbers, Maximum Page Size, External Content (links to places outside of Gmail), Browser connection (always use https), Default reply behavior, Default text style (can change font and size), Conversation view, Send and archive, Stars, Desktop Notifications (only with the Chrome web browser), Keyboard shortcuts, Button labels, My picture, People Widget, Create contacts for, Importance signals for ads, and Signature.
                The next tab is Labels, which allows you to choose what labels you have showing on the left side.  Just click Show or Hide, the black text is what is currently selected.  And you can create a new labels there too.
                After that is Inbox, where you can change the Inbox type (mine is default), Catagories (which show as tabs just above the emails), Importance markers, and Filtered mail.
                Accounts is where you can change account settings, Send mail as, Check mail from other accounts, Using Gmail for work, Grant access to you account (not sure that allowing someone lese to have access to your email is a good idea), Add additional storage (15 gigabytes is plenty).
                Filters is where rules can be applied to an email for sorting.
                Fowarding and POP/IMAP is where more advanced settings are if you wanted to use something like Outlook instead of a web browser for checking your Gmail.
                Chat is for settings about turning chat off and on, saving the Chat history, automatically adding contacts, making phone calls directly from Gmail.  This accesses the contact list and requires a voice and video chat plugin.  You can turn Sounds on and off, and finally there is a setting for using emoticons.  Emoticons are the little smiley faces that are created by using text characters.  Some are:  J smile, :D big smile, :P sticking out your tongue, >: angry, L sad, ;) wink and so on.
                Web Clips was removed, though the tab for settings remains.
                Labs is for things Google is working on.  No promises that anything here works.  The Inserting Images item looks interesting.  Lets you put images directly in the email text body.
                Offline would let you read your email while not connected to the Internet, create replies and then send them once re-connected.  You would have to connect to receive and send email.
                Themes allows you to customize the look of your Gmail with colors, backgrounds.  These might be good for high contrast for sight issues, or just to make Gmail fun.  You can also find this directly under the Settings icon.  To make it easier to tell where boxes and buttons are, I have changed my theme to High Contrast.
               
                Also under the Gmail gear is Send Feedback for giving suggestions and comments on Gmail to Google.
                At the very bottom of the page in the lower right is “Details,” with “Last account activity: X hours ago” right above.  If you click on Details, you can see what the Internet Protocol addresses that have accessed your Gmail are from.  They should all be from the same IP, unless you have accessed your email from a computer outside your home or the IP address has changed.
                This is a good place to remind people that they should change their passwords once in a while.  I like to use car license plates.  They tend to be pretty easy to remember and hard to guess with lots of numbers and letters and you can use upper and lower cases.  I strongly suggest 12-16 characters and personally use a 20 character password for Gmail.
                When you click on Compose, the main part of the screen changes to the Compose view.  This is where you will find fields to put in an email address (you can add more than one address by separating them by a comma and type in only the first few letters if the address is in your Contacts or Gmail already knows it), use Carbon Copy and Blind Carbon Copy (one shows the addresses of all recipients and the other hides the addresses), type in a Subject.
Right below the Subject line is the Attach a file link.  When you click on the link, it brings up a File Upload dialog box.  From here you can navigate to where the file you want to attach is located.  Use the icon on the left side or in the files bar across the top.  Once you find the file or files you want to attach, you can select one or select multiple files by holding down the and key clicking on the files you want to send.  Keep in mind that Gmail has a 25MB limit on total files that you can attach.  Usually, unless it’s a large photo, you shouldn’t run into that limit.  Then click the Open button (It’s not really opening the files, but just uses that wordage.) and then watch the status bar as the file attaches.  Once it’s done, you can make changes to your email, or just hit the Send button and Gmail will send the email.
You can use the Attach another file link to attach more files if you decide to after the first file is attached.
There’s a row of icons between the Attach a file link and the email text body that allows you to Bold the text, italicize the text, underline the text, select a different font, select a different font size, change the text color, change the highlight color (like a yellow highlighter), insert an emoticon, embedding a link in a word (like this, which goes to Google ),  creating numbered and bulleted lists, setting the indentations, making a quote, setting the justifications to left – center – right, and you can remove all formatting.  There are two more links to the right, one to switch to plain text and one to check spelling.  Gmail also does inline spell checking as you type, underlining those words in red.
One last feature for this document:  At the top of the screen is a field that allows you to search your inbox and email.  You can type in key words to find emails with people’s names, numbers, addresses, just like you were using Google to search.