Send that Retired Computer to a Good home
Donating older computers (within reason) is good for everyone. There’s no call for anything pre-Pentium, except for possibly a museum, but Goodwill and the like can put computers ten years old and newer to good use. Make sure you wipe your files, though. A good tool for that is Disk Wipe (http://www.diskwipe.org/). It’s 100% free, […]
Trace Your Family Tree for Free
One area where the internet has changed everything is genealogy. What once took days of research in the library, and hundreds of miles of travel to other libraries, can now be accomplished in a few hours. Case in point: I signed up (for free) at wikitree.com, and entered what information on relatives I could. Wikitree […]
Get Your Money’s Worth with Amazon Prime
Are you using Amazon Prime? Did you know that it includes streaming video? Many people only know about the free two–day shipping, but if you have a Roku, a smart TV, or the Amazon app on a mobile device, you have access to a slew of TV series, specials, and movies at no additional charge.
RIP Net Neutrality?
Well, US net neutrality is dead. Or is it? A suit is being filed that says the FCC doesn’t have the power to de-classify access to the internet as a utility, which they have been seeking to do since 2014. Regardless, let’s try not to panic. A few hundred million people vs. a small handful […]
Put That Phone to Work!
Are you using your smart phone to its full potential? What’s your favorite hobby? Do you have an app on your phone to assist you? Example: Do you love fishing? Do you have an app helping you?? Apps take things like weather conditions, tides, moon phase, and time of year involved to tell you what’s […]
Hardware Lasts a Long Time
Those of us who got into computers in the 90’s were driven batty by the advances in chips and other hardware. My 1993 486 was obsolete within a year. Nowadays, the advance in speed has slowed, and five-year-old hardware is still relevant. In fact, if you’ll install an easy-to-use Linux distro like Mint, that old […]
How Simple Is Apple’s World?
Is the i-World really that simple a place? That depends. If you’ve never touched a smart device before, an iPhone or iPad will probably prove very user-friendly. However, if you’ve gotten used to running Android tablets and phones, switching to Apple will be a frustrating, confusing experience until you get used to the different layout […]
Don’t Lose Track of What’s Most Important
Technology makes it easy to connect with friends and family members all over the world. But don’t forget that face-to-face contact is the best kind. Don’t let the world of high-tech cause you to miss out on actually spending time with family members and friends. Facebook shouldn’t be your only contact with those you love.
Get Calibre and Load Up Your E-Reader
Do you have an e-reader like a Nook or a Kindle? If so, you should install an open-source program called Calibre on your computer. It will make it simple to copy books, magazines, etc. to your device. Next step is to visit archive.org and see what thousands of books, magazines, and recorded works you can […]
Keep Your Home Network Safe
Your home network is as safe as your router, your router password, and your wireless password. Make sure your router is updated with the latest firmware, and make sure you have a fairly complex password for your wireless network. Make sure you have a tougher password for your router. A hacker has to be nearby […]