Should I upgrade to Windows 10?

I've been asked before, and again most recently on this blog, "Should I upgrade to Windows 10?"

For starters, the free "window" to Win10 upgrade has passed, so that probably answers most people's questions by default. Who's going to pay $100-$200 for a once-"free" OS?

Probably no one.

What should you do?
Here's a great take on Windows 10’s Free Upgrade Offer Is Over: What Now?

I could tell you to stay with what you have; or to move to Linux or Free BSD; but I wont do that.

I'll only tell you what I'm doing.

I use a PC as a tool.
Not-so-much for recreation.
So I want a "business class" PC.
I want it to work well and work fast (or, as fast-as-possible).

This is why I turn off all the "pretties" in Windows (sliding windows, mouse cursor shadows, transparent window borders, etc), and always use the Classic mode. Even if that only gets me 1% additional performance, I'll take it!


What is everybody else doing?
Well, I think this single pie-chart - an excerpt from the article linked above - says it all:

I'm staying with Windows 7 Professional, for now.
(Maybe full time Linux Mint after that?)

But that's just me.  ;)
-J

Never 10

Many people have asked me about Microsoft Windows 10 Upgrades.

Should you upgrade to Windows 10? That's an entirely separate topic from this post...

This is post is just for people who are SURE they do not want Windows 10. Not now, not ever. And who do not want Win10 forced upon their Windows 7 PC(s). (BTW, Windows 7 will be supported until year 2020.) If this you, there is a tiny app that uses the very-little-known but Microsoft-approved way of disabling Windows from automatically upgrading to Win10.

Here's the link, if interested:
     https://www.grc.com/never10.htm

(You can read more about this app, Never10, than you probably wanted to know at that link above.)  ;)

Great Deals for a Desktop PC

Update 20160301:

$179.99$859.99

Dell 19" Optiplex Desktop Computer... - Refurbished 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM, Win7 Pro 64, w Monitor

You Save $680 (79%)

Update 20160113:

$164.99*

Dell Optiplex 960 Intel Core 2 Duo 1 Terabyte HDD 8192mb DVD ROM Windows 7 - Refurbished

*Price after $30 Instant Rebate

UPDATE 20151221

$169.99

Dell OptiPlex 780 Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz, 8GB Memory, 500GB HDD, Windows 7- Refurbished

---


UPDATE 20150721 - Decent PC with Win7 Pro (upgrades to Win10 Pro), Quad-core, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and WiFi - not too bad for <$200:
http://www.rakuten.com/prod/dell-optiplex-760-sff-intel-core-2-quad-2-4ghz-8gb-ram-new-1tb-hdd/283353057.html


___
UPDATE 20150408 - Budget PC $129:

• Dell Optiplex 960 Desktop - Core 2 Duo - 3.1ghz - 4GB - 160GB - DVDRW - Win 7 Home Premium
• http://www.rakuten.com/prod/dell-optiplex-960-desktop-core-2-duo-3-1ghz-4gb-160gb-dvdrw-win-7-home/q/sellerid/42668892/278629571.html

---



UPDATE 20150305 - budget PC link.
---

This is the best price [currently] that I know of, for a good refurnished desktop PC with Windows 7 Professional (and no bloatware).

Dell Optiplex 755 Intel Core 2 Duo 2300MHz 1 Terabyte HDD 8192mb DVD ROM Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit + 17" LCD Desktop Computer - 755SF-2.3C2-8-1T-DVD-7P64-7DV - Reconditioned

http://us-micro-corp.shop.rakuten.com/p/dell-optiplex-755-intel-core-2-duo-2300mhz-1-terabyte-hdd-8192mb-dvd/242694675.html?scid=em_Promotional_20140730Dedicated&adid=17917






Don't need a monitor?
Try this one, that is similar, but ~$40 less:
http://us-micro-corp.shop.rakuten.com/p/dell-optiplex-755-intel-core-2-duo-2500mhz-1-terabyte-hdd-8192mb-dvd/242696325.html

UPDATE 20150216:
Dell OptiPlex 780 SFF computer Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz, 8GB Memory, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit - Dell780BC1-0495 - Reconditioned

http://camecotechnology.shop.rakuten.com/p/dell-optiplex-780-sff-computer-core-2-duo-3-0ghz-8gb-memory-750gb-hdd/252898858.html?scid=em_Promotional_20150216Daily&adid=17070

$190

For a more powerful PC Desktop:
http://us-micro-corp.shop.rakuten.com/p/dell-precision-t1500-intel-i7-quad-core-2800-mhz-250gig-hdd-8192mb-dvd/259108584.html

Best Pocket Knife EVER

In my opinion, and after 20+ years of carrying a pocket knife, I believe that the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Lockblade (Model# 54848) is the best all around pocket knife (and tool set) to be had.

