Updated gimmick feature list 2007

My list of gimmick features continues to grow. Gimmick features are features that companies add to technology to sell a product but don’t do what they claim to do in the way you expect them to do it. One of of the first gimmick features I began discussing years ago were gimmick buttons on a scanner. These are buttons that say “email” or “scan and save”, etc. All these buttons do is activate the...

Ubuntu – Day 7

Today marks the one week mark that I quit using my Windows Vista machine and started using Ubuntu exclusively. I pledged to use Ubuntu only for two straight weeks to really put the operating system through the paces of daily use. After a rough start with email and fighting spam, I am almost in a groove of using this free and robust operating system. I think that Microsoft has the work cut out for themselves over the next few...

Creating a Life Poster with Windows

In yesterday’s computer users group, a question came up about printing photos, and after answering the question somehow the conversation came around to a project I embarked on a few weeks ago. I stumbled on a popular web site blog for Mac users called “Creating a Life Poster” by Mike Matas. I immediately became enamored with the idea of creating a “Life Poster” for my home. The thought of...

I want to be a computer teacher on a cruise ship

I love my job as a computer guy. Especially tutoring and teaching average people (seniors, parents, non-geeks) how too use computers. Everyday I meet interesting people, see new challenges and play with new toys. Today I was thinking about what could possibly make my job more fun and I had a great idea. I would love to be a computer guy on a cruise ship. Not to maintain the ship's computers but to teach tourists and help...

How much would you pay for a “simple” ...

This will be our poll question in the newsletter tomorrow, but I wanted to give you time to consider the question. Like Rick, I am constantly on a mission to make computers easier to use. I don't believe it is necessary to upgrade computers every few years if the system you are using now is working well. I hate (strong word, but accurate) the direction Microsoft has taken with Windows. Most people never use all of the...

Photoshop Elements 5

Adobe Photoshop Elements is the standard photo editing software for consumers and many professionals. The latest edition offers many new features, but are those features worth upgrading from previous versions of the program? First, there is no upgrade version but since the program can easily be found online for under $70, it won't hurt too bad if you do want to upgrade. Photoshop Elements has been a solid program since...

Getting Better Prints from Digital Photos

One of the disadvantages to digital photography (if you can call it that) is that you don't get prints as often. Photos tend to sit on disk or on your computer's hard drive and never get shared. The photo album is sadly becoming extinct. If you would like to start printing out some of those digital photos, here are some pointers. Install Picasa: We talk about it a lot, but not often enough. Picasa will make selecting,...

Web Appliances revisited

I wrote a number of months ago about the need for a new web appliance. A web appliance is a device that only accesses the Internet. Web TV (now MSN TV) is the only device that sort of falls in this category. What I envision (and wish I had the knowledge to build) is a flat screen monitor with built-in speakers and a cordless bluetooth connection to talk to a mouse, keyboard, and a printer. It would also have a card...

Windows Vista: Is it worse than we thought?

I have not made any secret of the fact that I am afraid of Windows Vista. Tomorrow Vista hits shelves and I an dreading the rush of calls from people who don't read our website and newsletter. Here is a short list of what I know about Windows Vista so far. Please use the link at the bottom to email this article to anyone you know who may be considering the move to Vista who doesn't read our website and...

How to send an email attachment

We have a few program specific tips on our website about how to send email attachments. Each step is broken down step-by-step.  I am writing this more as a general guide for emailing attachments. I have seen a few mistakes lately that have caused problems for first-time attachment senders. Here are a few tips to help you avoid problems. 1. If you are emailing photos and you use Outlook, Outlook Express or gmail, download...

How to buy a computer book

When teaching my basic computer classes, I often get the question, "What is a good computer book?" This is also followed or preceded by the complaint that the individual's computer did not come with a manual. As strange as it may seem, there is a very good reason why the average computer doesn't come will a full instruction book. The reason is that there is too much to know about a computer to fit in a...

These computer oldies are OUT!

I've kept this bottled up for at least two years, and now I'm going to let it out and would love to hear your comments. Computers have been in the home on a large scale for about twelve years now and certain aspects of computing just don't work in today's' tech world. Here is my list of what no longer works: Anything less than 1024 X 768 resolution. Even many productivity programs require this minimum...

Free Digital Photography Programs and Tools

MediaChance.com has some great free digital photo programs. They are very specialized tools, but they work great. IrFanview is a great program for viewing images of almost any format. It reads most camera RAW files as well as proprietary and universal image formats. Paint.NET is a free program that is designed to compete with Photoshop and CorelDraw. It works well, but is not the most intuitive. Gimp is another free...

“We had a computer glitch”

I often try to remember what life was like before computers. I can barely remember what I did with my time before email, web surfing, word processing, digital photography, PowerPoint presentations, MP3 players, YouTube.com, and all the rest. I also find myself longing for the times that businesses couldn't use the excuse, "our computers are down" or "our computer had a glitch". As much as I enjoy...

The embarrassing dangers of Picasa

I have learned to be careful when loading Picasa onto a client's computer. Picasa is one of my favorite digital photography programs. Once you install it, it scans the entire computer for all digital photos. It catalogs them and displays them as thumbnails in order of date created. The fact that it looks for and catalogs all of the photos on a computer has led to a little bit of embarrassment to a few of my...