RichC | February 19, 2010
I’ve added a little light reading to my weekend plans from Paul Thurrot and Rafael Rivera’s book, Windows 7 Secrets … it’s only 1080 pages. I’m hoping the book will help enhance an already satisfied Windows 7 user by teaching me a few tricks in using Microsoft’s newest OS. As regular readers know, I’ve been […]
RichC | February 16, 2010
There are still a few of us running Windows 7 RC and putting off the inevitable reinstall headache. I suppose I’ve been hoping that there might be some kind of extension or that I might end up with a new computer? Alas, the time is drawing near to install either Windows 7 Home Premium or […]
RichC | February 8, 2010
Looks like a little more competition for those carving out their space in social networking? Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. with a new feature that makes it easier for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared online by their friends.Google could announce the new Gmail […]
RichC | February 1, 2010
Apple not only makes great products that their customers love, but does and even better job of advertising and creating ‘buzz’ with product placement. Here’s the new iPad being showcased by Stephen Cobert at the Grammy Awards.
RichC | January 29, 2010
The MyTether “no patch” beta fix was release while I was traveling this week. I didn’t have the nerve to install on my Palm Pre in fear of ‘bricking’ it so waited until this afternoon to reinstall. So far so good, although the speeds aren’t what I would like, most likely due to 5PM Sprint […]
RichC | January 17, 2010
If you have a need to send a large file, such as a video, compressed archives or entire directories, or other large digital files where the size is too large for email or normal FTP file sharing services which limit file sizes (often around 400MB), then give Load2All.com a try. This free (but advertising buggy […]
RichC | January 4, 2010
News for tomorrow’s WSJ: Apple to Ship Tablet Device in March — Sent from my Palm Pre Posted via email from richc’s posterous EDIT:
RichC | January 4, 2010
Success … finally! I been all thumbs in an ongoing struggle (post one and two) to fix my notebook computer during the Christmas and the New Year holiday. I ordered the suspect part, ‘an inverter,’ for my Gateway notebook computer and after hassles with pre-Christmas shipping, finally received it only to find out it was […]
RichC | December 29, 2009
Reposting something that might be helpful for those looking to gain a bit of speed back from their aging Windows based computer. The aging problem seems to happen to computers just as it does to people. — You just hit the power button your PC, and now you’ve got enough time to brew a fresh […]
RichC | December 28, 2009
As mentioned earlier, my primary Gateway NX570XL notebook computer is having LCD screen related problems. I ordered a new inverter board prior to Christmas that would have been the least expensive repair, but the item that was shipped was incorrect — much larger (longer) than the one on my computer (photo below). One of the […]
RichC | December 21, 2009
One would think that I would have learned my lesson with Gateway notebook computers a few years ago when I replaced my well traveled lightweight computer after first power plug, then keyboard and finally USB port issues … unfortunately I didn’t. I reluctantly replace it with a higher performance model which started off irritating me […]
RichC | December 18, 2009
Responding to a question from a blog reader about using Posterous.com and photos, he asked how multiple photos were handled? Honestly I didn’t know but recall reading that they were embedded in an image galley … so I’ll give it a try. EDIT: Image gallery didn’t repost correctly, but test photos are below.
