07/26/2010

Cool Stuff - Wolfram Alpha

Category Cool Stuff


Check out a demo of this cool new search engine here . When most of us want something from the internet we simply type into Google a search phrase. It then returns thousands, often millions of results. Even Google doesn't think you'll want to sift through all of their results, they only give you access to the first 1000 or so results. The sheer volume of information Google spits at you can make it tough to get exactly what you want.

Wolfram Alpha, a new search engine from Wolfram, tries to simplify the searching experience by giving you only information. Say you are trying to open a new branch of your business. You can search demographics of a particular area, such as population in an area. For Anaheim you would search anaheim population 2000, anaheim population 1980 . Or say if you wanted to compare sales taxes in different markets where your product was sold, simply type in: sales tax Pasadena, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles. What you get back are condensed, easy to read charts and graphs which tell you exactly what you want to know, without having to search through several different websites.

Besides creating easily readable results, the website can also do most of the functions of Wolfram's Mathematica program, allowing you to use statistical and other interpretations of data. Say you have a commodity that you buy regularly, paper let's say, and you want a rough estimate of the trend of its price. Type in the data points and it will give you an equation, which you can then use to see ballpark future costs. Although the website doesn't know everything it has a wide array of everyday functions that you can easily use, try it out here.

07/19/2010

Tips and Tricks: Drastic Steps to Improve Laptop Battery Life

Category Tips and Tricks


You're sitting at an airport and you don't have your charger. Your boss called and he needs you to finish that report by the end of the day. Your battery is already half drained, how are you going to get it done in time? For just these racing against the clock scenarios we've tested several ways to get the most our of your laptop's battery.

#1: Turn the Brightness Completely Down The first thing you probably thought of too, turning down your brightness is an everyday way to get more juice out of your laptop; it probably already does it automatically when your computer isn't plugged into an outlet. Our method is far more extreme and it will make it pretty difficult to read, although not impossible. From this you can save about 6% of your battery life.

#2 Turn Windows 7 Special Effects off Windows 7 is a thing of beauty, transition effects make it a lot more appealing than its predecessors. These effects come at a cost though, requiring a lot of processor use. Turning them off will lower your power consumption by about 10%, a significant savings

#3 Use a High Contrast Theme Like the logic behind the Blackle search engine, switching to theme that is white or some other color on black, can save you power. Text is more difficult to read, but it can save you a lot of power, 13% of your battery life.

Combining them all Combining them all doesn't just linearly increase your battery life, since using a high contrast them automatically turns off Windows' effects. Trying everything gives you about the same as using a high contrast them, about 10 percent.

Verdict: Next time you are racing against the clock we recommend using a high contrast theme, since that will do the most to increase your battery life while maximizing your productivity.

07/13/2010

Security Corner - One Time Use Credit Card Numbers

Category Security Corner


Credit cards are what make online shopping a breeze. Enter the numbers on your card and within minutes you're done. The ease of credit card transactions has also attracted thieves and even if you are extremely careful (deleting your browsing history, only using secure sites etc.) you can still be a victim of theft. In august a hacker in Florida broke into a credit card processing center and stole millions of credit card numbers. The charges made were sometimes for as little as 2 dollars.

Several card issuers and PayPal have designed secure ways to avoid this problem completely with one time use credit card numbers. How it works: you go to the website of the card provider or PayPal and it will generate a one time use credit card, specific to that transaction. On Bank of America's version you can set an expiration date and spending limit. If a thief tries to use the card again it won't work. Citibank and Discover also offer this service as well for their credit cards. None of these services support debit cards.

PayPal has made it very easy by creating a browser plug-in for Firefox and for Internet Explorer. It will allow you to automatically generate credit card numbers while browsing. Once it is made you can simply plug them in and make a purchase.

07/07/2010

IT Talk: New Solid State Hard Drives

Category IT Talk


Tired of your slow moving notebook, but don't want to drop thousands on a shiny new notebook? Kingston has the answer with their new line of solid state drives. Booting from one of these will drastically increase the speed of your computer. With solid state drives there aren't any moving parts either, so their rate of failure is much lower. What's more they take a lot less power, extending your battery life.

Historically flash drives have been pretty expensive, at first being reserved for portable devices that needed their low power consumption and durability. SSDs are still pretty expensive, with a 480 Gigabyte model setting you back 1500 dollars. However, buying a smaller hard dive and using it only for OS and for the files and programs that you use frequently, can give you significant performance gains for much less than the cost of a brand new notebook. Kingston's V series includes everything you need, making upgrading a breeze. Get more information here.

