How-To-Geek

Hi All,

Just found an interesting computer, geeky type site called 'How-To-Geek' (hereafter HTG). 

So, just what is HTG?  Its an online tech magazine that is dedicated to providing interesting articles, how-to's, and more to the audience of tech-type and not tech-type readers.  The site was founded in 2006 whose original goal was to bring a better how-to site to the internet - with content that's understandable for regular people, but geeky enough for more technical readers....(source: HT FAQ).

Click here for a link to the HTG Discussion Forum's.  

Click here for Windows articles and information. 

Click here for Mac articles and information about Mac OS. 

Click here for iOS article and for everything related to iPhone and iPad's.

Click here for Android articles and for everything related to Google and Android.

Other useful links on the site include Gaming, Security and Photography.  Click the links to follow them to that particular subject....

Enjoy the site and the new technology!

Regards,
Stu


 

Speedtest - How Fast is Your Internet?

Hi All,

How fast is your internet connection?  Does your internet service provider claim one download speed and one upload speed - and you believe that it is much slower than that?    Indeed!


Click on this link from Speedtest.net and you can see what your exact upload/download speeds are anytime of the day.

Its simple, click on the words 'Begin Test' and you're computer will be pinged and you'll find out what your upload speed is and what your download speed is!

Mobile apps are available from the App Store, Windows Store, Google Play and Amazon Apps by Speedtest.net by clicking on this link! 

At the end of the test users will be able to rate their internet service provider and find out what their IP address is by looking at the bottom of the screen. 

Finally, users can click on the 'My Results' icon at the top of the page and see how their computer compares to a range of other computers and servers in various locations.

Enjoy the site and hopefully you have a fast internet connection for your downloads and uploads!

Regards,
Stu

Android Apps Worth Checking Out

Hi All,

Forthwith a bunch of websites that crow about various Apps...

Digital Trends - 100 Best Android Apps of 2017 - standard list

TechRepublic - 10 Free Android Apps Worth Checking Out  

Android Authority - 15 Best Free Android Apps of 2017

PCMag - 100 Best Android Apps of 2017 

Make Use Of - 10 Amazing Apps That Will Change How You Use Android 

Stuff.TV -  40 Best Free Apps For Android

Geek.com - 6 Awesome New Android Apps You Should Check Out 

Next time we'll cover iOS apps!

Regards,
Stu

Fake News

Hi All,

Fake news had been in the - well - news a lot lately.  For example, if you conduct a Google search for 'fake news' you get over 150 million results.  Interestingly readers get results from the 'Top Stories' section - at least as of 6/17/17 at about 10:34am - The Guardian, Fox 5 Atlanta and Newsweek.  All of which are verifiable news outlets and sources.

This blog entry is not a discussion on politics, political parties or people involved in the government. Its simply an entry in the blog that deals with fake news.  Onward!

Wikipedia has a very unbiased, lengthy and comprehensive entry on fake news.  Click here for the entry and click here for the link to a discussion of twentieth century and twenty-first century fake news.  It makes for interesting reading.

Snopes is a website that is fairly well known. It basically debunks urban legends.  However, this link discusses specific examples of fake news on the site.  This next link fact checks various articles and news events as well.

FactCheck.org is a  website that has, as its mission, "to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.
FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

So...FactCheck.org is unbiased, accurate, fair and a great place to learn more about fake news.  This next article is called 'How to Spot Fake News?' and was written in November 2016 - very current and timely and interesting.

In addition, the Viral Spiral page has a list of some of the claims they get asked about the most.  Finally, all of FactCheck.org's articles called 'Ask FactCheck', can be found at this link.

Finally, click on this link from the venerable New York Times - its basically a search of the site for the term 'fake news'. 

Other interesting and/or useful fake news sites include, HuffPost.com, Fake News-NPR and this link from the Guardian (a UK newspaper) titled, 'What is fake news? How to spot it and wha tyo ucan do to stop it?'

