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Castellini on Computers Free Weekly
Email Newsletter
March 5, 2008
Hear
(and see) our show LIVE
Every Thursday night at 9:30 PM MST
or
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Spelling and
punctuation guaranteed to be at least 78 percent accurate
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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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We
came back with an extremely strong show last week...and that was thanks
to YOU...the emailers and the faithful who brave the cold winds and
drafty rooms to stay up past 9:30pm Mountain time. The live show is a
lot of fun with some wackiness and some learning rolled into one.
Tune in this week and we will continue to entertain and inform. If you
can't join the show live, at least listen to the podcast posted within
an hour after the show. |
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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 and Adam
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We have been posting a new how-to video
every week since November 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.
To learn more, visit: www.HelpMeRick.com/videohelp
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Tip of the Week
Zoho Writer - Video Tip
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We have written quite a bit about Web 2.0 here at HelpMeRick.com and this week I decided to start a mini-series featuring my favorite Web 2.0 web site, Zoho.
Zoho offers an online set of productivity tools unequaled anywhere else
on the web. Many of the tools are offered at no cost and cover
everything from word processing to project management.
In this first installment, I take you on a short tour of the Zoho word
processor known as Writer. Writer offers all the tools that almost
anyone needs in a word processor with the convenience of being
available on any computer using any operating system or browser and at
no cost to the user. Some of Writer's features include:
* Secure access to your documents from anywhere
* Ability to export documents as PDF, Word, RTF and other formats
* Collaboration tools for allowing others to work on your documents from any location
* One of the best Thesaraus applications I've seen
* Footnotes, headers, footers
* Tables
* Text styling
* Open multiple documents at the same time
* And any number of features you are used to using in a word processor
Watch this short tour of Zoho Writer to learn more and see it in action by clicking here: Zoho Writer - Video Tip
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Geek
Speek |
Amazon.com is the Walmart of the Internet.
The site began as an online book store, but has evolved over the years
to a place you can buy almost anything from exercise equipment to
groceries.
Amazon.com is not a single company, they are a network of companies
that run as affiliates of Amazon.com. If you haven't checked it out
lately...give it another look. It's also a wonderful place to read some
real-world product reviews on almost anything.
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AMAZON
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Computer
News...and comment
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Asus to release "large screen" Eee PC in April
We have been very impressed with our Eee PCs (the guy who stole Adam's
Eee PC probably loves it too). The Eee PC is a tiny laptop that does
everything a portable laptop should.
Surfing the web, emailing, document creation and other basic uses are all the Eee PC does and all it needs to do.
However, for those who have wanted just a little more, Asus has
announced that they will begin shipping the new 8.9" (previous models
were 7") Eee PC. It also comes with an 8 or 12 gig solid state hard
drive and Windows XP or Linux.
Samsung makes major moves in storage technology
Samsung made some big announcements this week setting the pace for storage technology this week, they are as follows:
1. A 500 gig laptop hard drive
2. A 40 gig hard drive that works in a CompactFlash memory slot
3. Several new products made by Dell and others that will implement Samsung's 64 gig solid state hard drives.
4. The company hopes to offer a 256 gig solid state drive in 2009
Samsung expects the trend toward flash memory to increase nearly 25 percent in the next couple of years.
iPods and white ear buds may make you a target for an iMugging
Washington D.C.'s Urban Institute Justice Policy
Center (A group that looks for reasons to make new laws) produced a
report this recently on a possible iCrime wave.
Apple iPods can play music, videos and even games. They also come with
easily recognized white ear buds and the devices hold their value very
well. Add to these the fact that users are often oblivious to what is
going on around them as they are distracted by the device.
The report explains that this makes iPod users perfect targets for
mugging and violent crime. Of course there are skeptics who will debate
the report's statistics, but the general argument makes some sense.
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Poll
Results
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Do you YouTube?
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Next
week's poll:
How many cell phones have you personally ever owned?
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Yes...maybe too much.
12%
On occasion
47%
No
36%
None of your business
1%
What is YouTube?
5% |
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Adam's Comments
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OK,
It's been two weeks since my laptops were stolen, but I still haven't
completely gotten over it. What makes it slightly worse, is that I had
just setup a Mac to take over as my primary desktop computer.
The Mac didn't actually make the problem worse, but in order to set up
the Mac, I had to move my PC to another desk. I didn't get rid of it
altogether.
I was fully prepared to use my Mac for all of my day-to-day functions
but turn to my laptop around the house for email, Internet and other
projects. I didn't realize how much I had depended on my laptop over
the past few weeks until they weren't there anymore.
I have have been putting most of my computer time into making my life
universal and compatible with all formats. I use Zoho.com for my
document creation, NVU for my web editor, Firefox as my browser, Gimp
and Picasa for photos and Thunderbird for my Mac and Ubuntu email app.
I still use Outlook on the PC but I can't remember why.
In the past month as I have been using my Mac almost exclusively as my
home computer, I have found that it is a habit forming device. Concepts
that are difficult concepts on a PC, like keyboard shortcuts and file
management, are almost intuitive on the Mac.
When I tell people that I am migrating away from Windows in my personal
life, I always get the same response, "Why?" They ask the question with
an almost betrayed tone in their voice as though I have told them that
I am leaving my wife.
I explain how easy the transition was and how I don't have to mess with
antivirus, spyware. disk cleanup and other utility functions that almost
exclusively belong to the PC.
Their next thought is, "Maybe I should do that."
I am not on a mission to turn people to Mac, but when faced with the
option of moving to Vista or moving to Mac, I can't form much of an
intelligent argument for going with Microsoft.
Very soon, the only Windows machine I will be using on a regular basis
in my personal life will be a MacBook with Vista loaded as an alternate
OS. I still need Windows for when I am teaching my Basic Computer
classes via the projector. Other than that, I can't see myself using
Windows personally for any practical reasons.
I have becoming fluent in speaking the language of Windows, I would
like to one day speak, just as fluently in Mac, Linux, Google and
Windows Mobile. I still don't want to speak geek, I just call it
talking digital.
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Email of the week
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Hello
Rick,Should i go into add/remove programs and remove all of
those windows xp updates? GW
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Hi GW,
Your
initials aren't GWB by chance are they? Your email said you were from
Garfield County, Colorado...is that code for Pennsylvania Avenue?
Anyway,
back to your question...NO, you should not remove the XP updates. Those
are all the security updates your computer has downloaded over the
years. Instead, just hide them from your view by "unchecking" the box
at the top of the Add/Remove programs screen that says "Show updates".
Have a good day.
Rick
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Castellini
on Computers & HelpMeRick.com ©2008
Rick Castellini and Adam Cochran
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