Fun 4 d weekend

Because it fits my mood…

Sunday Beauty #161

Click on image to see more by this artist

“The Wave” by Diva007, courtesy of Flickr Commons

Today’s quote: “Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love truth.” ~ Joseph Joubert

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.)

A Different Sort of Sunday Beauty

Folks, this week’s “pretty picture” is rather different than my usual.. and I bet it is something you have never seen before. Have you ever wondered what the Internet looks like?

This Is the Most Detailed Picture of the Internet Ever (and Making it Was Very Illegal)

Click on image to see more (reco’d)

I made it kinda small, as I hope this will intrigue you enough to click on the image. Doing so will take you to the very interesting article I stole borrowed it from.. The very interesting guy there has more images, and explains how it was made — which should cause a few of you thinkers out there to have a thought or two..

So click on the image, or click here, and see the movie and read about how this ‘map’ was made. You won’t be sorry you did.

Today’s quote: “I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.” ~ Jewish Proverb

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

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

What The Inside Looks Like…

Today’s article is going to be just a little bit different, and it will be ‘short and sweet’. On several recent onsite repair jobs, I have opened the computer’s side panel and heard the client exclaim, “that’s all that’s in there? I was expecting more.. more.. stuff.” I am always bemused by people’s reactions when they look inside a PC for the first time.
(Yes, there’s a lot of open space inside a desktop PC. Laptop’s are different, and every nook is filled.)

So today – for those of you who have never seen the insides of a computer – I provide two simple photos: inside a desktop, and inside a laptop. (Your configuration will have some differences..)

Fairly high-end desktop (aka “loaded”)

Inside a laptop

Today’s free download: YouTube Downloader
“This simple freeware application works pretty well, given how basic the interface is. It has two main features: to download FLV files from YouTube, and to convert them to most major formats..”

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

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Getting The Best From Your HDTV

Bringing home your shiny new HDTV is just the beginning

A very smart man once told me, “Paul, don’t re-invent the wheel”. He wasn’t being derisive or mean, he was simply reminding me of a basic tenet that I sometimes forget. I was reminded of it today when considering how to write today’s HDTV article, and in my research came across a series written by Becky Waring for PC World magazine. It says it all, and does so far better than I could, so I am simply going to point you to it! She covers all the bases, and if you own (or are about to own) a HDTV, I’m sure you’ll find it well worth your time.

“Bringing home your shiny new HDTV is just the beginning of your home theater adventure. But don’t settle, as many HDTV buyers do, for just plugging your new set into your existing setup. The next steps you need to take after bringing your HDTV home are crucial to both your enjoyment of the set and getting the most out of your investment…”
Please see How to Install Your HDTV

Other titles in the series are:
How to Get the Best Video Signal for Your HDTV

How to Improve the Picture and Sound on Your HDTV

How to Connect Your New HDTV Properly

Stream HD Video From Your PC and Other Devices

[a brief aside: I seem to be coming across articles by Ms Waring more frequently of late, and I’m glad of it. She is top-drawer.]

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

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Adobe’s Online Photoshop

When Adobe introduced its new online Photoshop Website, I took a look and posted this review, Adobe Photoshop Express (Beta). Today I went back and looked at it again, as Photoshop.com is no longer a newly hatched beta.

For those who don’t yet know, Photoshop.com is a “Web 2.0” application for editing and sharing your digital images, and is seen to be a replacement for a program you buy and load onto your computer. It is a free service (and surprisingly, has no ads).

I would be very surprised if you haven’t heard of Photoshop; it has been around so long, it has become a verb in today’s language — meaning “to create a fake image”. Photoshop is the tool which allows you to put your head on someone else’s body.. or make it look like you’re standing on the moon.. Photoshop has long been considered the premier digital image manipulation program.

As I discussed in this article, “Web 2.0″ is all about us regular folks being able to ‘upload’ to the Web (and “share”/collaborate) instead of simply viewing (’downloading’) content. And frankly, Adobe is not the first to the market of online photo sharing Websites, nor sites that let you edit your pictures once you’ve loaded them.. Flickr, Picassa and Photobucket have been around for a while now (to name a few).

To use Photoshop online, you must “join” the club, by providing an e-mail address and creating a user account. While you do that, you create a personalized URL (like, http://yourname.photoshop.com) where you can post your pictures in “galleries”, if you want to share them (not required). Once you’re a member, you “upload” your pictures, and you can now edit them, and organize them into galleries, e-mail them, or use them as images on (other) Websites.
You can also easily “import” them from your other online accounts at Facebook as well as the sites named above.

The screenshot above shows the image editing screen. Those of you who have ever used Photoshop Elements will be very familiar with this interface. The editing options (left column) provide a thumbnail range above your original so you can see, and select from, adjustments. This makes ‘tweaking’ your image fairly easy and straight-forward, and allows you to experiment without ruining your original.

Is this for you? Well, I am an advanced Photoshop user, and so I find the tools in Photoshop Elements overly simplified – but which is precisely what many people want. While this tool will not let you paste your head onto a super-model’s body, or pose on the moon (you need a more powerful image editing program for that), it will let you smoothly and easily tweak your images, remove the red-eye effect, and share your pictures with far away friends and relatives.
[note: Photoshop.com also allows the uploading of videos, but I did not explore this feature.]

If you are not already using a similar service.. or are not satisfied with the one you’re using.. I suggest that you give this a tryout. I find it to be very slick and easy to use. So, click the link and get started.

Today’s free link: Photoshop.com

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

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Skype says I’m infected with malware…

Yesterday a “chat” window (Skype) opened on my machine, and presented me with a dire warning from someone named “Software Update”. It said that “WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION” and, it provided me with a solution.

(Click on image to see large version)

Please, folks, tell me you have spotted this for what it is.

Please tell me that you knew –instantly– that this is a cybercrime attempt.. that it is Phraud-ulent.

Please tell me that you know what will happen if the link provided in this message is clicked; and, please, please, please tell me you would never click the link.

Just in case you aren’t sure…
* “Software Update” doesn’t exist.
* “www.onlinemonitor.info” is not registered in ARIN (the registry of Internet addresses)
* clicking the link will allow scripts to run and/or take you to a poisoned Website which will install malware on your machine.. or/and, it may take you to a site that will sell you a rogue antispyware program (please read my article, Is that antispyware program really spyware).. all of this so that the hacker can take control of your machine.
* Microsoft DOES NOT alert you via Instant Messaging. No legitimate company does.

This is a classic example of a hacker’s attempt to get you to click their link. Please point your less-savvy friends and family to this article and educate them to the dangers of spam (unsolicited) messages and tell them–
NEVER CLICK THE LINK.

[addenda: Peter Parkes (Skype Blogger) wrote and asked me to remind my readers to, quote, “Please report users who send these messages to abuse@skype.net – that will help us to block them where appropriate.”]

Today’s free link(s): I have assembled on my Website a collection of links to the best free anti-malware programs to help you prevent infection.. and clean up if you’ve been infected. To see them, click here. Also, Bill Mullins has posted a very complete tutorial, Think You Have A Virus?– Some Solutions, which is quite probably the best one-stop lesson on malware I have ever run across. (I also recommend his How Fake/Rogue Software Affects Real People.)

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

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