Enjoy the link and the articles and how to become an even better news consumer!

Regards,
Stu

Another Clean Up Entry

Hi All,

Well, we're heading to the mid-year mark of 2017 and I still have way too many websites to discuss on the blog. Which means that I need to do another 'clean up' entry where I cover a bunch of websites with a brief summary next to each title...


Path For Climate Change, Beyond Paris - From the NYTimes. 

Meditation Basics - Psychology Today

Medical Identity Theft - FTC.gov - what's worse than regular id theft? medical id theft....

20 Great Public Library Websites - interesting blog

Serious Eats : A Food Blog and Community

Beyond Google: 56 Authoritative Untapped Resources

Top 10 Tech News Websites 

MIT OpenCourseWare - free online course materials

Our Automated Future - the New Yorker

Compare Cell Phone Plans, Internet Plans and Tablets - WhistleOut

Enjoy the sites!

Regards,
Stu

World Backup Day

Don't Forget to Backup Your Data

Hi All,

Just spotted this article on backing up your data from the venerable New York Times.  Good stuff on backing up your data - whether its on your computer, your social media feed, your pictures or your music.  Don't lose your important data/info! Click here for the NYTimes article I just mentioned. 

Click here for a link from Microsoft to learn how to backup or transfer your data on a Windows based computer.  This next link discusses  'How to Back Up Your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch' - link comes directly from the Apple support website.  PC World has a link as well that discusses 'The Simple Guide To Backing Up Your PC' 

These next links discuss the advantages of backing up your data to the 'cloud'  But first, what exactly is the 'cloud'?  Click here (Mashable), her (Gizmodo) and here (PC Mag) for explanations of just what the 'cloud' is...

Backblaze has a site that discusses how to backup your computer.
Five Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Storage
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
More Advantages and Disadvantages of Storing Your Data on the Cloud
 

Enjoy the links and remember, if you need to find more information about the cloud or backing up your data, just do a Google search with some of the key words you are looking for (cloud computing, backing up your data, backup, remote backup...etc)

Regards,

Stu

Going Far Beyond Google When Searching

Hi All,

Just found an interesting site from OEDb - Open Education Database - titled 'Research Beyond Google: 56 Authoritative, Invisible, and Comprehensive Resources'.

Basically the site discusses the Deep Web and various subject specific resources that will help you do your research quicker, more effectively and with better search results. Topis include Art, Books Online, Business, Consumer, Economic-Job Data, Finance-Investing, General Research, Government Data, International, Law-Politics, Library of Congress, Medical-Health, STEM and Transportation.

When you go to a particular site, you'll find a brief one or two sentence summary and a link to the site.  Simple and really, quite intuitive to use.

Enjoy the links and the site.

Regards,
stu

Research Beyong Google - 56 Authoritative, Invisible and Comprehensive Resources

Hi All,

The title says it all - lots of great (authoritative, invisible, comprehensive) resources for the inner research geek in all of us...click here for a bit of information about evaluating resources on the web.
Click on this link to learn about how to search the invisible web...sounds mysterious - its not though...
The site is OEDb - aka the Open Education Database.

Topics covered in the article include Deep Web Search Engines, Art, Books Online, Business, Consumer, Economic and Job Data, Finance and Investing, General Research, Government Data, International, Law and Politics, Library of Congress, Medical and Health, STEM and Transportation.
Quite a wide variety of topics that's for sure. 

Next to each link there is a very brief - about 1-2 sentences - summary of the resource.  Then a direct link to the site.  Quick and easy and no muss and no fuss. 

One thing - the page was generated in 2013 so be aware that some - probably not very many though - sites are not working.  Most are...but still.  Your mileage might vary but the resources are well worth the time you'll spend finding the information elsewhere.

Now...go search and check out these great resources.

Regards,
Stu

Life Hacks part 2

Hi All,

Just a follow up on my last post that covered Life Hacks.  Users can type in the phrase 'life hacks' along with any other word in Google, Bing or any other search engine.

