TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

It's going to be more than 20 minutes this week. Lots to talk about. TechSmith's SnagIt, already the best screen capture program available, becomes even better. Updates to Adobe's Creative Cloud, large and small, make the suite of applications for creatives even more essential. In Short Circuits ... If you're not familiar with the Maxthon browser, which is a product of China, you probably will be...

Text editors aren't just for programmers and website designers. Writers can benefit from the uncluttered interface. Live streaming feeds, the ones that provide unauthorized access to live events, may also provide a pathway to your computer for malware. In Short Circuits ... Net neutrality scores a win in federal appeals court, but the battle won't be over until it gets to the Supreme Court. Micros...

Don't fall victim to a doxer. Besides explaining what doxers are, I'll have some suggestions for avoiding the creeps. There's a very good chance that just about any website you visit has some security vulnerabilities. In Short Circuits ... Adobe released new Lightroom and Camera Raw versions this week. An article in the New York Times outlines the distressing reality of governments planning for cy...

Xara's latest edition of Photo and Graphic Designer has enough new features and improved functions to earn a "WOW!" from me. It's time for a little show and tell. In Short Circuits ... The National Football League's Washington Redskins waited a month and a half to let players know that one of their trainers had fumbled a computer into the hands of a thief. Ohio State University makes it 3 in a row...

Flash is all but dead. Apple stopped supporting it six years ago and browser manufacturers, citing security concerns, are also dropping support. Fraudsters seem to be winning the technology battle according to accounting firm KPMG. In Short Circuits ... Microsoft turns a $7.2 billion investment in Nokia into a $7.6 billion loss. The internet loses its capital letter. In Spare Parts (only on the we...

After 7 months with a Surface Pro tablet, I can recommend it, but perhaps not as enthusiastically as Microsoft would like. If you're a reader who likes to read books on a tablet and you also like to save money and read work by new authors, I have a suggestion. In Short Circuits ... Why can't girls write code? Actually, they can and Girls Who Code has just released several YouTube videos aimed at d...

Xara Web Designer adds site development features that will delight visually oriented designers. You may think that you know who invented e-mail, but the story is probably a bit more complicated than you expect. In Short Circuits ... If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, now is the time to do it. The offer ends this summer. Watson will take on cyber crime. Marketers who talk AT people inst...

How to create a high-quality video using just your smart phone. The New York Public Library opens a treasure trove of high-resolution historical images on its website, usable by anyone without cost. In Short Circuits, Opera builds an ad-blocker into its browser, what follows Moore's law might have something to do with Schrodinger's cat, mobile devices get smarter, and "Unplugged" could be coming t...

Don't underestimate the importance of backing up your important files more than once. Let's consider the on-line CrashPlan backup system. Not all tablets run Windows or OSX; now there's one that comes with Ubuntu Linux. In Short Circuits, You need a password manager and then you need to be careful not to divulge your master password to the bad guys and a new e-mail program for smart phones could b...

I've been looking at a low priced, but uncommonly robust, video editor that unfortunately crashes a bit too often. Still, it might be a good choice for some. In Short Circuits, Maybe Microsoft has finally convinced Intel to fix the video device driver crashes that have plagued Surface users. It appears that Amazon has just challenged Netflix to a duel. Western Digital and Veritas have a private cl...

Microsoft is preparing for Windows 10's first anniversary by incorporating the Linux command line. Google may be dropping its "free" fiber in Kansas City, but its paid offerings go far beyond what traditional cable companies provide and for far less. In Short Circuits, Tips for protecting yourself from ransomware, Microsoft sues the feds in the ongoing battle over privacy versus security, and the...

Operating systems and applications come with more annoyances than you can shake a stick at, but I have a stick and I'll shake it at a few of the annoyances I've squashed recently. In Short Circuits, Some cautions about my previous favorite backup application, Carbonite, but no clear winner yet as a successor. Danger from Firefox plug-ins you expect to help or protect you. Samsung starts the year w...

