TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

The latest version of Ubuntu Linux is easy to update and surprisingly easy to add to a Windows computer, but still acceptance is low. Now is the time for publishers to give serious consideration to providing some books electronically, without a paper version. I'll take a look at some spam subject lines and in Nerdly News, Firefox 3 is at release candidate status and Microsoft tries to buy search c...

A new version of Carbonite raises the bar for online backup while retaining both its ease of use and its surprisingly low price. Recently I installed Skype to conduct an online interview and then discovered that by default Skype is a security disaster waiting to happen. This week's stupid spammer a lot writes like speaks Yoda. In Nerdly News, we look at Blu-ray sales and at the CBS acquisition of...

Some things are inevitable and it seems to me that open source software is one of them. That will leave Microsoft on the wrong side of a tipping point. If you want to move your accounts, addresses, and e-mail from Outlook Express to Microsoft Mail in Vista, it should be easy. I have an offer from a Russian company to run a denial of service attack and I'll show it to you. In Nerdly News, we look a...

Instead of paying someone for a degree from a "prestigious non-accredited university", I decided to make my own. In less than an hour I had 3 new degrees, so I must be a genius. We get a second opinion on Vista from a computer builder's perspective. Thirty-eight years ago on May 4th, something horrid happened. In Nerdly News, Windows XP SP3 arrives, a judge kicks sand on the RIAA, and last month's...

Firefox 3 (beta 5) looks promising on Mac, Windows, and Linux, but there are still some bugs. After examining spam closely for a couple of days, I've decided that the subject lines can provide a bit of no-cost humor. Apple continues to try to sneak Safari onto my Windows computer and continues to fail. In Nerdly News, Samsung promises some astonishing displays and Seagate ships its billionth hard...

Sometimes to get the best possible software, you have to pay nothing. Recently I installed AT and T's DSL service for a friend. Despite being an exercise in frustration, the outcome was good. In Nerdly News, a couple of thousand corporate CEOs have been bitten by a poorly formed phish and Apple wants the Big Apple to stop using an apple as a logo because its use by NYC will confuse Apple's custome...

This week's opening section is about a variety of small pleasures, things that work right, and warranties. Next, we'll look inside a Word 2007 file to see what's there and why it can confuse a Mac. In Nerdly News, some new security measures from Intel and another new version of Ubuntu Linux approaches.

One of the better phishing attempts I've seen arrived this week, but I still knew in an instant that it was a fake. How easy is to to tell if someone has tampered with a digital image? As it turns out, it's quite easy. In Nerdly News, high tech firms are singing the economic blues and an executive of EMI Music says that maybe file sharing isn't so bad after all.

I've been putting off my review of Apple's Leopard operating system until the .2 patch was released. Now I'm ready. I thought I'd take a look at critical thinking as it affects the spread of urban legends. This week's stupid spam trips over itself and can't even get out of the gate. In Nerdly News, Netflix stumbles twice in one week and Motorola splits.

Do you want to create a podcast? This program, based on a presentation to the Columbus Computer Society, explains how.

UltraEdit continues to be my favorite text editor, but it's so much more than just a text editor; it's one tool I won't be without. Now that Toshiba is out of the way with its failed HD-DVD, Blu-ray chould really take off, but will it? Don't hold your breath. A spammer explains to me how I can make $225 per hour doing a job that requires no physical or mental effort. I'm suspicious. In Nerdly News...

A feeling of deja vu continue to bother me whenever I use Vista. Could Microsoft's newest operating system be a replay of Millennium Edition and why did Microsoft favor Intel over its own customers? A spam offered me a free high-def television, but I didn't bite. In Nerdly News, the MPAA says piracy is killing the motion picture industry, but box office receipts hit another record high in 2007. If...

Zoho is another challenger facing off against Microsoft in an effort to bring office applications to the Internet. A new e-mail fraud variant is offering "free" cameras, computers, and other gear for you to "test", but I have a better idea: Send me $5000 and I'll send you a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Election day is here in Ohio. In Nerdly News, two instances of situations where the inmates...

HD radio is on the air, but will it save the medium? We examine both the medium and a receiver. The stupid spam of the week could be an effort to insert a "man in the middle" to steal your information. A look at options for a buying a computer when general specifications are available. In Nerdly News, the short life of HD-DVD and phishing doesn't affect just the big banks any more.

Why Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 might be the right choice for you; how crooked registrars make a bundle on expired domains; a first look at version 4 of The Bat. In Nerdly News: HD-DVD turns to toast and the San Jose Mercury News looks at cybercrooks.

From Canadian pharmacies to Nigerian money messages, from pay-per-click frauds to spams in Russian, $12,000 from Apple, and more. It's all about spam this week. In Nerdly News: A new version of The Bat, the state of Internet video, and Best Buy dumps analog video in favor of digital.

How to set up a backup system that you'll actually use. Predictions from 1900 and 1998. Microsoft is apparently accelerating work on Windows 7, which will replace Vista. In Nerdly News, Microsoft wants Yahoo and the RIAA wants all your money.

Beyond Compare is a handy utility designed for power users that might appeal to regular users, too. After trying for weeks to fix Itunes, I've dumped Itunes in favor of Winamp. Has Sprint's lousy customer service finally caught up with it? In Nerdly News: Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD, bidding for spectrum, and another lost data tape with names and Social Security numbers.

I still can't decide whether I love or loathe Vista; many days, it's a little of each. I do know that I'm anxiously awaiting service pack 1. When an update fails because the updater can't find the program it's supposed to be updating, I wonder what the programmers were thinking. On the day Steve Jobs addressed the faithful at Macworld, Apple rendered an application on my Windows machine unusable a...

Google Earth continues to evolve and it becomes an even better waster of time or maybe a better educator. Or both. Recently I deleted more old e-mail messages than would have fit on 80 original IBM PC hard drives; we are becoming a nation of digital pack rats. In Nerdly News, there's a series of short items from the CES keynote by Bill Gates to questions about electronic voting and why phone compa...

A new look for the website and improved technology behind the scenes. USB no longer means "Plug and Pray." An explanation of how a website can "guess" your number. Does Microsoft send prize messages from a Yahoo account? In Nerdly News, the end of the Netscape era and plans by the RIAA to make it illegal for you to use music you've purchased.

The dreaded double negative: No operating system will ever not crash. I have an updated version of operating systems as airlines. NetFlix has movies available online, but I won't be using the service. Instead of Nerdly News this week, a look at spam. And happy holidays.

If you live in an area where power outages are common, some planning will mitigate the problem. Moving e-mail from one provider to another. I have a comparison of applications available to users of Windows, OS X, and Linux. In Nerdly News, thoughts about libraries and a challenge to Microsoft from Opera.

Ubuntu Linux was easy enough to set up that even under the influence of Percocet, it went OK. Vista's new security annoys some, but I like it. The fake inheritance scammers have learned how not to type in ALL CAPS. And in Nerdly News, problems for Facebook, another spammer goes to prison, and a killer online game kills computers.

The CS3 update for Adobe Illustrator brings powerful new features. Operating systems are increasingly hard to tell apart. I'll recount a bit about my day as an election worker. In Nerdly News, Google purges tens of thousands of bad websites and the FBI puts 8 techno-crooks away.