What you'll come up with is the particular topic you chose (cooking, cleaning, gardening, quilting, painting, photography, car repair, astronomy, fishing, etc...ANYTHING - and I mean any term can be used with the phrase 'life hack') and all sorts of 'hacks' that make that particular topic easier, faster, simpler, less-time consuming, more productive, less expensive, etc.

Its a great way to learn how to get things done faster, simpler and with less stress...
3 Examples:

holiday shopping life hacks - Google search results

holiday wrapping gifts - Google search results

cooking life hacks - Google search results

mortgage life hacks - Google search results

painting life hacks - Google search results

buying a house life hacks - Google search results

gardening life hacks - Google search results

You get the idea.....

Regards,

Stu

Reuters Technology News

Hi All,

If you are interested in computers, tablets, internet news, smartphones or anything else related to technology you might want to visit RTN.  What is RTN?  Simply put its an acronym for Reuters Technology News.

With main topics like business, Google, Apple, Cybersecurity, Technology videos, and more, readers will be in the know with respect to technology news. News is current, relevant and the articles are very well written.

Enjoy the site and the technology news!

Regards,
Stu

Best of 2015

Hi All,

With the year 2015 drawing to a close, now is the time to check all the various 'best of 'lists that are coming out from various news sources, magazines, website, blogs and more.

Enjoy the links and the lists! Happy New Year.

Best 9 Instagram Pictures of 2015 

Best TV shows of 2015 

Best Movies of 2015

Best of the Best of 2015 List From Around the Web

Year in Search 2015

Top 10 Business Stories of 2015 - CBS News

Top 10 Business Stories of 2015 - MSN

Best 11 minutes in sports from 2015

Best weather bloopers of 2015

Best Books of 2015 - Amazon 

Best Books of 2015 - Publisher's Weekly 

Best Photos of 2015 - New York Times 

25 Best Albums of 2015 - Billboard 


Regards,
Stu

Fonts, Reading and Printing

Hi All,

Just a quickie post about fonts today.  What?  Yep - fonts.  Click on this link which goes to Google Fonts - which can be downloaded and use repeatedly.

Click here for a brief background about Google Fonts. 

Click this link to find the Google Fonts blog...

Users can preview how the text looks with the new font that they choose - just use the preview text box at the top of the page.  As a matter of fact, users can preview the text with just a single word, a single sentence, a paragraph or even a poster.

There are lots of customizable features. For example, users can:
1. Change the size of the font,
2. Sort the various fonts to choose from by popularity, date added to Google Fonts and which fonts are trending on Google Fonts. 
3.Fonts are customizable base on thickness, slant, width.
4. Scripts can also be change by language.  For example, Arabic, Greek, Latin and Thai among others can be used to see how the font looks using a different character set.
5. Finally uses can find still more scripts by clicking on this link.
6. Users can synchronize Google Fonts to their computer Desktop with SkyFonts.  Use this link to get more information on how to install Skyfonts and to browse Google Fonts.

Enjoy the site and the blog - here's to sprucing up the type-face in your document and on the web!

Regards,
Stu

YouTube - videos

Hi All,

Pretty much most everyone knows that YouTube has millions of videos of cats playing, drag races, fun videos and much, much, much, much more. Right?

But did you know that there are lots of educational videos on the site?  Yep - just do a bunch of searches for Windows 10 or iPad or baseball highlights or making ice cream or United States History or introduction to geometry or Android smartphones and you'll see videos galore on the topic that you searched for.

But there's more...did you know that the Associated Press and British Movietone just added more than a million minutes of the last centuries' most iconic events on to the site?  Nope, didn't think so.  Click here for the link that discusses the additions to YouTube. 

This link goes to the AP Archive on YouTube. 

This link goes to the British Movietone Archive on YouTube.

Enjoy the videos and the links!

