TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

Decide.com will help you decide about electronic purchases. How to create passwords you can leave in plain sight. In Short Circuits: Microsoft announces the surprisingly low Windows 8 upgrade price, hundreds of thousands may lose Internet connectivity on Monday, European legislators surprisingly reject digital piracy measure, farewell to IGoogle, and graphic for your (but not Microsoft's) amusemen...

Skype can't seem to eliminate an annoying fraud. This week I'll explain how you can change your Winodws 7 logon screen. The new version of Dreamweaver doesn't look like it has changed much but there's a lot that's new if you look closely. In Short Circuits: 71 identical reminders that claim to be from LinkedIn, Photoshop Lightroom 4 heads for the cloud, and if you wonder what Microsoft can buy for...

This long-time Corel Draw fan finally has to admit that Adobe Illustrator wins. The up-and-down relationship with an Asus Transformer tablet is up again. Microsoft introduces the Surface and it looks promising. In Short Circuits: A new phone, replacing a notebook computer, and and upgrade plan for Windows 8.

Photoshop CS6: Now Enhanced with Magic Pixie Dust. Adding Eye Candy to Your Photos. In Short Circuits, Near Photo Quality on a Notebook, When Something Happens That Shouldn't, and Happy Fathers Day, Tech Guy!

If you need more that one operating system and you're tired of using a boot manager, how about setting up a virtual machine? Xara continues to surprise me. In Short Circuits, problems for LinkedIn and the almost-ready Windows 8.

The covers are off Adobe Creative Suite CS6 and I can finally start sharing some information with you. When color is not enough, try Silver Efex Pro from Nix for black and white images. Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal says now is a great time not to buy a notebook computer. In Short Circuits: Zuckerberg in, then out, of the Bloomberg rich list; Flame is state-sponsored cyber warfare; an...

New computers often come loaded with crapware. If you can't deal with an honest manufacturer, you can at least remove the junk. If you don't have an exception dictionary installed for Word, I'll explain why you might want one. Legislation has been introduced to keep employers out of your social media. In Short Circuits, making a small fortune with Facebook stock, bad news for Kodak and Oracle, and...

Viveza 2 is your magic wand if you're a digital photographer, Bing gets a new look, and in Short Circuits: Another CEO for Yahoo, Stick a Raspberry Pi in your shirt pocket, Facebook's IPO is a winner but it loses General Motors, and Groupon continues to lose money and Wall Street continues to like it.

A quick, easy, and inexpensive way to create a website. If you're tired of Firefox's memory munching, I have some thoughts about a new browser. In Short Circuits: Google and Oracle split a double-header, Angry Birds in Finland, finding lost stuff, and new tricks from Amazon.

Suggestions for corporate IT managers might help you avoid fake antivirus scams on your computer. If you've ever needed to extract text from a locked PDF document, I have the solution. In Short Circuits: Why Apple may fear Microsoft, Google under siege, the proliferatioin of phone numbers, and lots of short notes from all over.

The latest version of The Bat continues to be my favorite e-mail application. Considering a digital SLR camera as your do-all device for stills and video? I have answers to questions you're probably asking. Some people are calling it the Internet Doomsday but it's really not that serious. In Short Circuits: Google Drive, the Apple attack, and a look at what's coming.

Toward the future, Android tablet in hand! What are you -- an expert, a king, a butterfly, or a maestro? How do spam filters work and why should you care? In Short Circuits: Oracle takes on Google in court, using old lenses on your new digital camera and nobody seems to use "Sony" and "leading edge" in the same sentence any more.

OneNote and Evernote are both designed to keep track of important bits of information. Which is better? Film is the final frontier for digital photographers and Exposure 4 from Alien Skin makes it easy. Windows 8 is accurately but frightenly described as as radical redesign. In Short Circuits, goodbye mister bumblebee, Facebook munches on Instagram, and Apple continue to fight a trojan attack.

Malware for your Mac, Apple workers in China will get a break, layoffs at Yahoo, Yahoo lawyers are busy, Anonymous attacks some Chinese government websites, Google found to be evil in Australia, and e-books are the present.

Powerline networking is often overlooked but might be the best choice. See why. Adobe's Content-Aware Move feature in Photoshop CS6 looks like magic. I have some tips for what to do when you have one type of file but need another. And in Short Circuits, Microsoft helps the feds and Apple newest device could make you smarter.

SnagIt has held the premiere position as a screen capture utility for Windows. The new version cements that position and issues a serious challenge to Mac utilities. Snap Art 3 from Alien Skin puts painterly effects within reach of any digital photographer. If you're a Photoshop fan, just wait until you hear what's coming in 2013. In Short Circuits, the $1000 phone bill and Amazon goes robotic.

After two weeks of working with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview I summarze, the scary stuff, the hits, the bugs--and look at what happens if the Start Menu never does return. In Short Circuits: The difficult task of buying a mouse, no more Encyclopedia Britannica books, and an astonishingly stupid spam.

The new Lightroom 4 from Adobe reaches new heights in photo processing. If you'll be replacing a computer anytime soon, you may enjoy a discussion on the subject. The new Ipad provides more of everything but nothing new. And Android Market is now Google Play.

Windows 8 inches closer with release of the Consumer Preview. If you find the Windows Explorer insufficient, take a look at Nexus File. Public Computers -- a lot like public bathrooms, only worse. And in Short Circuits, limits on the unlimited plan by AT and T still vex users and some members of Anonymous have been arrested.

When Windows has a problem, it's time to call in Linux. Google is in hot water again. Soon you might be able to have a little Ubuntu on you Android device. In Short Circuits: Bad timing for Sony, cleaning your office, and scamming the scammers.

Is it an either-or question (Windows or Mac?) or should Linux be considered, too? Lynda.com adds a small feature that will have a big impact. When you have a bunch of files to rename, you need the Bulk Rename Utility. In Short Circuits, Apple says it will audit Foxconn, I recommend Walter Isaacson's book about Steve Jobs, and Adobe has an app for Android devices.

Windows 8 beta 2 will provide some answers about what's coming; unsafe websites can harm your computer; in Short Circuits, 250,000 Apple owners tell Apple to clean up its act, Angry Birds for Windows, multiple monitors as seen by the New York Times, Kodak exits the camera business, and TechByter has a new sound.

The frustration of being where a file you need isn't is not a hard problem to solve. Let's consider the options. Do you need a new media player -- one from Korea? In Short Circuits, dissing Twitter, Google explains privacy (again), and Hitachi announced a large new drive.

If you already own a tablet or you're thinking about buying one, here are some apps to consider. Was the Meagaupload takedown a Internet police riot? Google's new policies raise concerns. In Short Circuits: Woz likes Android devices and a big OOPS for Symantec.

Summarizing the battle over SOPA and PIPA--and why being against these bad bills does not mean being in favor of piracy. Secunia PSI help keeps your computer up to date. In Short Circuits: Kodak in bankruptcy, Yang exits Yahoo, Netflix in court, and trouble for shoe website.