Monthly Archive for February, 2006

DelinvFile - Delete Invalid Files and Folders

Published
by
Graham
on February 22, 2006
in Software Tips
. 0 Comments

I recently received an email from Jim Lawler, the programmer behind PurgeIE:

I am the author of PurgeIE which you reviewed for one of your newsletter articles.

Please take a look at “DelinvFile” and consider mentioning it in your “Tips…” section.

Although I recently converted “DelinvFile to a commercial version, the basic functionality is available without having to register (pay a fee).

The webpage is - http://www.purgeie.com/delinv/index.htm

Basically, “DelinvFile” is an easy-to-use utility that one can use to delete data files that they are not able to delete with the normal Windows Delete function.

Check it out…

China Said Cracking Down on Junk E-Mail

Published
by
Graham
on February 22, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From Yahoo! News:

China is cracking down on junk e-mail and “illegal” mobile phone text messages, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.

A new regulation will ban sending e-mail for advertising purposes to people without their permission, and all advertising e-mail must be titled “advertisement” or “AD,” the agency said.

It also said that mobile phones must be registered under users’ real names, and that text messaging will be controlled more tightly due to the spread of “illegal messages.”

AOL to Charge Same for Dial-Up, Broadband

Published
by
Graham
on February 22, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From TBO.com:

America Online Inc., seeking to encourage its subscribers to sign up for high-speed connections, is raising the price of its main dial-up plan to equal that of its new broadband offerings.

That means most subscribers will pay $25.90 a month for either dial-up or broadband beginning March 9, although AOL is offering discounts to dial-up subscribers who commit to a year. AOL currently charges $23.90 a month for unlimited dial-up access.

“We’re doing this because a majority of AOL members will be able to get high-speed connections and access the AOL service for this new price,” spokeswoman Anne Bentley said Tuesday. “Hopefully it’s an encouragement for them to get high-speed connections.”

Gizmos Trump Gowns at Nerd Oscars

Published
by
Graham
on February 20, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From Wired News:

Attendees at the 2006 Scientific and Technical Academy Awards ceremonies in Beverly Hills saw more pocket protectors Saturday than Harry Winston diamonds.

The annual film-industry tech honors recognize devices, formulas and discoveries that change the way movies are made. The ceremony took place at the Beverly Hilton, the same ballroom where the Oscars will unfold in two weeks.

Rumsfeld: U.S. propaganda needs to enter digital age

Published
by
Graham
on February 20, 2006
in Computer News
. 1 Comment

From CNet News:

The United States lags dangerously behind al-Qaida and other enemies in getting out information in the digital media age and must update its old-fashioned methods, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Friday.

Modernization is crucial to winning the hearts and minds of Muslims worldwide who are bombarded with negative images of the West, Rumsfeld told the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Pentagon chief said today’s weapons of war include e-mail, BlackBerries, instant messaging, digital cameras and blogs.

“Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today’s media age, but…our country has not adapted,” Rumsfeld said.

Tech’s China Policy a ‘Disgrace’

Published
by
Graham
on February 17, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From Wired News:

Lawmakers blasted four U.S. tech giants Wednesday, accusing them of willingly helping China suppress dissent in return for access to a booming internet market.

Representatives from Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco Systems. and Google defended themselves at a House International Relations subcommittee hearing, but a Google official acknowledged that figuring out China’s internet market “has been a difficult exercise.”

Lawmakers, however, were skeptical of what several saw as the companies’ efforts to explain their business practices in China only after a recent crush of negative media and government attention.

Survey: Canadian students log in, get turned on

Published
by
Graham
on February 17, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From CNN:

Call it a sexual revolution of the virtual kind — young Canadians are practicing a new style of safe sex and the only touching required involves a keyboard.

Of more than 2,500 university and college students polled across Canada, 87 percent of them are having sex over instant messenger, Webcams or the telephone, according to results of a national survey released on Monday.

“We were very surprised,” Noah Gurza, a founder of Toronto-based CampusKiss.com, an online dating community for students, which commissioned the first annual Canadian CampusKiss & Tell Survey.

“We did realize that new technologies are always embraced by younger individuals, but we didn’t think it would’ve reached such a high number.”

Amazon in talks on digital music service

Published
by
Graham
on February 17, 2006
in Computer News
. 0 Comments

From Reuters:

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is in advanced talks with four major music companies on starting a digital music service as early as this summer to compete with Apple, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Amazon is seeking to create a viable rival to Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes music service and its fast-selling iPod music player, both of which dominate the digital music market, they said.

Gmail Skins

Published
by
Graham
on February 16, 2006
in Internet Tips
. 1 Comment

Gmail Skins is a Firefox extension that lets you change the look of your Gmail inbox (amongst some other things).

It adds the following features:

  • Change the colour/skin of your inbox
  • Insert smileys/emoticons and images in to your emails
  • Make the navigation (Inbox, Starred, Sent Mail, etc) horizontal
  • Fix the navigation in place so that you don’t have to scroll to the top of the page to see it
  • Zebra stripes on mailbox - pretty!
  • Change the attachment paperclip (on inbox) to an icon indicating the type of attachment
  • Hide various page elements (invite panel, page footer, your email address from the top right of inbox - may be useful for public computers)

I just installed it and it seems to work fine. Of course there are the normal warnings that if you have problems with Gmail afterwards, uninstall the skin rather than contacting Google.

Check it out…

Sometimes Deleting Can Be Good: The Concept of Culling in Digital Photography

Published
by
Graham
on February 16, 2006
in Digital Photography Tips & Info
. 0 Comments

From Digital Media Thoughts:

Answer me this my fellow digital photographers: when you come back from shooting a bunch of photos with your camera, do you keep them all? Or do you delete some of them? I’m not talking about the blurry ones, or the ones that are too dark to be rescued. I’m asking if you delete photos that turned out well. Does the thought of that scare you? Do you believe that the real benefit of digital photography is the ability to shoot as many pictures as you want of the same thing, and keep them all? Then this article is for you.

Not everyone will agree with this, but it is an interesting article.