RichC | December 16, 2009
While traveling to northeastern Ohio this week I had a bit more fun playing with Photosynth (see previous post). This time I used my daughter’s apartment as a subject before taking her out for our father-daughter dinner — the highlight of my week. Unfortunately lighting and not spending too much time to take the series […]
RichC | December 15, 2009
McDonald’s Corp. will soon start offering free wireless Internet access at its U.S. restaurants as part of the fast-food chain’s transformation from its hamburger roots into a hang-out destination. Starting in mid-January, McDonald’s will lift a $2.95 fee that it had charged customers for two hours of wireless Internet access, available at about 11,000 of […]
RichC | December 15, 2009
I tried my first “synth” with Microsoft’s online computer-generated panorama photo application called Photosynth.net. The app automatically stitches a series of photos together in a semi-panoramic combination and creates an image called a “synth.” From a users perspective, the process is fairly easy and takes less than an hour; all that is required is to […]
RichC | November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving and safe travel to my friends and family on the road. We are enjoying a day of turkey and tasty food at my brother and sister-in-law’s house today, which is becoming a tradition. Although I don’t say it often, I couldn’t ask for a better brother and if ask what I’m thankful for […]
RichC | November 18, 2009
Although I use shortened URLs regularly, I create them manually unless I’m using a program with built in services — like Tweetdeck for Twitter — but recently I’ve gone against my rule of fattening up programs and added the shortener button to Firefox. Most of the URL shortening services (see list below) offer a single […]
RichC | November 12, 2009
Netbooks are growing up and the slightly larger models now sport a bit more memory, larger displays and the excellent Windows 7 OS. As a family, we’ll be gifting a new HP 311 netbook to my mother-in-law this year for Christmas. We’re hoping to re-introduce her to using a computer — primarily for email and […]
RichC | November 7, 2009
Although I’ve tried a a couple other blog editing and posting tools, I usually go back to web based WordPress posting. This is a test of the Windows Live Writer free software, a test I did once before with a different theme. I’m also adding a photo from deer “buckrub” damage to be sure all […]
RichC | November 4, 2009
I’m a regular reader of Paul Thurott and he had a great article on the “convoluted, ridiculous and hard to understand” pricing and option packages associated with upgrading a Microsoft Windows PC to the new Windows 7 operating system. He compared it to the “Bataan Death Match … but this time, the victims are your […]
RichC | October 28, 2009
A quick thanks to Lee for expediting my Google Wave beta request, although I still feel a bit late to the game in getting a chance to play with this new Google app. Although I’ve talked to a few people about how they foresee using this new web based communications tool, I’m still struggling to […]
RichC | October 23, 2009
The copies of Microsoft’s new computer OS Windows 7 arrived today! I’m not planning to update anytime soon as I’m currently running Win 7 RC on both of my PCs. (they should operate until 2010) I’m certainly not planning to ruin this weekend by stripping the computer and re-installing all my software (the scheduled colonoscopy […]
RichC | September 16, 2009
After attempting to delete photos from the Sugarsync gallery on my own and finding I could not recover several of my paid for and lost gigabytes, I contacted tech support — and have lodged a complaint to no avail. I’m eliminating my use of the backup software and switching to Dropbox.— Tech Support response below: […]
RichC | September 4, 2009
I used an excellent free conference call product from FreeConference.com yesterday. The registration took about 3 minutes and a conference call can be scheduled in about 5 minutes. I set up my first call and had very good results while conferencing with three others … that is, right up until the end — see comment […]
RichC | August 28, 2009
For those of you who occasionally check My Desultory Blog, the database server for this WordPress install was is suffering significant slowdowns. I’m unsure if it was is load related or something else, but my complaint was finally heard and addressed … although ever so slowly. The discount host that I use for this personal […]
RichC | August 6, 2009
I’ve been thinking about buying a new USB ThumbDrive/FlashDrive for some time now, primarily for backups, transfer and storage when a Buy.com email hit my inbox and triggered my impulse purchase — 64GB Kingston DataTraveler. A few years ago when I was traveling more often, I purchase my first and only ThumbDrive which has served […]
RichC | August 4, 2009
Once again another incremental upgrade of WordPress moving my install to the 2.8.3 release … and thanks to Keith Dsouza‘s open source plug-in — WordPress incremental backup, it’s a painless and pretty easy step by step process (perhaps 5 minutes with database backups and all). Speaking of open source, one of the other projects that […]
