Tuesday Tidbits #20
Some interesting items for your consideration:
* eReaders: They’re reading us while we read them
“Your Kindle, therefore Amazon, knows more about your reading habits than you do. Is that something you want? Michael Kassner looks at eReaders and privacy issues.” Read more..
* HP Pavilion dm1-4310e: Swapping Windows 8 for Linux
“Windows 8 is OUT on my next-generation Pavilion dm1, and Linux — in the shape of Fedora 18, openSuSE 12.3, Mint 14 and Ubuntu 12.10 — is IN.” Read more..
(Non-Linux people still might want to look at paragraph 7..)
* How to decide: should you upgrade to Windows 8?
“With all the hype about Windows 8, one question remains for most current Windows users: should you upgrade to Windows 8? In this article, David Gewirtz walks you through all the possibilities, so you’re armed with the best decision-making strategy for your needs.” Read more..
( Though.. I am “with” this Bloomberg article: Considering Windows 8 Upgrade? Don’t
“I’ve made a lot of computer blunders over the years. The biggest was taking a perfectly well- functioning Sony (6758) Vaio and upgrading it from Windows XP to Windows Vista, which left it so crash-prone as to be all but useless.
So please believe me when I offer this word of advice on installing Microsoft’s shiny new Windows 8 operating system:
Don’t.” Read more.. )
* For those of you who are using, or are going to be using, Windows 8, I’d like to tell you that Rick Robinette is writing “how you do ______ in Windows 8” articles, and explaining the “new way” to do things. I will not be doing that; so you might want to bookmark him.
(I will be sticking to Win7; and, maybe, learning to master OpenSUSE.)
* Yesterday’s article directly quoted the (rather famous) song “Black Dog”, performed by a (rather famous) band, called “Led Zeppelin”, and dates to the 70’s. I apologize to anyone who found the lyric “sexist”. To me, I saw it as simply classic rock and roll. Sorry.
* Tis the season of cybercrime — and your Inbox is prime ‘hunting ground’..
If You Do Not Know The Sender: Delete. Don’t Be “Curious”.
Today’s quote: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ~ George Carlin.
Copyright 2007-2012 © “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 
OMG, sexist???? I am sorry, but some people need to get a grip. I am just saying…
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delenn13,
Sometimes I forget to be as politically correct as our times require. I guess this was one of those times.
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The internet, eReaders, SmartPhones, Netflix… they are all building a profile on each and everyone of us. Irritates the heck outta me, but is there really anyway we can put a stop to it?
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balmy33,
I am afraid that using proxies and aliases – where possible – is the only way to defeat the data gathering. And, by and large, the damage is already done. (The “joke” goes: “Google knows more about you than your spouse does.”)
Sure you can check the “opt out” checkboxes, and activate the “tell websites not to track me” features, if it makes you feel better — but they are optional/voluntary, and since we’re talking Big Money, why should they honor your request? They don’t like money??
What boggles my mind is the folks who fill in every (not required) box on the form without thought. When I asked them why they provided so much personal info, the reply I get more than any other (by far and away the most common) is, “because they asked.”
It’s been the Information Age for a while now … and nobody cares about the dead concept we used to call reasonable privacy. They care about serving up ads we don’t want to see, and “monetizing”.
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I’ve been getting two identical posts everyday. Went through the barely understandable unsubscribe rigmarole four times without result. Could you unsubscribe me please? On Dec 4, 2012, at 12:46 PM, Tech – for Everyone
> >
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Ana Lee,
I only see you listed as being signed up once, so why you get two is.. perhaps the way your email clients are configured? But, the short answer is no, I cannot unsubscribe for you.
If you are a WordPress blogger, you have different options for managing the “subscriptions” to the “blogs I follow”. If your not a WP blogger, you have to use the Unsubscribe link in the email.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/following/.
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