The Truth Session

I am a blind professional. I have done many things in my life from social work case management to teaching. When I was a teacher and a student thought he was smarter than the class by showing off, I would point him out for being a dumb ass, in a professional way, and move on with life. The student learned a valuable lesson about being a smart ass, and realizes that the best thing is to use the brain for good and not bad.

Keep in mind, I am not acting as if I am holeyer than anyone else is but this kid right here has a lot of time on his hands. His name is Tyler, and he is a Jaws Fanatic.

JAWS so helpfully contains a built-in script that logs all keys pressed on the keyboard. This method has a better chance of working on XP than the others. You must have a user account on the machine to make this work.

This guy goes into how to create a freaking keylogger, with a wholesome piece of software. Professional, I think not. I just so happened to follow him on twitter, and when a person came across a profile that looked like him, and razzed him a bit, he instantly turned into a winey kid. I do not know or care how old this kid is, but to me he is not a person who should be leading the way in scripting for the blind.

“Oh Kevin, don’t’ call him a kid!” Well I call them as I see them. To me, he is a kid. He states him as old as my oldest nephew, and no, I am not going to play childish stupid ass games and get into a drama war. All I say is that I have changed the pampers of folks his age when they were children, and to me, if you are that age and don’t act like an adult, you are a kid. Face it, just step away from the keyboard, and leave the bug reports to the real professionals.

I mean damn, just out in the open like that. I wonder what his mama says.

Friends are a blessing and a curse. Some friends you want around you all the time because they are charming, witty and let’s face it, friendly. The problem with friends, not all of them are twitter-worthy.

A twitter worthy friend posts valuable or funny stuff on his or her timeline. An example, is one that I wrote today: “Why don’t women come with a manufacturer’s warrantee …”. It’s a good twit and one that was retweeted by another friend who found it amusing. It is not like the ones I’ve seen:

• Jimbob here, and it is a wonderful morning.
• Danny here and having coffee, eggs, toast and organic orange juice, with my eggo.
• Veronica here and work is boring.

Yes we know your job is dull and you have a good climate. Personally, I could give a rat’s watery hairball what you had for breakfast, and or where you are 24/7/365. Its irrelevant and immaterial, and let’s just say again, boring.

Here are a couple of tips for getting rid of boring folks on your tweet roll.

Unfortunately, the trouble arises when said boring tweeter is actually a close friend in the offline world. One that’s a keeper. All in all great personality and very good friend material (funny, charismatic, clever)… but for some reason on Twitter none of this comes through and they’re a brick. (A BORING brick at that.) Or they’re simply clueless on how to use Twitter – the right way.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that you KNOW they would be very angry or upset if they noticed you weren’t following them anymore. Even though they won’t say it. What to do?

For most people, the sad conclusion is to do nothing. We simply can’t find a discreet way to unfollow our boring Twitter friend, so we continue to cry every time we see another update about how amazing Twilight is.

So for those of us who feel badly about unfollowing a friend because they’re boring, I’ve spent countless hours researching the web (nothing) and brainstorming (aha!) various strategies to circumvent the drama/awkwardness with unfollowing friends on Twitter. So until Twitter comes up with a better system… cheers to successfully putting an end to boring tweets:

1. Pretend it was Twitter’s fault. Your friend doesn’t receive a notification when you unfollow them. If you’re lucky, they will never notice. On the off chance they do, well, explain that Twitter must have suffered a glitch or something. Not highly improbable considering all its server issues.

2. For you lucky iPhone users, there’s a muting app. It’s called Twittelator Pro (funny name). With this iPhone app, you get all the communication features of most other Twitter apps, but in addition you can temporarily mute noisy or boring Twitter friends on your phone. (Meaning you can choose to unmute them someday. Maybe.) All this for $5.

3. Be straight with them. Try this if they ask why you’ve stopped following: “I thought you would be more interesting, but your tweets are boring so I stopped.

The origional comes from Techhead. they’re cool over there, and they’re Truth Session worthy advice givers. If you want more from me on my life how about you Follow @slworker.

By: Andrew Nemets

The rapid development of the World Wide Web in recent years has led to an explosive growth of information on the Internet. Our contemporary lifestyle would be unimaginable without access to such a super-abundant cornucopia of valuable information and web surfing has now become an everyday occupation for even the most diverse sections of society.

This rapid expansion of web resources raises some new issues for all of us. How could you possibly remember; after a long search, the address of that crucial web page? How will you be able to return to the page without repeating a tedious web search through hundreds and thousands of pages?
The answer is obvious, you need a program that will allow you to easily create and manage a database of web resources. Of course, this database must be quick, intuitive and convenient to use.

One way to resolve this problem is to use your web browser’s bookmarks feature. Bookmarks are a popular term for the lists of web page links stored in web browsers, although they are called ‘Favorites’ in Internet Explorer. These web browser bookmark systems have some severe limitations. For example, each bookmark list will only be compatible with a specific web browser. If you use several different web browsers you will have to manage the bookmark system in each one. Web browser bookmark lists may become cumbersome to use when your bookmark list grows beyond a few items. Important features missing from web browser bookmark systems include:

Powerful search functions
Synchronization of bookmarks between different computers
Detection and automatic deletion of duplicate bookmarks
Checks for availability of bookmarked web pages.

