Archive for Technology

Technology New Years Resolutions

Since we are now in a new year, I thought it would be a cool idea to make technology New Years resolutions and post them and then follow up with them at the end of the year to see how I did.

  1. Use more Cloud Computing
  2. I have been a strong advocate of Cloud computing for a while and although, I use many Cloud services, I plan on using more in my daily life and I will continue to update all of you with my articles of services that I begin to use and tell you what changes I will make during the year.

  3. Responsibly Dispose of Old Electronics
  4. As you can imagine, being a technology enthusiast, I have collected many old electroncis that no longer are useful for me and just take up space sitting around. I plan to take them to places that will recycle them and dispose of my old gadgets in a responile way that will not be harmful to the environment. This will be also covered with a blog article once I have completed this so that everyone can do this with their broken and unwanted gadgets.

  5. Reduce papers and use more Digital Documents
  6. As I have mentioned in a previous article, I am trying to reduce my papers and replace them with digital copies so that I can have access to the data and not have papers lying around.

I will follow up with these goals as things happen and post advice if you are interested in these as well!

2010 Technology Predictions

Well, this year and this decade is almost over! As I do every year, I am going to write my predictions for what big technologies will be coming out in 2010!

1.    Apple Tablet
This device has been rumored for over a year now, and I think the rumors are pointing to the January 26th Apple event for the release of the Apple Tablet!
2.    More Set top Boxes
Set-top boxes that allow users to access internet content on their living room television sets. This is going to be more common because more people have stopped using cable and just use the internet to watch the TV shows they want to see.
3.    iPhone on a New Carrier
All iPhone users know the pain for having AT&T service. Apple has been exclusive with AT&T since the iPhone was released but that exclusivity expires in this June and I think at the very least, Apple will be adding an additional carrier if not replacing AT&T, rumors suggest Verizon which I think would be awesome!
4.    More 4G Coverage
Although 3G internet is just starting to roll out, it is still not finished but, the next generation of cellular internet, 4G is coming out and is being rolled out in major cities. In 2010, I think 4G will become much more common and will continue to roll-out into

Biggest Technology Developments from 2000-2009

This past decade, will be known for the massive growth of Technology and I wanted to highlight the biggest developments this past decade!

  1. iPod
  2. Mp3 Music
  3. High Definition Video
  4. Youtube
  5. Streaming Video
  6. iPhone
  7. Android
  8. Google
  9. Social Networking
  10. Cell Phones

2009 Technology Predictions Results

At the end of every year, I predict what are the big Technology developments for the next year. I will be putting out my predictions for 2010 soon but, let’s review how accurate my predictions from last year.

1.    More Ultraportable Laptops
Definitely happened, netbooks exploded this year and every major computer manufacturer, except for Apple!
2.    More Android Phones
This year showed major growth for Android with the introduction of the amazing Droid from Verizon and many other Android Phones.
3.    New Nokia Internet Tablet
The Nokia N900 which is not only a tablet, but a phone as well was released this year! Although it is not as good as the iPhone or even an Android phone it is out and has some potential.
4.    Affordable 3G Modems
Modems have become cheaper and sometimes free with a contract but, contracts are still ridiculously expensive.
5.    All-In-One Desktops become standard
This was a little too much forward thinking! Maybe in the next 5 years!
6.    Nationwide Wifi
Hopefully, this is still in the works!

Importance of Ripping DVDs

Copying or ripping your DVDs to your computers is something everyone should do not only for backing up, but also for a copy that you can take with you anywhere you take your computer. Back-ups is the biggest thing for me, because what if a fire destroys all my DVDs, that would be awful. So, one of the first things I do when I buy a DVD is rip it to my computer using Handbrake and keep it on my external hard drive. This way I can watch it on my computer if I choose or just make sure I have a copy of my movies if disaster strikes. Also, as a extra precaution, I have the external hard drive backed up using Backblaze so my movies are safe even if my hard drive breaks. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act permits you to make a digital copy of your movies for “Personal Use” so I recommend getting a external hard drive and ripping all your DVDs so, you know your movies are safe. I actually don’t take any DVDs to school and just use the digital copies to watch movies when I am at college.

Computer Security Tips

Security for a personal computer has become essential because so many things have had to go digital. However, computers are still very new technology and have issues and one of the largest issues is keeping you information safe. Here are some tips so can keep you computer safe.

