Friday Good Stuff

Here are a few items for your Friday.

* Why TV is doomed: HBO Now and the new cord-cutting economics

“The entire old-school television distribution system has been rocked by a quake of epic magnitude. Now I can watch whatever I want — and save hundreds of dollars a year.” Read more..

Related: Add Pluto TV To Your Internet TV Lineup

“If you are looking for a FREE internet based TV like environment you may enjoy exploring Pluto TV where the amount of content is amazing.” Read more..

That number should be much much higher, IMHO. But.

* I don’t care about the Apple Watch. Would never own/wear an Apple Watch. And as a family-friendly blogger, cannot print what I think about the Apple Watch. If you’re looking for info on the Apple Watch, well, every single tech website out there has oodles & oodles of drooling propaganda advertising hype articles on the latest Apple gizmo, so feel free togo to one of those. (To do so, click here.)

* Firefox helps you cover your assets with latest Tracking Protection feature

“Did you know that not all websites honor Do Not Track? If privacy while browsing is at the top of your priority list, Jack Wallen offers up a Firefox tip that just might allow you to sigh a breath of private air.” Read more..

[My best guess is that no website {0} honors ‘Do Not Track’, actually.. Why should they? Tracking you pays $$$.]

Today’s Important Message: As you know, tax season is a “prime cybercrime season”, and we are warned to be on the alert for bogus IRS emails/phone calls. Truth is.. it’s always “Prime Cybercrime Season”, and we must realize it. Operating with an ever-vigilant healthy paranoia has to be our day-to-day.

Today’s Poll:

Today’s Fun Video:

Today’s quote: “For it is in giving that we receive.” ~ Francis of Assisi

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Friday. A ‘check in’.

Since it’s been a while, I thought I would post a little something.. but as I sit here, I’m still not sure what that’s going to be.

* It has been my habit to post a ‘fun video’ on Fridays.
And I probably would have, had it not occurred to me that yesterday was the anniversary of the 9/11 attack.
And a video of goofballs proving Darwin’s theory, or monkeys throwing poo, seems inappropriate today.

These folks slept on the sidewalk to be one of the first to own…

* And we all know a new iPhone was announced this week.
And loyal readers should know by now what I think of iDevices, and that I couldn’t care less.
Of much more interest to me was the announcement the new Amazon phone was reduced to 99¢.
Like.. a month after it was announced (and priced at $200).

* Facebook.
I’ve nothing positive to say. Wean yourself from it, if you can.

* Firefox Beta 243 is out.
Seriously. Guys. Just fix the bugs, and call it a day. (And bug fixes don’t call for new version numbers..)

* I’m looking forward to the weekend. I hope you are too. Having something to look forward to is important for your mental ‘well-being’.

* And speaking of ‘well-being’, would the one person who answered my poll with “I feel none of those things” care to share how they do it? (You can leave a comment w/o a name.)

Be well

Today’s quote: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~ Aesop

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
And please, never forget – one person can make a difference.
Find a way to make someone’s day today.
(Best advice I ever heard? Don’t sweat the small stuff.)

Troubleshooting Internet Explorer (A Collection of How To’s)

It is a simple and well-known fact of life — sometimes things go wrong with computers.

When that something is your web browser, and you cannot surf the ‘net, or log in to your email, or Google Docs, well, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a computer these days.

Causes: There can be many reasons your browser can get ‘corrupted’ and stop functioning properly – from viruses, to Updates failing to install properly, and also “cookies” can ‘go bad’ – and so there is no 1-click-cures-all, (wouldn’t that be great?) but here are some things you can do to try to get Internet Explorer working like it should, and/or working like you want it to .
[note: most of the practical steps described in the article links below can be applied to other web browsers.. (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) ]

Restore Missing Favorites In IE*

Internet Explorer Runtime Error!!*

Quick Tip: Turn on ClearType in Internet Explorer

Can’t Download? Reset IE

How To Clear Your Cache

View Multiple Mail Identities in One Browser

Extracting text from Web pages*

Precautions for your Internet privacy*

Quick Tip: Customize new tabs behavior

IE’s Menu bar, Taskbar icons, and bad Updates*

Internet/E-mail Troubleshooting – JavaScript

What is a “homepage”?

How to use tabs in IE 7

Saving webpages as files

I hope you found this collection of How To articles helpful.

Today’s quote: “Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

Bonus tip: If you are in a position where you need to get your Dear Sweet Aunt Martha (or other utterly tech unsavvy type) a computer so that they can have email, do yourself a favor, spring for an iMac.

Bonus reading:

* Infographic: Spam Olympiad

“Spammers and “slammers” took advantage of world-wide attention on the London 2012 Olympics to flood us with junk and fill the social media streams with abuse. Here’s a snapshot of their activity.” Read more

* Are You Forwarding Hate Email As A Political Propaganda Tool?