 

I've been carrying this same knife, every day, for over five years now. It was given to me by a long-time family friend, the late Rick Martin. One of the most lasting and thoughtful gifts I've received; my thanks goes out to him, as I use this tool daily.


Some of the Pros of this knife:

• Great balance of tools - not too many, not too few. Tools include: 3¼" locking blade; a very good 3¼" stagger-toothed saw; a can opener with phillips-screw blade-point; a bottle opener with straight-screw blade; [flimsy] tweezers; a good plastic toothpick / point; a cork screw; a nice awl, and a lanyard attachment point.

• It's not too fat! Because it has the right balance of carefully selected tools, it's no "fatter" than most other standard pocket knives. A lot of swiss army knives try to cram way too much into the body, making it awkwardly thick, and not very pocket friendly. This knife, with all its tools, is only ¾" thick:

• The locking blade is very nice! You don't see this often in the typical "swiss army knife" The saw does not lock, but the knife blade does - and that's where you need it most. The release is a bit non-standard index-finger slider on the opposite side:

• This knife is not "tactical" looking. It's not a black / quick-open / tactical / fighting knife with all the PC-negative-stigma that goes along with that. While this knife is certainly capable in a knife fight, it looks like an old timer's pocket tool, and it is disarming / disalarming in that way. This is an important point. It's like urban camo.

• This specific knife is highly recommended by the Woods Master himself, the late Ron Hood. This is a guy that I have a lot of respect for, and has a college-level DVD course on woodcraft and survival (www.Survival.com). Here's a still from from Hoods Woods, volume five:

We sure will miss this guy (link).


You can sometimes find this knife on Ebay and Amazon sells a newer version of it too:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VUJGHS/?tag=intellections-20

I've not used the newer one, but I personally like the original look best.

Full Screen Web Page Display Appliance via Raspberry Pi 2

I have a need for a small PC/Appliance to boot up, and display a web page (and update / reload this page at a set interval).

One would think this would be easier than it is, and granted it's easier today than it's ever been, but it's still not trivial.

To start out, I want to give credit where credit is due. Probably the most helpful site I used in this build was Dan Purdy's Raspberry Pi Kiosk Screen Tutorial page:
https://www.danpurdy.co.uk/web-development/raspberry-pi-kiosk-screen-tutorial/
The content is great, as well as the comments helpful.


To start out, you have to purchase a Raspberry Pi 2 (RPi2). I got one from Amazon for around $38.

I didn't bother to get a case right away; as I wanted to be sure this was going to work first, with the least about of investment.

I didn't buy their $10 Power Supply (PS). Who doesn't have a USB micro PS transformer laying around these days? Especially since it seems to be the standard charger-of-choice for all non-Apple cell phones.

• Quick note about power / consumption of the Raspberry Pi 2: In all my testing, even running a basic version of Minecraft on the Pi (which ran surprisingly well) the Pi never had a current draw greater than 0.57 amps (at ~5.07 volts).

With the Pi in hand and an 8 GB SD card I already had, I need to get bootable Linux on the SD card to start-up the Pi2.


I chose to download Raspbian Jessie (Full desktop image based on Debian Jessie) available here:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

Then I had to use Win32 Disk Imager to write the .IMG file to the SD card in Windows (and create the boot sector and all that good jazz):
http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/?source=typ_redirect
This worked impressively well.
However, turns out that the IMG on an 8GB SD card is FAT formatted, and leaves ~3.7 GB of the card unallocated. The main partition, with the Full Debian Jessie desktop image, has only 2% free space on the disk at boot up! This leaves basically no room to add anything else.

I tried several different ways to add the unallocated space back into the primary partition, including Windows 7 partition manager, but eventually stumbled upon a much easier solution: Once you boot the Pi, goto [Start]Menu → Preferences → Raspberry Pi Configuration. The first tab, first option, is "Expand Filesystem". One click there, and a reboot, and it's done! The working drive goes from 2% free, to 52% free! Now, we've got some space to work with.
(Note: use command "df" to check disk free space in Linux terminal.)


