Enough already about the I-Phone!

With (only) 33 million people in Canada, it appears Apple figures that isn't a large enough market to place the I-Phone. Either that or Telus, Bell, and Rogers don't seem too worried that if you buy one, don't plan on having it fully functional, but at $295 month?

Only 5 Months 'till Christmas!

OK so it is the middle of Summer and probably the last thing you want to think about is Christmas, but when I saw 25 ring up on my Calendar that number just goes with Christmas. Thing is since it is the middle of Summer, you probably don't want to also know that there are less months until Christmas but that doesn't stop the stores in prompting the fact that it is 'back to school'. Yes I hated this time of year as a kid, since I still had just over a month left of my summer holiday and yet they are promoting 'back to school'. From a computer buying point of view, don't let the fliers fool you in to thinking you are getting a better deal as the deals are always there, it all depends on what you want. Remember, most 'sales' you are going to see with regards to computing will be stuff that has been hanging around for a while, since this is the time of year when they are trying to clear their shelves in order to get the real deals (which will typically happen a week or so before September-that is the summer time specials). Regardless, I hope you will have the decency to ask your local computer consultant when it comes to making any sort of 'technology purchase'!

I was with one client today that just went and purchased new ink for their printer, not reading my blog about this, which I might add, was posted last September, so prices have even (dropped) changed since then and this time for the price of the colour laser printers! Generally you buy a colour laser printer and when it runs out of toner (ink) you will probably find yourself purchasing a new unit. This is something that I said back in September with regards to ink jet printers and it is still the case, but even more so since your next purchase of a colour printer may be wiser to move to the colour laser if for no reason, you won't be purchasing more toner/ink for a lot longer then you would with the ink jet. From what I can see, about 5 times longer! This going from my own past experience and usage... just a friendly tip.. because you may find purchasing more ink for your old ink jet will lead to you being very frustrated and out of pocket, the price of the ink, when you learn that it wasn't out of ink but something wrong with one of the ink jets itself. Oh sure you could pay to have it fixed, but that will run you at least, the money you paid for the ink in the first place! As unbelievable as it may seem, the next time you need ink you will need to think if getting the refill is the best solution!

We Bleed Maroon

I have a friend who is currently completing a Ph.D at Texas A & M, I have managed to spend many days on the Aggie Campus. Stephen James has produced a very 'inspirational' video, one in which I don't think you actually have to have been an Aggie to appreciate. I believe anyone that has been on this campus can relate to this fine video.. well done!

Expert Researcher

Following up on being a geek. Wouldn't it also be sort of assumed that computer consultants could be referred to as Expert Researchers? Doing a Google search on this I was intrigued to learn that other websites that listed this were mostly Japanese, at least for the first twenty or so sites. Is this nothing more then what a futurist could be labeled as?

Still in testing stages on Plaxo

As I have blogged about Plaxo recently and with the most recent release of the "New look Plaxo", I am still testing the waters and would not be at the point where I would be recommending it to people but that certainly doesn't rule out that you can't try it out yourself. As Techcrunch who reports how Plaxo could be the Open Facebook
You may want to give it a try and see for yourself. Personally I was more interested to see how the conversion of other address books was working including that with Google. Does it still have the spyware component? I don't believe so but then again, I am still testing how valid this program/service will be.

Do all geeks think alike?

Yes, I am a geek, and I guess that is something that I realized when I attended my first Gnomedex back in Des Moines, Iowa. It is there, where I found myself surrounded by people from all walks of life in many different fields of business, but we all had one thing in common and that was the fact we were in the same room together...at a 'geek conference'. Well Gnomedex has matured a lot since the first few years back in Chris Pirillo's old stomping grounds, but so has the web and as a result, what I am noticing about this conference is the even broader spectrum of people that attend, due to the simple fact that they use technology in their day to day business and that technology typically has something to do with the Internet and as a result, they find conferences like this. So it should come as no surprise when you read one of Pirillo's most recent blogs on how technology is there to make our lives easier... to the point where people don't want to use their brain anymore!



This my friends, is by far, the one issue that frustrates me the most about some people... the lack of (or to use) their common sense!

What is Web 2.0?

If you want what I can think of as the easiest way to understand what web 2.0 is would be to use your web browser is 'full screen' mode and see how long you last before you need to use the 'back' 'forward' and other buttons on the browsers toolbar. If you find that you can pretty much point and click on the content within the website itself, and browsing to other sites can be done without the use of the browsers tools then that is what I would consider what web 2.0 is and how you too can experience it.

It is interesting to see, over time, how much more I can go surfing in Full Screen mode these days, especially nice if you use a big screen display and a wireless mouse/pointer for research.

