TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

Anyone who's planning to create a website, will probably work with a visual editor such as Adobe Dreamweaver. To learn what goes on behind the scenes, though, nothing beats a little preliminary learning with a non-visual editor. In Short Circuits: Certain sounds can cause your computer to crash and might even harm the computer's hard disk, but it's a long shot. Companies that provide home health c...

If you're thinking about buying a new camera, it's important to consider more than megapixels. Even low-end cameras have plenty of pixels these days, so let's look at one other specification that's important to know. In Short Circuits: Have you rebooted your router yet? A significant security problem could allow hackers, believed to be Russian, to gain access to it. A couple of companies are talki...

No matter which operating system runs your computer, there are tips and tricks that make tasks easier or faster or less annoying. This week we'll take a look at some that apply to Windows and the MacOS. In Short Circuits: Website owners should beware of messages that appear to be warnings from their hosting company. Scammers are trying to steal login credentials, but it's easy to spot a phony. The...

Anyone who complains about the cost of digital photography probably never used film or can't remember film's costs. You have to pay for software today, but the cost is far less than that of film, processing, and printing -- and the capabilities far exceed anything we could do in the darkroom. In Short Circuits: Is this a great time or a lousy time to be a photographer? The easy answer is "Yes." Le...

Microsoft launched Windows 10 version 1803 last week. This week we'll take a look at the new features that seem to be the most useful and significant. In Short Circuits: Magazine fans might save money, clutter, and the environment with Texture, a service for Android and IOS devices, but not for desktop or notebook computers. Malevolent bots are increasing daily and it's not just the ones from Russ...

Those who create or edit audio but don't need a full digital audio workstation might find that the open-source Audacity provides all the tools they require. In Short Circuits: The Windows 10 spring Creators update is nearly a month late, but Microsoft started pushing it out this week. Those who are still using Windows 7 are substantially increasing their risk from malware according to Webroot. Cal...

Making subtle improvements to photographs by slightly changing the geometry of the subject's face is possible with PortraitPro, but that's just the beginning. In Short Circuits: Your favorite browser may already have an ad blocker and adding a utility to block sites that attempt to track you seems like a good addition. Adding sound effects to home videos can make them seem more realistic and the B...

You probably use a digital camera, or maybe a phone, for photography these days, but what about the old negatives and color slides you have around the house? If you've considered having them digitized, but didn't like the price or the quality, this could be a great do-it-yourself project at home. In Short Circuits: Last week I was talking about the upcoming Windows 10 spring update. This week, we...

It's not uncommon for people to say that a second monitor will just clutter their workspace, but few would ever want to go back to a single monitor after trying two. Let's consider the advantages. In Short Circuits: A relatively new open-source video editor, Shotcut, looks promising because it packs a lot of versatility into a free application that runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. The Windows 10...

Videolan's VLC media player is generally considered to be a video player, and the latest version makes it a superb video player by adding support for Blue-ray discs and Google Chromecast -- but it can do a lot more. In Short Circuits: Adobe's latest updates to the various Photoshop products might cause some users to wonder when it's appropriate to use each of the tools. Technology continues to cha...

If there's one upside about the situation involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, it's that more people now seem to be taking privacy and security 4eriously. Let's consider some steps you can take right now. In Short Circuits: Adobe is ending support for its Muse website development tool in 2019, but promises to have a replacement by then. Firefox users can install a new plug-in to keep Facebo...

There's no small amount of controversy between those who feel that artificial intelligence is an essential part of the future and those who say that artificial intelligence will kill us all. Let's consider those divergent points of view. In Short Circuits: Facebook lost $50 billion worth of value this week, attorneys general around the country are investigating the company's business practices, an...

Keeping your computer up to date is important, but it's also time consuming. A free utility makes the process easier and you might want the paid version instead. In Short Circuits: When something goes wrong with your computer, avoid the urge to do something immediately. A small delay doesn't cause most problems to become worse, but a quick action -- if it's the wrong one -- can be a disaster. Broa...

The open-source photo editing application Gimp might be a replacement for Photoshop, but I suspect that most Photoshop users who try to migrate will be less than delighted with the results. In Short Circuits: Last month's largest-ever distributed denial of service attack was followed this month by one that was even larger. The underlying problem is massive. IBM and Airbus have cooperated to build...

Some websites use visitors' computers to mine cryptocurrencies. That may be OK if the user is told about it and given a choice, but that's often not the case. In Short Circuits: Last call for Net Neutrality. The FCC has published the rule that destroys Net Neutrality and now fewer than 60 Congressional Days remain if the legislature is to reverse this misguided rule. CrashPlan from Code42 has just...

The open-source LibreOffice suite exceeds Microsoft's office suite in some regards and falls short in others. There are good reasons to choose LibreOffice and good reasons not to, so we'll consider some of each. In Short Circuits: There's no shortage of people who would very much like to obtain your tax refund, whether you're due a refund or not. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to...

Smart phones and tablets have changed the way we read. Most libraries now offer electronic books in addition to physical books and the electronic versions have quite a few advantages, along with some drawbacks. This week we'll take a look at some ebook readers. In Short Circuits: Password managers have been important for several years, but now a new threat makes the need for secure password manage...

As an image organizer, ThumbsPlus has a long history and it's an excellent choice for those who need to make identical modifications to multiple images. In Short Circuits: Nearly every motorist uses Global Positioning System devices to get where they're going. Now similar technology is being used within large and complex buildings. In the early days of Windows, themes were an extra-cost add on. Th...

Google continues to improve its on-line suite of office applications and perhaps you've wondered if the free apps could replace Microsoft's suite, or Wordperfect's, or one of the open-source suites. Let's take a look. In Short Circuits: Microsoft makes another emergency patch available, but it's not being pushed out to everyone and you may not need it. Sometimes the Windows volume control stops wo...

There's a lot of confusion about the two primary formats that digital cameras use to store images -- JPEG and raw data. It's a large and complex topic, so this week we have a large and complex section on the topic as we look behind the digital curtain. In Short Circuits: Users of Adobe Photoshop will find that this month's update includes a blockbuster feature called Select Subject, so we'll see h...

Telephone based spam and scams continue to escalate. Those with land lines have limited options for fighting back but mobile phone users and those who use some voice-over-IP systems have an increasing number of weapons. In Short Circuits: Even if your computer has already been updated to deal with the Spectre and Meltdown threats, you might receive a message that tells you to download another patc...

There's one more chance to halt the Federal Communications Commission's destruction of Net Neutrality, but only if we all understand that this is not a battle between right and left, liberal and conservative -- but between internet service providers and we, the users of the internet. In Short Circuits: Microsoft, Apple, and Linux developers are working to eliminate dangers that affect nearly all c...

Cybereason chief security officer Sam Curry, while acknowledging the many security disasters of 2017 is hopeful that 2018 might be the year when defense gets the upper hand. We'll talk with him about how to make that happen. In Short Circuits: This week we learned that every Intel CPU manufactured in the past 10 years has a serious security flaw and that fixing it will require operating system cha...

TechByter Worldwide will return next week. This link will take you to last week's program.

The number of security threats and the methods that crooks use have both increased in the past year and show no sign of slowing. In Short Circuits: Google has released a new app that's designed to control which applications have access to an Android phone's data plan. While not a new concept, the app has some promising features. If you miss the old-style Control Panel in the latest Windows update,...