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What a nice surprise, my new iPhone arrived via FedEx today!
The official launch day is Feb. 10 (Thursday), but I guess Verizon shipped them out early for existing customers who pre-ordered last week.
I must say, Apple builds mobile devices as close to "perfect" as I've ever seen. What a beautiful phone.
As nice as my Android phone was (the original Verizon Droid), the new iPhone is that much better.
Good news for people who want an iPhone, but refuse to do business with AT&T. (Like me.)
Tomorrow, Jan. 11, Verizon is announcing the iPhone for Verizon, and it should be on sale by the end of the month.
I have blogged about this topic before: I have been recommending for a couple years now about how Microsoft offers what I consider to be the best virus protection -- and it's free.
Years ago I came to the conclusion that most, if not all, commercial virus protection software is a racket, designed to scare you year after year into constantly buying the annual upgrades.
That's why these packages advise you (amongst other things) about "evil cookies" that the program thankfully "eradicated" from your computer.
Give me a break! That's the biggest crock in the industry -- that cookies are somehow "evil", and that everyone should go around fearful of having them on their computer.
Let's say the virus software companies told you the truth -- that cookies were completely harmless little text files, and that not one single person on Earth had their computer corrupted by a cookie. And in addition to telling you the truth, they stopped their software from the useless (and often annoying) practice of deleting cookies from your computer.
What would happen then, when you scan your computer for viruses and come up with "no viruses found" time after time? You'd begin to realize that their software was not really necessary, and maybe you'd skip that next annual upgrade.
And don't think they don't know it. That's why they make sure that their scanning software always finds "evil stuff" when you run a scan. So you're like, "Thank God I was protected by their great software."
You know what's evil? The fact that they corrupt your perspective into thinking little text files called "cookies" are evil so that you'll continue wasting your money on their software.
OK, so back to Microsoft's free offering. It's called Microsoft Security Essentials. You can download a free copy here. (Keep in mind that you should only run ONE anti-virus software package at a time, so uninstall other similar packages before installing the Microsoft package.)
Security Essentials offers two things:
You can also set up the program for an "advanced membership", which I recommend. Again, it does not cost anything, but it gives your software more options.
All of the pay software companies out there make claims that Microsoft's free software is nowhere as good as their commercial software. Hogwash!
The fact is that the Security Essentials scanning engine is exactly the same one used in Microsoft's high-end ForeFront anti-virus software that Microsoft sells to businesses. It is top-notch, and often obtains some of the highest scores in the industry for threat detection.
Check out this article over at ZDNet that came out today showing that Microsoft's anti-virus software is detecting viruses that most other pay software can't.
So, if you're looking to have your Windows-based computer well-protected against threats, install the free Microsoft Security Essentials software, and use the built-in Windows Firewall software to block Internet intrusions.
In this case the best threat protection is free!
Check it out! Lottery Post has hit the big time, with a link on DRUDGE REPORT!
I found a neat little free program today that cleans up your bookmarks and favorites in your web browsers.
It works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera. (Too bad, I don't see a Safari option.)
Basically it looks at all the bookmarks in your browser, and tests each one to see if the page they point to is still working. That way, you can quickly purge all non-functioning bookmarks you have.
That would be handy enough as-is, but it also has a feature to go out to each bookmarked site and grab the latest "favicon" image to display in your bookmarks. Sweet!
Did I mention the software is free?
It's called AM Deadlink, and it's located here: http://aignes.com/deadlink.htm
It seems pretty well built too, not just "thrown together".
Very handy for people with a lengthy collection of favorites/bookmarks.
Edit: Forgot to mention, it also finds all the duplicate bookmarks in your collection!
Human beings by their very nature try to block out and forget horrible images and events and to "get on with their lives".
This is one image that we all should never forget, because the threat is still there, as much as it was on that sunny, clear day in 2001.
Don't forget to put your flag out on Saturday to honor the thousands of firefighters, police, rescue workers, and civilians just going about their work day when they were killed by Islamic terrorists.
Since Internet Explorer version 4.0 was released, IE has been my default Web browser.
The default browser, of course, is the one that opens automatically anytime your computer needs to view a Web page. For example, if you're viewing a Word document and click a link in it, the default browser is the browser that opens and shows you the Web page.
As a Webmaster, I have always used IE because the majority of the visitors of the site use IE. It's important to experience Web sites just like my Web visitors do, so I don't accidentally publish something that most people can't use perfectly.
Another reason for using IE is that certain key features have traditionally worked much better with IE. For example, the text editor in IE really is the best. Other browsers have some major glitches that the LP editor attempts to get around, but sometimes they are just flaky.
Anyway, Google Chrome has been growing by leaps and bounds in terms of stability and features, and I have always admired its terrific performance and simple, elegant interface.
Another great feature in Chrome, for anyone with more than one computer, is the ability to synchronize bookmarks automatically between all computers. It works extremely well, and never seems to get out of sync.