The next problem I ran into is the web browser. This Raspbian Debian Jessie OS comes with the Epiphany Web Browser. This seems like a nice browser, and would probably be usable, IF there was a way to start it up in Full Screen (F11-style) mode. But there isn't:

Chromium browser (the generic / open-source? version of Chrome) does have a -kiosk switch that can do this. Snag: Chromium is not in the repositories on Jessie. So you have to get in manually:

wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87113035/chromium-browser-l10n_45.0.2454.85-0ubuntu0.15.04.1.1181_all.deb
    wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87113035/chromium-browser_45.0.2454.85-0ubuntu0.15.04.1.1181_armhf.deb
    wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/87113035/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra_45.0.2454.85-0ubuntu0.15.04.1.1181_armhf.deb
    sudo dpkg -i chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra_45.0.2454.85-0ubuntu0.15.04.1.1181_armhf.deb
    sudo dpkg -i chromium-browser-l10n_45.0.2454.85-0ubuntu0.15.04.1.1181_all.deb chromium-browser_45.0.2454.85-0ubuntu0.15.04.1.1181_armhf.deb

(Source: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=121195&p=818455)

Once that is installed, you can launch a full screen browser window, from the command line:
$ chromium-browser --kiosk www.google.com




Unless you're going to keep this isolated by wrapping it in a receipt for a while (like I did), you're going to need a case for your RPi2. I got this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQLB1N6

I'm impressed with how well this worked, and how good the tolerances are. The only drawback to this design I see, is that it should have a removable cover for the GPIO pins, if you're not using them (like me). Otherwise they're just all hanging out in the open for no good reason.



I was able to find a very small USB wireless NIC card/adapter for this that worked.

I first tried one from X-Media USA - their XM-WN1200. It did not work natively in the RPi2, nor in a full desktop install of Linux Mint 17.1.
I looked on their included mini-CD, and no Linux drivers.
I contacted their support department, and they said: "Please download Linux driver for XM-WN1200 from link below, choose MT7601U USB driver for Linux." and gave me the link:
http://mediatek.com/en/downloads1/downloads/
I tried this, but could not get it to work.
Sent them a follow-up email, and their final response was, "We do not have driver installation of Linux for XM-WN1200 as we only advertised this product supported Windows.  Even though the chipset does support Linux, please search online for any help."

So I purchased an Edimax 150Mbps Wireless 802.11b/g/n nano USB adapter (EW-7811Un):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MTTJOY
And this device seems to work great with Linux.
With Linux Mint 17.1, it installed quickly, and was up and running with in a minute or two.
With the RPi2, it took longer, and I even had to do a reboot before it started working correctly.
But it's running good now.

Unless you have a large work space for testing these kinds of things, you will quickly tire of needing to have another full size keyboard and mouse to work your RPi2. I found this clever little micro keyboard and trackpad (mouse) combo that solved that problem nicely.
Rii 2015 Mini Wireless 2.4GHz Keyboard with Mouse Touchpad (mini X1):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I5SW8MC

As an added bonus, it also combines both the keyboard and mouse to a single USB-nano adapter, freeing up another USB port on the RPi2. This kb/mouse is as big as the average TV remote. It also worked with RPi2, desktop Linux Mint 17.1, and Windows 7 (although the driver find / download / install on Windows took much longer). I can see myself using this a LOT for test PCs, and will probably be getting another one of these soon.



After hours of research and testing the numerous ways to "autostart" an application in this flavor of Linux (it should NOT be this hard -- this is why Linux has to fight for traction with mainstream users) I finally got Chromium to autostart on boot.
Had to create a file called chromium.desktop in the ~/.config/autostart/ folder, but launching nano.
In that file, you need to put:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Connect
Comment=Checks internet connectivity
Exec=/usr/bin/chromium-browser --kiosk --disable-restore-session-state www.GOOGLE.com

Problem: This does not prevent the "Restore pages?" bubble.



To keep the screen from blanking:
All that you should have to do is to open the file:
/etc/kbd/config
And in there set
BLANK_TIME=0

Problem is; this doesn't work.
And apparently it's a known bug.
However, you should set this anyway, as it's expected to be fixed in the future (test!).

So the work-around for now seems to be to set
consoleblank=0
in the
/boot/cmdline.txt
Testing this now... and it doesn't work either...

