photo credit: lrargerich
I’m in route to Chicago to play golf with some buddies and brought along my trusty ASUS Eee PC 901 netbook (currently running Crunchbang Linux). We were supposed to fly out last night, but weather had us delayed until this morning. As we boarded the flight, I was surprised and curious to see a WiFi on Board sticker on the outside of the plane and on all the seats. I knew it wouldn’t be free, but I wanted to Continue reading →
The summer has kept me busy and I let a few too many question stack up (remember that you can make a small donation when asking your question to get priority). I answered all the questions you asked the last 2 weeks in these two videos.
The first video contains questions from Doris, Henry, Andrew, Jean, John, Rae Ann, Craig, Janet, Maurice, Leo, Ryan, Shirley, Jason, Donna, Jeannie, Dave, and Scott. They asked questions about CCleaner, Picasa, recovering photos from a corrupt flash disk, netbook shopping, recovering the Mac desktop hard drive icon, shutting down the Windows magnifier and more.
The second video (YouTube only allows 10 minute videos for free accounts) has questions from Dot, Tiffany, Kitty, Anne, Barbara, Peter, Len, Anne and Romero. Their questions ranged from Continue reading →
I thought it might be a good idea to make a complete list of open WiFi hotspots in Grand Junction, CO.
A WiFi Hotspot is a place where anyone can access wireless Internet for free and without setting up an account or through the use of a pay account. I also added a few pay sites as well. I certainly don’t know all the spots in town, so please help me make this list more complete with your additions by leaving a comment below. Continue reading →
Home computer networks used to be just for geeks, there was no practical reason to setup a network at home because most people only had one system and the Internet was only accessible through a dial-up connection that couldn?t be shared.
Today that has all changed. Computer networks are not only practical but they are also easy to setup and in many cases they are absolutely necessary. Over the next few weeks, we will breakdown the process of building a computer network into simple steps that will guide you through the entire process of setting up either a wired or wireless home computer network.
Before we get into the logistics of a network setup, we should cover some quick terminology. Here are a few terms you absolutely need to understand to build a computer network.
Ethernet ? This is the kind of cable that you use to build a wired network. You will recognize it by the large RJ-45 ends that resemble large telephone jacks.
Router ? This is a device that monitors the complex network transmissions and acts as a traffic cop to decide what communications are safe and what are potentially bad guys trying to get in. A router is a kind of hardware firewall.
Switch ? Often people use the terms switch and router interchangeably, but a switch is actually the device that controls how communication takes place within the network. For example a switch acts as a hub where all of the computers come together to share files, printers and other devices. Typically a router will come with a switch built-in, but not always, especially on wireless networks.
Wireless/WiFi ? Also called 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi is a special frequency that allows you to setup a network with minimal wires. Sometimes wireless networks are setup for complex jobs like file and print sharing; sometimes they serve only one purpose such as sharing the Internet with nearby computers. This type of wireless should not be confused with wireless cell phones or high speed Internet offered via wireless microwave technology.
Broadband Internet ? Only broadband Internet access can be shared on a network. There are two ways to connect to the Internet ? dialup or broadband. In order for an Internet connection to be called broadband it must meet four criteria:
There will be more terms defined in future articles, but these terms and concepts should be a good start and get you ready for the next articles.
You can read all the tips in this series here:
Set up a home network – Part II
I picked up my new iPhone late on Thursday night, worked with it on Friday, then left with it for a quick trip to see my brother and my first and only nephew. Prior to this phone, I have used some sort of smartphone since 2000…all Palm software based. Prior to that I used Palm handheld computers since about 1997.
I decided to move to the iPhone because I felt that the Palm innovation had stagnated…about 5 years ago. Plus, with all the innovation and development happening around the iPhone, I knew it was a great opportunity to take my smartphone usage even further than the Palm based systems had. A real quick word about any smartphone; they aren’t met for every cell phone user. Smartphones are designed for people who want to check email, lookup information on the web, get maps, send text messages, add specialty programs like conversion programs, time trackers and much more to their phone.
Enough blabber, here are some of my thoughts about the iPhone after only four days of use:
The screen is absolutely stunning…clear, bright, and responsive.
I really miss being able to select text and use copy and paste.
I thought that visual voice mail was a gimmick…until I tried it. Voice mail on the iPhone is a sheer pleasure and saves a lot of time. Visual voice mail allows users to listen to voice mail in any order, rewind pause, and fast forward messages easily, and more.
Now I know why Treo users were/are upset that Palm never added Wifi to their phones. The ability to use a Wifi connection is awesome and makes the web function very quick…even though the 3G network from AT&T works well too.
The mapping and integrated GPS and searchable maps make traveling and looking for addresses and places to eat or get a coffee a snap.
The third party iPhone application developers and web application developers are innovating in this space like no other. In a year, I think the iPhone might actually be able to cook and drive my car! Most of the applications are quick, useful, and joy to use.
These are just a few of my initial observations, but so far, the iPhone has not disappointed at all and has in fact exceeded my expectations for how I would use it and how it would function. The screenshot above is an actual capture of one of my iPhone launch screens and shows some of the programs that I’ve added to the iPhone already.