Regards,
Stu

Delete Your Online Account

Hi All,

Deleting your online account isn't as easy as you think these days!  It takes more than just an email or filling out a websites' form in order for the site to delete your account.

AccountKiller solves the problem of deleting your account to many of the most popular social media websites and regular websites on the web.  Click here for a link to AccountKiller. 

To learn more about AccountKiller, click on this link which goes to AccountKiller's 'About Us' page. 

AccountKiller also has an FAQ page which discusses some of the specifics of how AccountKiller works.  Note the section on what the various colors on the site mean - white, black and grey.  

Some of the well-known sites include: Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Yahoo, Spotify, Google, WhatsApp, MySpace and MSN. 

Enjoy the site - and enjoy knowing that you can eliminate your account from some sites on the web!

Regards,
Stu

Things You Can Do With Your Smartphone...

Hi All,

You've come a long way Mr. Smartphone.  No longer is the smartphone just capable of searching the web or getting email or texting.  Nope...its a whole new world out there of tools, scans, resources, fitness tools, note taking, voice operating tools and much, much more - as you'll see in this post. 

You probably know all this already...but if readers pick up even just one tip...well, then I can consider this post a success.  (But I am shooting for a bit more than just one tip being picked up by a reader!)

Mashable has a link  titled, 'Apps: 10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone'.  Check out #3 and #7...

Techrader.com has its own version of '10 Things You Didn't Know Your Smartphone Could Do' - article is current and interesting - check #6...you'll never need to look outside again for the weather - although that might be easier...

As if you didn't know already, there are a ton of fun things you can do with your smartphone - now this list has been organized for you in this article from Sooperarticles.com. Title of the article is 'Fun Things To Do With Your Smartphone'.

Not to be beat, Techlicious.com has come out with an article on '8 Things You Didn't Know You Can Do With Your Smartphone'.  (I had no idea about detecting leaky windows or that you can check your check engine light, or the fish finder!)

And, not to be outdone, USA Today - a mainstream newspaper - chimed in with an article as well.  They titled the article '5 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone'. Clever, eh?

Finally, we have a bevy of books in the library on how to use your smartphone! Click on this link which will link you to the Farmingdale library card catalog and books on the subject of smartphones!

Enjoy the links and the books and your smartphone!

Regards,
Stu

The Internet in Real Time

Hi All,

Very interesting website alert!  The Internet in Real Time.

What the heck is this you ask?!  Great question.  

Readers can click on this link to watch as various internet giants (Twitter, YouTube, Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, WhatsApp, Yelp, Foursquare, Pinterest, Pandora and more) do what they do best! 

Users can see LinkedIn (the number of user searches), YouTube (the number of videos hours watched), the number of check-ins at FourSquare or the number of the reviews posted on Yelp or the number of files saves on DropBox or the number of Likes and Posts on Facebook or the number of hours watched on Netflix or the number of hours streamed on Pandora...and much more...

Very simple, colorful and entertaining website.  Here is the link again.

Enjoy the site - don't spend too much time on it!

Regards,
Stu

Smart Phone Security

Hi All,

Many of us know that smartphone usage is increasing exponentially.  Seriously, they are everywhere - and they are awesome in that users can text, email, search the web, play music, watch movies and much, much more.

But there can be a downside to smartphone use...(sorry).  eWeek.com came out with an article back in February 2014 entitled, '10 Mobile Security Issues That Should Worry You'.  Its a slideshow so it won't take long to take a peak - its worth your time and effort.  

Click on this next link from Verizon.com for an entry called '9 Tips to Keep Your Smartphone Security'.  Some of the highlights in the article include locking your smartphone with a pin and installing an Android security app. 

Alternatively, you can click on this link titled '7 Best Practices For Smartphone Security (from Cnet.com)'. (Enabling 'Do Not Track' and Avoid answering spam calls are my faves!)

