Spam: It's worse than ever

Spam is always bad around the holidays, preying on desperate online shoppers, but this report from InfoPackets newsletter shows the problem is worse than ever, and growing.

Continue to use a good internet protection suite, and don't open anything you're not expecting, or from a trusted source.
The best measures:

1. View your mail without using the Preview feature that opens the message.
2. Delete all the spam based on subject line or sender name.
3. Use File / Print Preview if you're viewing email in an email program like Netscape or SeaMonkey.
4. Press Shift+Delete to bypass the Trash and delete spam without opening.

So what is Kindle?

Kindle is Amazon's attempt to compete with the Sony ebook reader, and is priced in the same category.

Kindle offers wireless access to more than 90,000 downloadable titles at a uniform price of $9.99. The Kindle weighs in at 10.3 ounces with a black & white electronic ink screen that can be read in bright sunlight. It's thin as a pencil and will hold about 200 books, which are also stored in online user accounts and can be redownloaded at any time. Unlike most digital reading devices, Kindle does not require a personal computer. Through an agreement with the Sprint, Amazon has built its own network on the back of Sprint's EVDO wireless cellphone network. There is no separate fee or monthly billing for use of Kindle's wireless access and all titles and services for Kindle can be purchased through the wireless access provided through the device. (Thanks to Maggie at Compulsive Reader).

The ebook market has yet to reach even a mini-peak, in part because there is no standard for ebook files or for the reading device to view them. Most are now available as text files or .PDF and can be viewed right on your computer. They're formatted for very comfortable reading on a laptop.

But a book needs to be portable, so we now have Amazon, world's largest book purveyor offering books readable on their Kindle device. Now, Sony announced they will issue a lower priced reader, and with that sparking the competition, can Microsoft be far behind? Will Google be next? Chances are, now that there's competition, there will be more consumer choices. Until then, Kindle lights my fire, with it's wi-fi access to download books without hassle.

Both of my books, Computer Ease and Release Your Writing are available for download as ebooks if you want to expand your library at half the cost of the softcover books. And, of course, there's no shipping charge.

Leopard's spotty upgrade

Okay, I'll admit it. Reading Eric Zorn's column in the Chicago Tribune is time well spent but it doesn't always make me giddy. Yesterday, 11/20/07, his column "Father knows high-tech hype when he sees it," pleased me. Not because Eric had computer trouble - I take no joy in that for anyone, but because for once, we read something honest, and negative, about the Mac "experience" and the new Leopard operating system.

I consult only on PC's and 2007 is the first year I've heard of so many PC users bailing out and moving to a Mac. Then, they often call and have the same problems with the Mac they had with the PC.... can't print, can't open an email attachment, can't find their files. My premise all along, is that you can have the same problems with a new computer as an old one. Switching doesn't always make it better.

You can read Eric Zorn's article for free on the Chicago Tribune web site. Sign up if you're not already a reader there. Basically, he purchased the new Leopard operating system, only to find the upgrade would wipe out his hard drive -- all data would have to be backed up. So he took it to the Apple store, and paid them to do the upgrade. They also found some faulty memory and restored some of his files but not all. Not a completely happy experience for someone enticed by the promise of an upgrade that costs much more than expected.

There is no panacea with computer, nor with anything else that requires effort. I see the same experience with people who upgrade to Vista on a PC, thinking it will be better. Sadly, it's better for Microsoft, but doesn't do much to enhance a user's productivity. And isn't that why we use technology?

Let me know what you think,
Helen Gallagher

Over 100 Million Blogs!

A recent Chicago Tribune article states there are now 109.2 million blogs. That's one for every 151 people, or one for every 23 people with internet access. Gosh - yes, you do need internet access to view blogs.

No one has time for that much reading, and apparently a lot of blog owners don't have time to write them either. Statistics show over 99 percent of blogs are static that means no updates and no visitors. "a state of total or near-total obscurity," the article states.

If you're a blogger, remember why you are writing: to give readers something of value. So your commitment and obligation are to keep your content fresh and informative. Otherwise, blogging may fade away - and that's trouble for the good ones as well as the bad.

And yes, internet is now spelled with a lower case i. After all, it's the internet, not God. This is the editorial point of view from Wired magazine when they stopped capitalizing internet a few years ago:

From Wired.com:

It's Just the 'internet' Now

Tony Long 08.16.04 | 8:14 AM

"Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I" in internet.

At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net.

Why? The simple answer is because there is no earthly reason to capitalize any of these words. Actually, there never was.

