Internet Explorer 10 is Here? | More..
Saturday Bits & Tech News
• Internet: Loyal readers have heard me say that this tech stuff is evolving at an exponential rate, and never stands still — you got to keep up — keep learning. Seems to me, Microsoft’s new version of Internet Explorer (#9) got here just last month, and here I see that a limited “test drive” (pre-release) version of IE 10 is now available for download.
I am sorry, I cannot tell you much about IE 10, except that you can get it/read about it here. (Not sure it’s something you want to do, but.. now you know.)
• Tablets: If you believe everything you read, tablets are how we are going to compute. Apple’s iPad has “changed everything”, and now companies are scrambling to bring you their versions. Android is a game changer. Blah blah blah.
I think it’s still much too early to buy a tablet, but I am keeping an eye on developments.
This week’s tablet hullabaloo and ‘press frenzy’ is a new player in this fast-shifting game: Review: HP TouchPad is the productivity tablet
“HP’s webOS tablet, the TouchPad, has landed. It’s not the entertainment powerhouse that the iPad is, but there’s a lot to like for business professionals. Here’s a look. READ FULL STORY..“
(Catch that? “Entertainment powerhouse”? The iPad?! That’s too funny. I am not knocking the iPad, but know this – no tablet is a “powerhouse”. You have to keep your thinking caps on, people. Tech Paul lives in the Playboy Mansion. Wrong. Just because it’s there in black and white, doesn’t mean it’s true.)
• Hacktivism: If you read sites like this one, you probably have read about about LulzSec, a group of politically motivated vandals. I cannot print my thoughts on this subject (there really is no such thing as true “free speech”; and this is a “public forum”) but I can say that the story does underscore just how vulnerable to mischief the technology we built this “web” (and “smart grid”) on is, and, if you want to learn more: 50 Days of Mayhem: How LulzSec Changed Hacktivism Forever
“LulzSec didn’t invent hacking, let alone hacktivism, but the merry group of digital outlaws showed how a tight-knit operation and canny PR can take the world by storm.” READ FULL STORY..
(Ahem. “Merry group of digital outlaws“??? What, these guys are modern-day Robin Hoods? Wow. How out of touch is that? A very good article, though.)
• More Internet: The Internet’s Thirty Second Rule.
(Also a very good article.)
• HP, or DELL? My recommendation on that question has been sought several times this week. Fortunately, I could just refer them to this: Which is Better, HP or Dell?
• Summertime Odds are good it is a nice day there where you are. Turn off your computer. Go outside. Stay there all day. Find a chair, and one of those really old-fashioned things that people used to call “paperbacks”, (Dashiell Hammett is a good choice) or better yet, take a hike. Stretch your legs. Leave the smart phone home — look up, and around.
There’s a whole ‘nother world out there.
(Thanks for reading this, though. Now get outside!)
Today’s thot: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” ~ Albert Einstein
Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Paul, lots of interesting subjects today: The Internets 30 Second Rule is accurate. I am one of those readers who scan most articles, depending on my interest in the subject. Often there’s too many links, (too much information) the info. becomes endless. While this particular article has many interesting links, I only clicked on two…again, there was endless reading. (who has the time?) If the article really catches my attention, and I don’t have time to read it at the moment I will print it off to read later. (as my bedtime or dinner time reading) To Book Mark it…I may never get back to read what I thought was interesting because the next time I sit at the computer there’s more to read. (I know this depends on the individuals interests)
As a computer user another distraction from reading is “the tech aspect of it all”… often i do not understand the tech. lingo …so I skip over it .Then the endless updates often changes the format of what I am interested in …”especially Firefox” …then it’s easier/quicker “not to read”!
With so much advancement in the tech world, I think it has become “counter productive” for the average user of the computer.
Speed…fast pace of our world has taken over…not only with web reading, but with most things.
Your Summertime suggestion is right on Paul, “turn off your computer…go outside…”
Gaia
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Gaia,
I found Bill Mullins’ The Internet’s Thirty Second Rule to be an accurate observation, and good “food for thought”.
We are living in an age of “instant”, “always on”, “always available”. (We keep a phone in our pocket, for crying out loud.) More information is available to us, from more places, via more mediums than ever before in Man’s history — and we see things happen “live” instead of reading about them in tomorrow’s paper.
