Archive for August, 2008
US Patent Office strikes out again
Here they go again, granting foolish patents. Microsoft has been granted a patent on “page up” and “page down”. When I first saw the news I thought it had to be a joke but, no, there it is- U.S. Patent #7,415,666. Writing at ZDnet, David Meyer comments:
Microsoft has a long history of applying for, and [...]
Comments on Windows Vista and Seven
Periodically, I cite blogs from Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. He impresses me as an even-handed and knowledgeable writer about the technical scene. In the last several days, he has had a number of interesting posts about Windows Vista and Windows 7. Rather than make a separate entry about each, I am going to list them in one [...]
How to buy a netbook
The small ultra-portable netbooks are just the thing for many school kids. Also, if you are looking for a low-cost portable computer, the wide variety of netbooks is worth looking into. It’s also a possible way to get introduced to Linux by buying one with some version of Linux pre-installed. Of course, Windows XP is [...]
Microsoft support numbers
Recently, Microsoft has issued service pack 3 for Windows XP and service pack 1 for Vista. And there are always the monthly patches. Sometimes installing one of these can mess up your system. Microsoft has some toll-free numbers where you may be able to get help if you have a problem. The numbers are not [...]
Online office applications
Most home PC users probably don’t need a very powerful word processor and forking out a lot of money for a suite like Microsoft Office is unnecessary.. A possibility to consider is one of the Web-based applications. PC World reviews three of the most popular- Google Docs, ThinkFree, and Zoho. The conclusion:
Overall Google Docs [...]
Search engine for kids
Google may not be the best search engine for a child to use. It does have some filters for adult material but children have special interests that major search engines cannot be oriented to. Ars Technica says that Ask.com has a search engine AskKids.com that is designed just for children:
The landing page is striking, and [...]
Apple ups and downs
In many ways Apple has been on a roll. The iPhone has made a big splash. Mac computers are selling better than ever before. The market value of its stock recently exceeded that of Google. However, Apple has also had some fiascoes. Writing at the New York Times, John Markoff comments:
But there have also been [...]
Internet Explorer 8 coming soon
After crushing Netscape into smithereens, Microsoft rested on its monopolistic laurels and let Internet Explorer (IE) molder. Not only did IE6 grow stale but its poor conformity with Web standards and its peculiar rendering of CSS gave webmasters fits. Then Firefox came along and began taking a nice chunk of market share. After doing almost [...]
Shortcuts for Google Maps
Are you about to get in a little traveling in the dying days of summer? Google Lat Long has some shortcuts that you can use with Google Maps.
Exposé of a scam
The Internet is teeming with scam artists, One of the more insidious traps is malware that masquerades as anti-malware, a kind of digital wolf in sheep’s clothing. At the Register, Jesper Johansson takes us step-by-step through what he calls “a tale of trickery”. It’s worth reading. It makes it clear that the pop-ups like [...]