Specialist programs and web services that store and organize bookmarks are now available and they offer a comprehensive solution to these problems. They are called bookmark managers or bookmark organizers (in this article both terms have the same meaning). The difference between online (web-based) bookmark managers and standalone bookmark managers is in the location of the stored bookmark database and in the way that the database is accessed. Web services called ‘online bookmark managers’ store the user’s bookmarks on their remote servers and their bookmarks may be accessed from any browser. A standalone bookmark organizer is simply a program which runs on your local computer. It stores the bookmark database on a hard disk and allows access through its own built-in interface.

Here are some examples of web-based bookmark managers:

iKeepBookmarks.com – www.ikeepbookmarks.com

LinkaGoGo – www.linkagogo.com

Murl – murl.com

You can find more links to online bookmark managers here:

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Web_Applications/Bookmark_Managers/

Bookmark management software can be found here:

Link Commander – www.resortlabs.com/bookmark-manager/linkcommander.php

Linkman – www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=product&id=5

Powermarks – www.kaylon.com/power.html

Any software catalog will contain plenty of links to bookmark managers. For example: www.snapfiles.com/shareware/misctools/swurlorg.html

Offline and online bookmark managers each have relative advantages and disadvantages due to their differing methods of database storage and access.

An online bookmark manager does not depend on any particular computer. If you have an Internet connection you can access your bookmarks from any computer in the world. You don’t need to synchronize the bookmarks on your home/work PC or notebook because they will all access the same bookmarks database. With an online bookmark manager you can access your bookmarks even when you are in an Internet cafe! Another advantage is that most of them are free. They will cost you time, though, because you access your bookmarks via an Internet connection. More importantly, most of the web interfaces are not as convenient as software based bookmark managers and don’t have so many useful features. For example, they can’t search for and delete duplicate database items. Here are some of the other potential disadvantages of using online bookmark managers:

1) You risk losing all your bookmarks if, for some reason, the web service closes down.

2) There is a danger of unauthorized access to your private bookmarks because your bookmark manager server may not be secure against hackers.

The advantages and disadvantages of offline bookmark managers are almost exactly opposite to those of online bookmark managers and will be discussed next.

Any offline bookmark manager is tied to the computer on which it is installed. It stores your bookmarks in a database (which usually has its own proprietary format) that is located on one of the hard drives. To use your bookmarks on several computers you will need to install the program on each computer and find a way to synchronize the bookmark databases. Most of the currently available bookmark organizers do have a database synchronization feature. Also, there are now devices with high data transfer speeds (e.g. flash drives) that can store an independent bookmark database and allow it to be shared between several computers.

Another disadvantage of bookmark manager software is the price. There are some free programs out there, but they don’t have a great number of features and technical support is often weak or unavailable. The programs that require payment are inexpensive, though, usually costing from $20 to $40. The user licenses of such programs will normally allow you to install the programs on all of your computers.

In my opinion, the disadvantages of standalone bookmark managers are minimal compared to their advantages. The location of both the program and database on the same computer guarantees you fast access to your bookmarks and high security from hacker attacks. The convenience of the program interface and the number of useful features are limited only by the power of the computer and the skills of developers.

So, how should you organize your bookmarks? Should you use an online or offline bookmark manager? I don’t think there is a definite answer. It all depends on your preferences and working habits. If mobility is your priority, if you travel often and wish to access your bookmarks no matter where you are and from any computer, then you should consider an online bookmark manager. If speed, ease of use, security and functionality is most important to you then an offline bookmark manager might be a better choice.

About the author:
Andrew Nemets is co-founder and CEO of Resort Labs – www.resortlabs.com, the software development company specializing in developing human to computer interaction systems, user interface improvements and routine tasks automation software.

Article Source: WWW.ArticleGeek.COM

By Anne Clarke

If you are a laptop owner, you are probably familiar with the egg frying heat that can accompany extended use of your laptop. This common issue is caused by poor air circulation beneath a laptop. Or perhaps you can feel the ache of your hands after typing on a level keyboard for hours at a time. There is one remarkably simple invention that can solve both the overheating and ergonomic issues many laptops face. It is the laptop stand.

Laptop stands are exactly what they sound like, a small stand that you can set your laptop on. They are normally angled so that the rear of the laptop is higher than the front, much like the effect you get from the legs on a keyboard. This angling is important because the less you have to extend your wrists to reach the keys, the lower the chance of a repetitive strain injury is. But this is more of a by-product of this invention than the driving force behind it.

The impetus behind laptop stands is the overheating issues that many people face when using their laptops. As a friend once said of his new laptop; “You don’t use it on your lap if you want to have kids.” He loved the laptop, but the heat generated by its use was incompatible with the basic function of the computer, something portable enough to place in his lap and use.

Most laptop stands are made to be as portable as the devices they serve. They collapse, fold up, and can stow easily inside a laptop’s carrying case. One product, designed for Mac users, comes with pads that can be used when the stand is on your lap, and can be taken off when using the stand on a desktop.