  1. Change Your Passwords
  2. With all the accounts you need to keep password protected, including your user account that you need to login. But it is a good idea to change your password regularly. When choosing a password, make sure it is not a word or something easy to guess. It is best to use: lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and symbols in your password. If you don’t want to make your own password, then there are password generators like the one made by GRC. I recommend that you change a few letters in the password so that you can be sure the password is safe.

  3. Encrypt Your Hard Drive
  4. If you want to keep your data extremely safe then, you should encrypt your hard drive so even if your hard drive is stolen, your data will remain safe. Both Windows and Mac OS have encryption tools built-in to the operating system, even though it is only in the business versions of Windows. If you don’t want to spend more on your operating system, then you could use Truecrypt which can be used to make an encrypted volume or just encrypt the entire hard drive.

  5. Disable The Guest account
  6. To make sure unwanted guests don’t log into your computer, you should turn off the guest account and make sure all your user accounts require a password.

  7. Enable the Firewall
  8. Firewalls are essential for keeping hackers from being able to gain access to your system from the internet. The Firewall will, control who and what can access the internet and the computer.

Reasons for Reinstalling Your Operating System

Since the year is almost over, you might want to have a fresh start with your digital life and get rid of all the digital clutter that has been accumulated on your computer. The best way to do this is reinstalling your operating system and clearing off your entire machine. This is incredibly easy thing to do, but, very few people in my experience actually do it! Before doing anything, make sure you backup all your data and make sure you have your hardware drivers easily accessible, I like to keep them on a external hard drive or thumb drive so that I can just pop it in and install everything I need. You will also need to have either a Windows Installation Disk or a Restore disk that should have come with your system!

You might wonder why, you want to spend the time to do this. Well first, especially on Windows, the disk drive gets fragmented which causes the computer to run slower and make the read and write speeds with the hard drive much slower. There are also all those extra files from things you have downloaded, or programs you may have had installed and uninstalled. Buy reinstalling your operating system, you can get rid of all the junk on your computer. I try and do this at least once a year with my Windows computer, although I have yet to do it on my Mac! One tip, if you really want to get rid of all your just is to run a Hard drive wiping tool such as Darren’s Boot and Nuke to completely wipe the drive making sure nothing remains after the reinstall. This is just a great way to eliminate all the junk slowing down your computer and it really only takes about an hour and then however much time it takes you to restore all your data, The computer will definitely run better and you can have a fresh start for the new year!

Logitech USB Microphone Review

Picture from My Flickr Page

As you might of heard on The Weekly Spin or on my Twitter feed, my old Logitech headset that I used to record The Weekly Spin and used for general Skype use broken and I had to return it to Newegg! Luckily it was under warranty and because of that after I returned it I was able to get another microphone with the same value which was $20! There were not many USB microphones or headsets for $20 except this one so, I knew it was really my only option. The Logitech USB Microhphone was my choice and I am so grateful that I made that choice. After I plugged it in for the first time and tested out recording I found out that this microphone is extraordinary! The voice quality is great and even when I put it  directly in front of my old Dell Laptop that makes a lot of noise all it picks up is my voice. This is because of the noise cancellation built into the microphone which makes this great for podcasters as well as anyone who needs to do voice-over work!  The only compalint that I have is because I have gotten used to having a headset with the microphone directly in front of my face, having a standing mic takes some getting used to and requires some pre-recording testing to asure good audio levels.

Overall, I recommend anyone just starting doing professional recording it is completely worth the money and will not disappoint! I am excited to begin using this for The Weekly Spin and other projects because of it’s superior quality, it makes me almost glad my old microphone broke because this microphone has much higher quality!

My Change of Heart About Apple

Ok it was true that in my younger years, I was very hateful towards the Mac and Apple. It was a long time ago and Apple changed it’s way and has now become my platform of choice. It all started in Grade School, my school used old Macs, still running OS 9 and using a Power PC processor. In addition to all that, they also used Mac Manager to allow students to log-in, but control what they had access to. The worst part was that it was totally slow, applications took forever to launch and a lot of the software was very outdated. For example, until High School, the primary Word Processor they had us using was Apple Works and the browser was Netscape Communicator 4. Needless to say this added to the slowness issue and made it very unpleasant. The PowerPC platform was much weaker than the Intel which came with most Windows machines at the time and Mac OS 9 was extremly outdated making the more Modern-looking Windows XP look to be the better platform.This hatred towards the Mac continued throughout all of  Middle School.

