Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Archive for category computers

A Great Resource for New Computers

Apr 21

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, desktop utilities, free programs | Comments off

Getting a new computer is so much fun! And I do reformats regularly here. Unfortunately, I am the IT person in the family…. as we have a whopping total of EIGHT computers to manage. And that doesn’t count the ones in temporary storage. I do a lot of tech help stuff, and so I have a lot of computers, new and old, with various operating systems on them. The kids use them for their schoolwork and etc, so they serve a dual purpose. But WOW it’s tough to reformat them all, it takes up a lot of time- time I;d rather spend snapping pics with a shiny new Nikon or time out in the garden.

The biggest time sucker is Windows Updates. Zzzzzzz those take about 24 hours to complete. YUK. And after that, it’s locating, downloading, and installing all the various programs I use.

Oooo but I have found a gem, ladies and gentlemen, a real gem! It’s Ninite! Yay! It’s free to use. They have a listing of the most common software applications–such as Firefox, Skype, Opera, Digsby, Irfanview, Flash, Silverlight, Google Earth, 7-zip, Filezila, and more– to download quickly and easily. I love the site. Whew, it’s easy, and the list is pretty good. These are the basic, most popular software programs, mind you. There are no drivers, no special firmware or software to run your Nikon camera software application… it’s just the basic stuff. However, if you think something should be included that isn’t listed, you can suggest an app from the home page (just scroll down to submit an app).

By the way, Ninite will NOT nag you to download a toolbar (as so many software programs do), and the applications come in 32-bit and 64-bit.

Nice one, guys!!! Maybe now I can finally have enough time to peel myself away from all this IT work, and go outside, snap photos of hummingbirds on my Nikon, and have a life again!

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Library of Congress to Archive Tweets

Apr 17

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, Twitter, computers, crime, surveillance | 4 Comments

I’ve seen the government do a lot of stupid things; this is way up on the list.

Library of Congress to House Entire Twitter Archive

The U.S. Library of Congress, which archives many forms of media for their cultural and historical significance, has announced it will keep a digital archive of every public tweet that has been broadcast on Twitter since its inception in March 2006.

It’s only appropriate that the initial announcement of this project was given on the Library of Congress’ Twitter account (@librarycongress) and was followed up by a Facebook message before the official press release is issued.

Even though tweets, as messages on Twitter are called, can only be 140 characters long, the amount of information to archive is significant. There are 50 million tweets per day and the total number of tweets already number well into the billions.

Hmmm I don’t remember them asking me if I wanted my tweets archived by them… and what about non-Americans? Is the LOG only archiving Americans’ tweets, or all, everywhere, ever?

The comments on the story were mainly along the same vein:

Oh god, that is a stupid idea. Somehow, endless streams of, “OMG”, “u rock”, and “<3", doesn't really strike me as something worth saving.

Ah, but the LOG has a fix for that. They are going to archive ALL tweets, but only highlight tweets from the *important* people:

Recognizing that the inane tweets will certainly outnumber the significant ones, the Library of Congress plans to highlight the culturally and historically important tweets, such as the first-ever tweet sent by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, President Obama’s tweet announcing his win in the 2008 election and a set of tweets that helped a photojournalist get released from prison in Egypt.

This Twitter archive isn’t evidence of a new focus for the Library of Congress; it has been collecting and archiving websites and online media for a decade now. The Library of Congress currently houses 167 terabytes (or 167,000 gigabytes – the largest iPod storage is only 64 gigabytes) of information pulled from the Internet during that time.

So the Library of Congress has been storing everything, anyway.

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Open Source (Free) Software for Mac Users

Apr 2

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, free programs | Comments off

I’m a PC-user and a Mac-user. And I’m a cheapskate and I like free software. :D

I am always hearing news about this-or-that program for PC users, but Mac users are somewhat left out in the cold. So I did some intensive searching and discovered a site that lists some excellent Mac software. Best of all, most of the stuff is free! It’s Open Source Mac. Of the programs that I have tried (and love) are these:

Adium for instant messaging
Bean a word-processor
XPad a superb, simple word-processor (my favorite)
Audacity for editing music and sounds
Xee an image browser
Freemind for making notes, etc
Stellarium a very cool interactive celestial map
Pixelmator a photo-editing program– but it’s not free. There’s a nice trial version, but the full version costs $60 :(

I can’t say I am crazy about Adium, just because the duck mascot is a little too toyish and childish. But it works well.

Hey you Mac users, got any other suggestions? I use a G4 processor, so that limits my choices a lot. GIMP and OpenOffice look great, but they require Intel processors. Bummer.

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Looking for an Apartment? Try the Web!

Apr 1

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, computers, deals, free stuff | Comments off

Here’s some excellent news for you apartment hunters out there: check out the web for your new pad! I wish that this was available for me during all those apartment-hunting years when I was younger. It would have saved me a lot of inconvenience and time. Back then, we relied on classified ads or word of mouth to try to find a place. And if a landlord didn’t place an ad or didn’t get “mouths,” he had a difficult time finding tenants. Yes, it was SUCH a rough, cruel world back then, people! lol

Anyway, thanks to the web, you can find Luxury Apartments anywhere, all over the country, at the Luxury Apartment Shop. The website is excellent– I’ve been there a few times, checking out places for friends (plus, I like to keep tabs on the local real estate and apartment market in my state). Everything is at your fingertips and is very well organized. Search by city, state, or zip code, and get pages of results. Most listings have photos, detailed descriptions, a list of amenities, geographic location and address, contact information, and even floor plans (which I found fascinating). It’s excellent! And it’s totally free to search! There are listings for major cities and even small towns. I think it’s a very convenient way to find and compare listings in the country; they even have comprehensive Las Vegas Luxury Apartments listings, and a fancy New Lux Score®. Landlords, this is a great way to get your luxury rental unit listed, too. See the website for listings and more details.

Photobucket

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Beware the Chinese-Made Computer Parts

Mar 31

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, crime, news | Comments off

Ya gotta wonder.

A few years ago, there was news that Chinese-made Maxtor/Seagate hard drives sold in the UK and U.S. were infected with malicious trojans. From what I recall, the Chinese shrugged and said “oopsie.” Now there’s news that the Chinese are installing malware and distributing computer accessories with purposeful security holes.

United Kingdom’s MI5 — Americans can think of this as a combination of the FBI and CIA — has reported that the Chinese government has been giving UK executives electronics with built-in security holes.

According to the Sunday Times, “A leaked MI5 document says that undercover intelligence officers from the People’s Liberation Army and the Ministry of Public Security have also approached UK businessmen at trade fairs and exhibitions with the offer of ‘gifts’ and ‘lavish hospitality.’ The gifts — cameras and memory sticks — have been found to contain electronic Trojan bugs which provide the Chinese with remote access to users’ computers.”

How much more are we going to take? This is unconscionable! The Feds bust gangs for *thinking* about militia, war-time activity (which, last I looked, wasn’t a crime in this country– you can’t bust people based on their thoughts), but the Chinese get off SCOT FREE, contaminating our pet food, milk, hacking and spying on us, and infecting our computer parts with password-stealing malware. Unbelievable. All the while, the government continues to encourage out-sourcing of our manufacturing to China. It’s really unconscionable.

Beware ANYTHING made in China. Including the bought-and-paid-for politicians.

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