Time For a Mac

Gotta Love Windows

Mimobots

"mimobots are silicon-based inhabitants from the planet blõôh in galaxy 4210 and are as old as time itself. Each one experienced a ‘flash event’ (different depending on the individual ‘bot) that wiped its memory and left it confused and ill. Fortunately, the ‘maddest genius’ of blõôh, Knowledgeus, devised a way to restore the poor ill mimobots’ memories: by sending clones of the stricken ‘bots to Earth, where the kindly humans would share their data with the clones. This data, while being protected for the humans—this is a symbiotic relationship, after all—would also be sent back to RALF computer on blõôh and used to restore the memories of the original mimobot and nurse it back to health."


Mimobots are a line of Universal Serial Bus (USB) Flash Drives. With their cute toy like structures, animal designs, and bright colors, Mimobots bring life to the everyday USB stick. They are all hi-speed USB2.0, Mac and Windows compatible, and range from 256 MB to 4 GB. These little guys are also preloaded with extra goodies such as games, music, and animated content. These tiny technology toys cost from $44.95 to $169.95.


These babies were first created in 2005. Having just discovered these gadgets tonight, I realize how behind the times I must be. These USB flash drives not only hold data, but are designed by talented illustrators from around the globe. They have really taken off in the right crowds and have very, much become collectibles. They are produced in limited numbers with new ones constantly being introduced. The latest creations are a Star Wars Series and they even have a series which comes blank. I guess the consumer supplies his own talent and artwork.

Mimobots bring the old Fez candy/toy creations (I think they were called Fez) to my mind and I guess these, too, are sought out by collectors. The Fez candies never had a storyline, though, nor did they serve such a noble purpose. I believe these drives will have a market and following for many years to come. Although, I have never personally seen a Mimobot there must be a hoard of geeks floating around somewhere sporting these flashy flashes.

I'm still leaning towards a Mac. I'm simply waiting on their new OS to come out. I am extremely tired of Microsoft problems! I believe Leopard (the new OS) is due sometime in June. Unless something drastic changes my mind between now and then I will convert to Macintosh.

Braking News

I think more and more about going to a Mac. I reformatted my Windows XP recently after having lots of problems. It didn't take long, at all, before problems and annoyances paid me a new visit. When one spends more time as a computer tech than as a computer user something is wrong. Imagine this scenario with ones automobile (more time playing mechanic than driving). It just doesn't seem right. I have all the protections in place, too. I have a robust firewall, spam blockers, virus protection, spyware protection, etc. to the point of excessive redundancy.

Now some say theses problems are over. The NEW windows is here! Is Windows Vista the answer for security problems? Probably not. Just check out - Braking News and see what you think. I would like to hear opinions on this.

Argh, Not Again

Sorry again !

As, you may have noticed, my recent posting has been scarce. I have been having a lot of computer problems. I managed to make a few posts here and there, including this one. It is difficult, as I usually get booted off in the middle of my entries. So, for the most part I haven't posted anything but, rather worked extensively on diagnostics. I thought it was cured one time only to find out I still had problems.

A while back I got very tired of Internet Explorer and finally switched to Firefox. I am now seriously considering a switch to the Macintosh system. Does anyone have any extensive experience with Apple. I would sure like to hear some pros and cons, esp. as it compares to the pc.

In the mean time my posts will be limited, as I continue to work on my technical difficulties. I hope to be up to full swing soon.

Corel Acquires Intervideo and, Indirectly, Ulead

I'd seen the recent news reports of Corel's acquisition of Intervideo, but until I read Foster Coburn's blog post about it, I hadn't realized that Intervideo was the owner of Ulead Systems. That makes Corel the new owner of Ulead PhotoImpact and Ulead's other software which includes video editing, DVD authoring, digital scrapbooking, and other digital media titles. As Foster notes, Corel is now the owner of five different photo editing titles. It will be interesting to see what they do with the Ulead product line. I think many of PhotoImpact's easy-to-use photo editing tools and effects would be a great fit with Corel's brand-new Snapfire product.

from About.com

New Beta Blogger Advice

If anyone is planning on using the Beta Blogger with it's new templates, here is one piece of advice. Do not publish your labels with capitols. Use small case when creating your labels. At some point if you used capitalization the template will revert to small caps for all your labels. You will then have two (2) of each label listed in your sidebar. Argh.

Note the labels in my sidebar. I created a new label for this post (blogging) using small case and it occurs only once. I, also, used an old label for this post (computing) and it occurs twice. Once with capitalization and once without. Each instance shows it's own number of occurrences, also. My label list is long enough already. Imagine the mess this will create in the sidebar with dual labels for everything. And each with it's own count.