Still hunting for a solution for this...



---The rest of this is just random notes to myself, as this is still a work in progress for me---


Screen is still blanking... around 10-15m intervals...




% read all the other comments to main article first for ideas.




Next we need a way to remote into the RPi2.

(Ref: http://www.raspians.com/knowledgebase/?knowledgebase=setting-up-a-remote-desktop-view-the-pi-on-your-windows-pc/ )

We need to download Xming on our Windows PC:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/

Install that...

Parental Time Limits on Linux Mint

How to add time limits (parental guidance) to Linux Mint (&/or Ubuntu):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mjasnik/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install timekpr

So far this program, seems to be the best for setting both time limits on total minutes of PC use, and hours of operation.

 

(Special thanks to this site for pointing me in the right direction.)

Promiscuous USB

I was in the ER the other day (as a visitor, not a patient), with my iPhone at 6% battery left, when I spied the USB ports on the back of the room PC:

I was very tempted to sip a little 5-volt juice from their port, as life-support for my dying phone. And I probably would have, IF I had a data blocker with me:

(This blocks the two data wires, but allows the two power wires to connect. So you can safely charge your phone. This works both ways: safe for you and your phone, but also safe for the PC owner too.)

I can imagine that many, many people just plug their ramdom hackdroids into hospital equipment all the time. This mus be a nightmare for their IT staff. Indeed, there's an article out today USB Ports Pose Hidden Risk for Medical Facilities.
Full Article: http://www.scmagazine.com/usb-ports-pose-hidden-risk-for-medical-facilities/article/458298

Everybody should have a data-blocker in their urban EDC. ;)

Amazing Hummingbird Sculpture / Machine

The Problem With Minimalism

Great article:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/07/31/the-problem-with-minimalism/

Adobe Flash Soon to be Unsupported in Chrome

I just saw this:
Adobe Flash Player is "soon to be unsupported" in Chrome.

This is the best news I've heard all morning! :)

Windows 10 has to 'phone home' for You to change Your password!

Did you know?

Windows 10 has to "phone home" for you to change your own PC login password:

If you don't have internet, you can't change your own login password on Windows 10.

I feel like this is "innovation" in the wrong direction...

XP to XP Embedded

To start with, this is a bad idea.
You really need to get off of Windows XP (where the "XP" now stands for "eXPired").

There are better Operating System(s) out there now, even those that are free.
Example: Linux Mint - http://www.linuxmint.com/

But if you have to run XP, then at least initiate this 'hack' to maybe, possibly, get a few more updates from MS that might work with XP. Of course it comes with the standard disclaimer from Microsoft:

The security updates that could be installed are intended for Windows Embedded and Windows Server 2003 customers and do not fully protect Windows XP customers. Windows XP customers also run a significant risk of functionality issues with their machines if they install these updates, as they are not tested against Windows XP. The best way for Windows XP customers to protect their systems is to upgrade to a more modern operating system, like Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.

So here's how you do it:
[1] Create a text file on the desktop.
[2] Make sure you can see the .txt extension. If you can't, refer to here on how to turn it on.
[3] Open the TXT document, and Copy the following into it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady] 
"Installed"=dword:00000001

[4] Close and Save the TXT.

[5] With the TXT highlighted on your desktop, press [F2] to rename it to "embed.reg"

[6] Confirm you want to rename the TXT file to a REG file.

[7] Run the file and merge the setting with your registry.

[8] You're done! Go run Windows Updates now.

How to Turn On Extensions for Known Types (Windows)

• Reveal file extensions for known file types.
• This is a feature bug in Windows where Microsoft does not display the [usually 3-character]  extension of a file. This has been used in the double-extension exploit:
• Excerpt: A way to trick users into opening a virus. Many people have learned that text files (.TXT) and image files (.GIF, .JPG, etc.) are safe to launch because they are data and not executable software. They have learned to be leery of .EXE, .VBS and other extensions that are executed immediately. Thus, virus writers try to trick more people using double extensions, so "I LOVE YOU.TXT.vbs" is really not a .TXT file, but a .vbs file, a Visual Basic Script that is executed immediately
• Open Windows Explorer [Win]+[E]:
• Press [Alt] to make the menus appear
• Tools --> Folder Options..
• Go to the View tab
• Check "Always show menus"
• Uncheck "Hide extentions for known types"

100th Post!