“Have you noticed that as the we ramp up for the U.S. Presidential election the hate email propaganda starts to roll in. I have been getting so much of it (mostly from personal acquaintances) that it actually makes me very uncomfortable and has me questioning the  stability and IQ of our population. I sometimes feel […]” Read more..

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories. Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Video Tutorial and Sunday Beauty 59

Folks, regular readers have heard me say (many times) that I use Firefox as my web browser; and that I do so mainly for the safety provided by the security “add on” NoScript. Today, I have a short video which explains the basic How To (and the “why”) of NoScript.

Fact: The Internet has become a dangerous place.

And it being Sunday, how about a pretty picture?

Click on image to see more by this artist (reco'd)

venice-19 (romantic venice at night) by Alan Light, courtesy of Flickr Commons

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody!

Today’s quote: “The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

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

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A Quickie…

Folks,
Crazy busy here, and time has not allowed me my regular posting. Today, I only have a moment, and will add something in relation to Monday’s article on Firefox 6, as it seems that (once again) I am not alone:

“… In other news, Mozilla, maker of the popular Firefox browser, found itself in the unfavorable position of having to defend its rapid-release program. With the new six-week release schedule causing some corporate indigestion, Mozilla chair Mitchell Baker issued a statement on why she believes the pros outweigh the cons. You can read her argument here.”

What do you think? Are you a fan of the new release cycle?

Hope I can get back on track soon, and I thank you for your patience.

Today’s quote: “It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.” ~ Baltasar Gracian

IE, Firefox, or Chrome – Which is best?* | Consumer as beta tester

I am frequently asked my opinion about web browsers: mainly, “which is best – Firefox or Chrome?” Yes, sometimes I am asked about IE or Opera too. Well.. what do you mean by “best”? And is your definition of “best” the same as mine? Fortunately, I don’t have to think too hard when I am asked, as web browsers all basically do the same thing –> show you websites.

I use Firefox as my “alternative” browser. And I have chosen it simply because of the many Add-ons available. If these “Add ons” were not available, I would not use Firefox. It’s that simple.

So, what Firefox Add-ons do I use? I’ll show you:

[addenda: I have recently added OptimizeGoogle (specifically to strip out the ads in Gmail) to my suite of defenses.]

With the exception of the Vimeo video capture-to-blog plug in, I would recommend this configuration. Why? Well, what do these things do? Look at them, and you’ll see that they are defenses – typically, blocking elements I do not want. And yes folks, your machine needs defenses on the Internet. (OK. The Java is not a defense. It’s a vulnerability.. see, Java, the new Adobe (+How To Protect Yourself).)

Adding Add-ons to Firefox is easy: click on the Tools menu, and then Add-ons. A window like the one pictured will open. In the upper left is the Get Add-ons button. Click it.
(If that seems like too many to you, I would say at a minimum you want NoScript, WOT, and Flashblock.)

*     *     *

Do you have a favorite TV show? Do you ever record movies?

I thought so. So I have a reading reco for you, a tutorial: How To Burn A Recorded TV Show in Windows Media Center

“Many people out there that have Windows Vista and Windows 7 based computers have never tapped into the Windows Media Center component that is right under their noses.”

* Orig post: 11/12/2010

Today’s reco’d read: Should we now expect to pay $500+ to be tablet beta-testers?

“Tablet makers continue to fall short of the Apple iPad and roll out buggy and incomplete tablet devices, at prices of $500 or more, and I am getting tired of it. Aren’t you?” Read More…

Today’s quote: “Success is simply a matter of luck.  Ask any failure.”  ~ Earl Wilson

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

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Enhance Google (Also Blocks Ads)

Firefox users will want to know about an Add-on I recently discovered and adopted.

Loyal readers know I hate ads. And they know I use Firefox. I use Firefox for the “Add-ons” (aka “plug-ins”) that give me additional security from cybercrime, enhance my privacy, and the ability to block advertisements — which I consider “musts” for a “better online experience”. (I wrote an article showing my “must have” Firefox Add-ons [and how to get them] here: Winners named, Browsers & Add-ons, Friday Fun.)

I just added to my list an add-on called OptimizeGoogle which, by simply checking a checkbox, tells your browser to automatically use the secure SSL (https://) when connecting to Google services (Gmail, Docs, etc.) and strips out the ads. (Woo Hoo!) Secure sign in and no ads – yup. That’s for me. It does more, too, but I’ll let you discover those things.

1) In Firefox, click on the Tools menu, then Add ons, then the Get Add-ons button.

2) Type OptimizeGoogle into the search pane. Then click on OptimizeGoogle then click Install.

You will need to restart Firefox to complete the installation.

3) Now, again, click on the Tools menu, then Add ons, then click on OptimizeGoogle to turn it blue (aka “select it”).

4) click the Options button.

5) place a check in the Block ads on all Google services checkbox, as shown.

Click OK and you’re done. (Unless you want to explore some of the other settings/options.. that is.)

Reminder: For the complete list of my “must have” Firefox Add-ons, [and how to get them] please see Winners named, Browsers & Add-ons, Friday Fun.

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

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