I’ve mentioned before that I think that laptops make a lot of sense for computer users who travel. With a great deal of our communication and information gathering tied up in the computer world, not having this tool when traveling is a definite minus. My family and I just returned from a short trip where having our laptop with us saved us a lot of time and aggravation.
While traveling, we used the computer and a wi-fi connection (which was easy to find) to :
I’m curious what other travelers use their laptops for on the road. Leave a comment and tell me your traveling laptop story or tip!
Amazon announced a new product today that they feel will revolutionize reading.
The Kindle is a digital book.
Perhaps it is worth $399 plus the price of books to not have to turn pages. Regular books are so difficult and out dated. They don’t take batteries, they don’t break down after extended use, they can be heavy and lets not forget the difficulty of turning pages.
The Kindle is a small portable device a little larger than the average smutty paperback and a lot thinner. Users will be able to download any of 88,000 books for $10 each.
Rather than using WiFi, the Kindle will use EVDO broadband service used by cell phones so content will be accessible from anywhere within cities that offer EVDO.
While the display is easy to read – Amazon explains it as, “As easy to read as paper.
In the end, there is really only one real advantage to the Kindle – you don’t have to turn pages. Of course it is also lighter than carrying books around with you, but for $400, you could probably buy two copies of almost every book that you plan to buy for a year and keep on at home and one at work.
For true portability, you could buy a Palm Centro.
Digital books don’t make any sense to me. Especially if they cost more than $50.
In the end, I think that the digital book will replace books with pages as quickly as the Segway replaced walking.
I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but the following is an excerpt from an email that my brother-in-law sent me. As Windows Vista proves to be a bigger lemon than anyone ever expected, Linux geeks are taking control. The future of non-Windows systems is very promising.
“You may want to check into this, though, if you haven’t already: http://www.freespire.org/
Freespire is the free version of Linspire (which used to be Lindows before Microsoft sued them). They started releasing a free version a while back to try to get some more community development going.
I recommend it because they start their codebase with Ubuntu version 7.04 (so underneath the hood, it’s completely Ubuntu), but they add in a bunch of really useful stuff.
The most useful of these extra features are the proprietary codecs and drivers. Linspire/Freespire is the only major Linux distribution that comes bundled with support for MP3, WMA, etc, plus a bunch of non-open source drivers for wifi and video cards and other hardware.
They also include a bunch of proprietary software like Flash, Java, Quicktime, and Adobe Acrobat.
The other distributions don’t include this stuff because they don’t want to pay licensing fees, and because it’s not open source software, so if you’re a purist, it kind of violate the Linux philosophy.
On my old laptop, I tried half a dozen different distros (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Gentoo, Suse, etc…), and Freespire was the only one that got my wireless card working right out of the box, without fiddling with ndiswrapper or any of that crazy command-line stuff.
Like I said, Linspire/Freespire both contain a bunch of stuff that’s not open source, so for somebody who’s moving to Linux as a political or philisophical thing, it’s probably not a good choice. For somebody who’s just looking for solid, free alternative to Windows, it’s pretty cool, though.”
I have made no secret of the fact that when it comes to digital SLRs I prefer Canon over all other brands. I have also backed up my argument with a long list of reasons.
Everytime any other company gets close to Canon, Canon announces a new camera that out paces the competition both in features and price.
Canon did it again this week. They have announced two new digital SLRs, both will make any serious photographer drool unless they are blinded by their loyalty to another brand of camera.
The most significant of the two announcements is the Canon 40D. The 40D features a 10 megapixel sensor, 6.5 fps, a 3″ LCD view finder, live preview LCD (a rare feature on DSLRs) and nine point focusing. Canon has also targeted the semi-pro photographer by incorporating weather sealed buttons and changeable focusing screens. The camera is also compatible with a new WiFi battery grip that allows wireless transmission of photos even as they are taken.
If it follows the pattern of its predecessors, the 40D will be priced under $2000 with a lens.
The other major announcement was the 1Ds Mark III. This is the new beast camera. In the late 90s Canon knocked Nikon’s F5 out of the top spot with the 1V a weather sealed, drop resistant camera that shot 9 fps. Nikon held the top spot in digital for a couple years until Canon released the 1D, a digital version of the 1V. Try as they might, no one has been able to catch up since.
The 1Ds mark III features a 21 megapixel full frame sensor (most digital sensors are 27mm not a true 35mm), 5fps (if you want faster, go with the 1D Mark III at 10fps), live preview, dust removal, 3″ LCD and dual processors much more dynamic LCD.
Don’t expect this one to be cheap. List price for body only is $8000.
This week’s tip addresses a rough area with Ubuntu Linux…using wi-fi (wireless) Internet. I have had some of the same problems utilizing wireless Internet as other people, so I set out to learn more about it and find as straight forward a solution as I could. What I found was called WiFi Radar. I wrote about it in Day 3 of my 14 day Ubuntu only series. In today’s tip, I submit to you the video version of that tip.
HelpMeRick.com started as a monthly tip site for beginners in 1996, and now supports our popular call-in computer show, and hosts thousands of useful computer tips and links.
Even if you are an experienced computer user, use our site as a resource to provide help to the friends, family members and co-workers you provide tech support for every day.
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