Then, in High School, we switched over to Windows XP and they were just as slow and had just as many if not more than the Macs and continued to have problems. Apple had also upgraded their operating system to OSX and made the system much better and more evolved than Windows. Then in 2006,  Apple moved to Intel Processors in their machines using a much more powerful platform and making their computers a lot faster. It was around that time I began to follow Apple and consider changing my mind about Apple. I realized that with a Mac, you get a much more reliable system, with few if any errors, and Macs take much less work to setup and manage. Plus, I began tv become more interested in video production and podcasting both things that Macs can do amazingly while Windows machines do poorly with it.   Apple also makes computers that aren’t just the average beige box, the computers standout becuase they don’t just use plastic, and they always put a big glowing Apple on  the computer. Then after seeing the power of Final Cut Studio compared to other Windows editors I knew that the Mac was the computer for me. Now having a Mac for almost a year, I have had much fewer problems than my old PC and am very happy for switching to the Mac. Yes, they are more money but, if you want a computer that you just turn on and it works, the Mac is the computer for you.

Technology Changed my Life

The Following is an Essay I wrote for College Composition Class and thought would make a great Blog post!

Technology has had a huge impact on me and has completely altered the course of my career path.  The three most influential devices are: the personal computer, the Video camcorder and the iPod Touch. One of these devices caused me to become interested in Technology and shaped much of my childhood, another developed an interest in a field that I am now pursuing as a major and after college as a career, and the final device keeps me organized, connected and entertained wherever I go. These devices have shaped my life and have developed my plans for adulthood.

The device that has changed my life the most is of course the personal computer. I began using a computer when I was three years old running Windows 3.1 and at the time the computer was so slow that I did not learn how to do much. Then around the age of ten, my family bought a new Gateway desktop computer that ran Windows ME, which although the operating system was not good either, I began spending much more time on the computer and taught myself how to surf the internet, troubleshoot problems, use Microsoft Office, and many more skills. These new skills helped me meet some close friends in school and these friendships caused me to become more interested in technology and learn more from my friends. I also learned from technology club in Middle School called “Tech Time” where I met other people interested in computers and developed more computer skills. I also began to be known as an expert in computers and had classmates, neighbors, and even teachers asking for assistance solving their problems and still do to this day. Then, while I was a sophomore in high school, I created a TV show with two close friends about technology that aired on the local access channel in my hometown as well as on the Internet as a video podcast, called Tecker 911. I originally wanted to be a computer programmer majoring in Computer Science in college, but I discovered I am not very good at programming. I knew I wanted to remain working on something technical which began my interest in website design, and eventually I created my Blog all about technology and some other topics. I decided to use my blog to share the knowledge that I have gained over the years about computers and share it with the world, so that they can fully utilize their computers as well as make the knowledge freely available so that anyone with an Internet connection can learn more about technology.

This is where the next big piece of technology came into my life, the video camcorder. My first experience that I had using them hands-on was in Tech Time in Middle School. While in that group, I produced several videos from pre-production through post-production and I also made several short movies at that time as well. This was my first introduction into video production until I joined the school TV studio and created my own TV show. Tecker 911 was a show that focused on technology topics that were relevant to new computer users and we produced 100 episodes. After producing Tecker 911, I decided that I would major in video production in college and pursue it as a career because the major changes with camcorders made me realize how much I love video production. If there were no computers and camcorders, my college major and future could have been totally different.

The final piece of technology that has had a major impact on my life is one of my newest, which is my iPod Touch. I know it is mainly just a music player, but I use it like a pocket computer that allows me to do work and keep organized no matter where I am. Although I had two pocket computer devices prior to the iPod touch, one a Windows Mobile Pocket PC, the other an open source Linux mobile device, neither are as simple or intuitive as the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch not only serves as a music and video player but also has games, applications and the ability to surf the Internet. It also allows me to synchronize my Email, contacts and calendar from Google to my iPod, so I can stay organized everywhere and keep in contact with people whenever I need to.  Applications also add additional features making it both an entertainment device and an organizer all in one!

Technology is probably one of the biggest influences on my life today and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. The computer was the biggest factor making me chooses to further learn about technology and create media for others that teach them how to use it like my TV show, Tecker 911 and my blog. The camcorder helped me discover my passion for video production and made me discover what I wanted to major in for college and what I want to do for the rest of my life. The iPod touch keeps me organized and helps me stay in touch with people wherever I go and has proven to really help me. Technology has defined the majority of my life and has shaped my decisions and plans for my future.

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