Nine, ten, eleven (and Sunday Beauty)

I have a question for you today, Dear Reader, and I am hoping you can give me some “feedback”  — are any of you using a Skype enabled home phone (or their FREETALK® Connect•Me phone adapter), or MagicJack? These are devices that use the Internet to make (cheap or free) calls. If so, would you tell me your experience? I mean.. do you recommend it?
(BTW, if you act today, you can sign up for a 30 risk-free trial of Magic Jack. Click the link above for the 4-1-1.)

Also, has anyone “automated” their home? Specifically, is anyone using Homeseer? ‘Preciate some feedback from you folks as well..

* Today is 9/10/11. I noticed that number string at 11:11. Eerie weirdness. Wonder what it means?
No.. don’t get me wrong: just because I am a born-and-bred Kallyfornyan does not mean I am “into” numerology, astrology (what’s your sign, good looking?), wearing Birkenstocks, nor granola. (But, yes, we do have plenty of those “types”..) Sometimes.. I notice things and sometimes my mind just wanders to strange places. Shrug.

Plenty of people are making an issue of the date, because we are approaching an anniversary – a 10 year anniversary. An awful anniversary.
I am not going to tell you that to me “it seems like yesterday”, but I will say that the fact that ten whole years have passed has changed my perspective on what a decade is. Wow.

* Today is Saturday, and here where I am it is a lovely day. The kind of day where I am going to try to get the chores done with enough time left over to plant my bottom in a chaise lounge and sip some iced tea. I hope you enjoy your weekend.
Because tomorrow is the day that it is, I am going to post this week’s Sunday Beauty today.

Click here to see more by this artist

“Luckiamute Falls” by Ian Sane, courtesy of Flickr Commons.

Today’s free download: Panda Cloud Antivirus

“Panda Security has a ‘new’ type of antivirus – Internet based. “FREE, antivirus service for consumers which is able to process and block malware more efficiently than locally installed signature-based products.”

Today’s quote: “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~ Winston Churchill

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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A Smooth Transition?

Switch To DTV Did Not Cause Chaos, Riots

This morning my little portable TV I keep in my workshop was nothing but static. That is how I was reminded that American television broadcasters had shut off their analog transmissions and “gone digital”.

It seems it really did happen. Finally. And society did not collapse (further).

C/Net article: The day after the DTV transition
“Americans have survived the transition to digital television without incident.
The sky did not fall and there was no major shortage of digital converter boxes Friday when full-power broadcasters across the nation turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital. Calls to broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission have been heavy the past few days, but officials say that the volume is within what the agency had expected…”
(I enjoyed some of the comments left on this one.)

It seems that the biggest problem people are having with getting over-the-air DTV is related to antennas. So here is a video showing how to build a Hi-Def DTV antenna out of coathangers for $1.50.

[note: I haven’t done this myself, but I have several “anecdotal” referrals.]

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Smartphones On The Cheap

Are your seatbelts fastened? I’m about to shock you, Dear Reader.
Ready?

I found a How To better than any I have ever written. Below is the link and some snippets..

How to use a Blackberry Smartphone with a cheap “Pay As You Go” mobile phone plan…

“I love my gadgets, and when opportunity presents itself to try something different, I cannot resist.

The object of the this story is to demonstrate how I maximized the usage of a Blackberry Smartphone using one of the cheapest mobile phone plans out there…

I have always been fascinated with PDA’s, have owned quite a few, and was currently looking for something that would provide PDA capabilities, as well as, mobile phone capabilities. I did not want to pay a lot or get trapped into a lengthy service contract with a mobile phone provider just to own a computer in my pocket…”

I believe that this article will appeal to (and inform) any “user level” — from those who have managed to avoid these fancy gadgets, to texting über-ninjas. I highly recommend clicking the link (above) and giving this one a read.

I tip both my writer’s cap and my geek hat to Rick Robinette (blog= What’s On My PC) and I thank him for permission for these snippets.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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How the Tech Industry is failing you, Part 2

You do the right things. You only surf to “legitimate” Websites. You never open attachments sent in e-mails without investigating them first. You’ve paid the $29.99 for a year’s worth of protection. Good for you! I salute you.

But, you get infected anyway, and now you’re being told the safest thing to do is wipe your drive and start fresh.

That really, really,.. um,.. what’s the word I’m looking for?.. stinks!
(We here at Tech–for Everyone [me, myself, and I] were sorely tempted to use a word with more tang and, vigorosity.)
And thinking about this makes me Mad As Heck (please see yesterday’s video clip).

The reason “why” is: we are being sold second-rate crud. It’s been that way for.. well, forever.
Sure, we pay top dollar for it, but it’s half-baked, untested, and has more security holes in it than Swiss cheese. (OK. Some of it is free [or, cheap], but it’s still crud.)

Software, hardware– take your pick.

Let me give you a “for instance”– if you were a big corporation and had a large budget, you could buy a UTM/WSG device to (help) protect your network (Unified Threat Management/Web Security Gateway). This device would include a firewall capable of opening each Internet data packet and scanning it for malware/porn/company secrets/encrypted data/”bad” destinations/you name it, both entering and leaving. It would include a spam/e-mail filter that interactively queries a database of “bad” IP address and URL’s (a service like TrustedSource.org), in real time. The device would also include a built-in antivirus/anti-malware engine.
The device would include all the latest and greatest security technology, and use the latest “Enterprise-grade” security techniques.

I want one of those!!!
Only… I don’t have $30,000 to spend on a box to put in front of my DSL modem.

Here’s my point– it doesn’t cost $30K to make the dang box. It costs, like.. I don’t know, $12? $20?

The reason they can charge $30K is the companies that sell them take on some legal liabilities. The box itself is a power-supply, a circuit board, some RAM, and a few chips.. peanuts.
How about this, security appliance companies, I’ll waive my rights to sue you if I lose data, and you sell me a UTM/WSG for, oh.. say..$39.99. Deal?
Stop laughing. You’ll sell millions of them.
(How many homes are connected to the WWW? )

Or how about you motherboard manufacturers? Why don’t you put a little dedicated RAM, and some EPROM’s on, and build some WSG into your board? Sell a secure mainboard.. for $40 more than a plain-Jane board. Huh? Why not? Maybe a little dedicated AV engine?

Well, I’m running out of space for today. But I’ve got more to say.
When one of you IT Brightboys get smart, and apply my idea(s) to your products, (a secure home WAP. Anyone?) you can mail my commission c/o Tech–for Everyone. (Get it?)

And please think about this, Mr. (or Ms.) “IT” CEO.. if you guys don’t get your acts together, the Internet as we know it is finished. It’s bro-ken. (monosyllables sometimes help.)

Today’s free link: (For a limited time!) My friend and fellow tech writer Bill Mullins has “scooped” me again, and is onto a great one today folks. If you’re running a Windows machine, you really should click here, and read about this download opportunity. Save you $40.

* from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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