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Castellini on Computers FREE Weekly Email NEWSLETTER
September 26, 2007
HEAR
(AND SEE) OUR SHOW LIVE
EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT AT 9:30PM MST
OR
VISIT HELPMERICK.COM ANY TIME TO DOWNLOAD OR HEAR LAST WEEK'S SHOW!!
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In this week's issue. . .
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***
TIP
OF THE WEEK
*** GEEK
SPEEK OF THE WEEK - (Simple definition of common computer terms)
*** COMPUTER
NEWS...and comment
*** LAST
WEEK'S POLL RESULTS
*** ADAM'S
COMMENTS - Stuff from the digital world that is rolling around in Adam's
head.
*** Email of the week
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How
about another fantastic edition of the newsletter to accompany another
breathtaking episode of Castellini on Computers!
This has been a big week in tech news and we are excited to have you read
this week's edition. Once you are finished reading through this newsletter,
make sure to tune in to our program at HelpMeRick.com on Thursday night and
get the full Castellini on Computers experience.
We
would also like to apologize for the humm in last week's podcast. We
had some problems with our equipment after the show and will have that
corrected this week. You can download or listen to any of our news
shows by visiting our Podcast page found here.
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Email your questions to us
and we will answer them live on the air or on our daily website updates!
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CUSTOM COMPUTER HELP FROM RICK & ADAM
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We
have been posting a new how-to video every week and the
feedback has been tremendous. Now YOU have the opportunity to get your own
customized video tutorial about a topic that you are having trouble with or
just want to learn more about with our help.
To learn more, visit: www.HelpMeRick.com/videohelp
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TIP OF THE WEEK
Make your computer easier to read - Video Tip
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CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO
Setting up a new flat panel monitor can be a mixed blessing. While the new
screens are small, sharp and beautiful, they are also high resolution. This
means that everything that used to fit in one inch on your screen now fits in
a fraction of an inch as more dots are crammed closer together. This makes
the image sharper, but the text size and all other objects on the screen much
smaller.
Here are a few tips that can help make the fonts, icons and text
much larger and easier to read.
- To make these changes, right-click on a blank area of your desktop and
click on properties.
- Under appearance:
- Set to large or extra large fonts
Click on the EFFECTS tab and check the Use large icons box - Click on the Settings tab and click on the ADVANCED button. Change the DPI
from 96 to 120. Don't go much higher unless you are very visually impaired.
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GEEK SPEEK
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Digital
Rights Management is the digital copy protection system that is built
into online music. This protection prevents a person from downloading a song
then sharing it with others.
If you use iTunes or other music download services that sell songs via
download, you have probably discovered the drawbacks of DRM. While DRM does
protect intellectual property, it also prevents a user from being able to use
music that they have paid for on multiple players.
There have also been numerous compatibility problems with DRM on almost every
brand of media player. Buying the right brand and model of media player is
important for the specific service you may use.
This week Amazon.com began selling DRM-free music and Apple's iTunes is
already feeling the pressure. iTunes offers a limited number of DRM-free
tracks for about 20 cents more per song.
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DRM
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COMPUTER
NEWS...and comment
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DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS
We discussed it a little above in the Geek Speek, but here is the
official story.
Amazon began selling music by the track this week on
their site in AAC format. This is a compressed format similar to MP3, but it
may not work on some players. Best of all, the tracks are DRM-free giving the
buyers broader use of the songs they buy.
In initial price comparisons, Amazon costs about 89 cents per song and in
some cases entire albums are less. iTunes charges 99 cents per song for
standard titles while DRM-free titles typically as much as $1.29.
iPHONE NEWS
What would a week be without iPhone news. A few weeks ago, hackers released a
fix that allowed iPhone users to use their device on carriers other than
AT&T.
This week, Apple shot back at the hackers by announcing that hacked
iPhones (also called unlocked iPhones) will likely be rendered unusable
after the next iTunes update.
Hackers will likely respond by downloading their music from the new Amazon
music store.
VISTA NEWS
Microsoft released the beta test of service pack 1 for Windows Vista. We
discussed the features that are added and tweaked in the new service pack in
several posts on our
website this week.