True believers are fond of capitalizing words, whether they be marketers or political junkies or, in this case, techies. If It's Capitalized, It Must Be Important. In German, where all nouns are capitalized, it makes sense. It makes no sense in English. So until we become Die Wired Nachrichten, we'll just follow customary English-language usage. (Web will continue to be capitalized when part of the more official entity, World Wide Web.)

Still, the decision wasn't made lightly. Style changes are rarely capricious, since change plays havoc with the editor's sacred cow, consistency.

But in the case of internet, web and net, a change in our house style was necessary to put into perspective what the internet is: another medium for delivering and receiving information. That it transformed human communication is beyond dispute. But no more so than moveable type did in its day. Or the radio. Or television.

This should not be interpreted as some kind of symbolic demotion. Think of it more as a stylistic reality check."

QuickBooks software - free

Intuit, Inc., maker of Quicken and QuickBooks is launching a new version of QuickBooks called Simple Start. The retail price is $99.95 but it is now available as a free download from their site at Just Start.

Their goal with the Just Start program is to create a vehicle for entrepreneurs and start-ups, with a site full of advice and services, as well as contests and grants.

If you are a small business or solo operator, and want the full power of QuickBooks, download the free software. It takes about an hour, even at high connection speeds, and can NOT import existing QuickBooks data. It's intended only for someone starting out for the first time.

If you need to issue invoices, track payments and monitor your spending, you have nothing to lose.

Netrosexual

I am not sure i can take credit for coining this word, but it popped into my head today: "netrosexual."

In preparing for a panel discussion, I realized how much of the internet is free of gender stereotypes. The web and software in general are very unisex, neither too male or too female. It's a wonderful common ground when intellectual pursuits and knowledge are so gender free. Maybe the web is indeed the great equalizer.

Email: Out with the old

We lived without email for generations, but now that it has been in common usage over ten years old, we see signs of wear and tear: that's "tear" as in crying, not ripping up.

We try to get rid of messages once read and file those we need to keep, but they keep pouring in and, as we all know, it's hard to find what you're looking for in a mailbox full of bits and bytes.

My manual solution is to:

Prioritize
File
Archive

Yesterday, a friend told me about a unique strategy you can start doing today. Ready for this?

For each email you receive and read, get rid of two.
So, as she said: "If I get 18 messages, I have to get rid of 36."
What a great way to start slowly conquering the overflowing mailboxes. Thanks JB!

Another wonderful thing about technology is that people are always working on new ideas, and there will be smarter email tools in a couple years. What's in the works? It's a concept called Categorization Technology. Think of it as "tags" or the tagging process that shows instantly how many web pages (or in this case, emails) contain certain words.

Tools like SenseClusters, Digitality, and my favorite name: Pigmail, are underway. We'll soon see which rises to the top and helps conquer email overload. One of the companies working on this has obtained the 3000 Enron emails released by the courts and are using them to create the classification models. If you want access to that file, email me!

Putting computers where they're needed most

We all know people with multiple computers: desktop(s), laptop(s), handheld(s), and none of them are fast enough, new enough, good enough for all their needs. New tech pops out in this industry so fast, we can't keep up.

Yet, I'm constantly aware that the Digital Divide is not closing the gap. A nation with so much tech power doesn't do a very good job of bringing it to the people who could become empowered with a computer and with some training. The past ten years have shown few advances, but now there is good news.

A Chicago Tribune article by Barbara Rose 10/04/07 speaks of a Chicago-area pilot program to "provide low-income working parents with laptops, printers, career assessments, online courses and 12 months of internet access."

Isn't that wonderful? There are only ten participants in the pilot program, but let's hope it thrives. The pilot was launched by National Able Network Inc. and receives funding from the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust and a private family foundation.

Recycling at the rate of 700 cars in 2 hours

Yesterday was the SWANCC electronics recycling event at Motorola in Schaumburg. We filled Jerry's car to the brim with computers, printers, TV's and those old heavy monitors.

Two hours after the event opened, as we waited in line to move forward to the handlers who unload the car, we were stopped for a photo op -- because we were the 700th car - in just two hours !! And, we won a prize: A Bluetooth wireless headset.

Thanks to everyone who helped this recycling event. Below you'll see the full scope of the process.

A 1945 technology prediction

An excerpt from "As We May Think" in the July 1945 Atlantic Monthly.
The author is Dr. Vannevar Bush, a man with imagination...

"Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.

It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise it looks like an ordinary desk."

I'd say his idea indeed came to pass, even better than predicted 67 years ago.
Curious? Read the full 1945 article online here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush/4

Are you an Utne reader?

I'm one a number of lucky people who get to vote on Utne magazine's covers. Last month, my first choice was the winner, for an article on censorship. It was titled: "History, What we're taught, and what's ignored."