This is the 100th Blogger Post for me.
Yea! ;)

Note: Some past posts have been deleted. Example: content they linked to was no longer available.

The Ideal Case for an iPhone

The ideal case for a seasoned iPhone (like the iPhone 5) would be at least this:
• Should be similar-to / strong-as an OtterBox.
• Should have it's own (non-stick) screen protector, like the OtterBox Defender.
• Should have it's own battery to supplement the phone's.
• It's lightning connector to the phone should be MFi certified w Apple.
• Should have a Qi wireless charging coil built-in.
• Should have a wired charging port, either USB micro or Apple lightning.


Nice optional, but not critical features would be:
• Would have both charging ports available to accept either USB micro or Apple lighting.
• An independent on-the-case LED battery meter for the case battery.
• An independent on-the-case LED flashlight.
• A UBS power out port, so you could charge something else.

R.I.P. GTalk

One of Google's best products, Google Talk for Windows died today.

Sad because this was really the best all-around IM client for Windows. Short sided of Google to try to push everyone to their "hangouts". Why can't they co-exist?

Don't Trust Wireless Keyboards

Yet another reason not to trust wireless keyboards.

Article: Researcher builds $10 spy tool disguised as wall charger to log wireless keyboard typing.

Don't trust wired ones either - regularly look for passive dongles between your kb and your PC.

How to Install WINE 1.7 on Linux Mint 17

To install WINE 1.7 on Linux Mint 17, simply enter the following three commands:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unbuntu-wine/ppa

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install wine1.7

Now to run a Windows EXE, just right-click on it, and select "Open with..." --> WINE in the Linux Mint environment.



Special thanks to this video for the info!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waCuiEMviZ0

How to Install Minecraft on Linux:

UPDATE (20150418):
Minecraft no longer requires system-wide Java to install. It will get what it needs of Java automatically, and make it only available to itself. This makes Minecraft run better, and more securely!


Original Post (20141002):
Specifically I have done this, and know that it works, on Linux Mint 17. But any compatible flavor should work!

The commands are:

Instructions for installing Oracle Java 7 on Ubuntu, Linux Mint and their derivative systems:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

How To Install Minecraft On Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary OS and their derivative systems:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:minecraft-installer-peeps/minecraft-installer
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install minecraft-installer 

I originally got these from this source. Many thanks to them.


Have fun!
-J

"Java no botha"

Finally! Oracle has put in an option to Java to opt-out of "Ask" and other "offers".

Albeit buried in the advanced options, this is well worth doing on all of your systems.

Go to:
   Control Panel
      Java
         [Advanced] tab
            scroll to near the bottom, and check "Suppress sponsor offers when installing or updating Java"

Tips and Tricks for Good Passwords

Grant Thompson has an amazingly well-done channel on YouTube. Recently I saw one of his videos that brought up some noteworthy points on passwords, and how to create good one.

I especially like that this is in a less-than-5-minute video format for people that are very busy (and might not be interested in reading an article on this topic), but still need to know this information in order to function safely on the web today.



As far as my recommendation for a password manager, I think that LastPass is the best:
     www.LastPass.com

How To [Really] Get Malware Off Your PC

If you have a PC, you probably have malware.

Malware is defined as "short for malicious software, is any software used to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain access to private computer systems. It can appear in the form of code, scripts, active content, and other software. 'Malware' is a general term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware)

I define it more broadly and simply as "any unwanted applications that are running when you didn't specifically request them to run".

This runs the gamut of annoying, to truly malicious.


If you want to REALLY get rid of malware, you cannot boot within the Operating System (OS) that is infected and expect it to heal itself. The reasons for this are many, but most notably some malware - like rootkits - can install themselves so low-level that they start before the OS does. Therefore no program, running under the OS can even see the files, let alone disinfect or delete them.

So in order to remove files like this the drive has to be working on externally from the infected system. The good news is, there is a way to "externally" work on your own hard disk drive (HDD), using your own PC's hardware, by booting solely off of a CD-ROM, and never booting from the infected HDD.

To do this, you need to download a Rescue Disc Image in the ISO format. Then use a program, such as Infrarecorder, to burn the ISO file to a bootable CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM).

Make sure in the BIOS of your PC that you can boot from your CD / DVD drive. I like to set the boot order to: [1] CD / DVD Drive, [2] Removable / USB Drive, then finally [3] HDD.