I wish I would have known about this issue before I started labeling everything. I think I must go back and manually change all my labels. Damn. I hope this helps others before they get in too deep.

Check Out All the New T-Ball Photos

Although I started the new photoblog on the 17th of this month
I decided to put previous T-Ball photos on the site dated to the actual event.

NEW Photoblog

I have started a new photoblog for my photography called Augphoto . I will be presenting only my personal photos at the new photoblog.

At this site (the one you are currently reading) I will continue to showcase everything else. Photos and artwork by others will still be shown here. All written work will remain here, as will the ever popular 'Sandstone County' episodes.

The only change is that my personal photographs will be posted on the new photoblog, from here on in. Everything else will remain as is.

New Look

OK, here is a new three (3) column template I am trying out.

There will be less wasted screen space using this new format and room for more features.

If anyone has any troubles viewing this site, with these new changes, please let me know.

Finally Loaded Firefox

I have been pondering the use of Firefox for a long, long time now. In the end, the fear of universal compatibility always kept me away. I was always afraid some web sites wouldn't view or load properly. After all, isn't 'Microsoft the Generic', one-size-fits-all programming the most compatible solution. All web sites must function with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, right. Right but, so do viruses, pop-ups, pop-unders, and other malicious instruments of destruction and aggravation.

I've had it. After battling for days with some of the above problems, I've decided to slay the giant. At least cut off a leg, anyway. Goodbye IE and hello Foxfire. Hey, I'm looking for security and peace of mind here. My problems of the last few days were only the last of such similar problems encountered several times over the years. This will be just one more step in the evolution of computer security for me. If this program operates according to it's reputation then this will be a wise move. It should, also, help me retain the little bit of hair I have left on my head! Perhaps, others should consider this move as well.

Firefox is far more secure than Internet Explorer:

* It is not integrated with Windows, which helps prevent viruses and hackers from causing damage if they somehow manage to compromise Firefox.
* There is no support for VBScript and ActiveX, two technologies which are the reasons for many IE security holes.
* No spyware/adware software can automatically install in Firefox just by visiting a web site.
* Firefox doesn't use Microsoft's Java VM, which has a history of more flaws than other Java VMs.
* You have complete control over cookies



As a bonus, Firefox has many features and conveniences that IE does not. One of my favorites is the tab function. With this feature you can open multiple Web pages in a single browser window, and quickly flip back and forth. Very handy.
While these non-security features would have never converted me on their own, they sure are nice to have now that I'm here. If everything goes as anticipated - I'm here to stay.

AOL - Cancel The Account

This is very, long-winded. It is both aggravating and humorous, if you can bear to sit through it. I have experienced similar dealings in the past, with other businesses, so I feel this guys pain.

AOL - Cancel. The. Account.

Blog Troubles

This Blog has been acting up the last couple of days. I don't even know if this post will work. Formatting has gone wild, too. Let's see what happens.

Tech Support Overload

For some time now I have been called upon by friends and relatives for computer advice. While not a trained expert in the ways of computers, I am knowledgeable enough in my circle of acquaintances to usually be of some help. Often, I am overly praised for whatever hardware or software jamb I may have rescued a desperate individual from. While usually willing to cheerfully help out those who call upon me, day and night, to solve their technical woes, the word has gotten out. The endless list of callers and the increasing demands upon my valuable time has gotten somewhat out of hand. During these many years of knowledge probing by those who require my services I have responded to questions as simple as 'what is a floppy disk' to the more complex such as 'can you build me a total computer from scratch' and everything in between.

After all this time, I have noticed several of these requests for computer info are recurring quite frequently. I then thought this blog might be the perfect format for publishing the questions I field the most often, thus saving me the time and boredom associated with this unnecessary redundancy. Hence, this post was born in order to retain what is left of my sanity, my marriage and my ever shrinking scheduled recreational and slumber time activities. Following I have published one of the letters I have received, which entails the most frequent question I am asked along with my response (the names here have been generically altered). Please, please read this post before calling or writing me. It is very likely the answer you need can be found right here.

Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition , Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6 and I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!
Thanks,

Troubled User

And I wisely reply as follows -

REPLY: Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem that men complain about. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING !!! It is, also, impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support . I recommend that you keep Wife1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.
The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway. Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2., among others. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0! WARNING!!! DO NOT , under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.
Best of luck,

Tech Support

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you truly have a problem that is not covered here please email me and I will do my best to help. If, however, your troubles are already covered here - DO NOT SEEK ME for assistance, as I can help no further.

Humble Beginings

Day one, minute one. We will see where this goes.