RichC | July 10, 2009
Sometimes the best laid plans can go awry when you’ll not reading the details. My Achilles’s heel is ‘a good buy’ when it comes to tools and technology gear and the Hammer N1200 empty’ myshare’ NAS (Network Attached Storage) unit seemed to be fitting into my planned purchase since I had two spare 250GB 3.5 […]
RichC | June 30, 2009
The new Mozilla Firefox 3.5 was released from beta today and should offer a significant speed increase with JavaScript performance (twice as fast ast Firefox 3) . There are a few icon improvements which will probably be just eye-candy to most, but the jump ahead in video and audio content for embedded HTML5 content will […]
RichC | June 25, 2009
If you don’t mind wasting a few minutes, here’s a new search tool site called Spezify which finds bits of random information from different websites and posts them in a unique and visual way. Spezify.com was started a few months ago in April, but went live on June 15, 2009 (follow on Twitter: @spezify). Try […]
RichC | June 24, 2009
After a couple of weeks with the Palm Pre I’m learning to be more productive with the hot little smartphone device. The earlier cut, copy and paste complaints for supported apps complaint has become less of an issue and I’m enjoying the improved camera, yet still miss added camera features and video. There are also […]
RichC | June 23, 2009
I’ve been struggling to finish and tweak the install of the Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate OS before my Beta version expires — 8 days from now. Unfortunately for me, I embraced Windows 7 after switching from Vista back in January and couldn’t imagine going back, so onward I planned to go. The initial install […]
RichC | June 6, 2009
Here’s a “How-To” technique for making FREE computer to “phone” calls (not computer to computer) from overseas to any U.S. phone number. Its more the penny pincher in me which enjoys finding a way to use technology than the actual dollar savings since it hardly seems worthwhile for the few calls I “really” need to […]
RichC | June 2, 2009
Internet giant Google continues to make it presence known as they have landed Acer, Inc, the world’s third largest computer maker, as a client for its Android Operating System. They will be shipping a new netbook PC in the third quarter this year with a competitive OS to Microsoft’s windows or open source Linux OS. […]
RichC | June 1, 2009
It has not been a good weekend for computers under my care and I’ve been punished by fate for over-confidence in the new Windows 7 RC release … and in my “lack of appropriate backups” on my Mac. First, I started the process of preparing to update a couple computer from the Windows 7 Beta […]
RichC | May 29, 2009
Here a great way to try, or to just use without paying for more storage, my favorite backup and multiple computer file sharing service from Sugarsync. I’ve commented positively before and have no problem paying a monthly for the service, but here’s a way for students, skeptics and light users to give Sugarsync a ‘long […]
RichC | May 18, 2009
I’ve been lax in posting a follow up to my new to me tech gadget since I really haven’t had the chance to use it much until last week, nevertheless, here is my take on the D-Link DPU-50U. I’ve been using the Skype to phones USB device lightly for a few weeks now and will […]
RichC | May 13, 2009
I’ve been happily running the Windows 7 Beta (post 1 & post 2) and see it as Microsoft’s best OS release since XP. Although the Release Candidate is now available for all to install, I’ve been slow to update my 7000 Beta build because I’d like a clean install requiring solid backups, my install CDs, […]
RichC | May 7, 2009
The Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) came out on Tuesday this week and although I’m in no hurry to switch from the Beta (see my original install post), I did find some of the information disconcerting. First, the August 1st expiration date on my current beta build has been confirmed. You can also check […]
RichC | May 7, 2009
According to computer security expert Steve Gibson, there is a javascript flaw in the widely used Adobe product Acrobat 7, 8 and 9 includiing their Reader software. There is an easy fix that can be taken by users before Adobe come out with the ‘fix’ — it as simple as unchecking the ‘Enable JavaScript’ box. […]
RichC | May 4, 2009
I’ve noticed increased number of programs proposing to consolidate social networking sites with software or websites. This weekend I thought I would give a couple of them a try, even though I don’t really use too many different social networking platforms. First, I installed Skimmer by Fallon, and then Seesmic Desktop, both which are Adobe […]
RichC | April 30, 2009
While adding a new Twitter feature call Tweetmeme (see retweet button at bottom of post), I stumbled across an interesting statistic compiled by Nielsen which concludes that 60% of Twitter Users Quit within the First Month, at least that is how Mashable writer Pete Cashmore sees it. I’m not sure how that stacks up to […]
RichC | April 23, 2009
