TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

The Bat is the most powerful e-mail application on the planet; is it the right application for you? Diagnosing network problems by long distance is a problem, and in Nerdly News, Apple has a patent aimed at reducing theft and spam is increasing, but we're less concerned about it.

If you have computer-based tasks that you have to do again and again, I have a program you'll like. Creative has a new Zen product and it's small. This is TechByter Worldwide's first anniversary. In Nerly News, I have some Lotto news and the bad news about AOL passwords.

I haven't yet installed Windows Vista, but I'm getting closer as I continue to sneak up on it. This is not a change to make lightly. I was shocked and stunned to discover that not everything on the Internet is entirely truthful when I briefly thought about renting a car for a day. Scammer-spammers have modified a trick to get you to download a rogue application, but only people who aren't paying a...

Diskeeper is the disk defragmenter that replaces the one Microsoft provided. I'll explain why you should have it. Then we'll take a look at some folk-remedy protections against spam; unfortunately, they don't work. In Nerdly News, Microsoft is looking to acquire Yahoo and Office 2003 users will receive a security upgrade.

A month of many security updates for Apple and none for Microsoft means something, maybe. But what? A quick Vista update. How spam is related to the life and times of P.T. Barnum. Nerdly News considers Wal-Mart and the cheap HD-DVD player rumor and $3 Windows from Microsoft.

A report about a "secure" USB drive that turned out not to be so secure led me to an encryption program that is highly secure. I take a look at good service from a computer retailer, how to eliminate some Windows messages, and consider Vista (again). In Nerdly News, the Blackberry meltdown and losses pile up at AMD.

Three years ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Adobe's InDesign development team, so I'm awaiting the new version of the CS3 suite with great anticipation. You probably won't be adding a 3D printer at home anytime soon, but I think you'll find the process interesting. An explanation (only on the website) about why two programs have been missing in the past month. In place of Nerdly News this...

It seems that crackers aren't the primary source of data loss after all; we have met the enemy and he is us. The Internet wasn't designed with today's users in mind; what will be next and how much will it cost? In Nerdly News the first big music label gives up on DRM and ICANN gets cold feet on the xxx top-level domain.

Open Office 2.1 is out and 2.2 is approaching, so is now the time to switch? The Recording Industry Association of America continues to attack the wrong people. In Nerdly News, YouTube gets some competition and the Motion Picture Association wants more control over how you use DVDs.

When talking about open source software, Microsoft sounds a lot like IBM and DEC when they were talking about Microsoft in the early 1980s. ICANN strips a registrar. In Nerdly news, Cisco acquires WebEx and a doctor says cell phones pose no threat in hospitals.

How to make audio files smaller so that you can e-mail them. Another stay in Harlem and some reflections on racial issues. In Nerdly News, GoodbyeSpam versus SpamArrest and Europe threatens Microsoft with fines.

Questions about listening to the program without Itunes, questions about WiFi; Joe gets a new computer; how Jet Blue's problems affected me; and Nerdly News reviews the XM-Sirius proposed merger and an agreement between Apple and Cisco.

I'm not yet upgrading to Vista and I have 4 reasons why you should consider the same inaction. My G3 Ipod can now run for 5 hours on a battery charge. Let's look at how you can shrink photos you e-mail and why you should. Nerdly News considers memory prices and Vista sales.

Not much more than $100 will put a decent digital snapshot camera in your pocket as digital continues to change the way we use photography. Companies such as Eastman Kodak and Fuji are still trying to deal with the change brought about by digital. In Nerdly News, Apple looks forward and the RIAA continues its rear-guard efforts, but on the phone front, Samsung may beat Apple to market with an adva...

Would you read commercial messages if someone paid you to do it? Recent version of Corel's Graphics Suite have been more reliable and I talked with a product manager about that change. In Nerdly News, Michael Quinion says Googlebombing no longer works and a Google failure this week goes unexplained.

Fraudsters keep trying to give me money and I keep refusing it. An open source publishing program may have promise, but not in the short term. One store I deal with used a clever Christmas-day promotion. If you travel to New York, take a look at Jet Blue. In Nerdly News, Intel is about to break Moore's Law and Microsoft again seems puzzled by ethics.

I may grumble occasionally about problems with my high-speed Internet service, but at least it's there (most of the time). So are the libraries. If you're thinking of buying a second monitor or a large monitor, be sure you see it in operation. In Nerdly News, the Cisco-Apple Iphone fiasco and copy protection on DVDs.

After using Zone Alarm for years, I've replaced it with a free firewall from Comodo. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (a federal agency) says voting machines cannot be trusted. A look at the Ipod lifeline. In Nerdly News, the Iphone and new trends in spam.

The TechByter Worldwide website has a new look. Big record labels are dead. The Internet solves annoyances. In Nerdly News, some guidelines for keeping portable hard drives healthy and why IT security folks are nervous.

Smaller and smaller memory devices have more and more storage. Because we're storing more and more data that's important to us, finding a way to back it up securely is essential and Carbonite might be the way to do it. In Nerdly News, we note the passing of Al Shugart and a shortcoming in the latest Microsoft security patches.

When you need to know what's running on your Windows computer, the Task Manager helps. Two utility applications (one free and one not free) provide more information and a lot of control. Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netscape all have new browser versions and you may need them all. In Nerdly News, HP settles its civil case with California's attorney general and I'll show you the "new standard keyboard"...

Even if you don't know what a DNS is, you can probably make your browser faster and safer with OpenDNS, a free service. When I received a message from a "crook", I thought I was seeing a little truth in spamming. An interesting twist on the well-known 419 scam pretends to give away a car and -- oh, by the way -- nearly $1 million. In Nerdly News, he Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has...

Workplace surveillance: Do too little and you're in trouble; do too much and you're in trouble. Today's program examines this troubling topic. If you want to puzzle one of your techie friends, install the Blue Screen of Death screensaver on your computer and then ask your friend what the problem is. In Nerdly News, we look at the continuing increase in spam and at Wikipedia in China.

At last there's a free firewall that's at least as good as some that you have to pay for. I've been looking at SpamArrest, a challenge/response system, that has a few rough edges by can turn off the spamgate. My website host had an e-mail probleme this week and it made me appreciate them even more. In Nerdly News, Vista has been released to manufacturing and Wide Open West's nameserver was down ag...

FreeFind is a website indexing service. Despite the fact that it's free, it's easy to use and efficient. Maxell says it's time to back up your computer. If you do, they'd like you to use their media -- but the important thing is to DO the backup. Sweetness and light from Microsoft. It might be the Summer of Love, except the Sixties are long gone and winter is on the way. In Nerdly News, E-mail tur...