If your PC is an untrabook or for some other reason does not have a CD / DVD drive, you can try making a USB Rescue Drive or you can get one of these inexpensive USB optical drives which any good tech outta have in their 'tool box'.

Here's where to get the ISOs I recommend:

AVG Rescue Disc (AVGRD):
http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd

Kaspersky Rescue Disk (KAVRD):
http://support.kaspersky.com/us/viruses/rescuedisk/


While you're at it, make sure your drive integrity is good - purchase a copy of SpinRite - and run it. It really can make a difference, and will give you early warning of a HDD that's heading south.


Happy Hunting!
-J

A Good Monitor

Here's a good 19" monitor with VGA and DVI inputs, and even a USB hub, for ~$80:

A Curious Bug

To the best of my recollection, I have never seen this bug before:

And yet this morning, the Publix / Cheek & Scott parking lot was littered with them:

Basking in the predawn glow of the parking lot's artificial lighting, which you can see reflected on their hard-back shells.

They are nearly motionless, and as hard as a glass marble. About the size of two marbles side-by-side.

You can see here, I gently nudge one with my shoe (flipping it up-side-down) and it immediately (and quite frantically) rights itself, then becomes motionless again:

Does anyone know what kind of bug this is?

How to tell what carrier your cell phone is on:

Dial 611 to find out what carrier a cell phone is on.

Or, you can sometimes tell by the home screen, as seen here on this StraighTalk iPhone5:

(TFW = TrackFone Wireless, a.k.a. StraightTalk)

How to Tell if You are Connected to a Verizon Femtocell (Network Extender)

You probably have seen stories like this:

Hack Turns Verizon Femtocell Into Spy Tool

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421782,00.asp

But there is a simple way to know if you are connected to a real Verizon cell tower, or someone's Verizon femtocell (what Verizon calls a "Verizon Wireless Network Extender", link).

Simply dial #48.

From Verizon's own documentation:
"How do I know my phone is connecting through the Network Extender? When dialing #48 on your wireless phone, an an­nouncement will tell you if you are within range of the Network Extender. In addition, you will hear a short double tone on your wireless phone whenever making or receiving a call. The tone is played at the beginning of the call."

So also watch-out for (well, "listen"-out for) those short double tones too. That's a dead giveaway that you're on a femtocell. If you were not expecting to be on one, and don't trust the new unknown one; then it's time to "go sheilds up!" - set your phone to airplane mode, until you're clear of the area.

Be careful who you connect with!

Happy Tech'n,
-J

How to default HTML render of a Google Calendar on a web page to Week view:

I personally find that the Week view of Google Calendar is more helpful. This is also the case because I have so many calendars and events shared with my account that it just runs out of space trying to fit events into the small squares of a monthly calendar. Furthermore, you don't get the time-block perspective in Month-view that you do in Week-view, where you can easily see where events are double-book or overlapping.

Recently I wanted render a Google Calendar on a web page, and it (of course) defaults to Month-view:

...with options to change it to Week-view, or Agenda-view. I wanted it to default Week-view:

...and optionally display Month-view or Agenda-view.

To do this, you need to add a tiny snip of code to the iframe embed code URL.


For example, your URL probably looks something like this:

src="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=[your_domain].com_[GoogleAuthKey]%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York&amp"


You just need to add to it:

src="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=[your_domain].com_[GoogleAuthKey]%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York&amp;mode=week"

That's it! Now the default view mode = week.


Happy Tech'n,
-J

Will people one day answer their phones with CAPTCHA phrases?

"What's three plus four?"

Robo-calls are getting "smarter". Recently I've noticed a trend in robo-spam-calls to awkwardly answer the phone, then "introduce" themselves ("oh, hi, this is George...") and even go on to ask you how you are, and "politely" wait for a reply, before launching into their sales spiel.

It makes me want to answer any call from an unknown number with a CAPTCHA like the above. In fact I need my smart phone to go ahead and field my calls from any unrecognized number, and filter out the spambots from the humanoids, then let only real people ring through.


UPDATE (20150811):
Coming full circle on this, it's now rumored that Apple will make Siri available to answer incoming calls in a future update of iOS. So robo-calls may one day be answered (and filtered) by your robo-assistant. I love the irony of that. ☺

Questions on Old and New Laptops

I recently received an email from a daughter of a friend of mine, and it's a common question and topic that I often field for people. I wrote her back, and thought I'd share the content of the dialog, and additional questions, with others, as it might help. In fact since then, two other people have asked similar questions; so I hope this helps!