Nine illustrated tips for preparing to take better pictures, on a vacation or anytime. In Short Circuits: The FBI works around Apple. Finding ways to balance security and privacy in the workplace. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A short history of fraudulent e-mails, Windows 10 is now on 270 million computers, Hololens is shipping if you have $3000, and Bat developer Ritlabs is now in the to...

Apple seems to have prevailed in the first round of its battle with the FBI over an encrypted phone, but nobody is really a winner. Disk drives with moving parts may be dead, but they don't know it yet. In Short Circuits: Hospitals are being attacked by malware. Longtime Intel CEO Andy Grove has died. The surprise from Adobe that wasn't a surprise. A warning from the US Treasury that wasn't. In Sp...

Phishing messages are becoming harder to spot and that makes them more dangerous. From the free Slate application, to Lightroom and Photoshop, and on the Dreamweaver and other apps, Adobe turned on the release fire hose this week. In Short Circuits: One more step remains in the approval process for Western Digital and SanDisk to merge. Increasingly office workers are working from places other than...

An old-school spam cropped up in my e-mail in-box this week and caused me to think about advances that spammers have made. In Short Circuits: Microsoft has updated the enterprise version of Windows Defender to provide faster responses to attacks and that has some pundits ... worried. A malware attack on Apple's OS X operating system again shows that Macs can be attacked. The Federal Communications...

Firefox is a good browser that can be made even better with add-ons. I'll have information about some of the most popular ones. In Short Circuits: After you get add-ons installed in Firefox, you have to convince the browser to stop disabling them every time there's a new version of Firefox. It's been a busy week in the FBI versus Apple controversy with court rulings, comments by the defense secret...

Have you ever wondered what's tracking you as your browser wanders around the Internet? Now you can find out. In Short Circuits: Privacy and security are big topics now, in part because of the FBI's request to have Apple develop a way to break into one of their phones, but we'll also consider some new hardware that includes encryption by default. Both Webroot and ESET have new reports that outline...

A story of criminal and political intrigue as attempts are made to destroy RitLabs, developer of the popular e-mail program, The Bat. In Short Circuits: I'll show you a picture of an amazing spam with a link that shouldn't be clicked by anyone, but probably will be. How to avoid having to enter a long and complex password whenever you log on to a Windows 10 system. The average age of hackers these...

Not too long ago, password managers were just nice to have. Now they're essential. In Short Circuits: Computers and the Internet are changing how we interact with the nation's health-care system and the latest version of Windows 10 in the Fast ring merits a yawn, but that's not a bad thing. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Scammers are now targeting children and China-based WeChat handed out...

A new feature in Adobe Lightroom that I mentioned last week is every bit as exciting as I thought it might be. Words and pictures follow. Network attached storage is coming to homes and offices, and a new NAS box from Synology comes with impressive specifications. In Short Circuits: Seagate is looking at a class action lawsuit resulting from a high percentage of failed 3 terabyte drives, Microsoft...

Vacation time is just around the corner and, if you're thinking of upgrading your photo gear for summer fun, I have some ideas. In Short Circuits: Adobe updated Lightroom this week and there's a really cool feature that I'm looking forward to trying. Facebook hints that it may develop a video-only service. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Chrome may be one of the safest browsers imaginable, b...

An in-depth look at Microsoft's Edge browser is first, followed by a consideration of Bing as a better search engine than Google. In Short Circuits: AOL considers a name change, a new kind of answer site that's more interested in questions, and an application intended to keep your cats from forgetting their medical appointments. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft's latest Fast Ring ve...

The latest version of Adobe's Creative Cloud adds so many new improvements, tweaks, and features that just trying to list them all is impossible, but I have some information about some of them. In Short Circuits: Microsoft support for most versions of Internet Explorer other than version 11 ends, along with support for Windows 8, if the system hasn't been updated to version 8.1. We'll look at secu...

If you connect to the Internet using a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you're exposing yourself to a significant risk. While trying to find a way to reduce the risk, I found a way to make Wi-Fi connections secure. In Short Circuits, we'll take a look at malware that can shut down electric generating plants, consider talking to your Volvo automobile, and compare the Oculus Rift to Microsoft's HoloLens. Spare...