If you have a dedicated place for using your laptop, you may want to consider upgrading from a laptop stand to a docking station. Where a stand supports a laptop, a docking station is a little bit more elaborate. They feature attachment points for an external monitor, mouse, and keyboard, as well as Ethernet, phone, and USB ports. The docking stations are a step up in utility, but also in price. Where a stand can be found for $20 or less, you’ll be hard pressed to find a good docking station for less than $90.

Or, if you’re feeling truly handy, a laptop stand can be made from household materials or other equipment retrofitted for use with your laptop. CD racks, towel holders, door stops, binders, and corks are just a few of the materials that have been used to form a do it yourself stand. These stands are generally less stable than a commercially produced one, but if you are just looking for something to use at your desk, they are an inexpensive option.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for Web sites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background also includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her useful articles on fashion handbags, visit [http://laptopstand.org/]Laptop Stands, supplier of discount designer handbags.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Clarke

by: Kevin White

Before the days where TXT, and OMG were the norms, our language had complete other meanings. The truth is, we adopted these word choices for use in our computer lexicon so that we could relate to machines. We often say that my computer is acting up, or that the stupid computer is being unreasonable. Let’s go back and revisit what some of our computer terms used to mean.

• Memory was something you lost with age
• An application was for employment
• A program was a TV show
• A cursor used profanity
• A keyboard was a piano
• A web was a spider’s home
• A virus was the flu
• A CD was a bank account
• A hard drive was a long trip on the road
• A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
• And if you had a 3.5 inch floppy … You just hoped nobody ever found out!?!

its now time we connect to our family unit, and interface with meaningful dialog. I Encourage you to adopt this in to your family:

If your family fights more over surfing habits, and you do not live by the water and there is not a board involved, turn off the computer and seek professional help. Its almost too late for family at this point and you’ll need to reboot and disconnect in order for things to interface as they should.

Take it from someone who knows, a good old fashioned truth session works wonders.

Viruses are little programs that people write in order to engage in malicious activity. They can range from annoyances that leave your computer a useless slag that needs formatting, or a weapon that attacks other computers around the world. Either way, these viruses wouldn’t have a chance if we used common sense tactics.
The first tactic is antivirus software. This stuff is designed to constantly scan your computer and eradicate these little nasties. Now before you have a fit, you don’t’ need to pay for this protection. Companies like Grisoft, Avira, Alwil software, and more offer fully functional, award winning antivirus software for personal use. Now if you want to pay money, or you want to use this cool stuff for your corporation, companies also sell this cool software with a year to two year agreement. Let’s see, free or low cost protection, or a crap computer, the choice is yours.
Next get the latest protection from Microsoft. This is free to users of licensed copies of Windows and hey you don’t have to do anything except for connect to the internet. If you’re on the net there’s no reason why you should not have that latest and greatest protection from MSFT. I say, its common sense to get the latest protection for the latest greatest computer.
Its not hard peeps. Let’s pull together to put these virus bandits out of business. Viva la net!

I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I know that people will do some stupid things, and quite obviously, they don’t want to get caught up and face the consequences for their actions, but this is ridiculous. Someone has actually had the nerve to call my favorite game in the universe, the one pleasure I have beside…well you don’t need to know that, but you get the idea, violent.

Meet the Kingdom of Loathing. Started by a computer programmer Named Jick in 2003, the Kingdom is an RPG which has morphed in to a pleasant community. Players have the option of being either Seal Clubbers, Turtle Tamers, Pastamancers, Saucerors, Accordion Thieves, and Disco Bandits. As for me I am a seal Clubber.

Within the game you get to fight Knob Goblins, Bugbears, Demons, and a “hell” of a lot of other nifty characters. Your ultimate goal is to reach and kill the Naughty Sorceress. More about her in a bit.

Like in any game, there are levels. Every level get successively harder, and you learn new skills to help you along. You also have the opportunity to talk to other players to either learn more about the game, or to figure out how to get out of a sticky situation. Recently, Jick and his pals have instituted a multiplayer part where you can actively play with and against your fellow adventurers, and well let’s just say its a challenge.

Once you reach level 13, you meet our favorite pain in the ass, the Naughty Sorceress. to get an idea of the fight to beet her, think of a fat woman when there’s no ice cream around, the store is closed, and she’s wanting rocky road. got the picture? Thought so. Well, once you finish her off, you can continue to fight and gain more levels. You can gain cool stuff, and win trophies, and yes ascend to do it all over again with cooler adventures then the first time.

Some jackass thought this game was violent. So much so that he claimed it was his reason for becoming a murderer. Malefactor please. A game of stick figures is not going to cause anyone to be a murderer. My esteemed psychological opinion sates that he was loco from the start and something, not the game, was his trigger. Everybody wants a way out of the situation. His way was to try to blame it on the game. I blame him. Be personally accountable. If you are a nut job, fine. Just be a nut job.

And in my opinion, an adventurer is not him.

Join me in the Kingdom. I’m Chingy, and always glad to help when I can. I mean, hey an adventurer could be you.