While I’m not a fan of the iPhone or the iPod Touch, I am impressed with the shear number of devices and software “app” downloads in less than 2 years. Apple has a counter running on their site as the Online App Store nears 1 Billion downloads. Very impressive. Although as readers may have surmised […]
RichC | March 29, 2009
Congratulations Lee and Sachi LeFever. I saw your Common Craft video being used on the CBS Sunday Morning program during the commentary segment with Nancy Giles; CBS did used the ‘paid’ version I hope? I’m not sure I the innuendo that a Twitter user might be a”Twit” is correct (“Tweep” might be correct though), but […]
RichC | March 26, 2009
If you’ve been surfing the web for any length of time you’ve seen the artist ‘cartoon’ looking avatars. One company called Cartoonme.com makes it easy to convert a current photo into an avatar. I tested the web based service the other day and received my €3.50 EUR ($4.89 US) cartoon-ish looking avatar back by email […]
RichC | March 25, 2009
I was talking to a friend about Miami University old WMUB’s “HelpDesk” radio program which has moved to the podcast only format now that the radio station is no longer broadcasting its own content (ended in February 2009). He asked me how to listen to the program now that it is no longer on the […]
RichC | March 17, 2009
I’ve been enjoying using Twitter after a brief learning curve trying to figuring out how to get my head around the concept of following 140 character text messages (TweetDeck is my favorite client on a computer). Surprisingly it can be somewhat addictive even for someone who is a not hyper-stimulated video gaming kind of guy. […]
RichC | March 13, 2009
After spending the last couple years running Microsoft’s Vista OS on my traveling notebook computer and recently installing the new Windows 7 Beta, I can’t imagine ever being forced to go back to such a pitiful operating system as Vista. Perhaps it was Microsoft’s strategy that users suffer so no matter what came out next […]
RichC | March 4, 2009
YourFonts.com makes it easy to create a personalized font based on your own handwriting. I created one in about 15 minutes, including the scanning and uploading — very cool. After printing out the PDF template , I used a fine tip ‘Sharpie‘ to scribble in the letters and numbers as the very easy instructions describe. […]
RichC | March 2, 2009
In my circle of diesel loving friends I have rarely heard that people have difficulty in deciding between the well equipped 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI or 2009 Toyota Prius, but that isn’t always the case for those listening to all the media hype praising hybrid cars. In case you are one of the few looking […]
RichC | March 1, 2009
I had a Skype conversation with Cali Lewis (aka: Geekbeat.TV) and her business experts on Saturday for a pilot for a new podcast called WealthNation, I think? She invited me to ask a couple business questions pertaining to liability protection utilizing a corporation or LLC and a follow up on product patent protection. Unfortunately I’m […]
RichC | February 19, 2009
Thought I would test a simple “web widgets” building site at Widgetbox.com that helps users create simple scripts for blogs, websites or social networking sites. So far so good although I’m not sure I need anymore content sardined onto my computer desktop, homepage or blog? Here are a couple, one widget which helps to find […]
RichC | February 4, 2009
After downloading the .iso and creating a Microsoft Windows 7 Beta installation DVD last month, I’ve been ‘on-again off-again’ while contemplating taking a chance on a Microsoft Beta OS replacement for my Gateway notebook computer. Finally after hearing the positive reviews (compared to Vista), and the fact that the cut off day to download and […]
RichC | February 1, 2009
Here’s an interesting three letter “pwn” technique that provides for a very easy way to download a YouTube clip that you might want to save. The trick is to use the pwnyoutube.com site in a shortcut way by navigating to a YouTube video then putting the letters “pwn” in front of the “youtube” part of […]
RichC | January 29, 2009
If you are a Firefox user and enjoyed the speed improvements “once upon a time” that was evident, you might be experiencing a “fattening up” and slowing down of this excellent browser. In fact for me, I’ve found myself popping open Chrome for a quicker web look or even to check email or Google Docs. […]
RichC | January 27, 2009
I’m following up my post about Scanr.com yesterday, both because I received an email from their customer service (posted it as a comment to yesterday’s post) and because I received a Twitter message suggesting that I check out Jotnot.com. I appreciated the email explaining that Scanr made changes on January 7th to their services and […]
RichC | January 26, 2009
Although I didn’t receive a notice (could have been sifted by gmail as spam) from Scanr.com about any changes to their ‘free’ services, the Pro accounts $4.99/mo ($30 annual) is a bit steep for the occasional user. I have recommend their services in the past as a way to send an emergency fax or post […]