I don’t know that I would ever bet against Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. He’s had more hits (Amazon Web Services, Prime services, the Kindle line) than misses (Kozmo dot com, askville dot com, LivingSocial), and even if the misses were BIG misses, the hits were BIG, BIG hits. That said, I’m not sure I’m ready to call it in […]
What’s That Up In the Sky? (It’s my delivery from Amazon!)
What is “Piracy” with Regard to Technology–and why should you care?
This is a subject that is difficult to get information on that isn’t heavily biased in one direction or the other. I’m going to do my best to present baseline facts and leave it to you to form your own opinion, but I will also try to present the viewpoints of both sides. When we use the word “piracy” with […]
How to stay safe on the Web
Here’s the reality: The only way to stay completely safe on the web is to stay OFF the web. Wait, wait, I didn’t mean NOW, finish reading the article. Yes, when you connect your computer to other computers (and that’s the whole idea of the web), you do open your door to a certain amount of bad behavior. […]
Bits and Bytes: the Open and Shut Case of Data Terminology
The term BYTE in some form is probably the tech term you will hear most often, and without even realizing it, because it won’t always be used in it’s solo form or in its full form. Let me tell you first why this can get confusing: Because the very same words that describe how BIG something is also describes how […]
How to Save a Document to PDF
PDF, or Portable Document Format, is extremely popular, because if you save a document as a pdf, it can be read by any operating system. The most popular and well-known pdf reader is Adobe Reader, but there are others as well, and you can find them by searching on “pdf reader.” PDF documents are identified by this familiar icon. But […]
2013 Tech Quick Review
Since I got started on this site rather late in the year, I haven’t done any posts yet on hot tech news. So I’ll do a quick rundown on some of the coolest stuff to hit the interwebs this year. Google Glass–wearable internet. Looks like a pair of glasses without the lenses, but I see lenses are available. I’m cloudy […]
This Thing Called the World Wide Web
I remember when there was no World Wide Web, when the Internet was not called the Internet. For today’s emerging generation of computer users, however, computer use IS the Internet or the Web. The journey from a room-sized machine churning out processed data to global information access from a handheld device weighing less than a pound probably does not fascinate […]
What can I get rid of, and how do I NOT mess it up?
I had a reader question on this subject, and this is a very good question. There are things that DO need to be on your computer, and things that DON’T. Knowing the difference between the two can determine whether or not your computer still runs after you’re done fixing it. These instructions pertain to Windows operating systems. If you need […]
Okay, so what IS the motherboard?
A motherboard is a printed circuit board that contains the stuff that makes up the computer, or it has slots to put some of that stuff in. Your computer is a box of electricity, and what makes it work and display stuff to you is the flow of that electricity. Each component in the computer has a printed circuit board […]
Dust
Dust, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. If you see dust sitting on top of your computer, that’s not a problem. The problem is when it gets inside, or when it obstructs the airflow generated by the fans. In the Tip on Airflow, I recommended not putting the computer directly on the floor. That’s where dust […]