When I was growing up, I had 6 television stations to choose from, (and there was no record now, watch later machines)(3 of which I ignored as they showed soap operas) and when there was nothing on, I went outside and played.
Today I have 300.
And Netflix.
And a Blu Ray/DVD and TiVo.
And the Internet (i.e. YouTube).
Information overload?
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Well, Im not sure exactly how to define “Entertainment Powerhouse” but I spend more time with my iPad than any other electronic device I own. I can play dozens of games, watch any movie or TV show I can stream from the net or have stored on my computer, have access to my entire 30,000 song library whether I am at home or not, read almost any newspaper from around the world, have dozens of e-books from Amazon, B&N, get free electronic versions of several magazines I subscribe to, can video chat with a lot of my friends, access the internet etc etc. And carry it around with me. I can do most of this with my computer or laptop already but certainly not as conveniently or easily which is the point. That qualifies it as a powerhouse in my book. Not sure what else I would want it to do.
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Richard,
As I said, I am not “knocking” the iPad, and my comment was referring to the hardware capabilities of all current tablet PC’s.
I thank you for your input, particularly because I was unaware that “video chat” was really a (reliably) do-able thing on the iPad, but I see that the iPad 2 now has a camera.
I may be being a stickler, but Internet connectivity does not make a device an “entertainment powerhouse” even though the Internet does provide a wealth of entertainment and information (or my old Blackberry 8830 could be considered a “powerhouse”).
Tablets (all devices really) sacrifice power for portability… often sacrificing capability — such as an optical disc drive.
Were I to decide to purchase a tablet this week, I would look long and hard at the iPad 2, so please don’t think I am “bashing”. But I am waiting for the products to mature, and the prices to drop. (See, Should we now expect to pay $500+ to be tablet beta-testers?)
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nice article…I saw the preview for IE10 awhile back; I think they are trying to keep up with firefox. Ugh I can’t even keep up with firefox anymore. I gave up on that browser along time ago! I’ve enjoy IE9 since it came out; it’s hardware acceleration works better for my computer than FF did. It was so slow! As far as tablets go…I was intrigued by them but never bought one. I have a computer and an android phone, that’s enough for me! With my busy lifestyle I don’t have time for something else too keep up with LOL
And great advice – it’s summer we should all get out and get some sun!!
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ms,
I am a Firefox guy, (largely due to the Add ons NoScript and the ad/cookie blockers listed here, Winners named, Browsers & Add-ons, Friday Fun) and only use IE 9 on one of my machines (so I don’t use it a lot..).
When I look at it, I think “Chrome”. (And, yes, Microsoft is not only trying to ‘keep up with’ Firefox, but Chrome as well. There’s a “browser war” going, you know!) But I also think of Chrome when I look at FF 4 and FF 5 (which I have not ‘upgraded’ to yet) which did come at us rat-a-tat fast.
BTW – I enjoyed visiting your site: http://www.utahphotographyblog.com
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This is off-topic but I’m wondering if you know how to stop that “tools” window from popping up at the bottom of the screen everytime I go to a website. Seems like each website does that now and it’s just irritating.
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jb,
Um.. what?
I suspect your machine has been infected.. please download, and run a full scan, with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. It’s free and you can get it here: http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
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I just want to make sure we’re talking about the same thing. It’s that tool bar that pops up at the bottom of the screen showing the icons for facebook, twitter etc. There’s a “hide tool” at the end of the but it’s just irritating that I have to do that everytime.
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jb,
When you said “screen”, I kind of jumped to the conclusion that you were seeing a variant of the (common) “System Tool” rogue antivirus infection.
But with this additional info, I gather you meant “window” (which would be the screen, if your window was in “full screen mode”). And I also (now) gather you are talking about IE 10?
I do not download betas (as a rule) so I have not used IE 10 (haven’t even looked at it). So all I can tell you is look for a “always do this” or “do not show me this again” checkbox. Or look in the preferences/settings area by clicking Tools (menu) > Options (or “Internet Options). Maybe look for “sharing”.. and turn it off.
Oh. You said “toolbar”. You maybe can go to View (menu) > Toolbars, and uncheck “social” or “sharing”..
Sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. And I’m sorry I cannot be more specific.
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