This is for informational purposes only. Name(s) have been changed to protect their identity. This information is current as of June 2013, but as you know, technical specifications can and do change rapidly in our field.

Hi Anna,

...

 

I am saving up money right now to buy a new laptop. Mine is ready to retire. I can't really do my school work on it, it gets me aggravated.

 

I just wanted to ask you for advice. What kind of laptop should i get, I have been looking online but it all sound the same to me, and most of it i don't understand. I just need something where i can use the full Microsoft Office package.I work with Excel and Word a lot, and at times use the other programs. For some of my online classes i have to watch videos.

Have you considered a Mac? I would get a Mac Book Pro, if you can afford it.

What's your budget?

 

A lot of my business courses require me to download trial versions of certain programs such as SPSS and PHStat.

Some of those might not have Mac versions... do you (or your course work) require it to be a Windows PC?

Are you looking for a laptop only? Or are you also considering desktops too?

 

So i am guessing i need a computer with a lot of space.

You want a minimum of ¼TB of space (250GB).

Solid State Drive (SSD), if you can afford it.

 

Right now i have an Acer, but it has become very slow and gets hot very very fast even with a fan under it.

Open it up &/or blow it out with compressed air. Not the canned air- it loses pressure too fast as the liquid boils off (cooling the can) to fill the void. Get to a real air compressor with 70-100 psi and get all the dust out of your PC - or as much as you can. Although it doesn't seem like it, dust - especially the soft light fluffy dust that accumulates over a long time, is a very good insulator of heat - this means that it acts like a blanket over all your PC's components and heat sinks - unfortunately helping to hold IN the heat that the PC is trying to expel into the ambient air.

This can cause your PC to run hotter than it should, use more energy trying to compensate, and even scale back the processor speed as heat levels exceed tolerances. If it gets too hot, it can permanently damage some parts of your PC, &/or cause it to spontaneously reboot for no apparent reason (among other things).

 

It is on its fifth year of serving me :)

That's a LOOOONG time - even for a home PC.

My recommendation for the average machine is 3 years in business, 5 years tops for home.

You're at the end of that useful life-cycle on this PC. I would not spend any $$ to fix or upgrade it. (Time, on the other hand, like to [software] clean it up, or [hardware] blow it out, is probably worth it in the meantime while you're looking for a replacement.)

 

I would like to have something that has an easy way to organize all my school work as well as other documents + pictures.

Use Dropbox. It's safe (not malware), secure (encrypted), easy, and works/runs all the time; backing up and updating your files to the cloud. For example, I had my daughter organize all her school work in a folder (with sub-folders) in her own Dropbox account. And I had her share that folder with me (my Dropbox acct), so that I had a real-time instant back up of her work, should something happen to her PC.

This is something that you CAN and SHOULD do now- on your slow machine- so that when you DO get a new PC, install Dropbox, and enter your account info - all your files will automatically start downloading and populating your new PC.

It will also get you a ready-made easy way to shuttle files from one PC to the other. Though, if you're going to need to move a lot (1GB+), a thumb drive or the like would be faster.

 

If you have anything in mind could you please help me with this decision.

If you're on a super tight budget, and want PC over Mac, then here's the laptop I recommend to folks:
http://jayharrison.blogspot.com/2012/08/best-current-deal-on-laptop-pc.html

For (right now) less than $300, you get a business class notebook "Lenovo ThinkPad R400 14" Notebook - Refurbished - Intel - Core Duo 2.2GHz - Black - 4 GB RAM - 160 GB HDD - DVD-Reader - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32-bit."

Cons: Slim on HDD space; regular HDD - not SSD; Optical drive is READ only (no burning).

 

 

Thank you,

My pleasure. Let me know if I can ever be of assistance!

Thank you,
Jay Harrison

The Cost of a Watt

Thought:

As a[n easy] rule of thumb;
Every watt a device consumes, costs me ≈10¢ per month.

So, if I have a 2watt LED porch light, that I leave running 24/7, it will cost me ≈20¢/mo to operate.

Actual Math: (0.002kw * 0.1125/kw * 24hrs * 31days) = 16.74¢
Granted, this is a rule of thumb, as a general guideline, for easy on-the-fly estimates, with room for the cost of electricity to go up a bit too.