Finally it appears money is just another widget

Although I haven't heard of an actual widget being built, I am sure it will not be too far off, now that you can send money over your phone using Paypal. The instructions seem simple enough, although I have not tried it (yet), it only makes sense, since the ability to write someone a piece of paper that was authorized by your bank (a cheque or check if you are American reading this). I am still blown away by how many people actually do still use them when at a checkout when I am pretty sure they have a bank card.

Optimizing your computer in 3 Steps

Steps you can and should to for the health of your computer system.

1. Stop using the INTERNET EXPLORER! Since this Internet browser comes with your windows operating system it is therefore used the most and for that reason, gets hacked the most. Close to 80 percent of the problems I fix on a regular basis could most likely not even happen if it weren't for the fact that the Internet Explorer was being used. Get yourself a new web browser or two (I think it is best to have two so that you can always determine if the one browser is at fault when a web page doesn't open or look correctly, you can open the other web browser. For this I use AVANT BROWSER as my main browser which you can always download from the SOFTWARE/SUPPORT page. I find it has been the best to customize to 'look' as close to the Internet Explorer did in version 6 which most people were accustomed to and for that reason alone, the Avant Browser works best. As well, I use FIREFOX. There are many so go ahead and try out a few.
   
2. Keep your anti-spyware up to date and used on a DAILY basis. Yes, I suggest DAILY if you use your computer every day for internet activity then why not run the spyware scans at the end of your day as it will take you less then a minute to start and since you are through using the computer, why not have it performing something useful so that when you do come back to your computer, the results will be in and you can be sure you are computing with a clean computer. Remember you can always get the latest version of the anti-spyware that I suggest you use from the SOFTWARE/SUPPORT page.
3. Read my OPTIMIZING tip if you haven't already done so. I know it is long but that is because I am trying to be thorough.

Still requiring more help or questions, remember you can always contact me.
Oh, there are always more things to add here and over time I believe I will but for now it is just 3 easy steps.

Avast needs re-registering

It appears the people at Avast Antivirus are wanting to know just who is using their free software as it seems I am getting a lot of questions on this. Since the program is free, they simply want you to register it and when you do, they will send you a confirmation registration code that you can then copy and paste in to the registration key by clicking on the AVAST icon to start the program and as it begins to scan your start up files, click on the REGISTER key and paste your new code. It is really quite simple. Or if you find my instructions complicated or confusing, you can always contact me and I can do it for you!

I moved to Flickr but because of Webshots, not Yahoo

As reported by the Tech Web Network, Flickr traffic has surged due to Yahoo but for me, I made the move to Flickr from Webshots over a $5 difference!



After being with Webshots for a number of years, utilizing their premium services as soon as I bought my first 6 megapixel camera. I knew I would want a place to store them in their full image size as well as a place to send friends and family instead of using email which would never handle this size of a file. You pay for your premium service once a year and I just received notice from Webshots that it was 3 weeks from being due and that my credit card on file would be charged. Now I am not a very big fan of 'automatic renewals' no matter how good your service may be, I still want to shop around or at least know that I am getting the best 'bang for my buck'



So with a quick email to webshots asking why their rates had gone up substantially (I think the first year it was $20 and now $29.95), knowing that storage space is becoming more available so it would seem this should go down, which by not going up at all in my opinion, is pretty much the same as a rate drop with everything else on the rise. But in the end, after a few days and no response, I figured I would start to test out these other guys.



I always had a flickr account since I also have Yahoo, but only placed a few family pictures and actually used it as a temporary picture storage place, more for organizing as they seemed to have a very user friendly and functional photo manager. Although Flicker and Webshots do have a free service, I can still use the free webshots service but for me, the switch of premium services has been something that I will continue to do as I utilize other services online such as the Carbonite backup service and the LogMeIn remote services.

Now just because I made the move doesn't mean the Webshots service isn't for you. You will be paying $5 more but they may also have some service that works better or easier for you. The free screen saver is nice but that too is something you can use without being a premium member.

Google Calendar Explained in Video

In my attempt to persuade more to utilize on-line tools such as the Google Calendar, this blog does a good job describing things.

Direct link to the video here.

Backing up your data has never been so easy!

Looking back on some of my previous blog posts stating what services are basically done to any computer that reaches my bench and how dvd backup works but staying with the times, these times do change and now it can be done even simpler. Now with the use of the 'Internet all the time' connection, whether you are on highspeed on the lite package offered by most ISP's the simple fact is your data can be safe for if/when disaster strikes. Look no further then Carbonite! It just works!