So a few weeks ago, as a test, I set Chrome as my default browser on my computers. I honestly didn't think it would last, but before I knew it, Chrome became "normal" for me, and I missed using it when I had to use a different browser.
It's not Earth-shattering news, but to me it signifies that Google Chrome really is a good, mature browser, worthy of everyday use.
IE9 is shaping up to be a really great browser too, and the rumor is that it will have a similar "minimal" interface to Google Chrome. So I'm sure I'll need to revisit this situation when IE9 comes out next year, but for now it's Chrome for me.
A new, free PDF file reader has been released by Nuance, the company that makes PaperPort. (PaperPort is the software you probably got if you ever purchased a scanner.)
In addition to PaperPort, Nuance makes a number of other good products mainly centered around document management and document conversion.
One of their products, PDF Converter, contains an excellent PDF reader. It looks like they have taken that reader and packaged it into its own free dowload, minus all the advanced conversion capabilities of PDF Converter.
(The free reader still contains a number of very useful conversion options, such as the ability to convert a PDF file to a Word document or Excel spreadsheet.)
I uninstalled Adobe Reader on my computer and installed the free Nuance PDF Reader, and I am very pleased with the results.
For one thing, it loads in a fraction of the time that the Adobe Reader does. It also takes up one-quarter of the disk space that Adobe Reader consumes. (50 MB vs. 200 MB)
But the main attraction is that it is much more secure. Adobe Reader is well-known as a virus attack target. In fact, a study done last year showed that something like 70%-80% of all virus attack attempts last year were targeted at Adobe Reader. Adobe software is frustratingly unsecure.
When you install the Nuance PDF Reader, one of the first questions it asks is if you want to disable JavaScript in the reader. Saying "Yes, disable it" is a good thing, because it eliminates many of the attacks that could potentially affect your computer. Very few users would miss JavaScript in their PDF reader software anyway.
Also, because the Nuance software is not the well-known Adobe software, virus makers do not target it. That's one of the big attractions of going with a non-Adobe reader in general.
Anyone who's looked into PDF readers has no doubt come across Fox-It software, which is another non-Adobe reader. I tried it, but didn't like it. The worst thing for me was that it installed a whole bunch of spam-like programs on my computer. For example, it adds several ask.com search add-ons and changed the defaults in my browser. (It does that in order to get money every time you click something on ask.com.) No thanks.
The Nuance reader does nothing like that. The only thing it has is a tiny ad that appears in the upper-right that shows you other Nuance products that are available. Totally non-intrusive and fine by me, especially for free software.
Finally, one of the nice benefits of un-installing Adobe Reader is that you are no longer continuously nagged to upgrade to the latest version. They have to do all those updates because they are constantly finding security holes in it. It's a relief to no longer have to deal with that.
Here's the link to the free Nuance PDF Reader!
For those who use Google Chrome for their Web browser, a new version has just been released.
You can install the latest release by clicking the Wrench icon in Chrome, and then selecting "About" from the menu. The message at the bottom of the box will indicate that a new release is available, and you just need to click the Update button.
If you're not sure what a Web browser is, I included a new video in the Help forum to show you.
Mozilla released version 3.6 of Firefox yesterday, and looks like a worthy upgrade. They have increased performance nicely, such that the performance feels a lot closer to what you see in Google Chrome. Nice.
Firefox is one of the easiest browsers to upgrade. All you need to do is click "Check for upgrades" in Firefox's Help menu, and let it do it's thing.
I saw the new Avatar movie today (opening day). It surpassed all of my expectations -- and that was when it was only half-way through.
It is rare to watch a new movie that feels so completely unique and original. Avatar is such a movie. Every single second is beautifully and carefully rendered. You can feel the attention to detail at all times.
Most of all, if you choose to see Avatar, do whatever you can to see it in 3-D. There are theaters showing it in 2-D, and some in 3-D, and being sure to see it in 3-D was a great decision.
The 3-D experience was totally immersive, and thankfully left out all the gimmicks that all other 3-D movies exhibit. Things like jamming objects into the camera lens to make the audience jump. To me, that takes you out of the movie, rather than helping it. In Avatar, 3-D only makes you feel like you are a participant in the action, rather than an entertaining gimmick.
All the good reviews that you may have heard are accurate -- and maybe even understated. Avatar is one of the best movies in years.
See article on ZDNet:
For movie lovers everywhere!
Windows 7 will be officially released in a couple weeks, so lots of articles and books are starting to get published.
One of the best such articles I have ready is 77 Windows 7 Tips. It contains lots of tips aimed at users who are comfortable with technology, but also has tips for anyone, regardless of proficiency level.
I have been using Windows 7 since July, and I must say it's an absolutely wonderful operating system. It has been rock-solid stable, and I love the various changes they have made to Vista.