If I get my vote, here's the cover you'll see on their next issue. I just couldn't resist!!

Lazy Library offers short books

We have so many days with no time to slow down and read, so was intriqued by this site's slogan: "read less, get more."

Turns out, Lazy Library specializes in offering books under 200 pages, for concise and effective books.
And, it was especially fun to find my own book featured there, at a nice, trim 120 pages.

Dell's Vostro so-so review

If you like reading Walt Mossberg's reviews in The Wall Street Journal, here's a video clip of his review of Dell's new Vostro computer line. Intended for small, small businesses, the system gets only a mediocre rating by Walt. Put your money into the home office line of Dell's if that's still your brand.

Dell Vostro audio-video review

Is your computer down for the count?

Even with better security suites, combining anti-virus, spyware and firewall, we still see the summer meltdown - about the fifth year in a row that Computer Clarity has been called to fix or diagnose a computer problem due to a slow computer that just won't do anything. My book, Computer Ease, has an entire chapter covering spyware. The Chicago Computer Soceity reviewer said that chapter alone is worth the $14.95 price of the book.

It happens most in families where children of all ages use the Internet, and inadvertently get themselves into trouble. Often it is not worth fixing the computer because of the high labor cost involved, and because if they did it once they will likely do it again, without a proper protection suite.

Consumer Reports recently cites the facts:

• Lack of protection on the Internet has cost consumers $7 billion over two years.
• Computer viruses have prompted 1.8 million households to junk their PCs over the past two years, while spyware has claimed another 850,000 machines in the past six months.
• And, one-third of U.S. households don't protect their computers from spyware.

Best anti-virus, spyware and firewall suites include:
Computer Associates Internet Security Suite
Panda Software
TrendMicro


Better to spend $50/year on protection than send your computer to the next electronics recycling event... which is Sept. 29th at Motorola in Schaumburg. Do not throw computers, printers, or monitors in the trash.

Fix your Norton Anti-Virus program today

If you use Norton Anti-Virus, you should run Live Update as soon as you can. The company patched a serious flaw on August 12th.

Through an error in its product, programming language flaws could allow another computer to take control of your software. Norton was not properly checking the data it received to make certain malicious commands did not pass through.

Thanks to Network World for announcing the problem - there's no record of it on Norton's Symantec site.

Is it a phone bill or a novel?

Now that iPhone customers got over the shock of paying $500 or $600 for a phone, their first month phone bills are landing with a big THWAK in the mailbox or on their doorstoop. A 50 or 100 page bill??

Seems the sleek-minded Apple folks and the AT&T Service provider screwed up big time.

Here's an example, from the hilarious David Pogue of the New York Times.

..."It’s a staggeringly, hatefully complex document, designed by some Monty Pythoneseque committee in charge of consumer confusion.

For starters, although I signed up for what iTunes told me was a $60 plan (450 minutes, unlimited Internet), the bill says I have a $40 voice plan and a $20 Internet plan, and lists them on separate pages.

The first bill, believe it or not, comes to $150. It’s filled with unexplained services and features that were never mentioned during the signup process, like MEDIA MAX, EXPD M2M, VOICE PRIVACY, and AT&T DIRECT BILL.

... It’s an unadulterated waste of paper, ink, and fuel to deliver it. It helps no one; dudes, we’re all on unlimited data plans! Who the heck needs a breakdown like this? If AT&T thinks anyone cares, they should stick it on the Web, for crying out loud."


If you have time, read more at David's blog at http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/iphoneatt-billuh-oh/

Of course, the only reason I find this so funny is because I didn't buy one !

The virtual reality of Web 2.0

I've written before about Web 2.0 - the convergence of social networking that puts the MeMe generation in a homogeneous sandbox with all their playmates. Web 2.0 sites like Digg and FaceBook draw crowds who post their favorite things online - lists of web sites, books, photos, music, and surround themselves with others who share their interest.

Many of these social networking site owners don't do much except pay the electric bill, yet they make a zillion dollars on advertising.

What are we wasting in the earth's resources by dreaming up ways to waste time through these social networking venues? Are you ready for the answer? ....


One site, secondlife.com, allows you to create an "avatar," a fake you, in a land of make-believe where you can create essentially a cartoon version of yourself, your town, clothing, etc. Or a fantasy life for yourself as a billionaire, movie star, who knows what else...

Second Life describes itself as "a 3D online digital world imagined, created & owned by its residents." It lets people live in a fantasy world, acting out behaviors they can't get away with in real life, and buying and selling goods with an imaginary currency called "Linden dollars."

Once the site became popular, large companies even created avatars for their brands and create an entire imaginary society online.