06/28/2010

Ask the Answer Guy: Send Private Messages With Tweets

Category Ask The Answer Guy


Brent, I like sending Tweets but sometimes I have specific things to say to only a portion of my followers. I don't want to open another account, is there an easier way to do this?

I know a lot of people who use twitter and they have a similar problem. Although they broadcast their tweets to everyone, they only want a certain subset to receive some of their messages (e.g. clients or personal contacts). I have found this great tool, called Bccthis, which gives just the functionality you want. It has an intuitive interface that makes sending private messages simple.

Simply log into the Bccthis website and you'll find two boxes. One is for the tweet that you want to send. The other is for the private message you want to send. Then choose the recipients from your regular followers that you want to receive your extra message. After that, you and the people that you selected to receive your message can continue the conversation in a private thread. Try it here.

06/22/2010

It's Free! - TED Talk: How to Motivate Your Employees

Category It's Free!




What's the best way to motivate your employees? Most people would say bonuses, the logic being that people are motivated most by what gets deposited in the bank. Studies have shown that this isn't the case, that people are not driven most by their paychecks, but by other factors.

This neat video which adds animation to a TED talk by author Daniel Pink, is a discussion about the things that really matter to people at work. He explains how autonomy, purpose and mastery are what people really crave. His solution to rewarding top performers isn't bigger checks, it's letting them work on work they enjoy, without constant direction. He cites studies done with varying rewards and the open software movement as examples. For a more complete discussion, check out his book here.

For more "Ideas Worth Spreading" visit TED's website

06/14/2010

Cool Stuff - Great New Phones With Unlimited Data

Category Cool Stuff

With AT&T eliminating their unlimited data plan, you might be thinking its time to switch to another carrier. All of the other major carriers still have unlimited data plans and they all have a great selection of new phones running Google's Android operating system. Android is rapidly gaining in market share, having recently surpassed the iPhone OS in market share. Because of this developers are increasingly working on apps for Android devices, rapidly closing the gap the iPhone had.

Verizon has a new phone from HTC, the Droid Incredible. Although not offering 4G speeds like Sprint's EVO, it still benefits from Verizon's large and reliable 3G network. You won't drop calls as often as on AT&T. The phone is very similar to the Nexus One which Google itself markets. It benefits from a similar fast processor and large screen. Since this isn't an iPhone you also have flash, albeit in a lite version.

Sprint has a brand new phone to compliment its brand new 4G network, the HTC EVO. Its large screen and blistering download speeds will have you leaving your iPhone in no time. Sprint also hasn't saturated its wireless and so has less motivation to cancel its unlimited plan like AT&T did. In addition you won't have to compete with as many users for limited network capacity like on the bigger networks. The EVO has a front facing camera as well, making video chatting and taking pictures of yourself easy.

Either of these two options will give you all the data you want, without having to pay per megabyte like on the iPhone.

06/07/2010

Small Business IT Support Pasadena - Enable Telnet on Windows 7, Vista, Windows 2007 Server

Category Video Tutorials



Ben West from Dependable Computer Guys, Inc explains how to enable telnet on Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows 2007 Server or Windows 2010 Server. Dependable Computer Guys, Inc. does Small Business IT support for the Greater Los Angeles Area and Pasadena. To learn more visit dcgla.com/small-business-computer/it-support-pasadena.html

06/04/2010

Security Corner - Removing Personal Information From Your Phone

Category Security Corner

Today's phones contain so much of our lives; we carry around email addresses, phone numbers, photos and passwords. When it's time to get rid of your phone don't let all of the information fall into the wrong hands. Recellular has compiled a library of handy guides to make sure that when you dispose of your phone, your information stays private. Just enter your phone's model and they will email you a guide on how to completely remove all personal data from your phone.

They also have information on how to donate your phone to a good cause. When buying a new smartphone for yourself why not donate your old phone to a well deserving charity, like the March of Dimes or Phones for Haiti? While your old phone might not have all the new features of the latest models, it can still make a big difference with one of the many charities Recellular can help you donate to.

05/24/2010

Ask The Answer Guy - Download Youtube Videos

Category Ask The Answer Guy


Brent, I like watching videos on Youtube, but sometimes I don't have an internet connection, like when I'm on a plane or when I don't have great cell reception. Is there a way I can download my favorite videos from Youtube to my computer or cell phone so that I can watch them again and again?

Youtube videos are a huge part of our culture and everyone has their favorites. Whether you are looking up sports clips or the latest internet fad, there is something for everyone on Youtube.

When I want to download a Youtube video for my cell phone or just to have, without having to search for it, I use a program called YouTube downloader. It's free and very easy to use. Simply type the Youtube URL into YouTube downloader's search bar and select what file type you want. Within minutes you'll have the video at your fingertips. Try it out here.