HALO NEWS
Halo is a popular video game trilogy - episode 3 came out this week. To
celebrate, kids of all ages lined up outside of video game stores for the
midnight release on Monday night.
Meanwhile in Massachusetts, smart kids celebrated by placing a "Master
Chief" helmet and rifle on the John P. Harvard statue at the University
named after him - no, not John P. University, the other one.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD
A
few years ago a group wanted to develop a rugged, inexpensive laptop to
help educate children in third world countries. With the help of MIT
and other higher-ed institutions, the goal was to produce a laptop for
less than $100. Turns out that the cost is closer to $200 at the moment
and the project is losing steam...until this week. This
week, the group announced that starting in November, Americans and
Canadians will be able to buy the "$100 laptop" for $399. The proceeds
from the sale will allow them to build another one to give away to a
needy child. Unfortunately,
in return for the $400, buyers will get an extremely watered down Linux
laptop with limited Internet and word processing abilities. I think the
foundation might do better just asking for the money and then giving
both computers away because they aren't very useful in industrialized
nations where full-blown computers (even laptops) can be found for
around the same price. You can read more at the following sites:
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POLL Results
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Have you ever
had an AOL account?
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Next week's poll:
I watch movies on VHS, DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?
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Yes,
and I still do. 9%
Yes, but no longer. 42%
No. 49%
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ADAM'S COMMENTS
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Computers
are easy. No, really they are. They are not intuitive, but they are easy.
In order to prove my point, I have developed the Cochran Sliding Scale of Easiness. Using this scale I can easily gauge whether something is easy or
not and just how easy that thing may or may not be.
Here are the criteria for evaluating if a thing is easy.
1. Can it be broken down into steps?
2. Are the procedures always the same once learned?
3. Does every part and/or process have a name?
4. Can someone who has never done said thing before do it simply by following
a precise set of notes?
The more you can answer yes to the given process or thing, the easier that
thing is. See, computer's are easy.
Computers are not intuitive. As much as we want them to be, computers offer
no obvious help. To use the help that is offered, you must first learn the
things that there is no help for. At some point, someone has to teach you
something about the computer so that you can get on your way in the learning
process.
Computers are easy to learn, but you must put in the work. Here's what you
should know..
1. Buy a notebook and keep it by your computer. Write in it every time
you learn something.
2. Write clear concise notes. Do not skip a single step and never assume that
you will remember next time. Write it down.
3. Learn the names for everything. This may be the best use for a computer
book. In general, books can't teach you anything, but a good book that points
out all of the Windows features and names them will go a long way in getting
you started.
4. Realize that everything you do with your computer is a process. There is
not flowchart for doing everything with your computer, but there are
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of little process to do each thing.
5. Processes rarely change. Once you learn how to print, you will follow
that same process every time in every program. Once you learn to save, that
same process will work the same way in every program. The same goes for sending
an email, attaching a photo to email, spell checking a document, searching
Google, installing a program, etc.
I think the biggest reason that people have a hard time learning their
computers is that they are overwhelmed. When you are overwhelmed, your
confidence is shaken. When your confidence is shaken, your mind closes to
learning.
Rather than focus on learning the computer, learn how to print. Learn how to
save. Learn how to send an email. Gradually work your way up to big things
like creating tables, formatting columns, removing backgrounds from photos,
etc. You will discover that all large processes on your computer are actually
made up of lot of short processes.
Eat it the same way you would an elephant - one bite at a time.
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EMAIL
OF THE WEEK
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Rick,
I
have been trying to get back the date next to the messages received in
outlook express... they just disappeared one day .I have checked all I
know to check and just cant find the answer... Thanks, Carol --------------------------------  Hello Carol,
You
came to the right place! To get your date back (and other columns of
information in your Outlook Express email), RIGHT click the heading bar
(the one that says, Subject, From, etc), then click Columns. From here, you can check and uncheck the information you want to see and which ones you don't want to see. Have a great week. Rick
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Castellini
on Computers & HelpMeRick.com ©2007
Rick Castellini and Adam Cochran
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