Fascinating in itself, sociologists are surely working on an analysis of "people with too much time." But more interesting at the moment, author Nick Carr, author of Does IT Matter? has calculated that an avatar on Second Life essentially uses as much electricity as a real live resident of Brazil.

The avatar world on Second Life has an average of 12,500 people online at any time. Carr calculates the computers of the real people who create these imaginary lives would use 12,500 computers, and the servers that host the site might require 4,000 computers. Based on typical watts of electricity consumed by computers, a day on Second Life therefore consumes about 60,000 kilowatt-hours.

So check the world electricity usage stats and that's a close measure to the daily electricity used by an average person in Brazil.

Now should we measure the lost productivity in the world economy by people creating and dressing these fake personas?

An executive at Sun MicroSystem's Dave Douglas took this moral dilemma a step further and calculated the CO2 emissions (greenhouse gasses) from the production of all this electricity. Douglas writes the avatar uses "1,752 kWH/year per avatar -- about 1.17 tons of CO2. That's the equivalent of driving an SUV around 2,300 miles (or a Prius around 4,000)."

You can read more at Nick Carr's blog: http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/12/avatars_consume.php

or post a comment here to share your thoughts.

Information grab by Google?

As an update to the post of July 8, about Google:

The Google program that ran on PBS in Chicago on July 12th, a film called "The World According to Google" was surprising.

Instead of celebrating the behemoth, it dug into assessing the scope of the enterprise, questioning the right of one company to collect all the world's information. I've long suspected Google and other big internet firms were on that path.

I listened with interest as Brewster Kahle, the man who made a fortune with the Alexa search engine, and founded the Internet Archive in 1996 discussed the issue. Unlike Google, the Internet Archive purpose is: "offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format."

There's an interesting interview with Brewster Kahle on SecondLife.com.

The business model for Google is sound: give information away for free, get money from advertisers. But who owns that information? We do. And, while it is clear that large internet companies collect user data, they are also giving that information away, either through strategic alliances, or if the government demands it.

Do you want all your private photos, email , address, web search history and files on your computer archived forever by them? And given or sold to others?

The Internet archive has received a grant to challenge Google Library's right to own digital book rights. See CNET http://www.archive.org/iathreads/post-view.php?id=73142.

Are you still with me? Contrary to Google's efforts to capture and digitize books from the world's libraries, the Open Content Alliance, is a joint effort by the Internet Archive, Yahoo and Microsoft to digitize library collections, including those of the University of California system and The University of Toronto. Unlike a similar project from Google, which allows users to read the digitized content only through Google's Web site, the OCA material will be searchable through any service and everyone will be encouraged to download books.

Who's to say Google will always live by its 'do no evil' motto, once they compile more information than any other source?
Who's to say what is free on the web today won't suddenly require prices once needed information is locked up by a corporation?

I'm only asking the questions, here. I don't have the answers, but hope you'll spend a few minutes noodling the ethical dilemma posed by the problem.

--
Helen Gallagher
Computer Clarity
www.cclarity.com
Tech news at cclarity.blogspot.com

Have mouse, will travel ~ and travail

I burned my finger with a too-hot touchpad. Here's my solution:

I love using my notebook computer, all day, every day, from cafe, to client, to summer on the balcony.
My Averatec notebook has a speedy built-in touchpad but lately it has become so HOT I'm hurting my fingers. While waiting for tech support to determine if there is a recall notice, I switched to my wireless mouse.

The Logitech Optical Wi-FI mouse connects wirelessly via a USB sensor that plugs into your computer's USB port. The connector looks just like a thumb drive. When you roam, you pull the USB out, snap it onto the bottom of the mouse and you're ready to go. Without a rolling ball on the bottom, the mouse works on any surface, knee, dashboard, even on your laptop wrist rest.

I have been using it lately as a portable mouse wherever I go and it is fantastic. Office Max has a big selection, and I'm sure other retailers do too.
Logitech Mouse

PS - it's a perfect present for all those Leo's with an August birthday!!

Read more Good Mousekeeping tips in "Computer Ease."

On PBS this Thursday, July 12, 2007

Google truly is an amazing empire. Be sure to watch this PBS show Thursday night.

The World According to Google

Thursday, July 12, 8:00pm

CHANNEL 11 (WTTW)

A look at Google, the Internet company whose motto is "don't be evil." Included: the company's "chief Internet evangelist" Vint Cerf; Google's hiring process; and the ethical and philosophical questions it faces.

And while Google has grown from good to great, and bred more than a few multi-millionaires, remember, it's not always the best search tool for your needs.

Read about "Search Engines: Order out of chaos," in Computer Ease.