And, finally, click on these two links for more info on how to keep your smartphone safe and secure!
'How to Keep Your Smartphone (and its data) Secure' - ComputerWorld.com
'Smartphone Security Tips' - Kaspersky.com
'10 Best Ways to Secure Your Smartphone' - Androidcentral.com

Enjoy the links - hope your phone and data are more secure after you read this blog post!

Regards,
Stu


  

Top 500 Global Websites

Hi All,

Alexa is a website that is owned by Amazon.com. Alexa is - as described on their 'About Us' part on their website - a company that focuses exclusively on delivering the richest and most meaningful analytics tools for our customers...the blurb goes on, which you can visit by clicking on this link.

The important part of Alexa.com that I found was this link to the Top 500 Sites on the Web.  Sure, the top 10 are populated by the sites you would expect:
1. Google.com
2. Facebook.com
3. Youtube.com
4. Yahoo.com
5. Baidu.com
6. Wikipedia.com
7. Amazon.com
8. Twitter.com
9. Taobao.com
10. Qq.com

But if you scroll down the list you'll see some very interesting changes to the web.  For instance, notice how many Chinese companies are in the top 100 of the list! There are 18 Chinese companies in the top 100!

5. Baidu.com
9. Taobao.com
10. Qq.com
14. Sina.com.cn
15. Weibo.com
23. Hao123.com
29. Sohu.com
43. Alibaba.com
49. Fc2.com
56. 163.com
67. Gmw.cn
75. Xinhuanet.com
82. Alipay.com
83. Soso.com
89. Jd.com
90. Cntv.cn
94. Youku.com
98. Chinadaily.com.cn

That all said, of the top 100 sites the following might be worthwhile for the reader to visit....

39. Microsoft.com - if you have any Windows questions, you might want to start your search here.
47. Imdb.com - features plot summaries, reviews, cast lists, and theatre schedules.
69. Diply.com - an entertainment website
116. Booking.com - worldwide accommodation reservations
130. Yelp.com - members share their favorite recommendations - everything from latest restaurants to shops and more.
139. Cnet.com - Reviews, news, and prices on all tech products - as well as free downloads and newsletters
161. Indeed.com - search engine for jobs - with a radically different approach to job search.
196. Zillow.com - Empowers users to learn about real estate.  
237. NIH.gov - US government department that is in charge of medical research.
276. Goodreads.com - let's users track and rate books and network with other readers.
278. Groupon.com - features a daily deal for most major metropolitan areas in the United States
292. Avg.com - Antivirus and security software products for home and business users. Free trials.
311. Hulu.com - Ad-supported streaming television shows and movies, including some in HD.
317. Accuweather.com - Features radar and satellite images and 5 day forecasts for US locations.

So there you have it!  A whole passel of interesting websites - entertainment, computer, technology, shopping, travel, weather and health are included in the list - all in one place!  And they are well-known, popular and, for the most part, free...

Enjoy the popular links.

Stu

End of the Year Lists - Part I

Hi All,

So we have 12 days left until the new year comes around.  2015 here we come!  With that in mind, lots of news sources and outlets come out with various 2014 lists.  Here are some of the highlights (and hopefully the best - or at least the most interesting) of these lists. 

And please note, there just might be a second part to this entry since there are so many interesting lists available on the web. Stay tuned for the next episode!!!

Science Announces 2014's Top 10 Breakthroughs
PC Mag - 10 Best Desktops
PC Mag - 10 Best Laptops
TechRadar - 10 Best Tablet PCs in the World Today
Car and Driver - Editors' Choice Awards 2014 - Best Cars, Trucks, Crossovers and More.
Gayot - Top 10 Fall Beers
Wine Spectator - Top 10 Wines Revealed
National Geographic - Best Winter Trips 2014
Vogue - Top Ten TV Shows of 2014
IMDB - Highest Rated TV Series Released in 2014
Mother Jones - Best Books of 2014 (Fiction and Non-fiction)
Washington Post - 10 Best Books of 2014
Yahoo! News - Yahoo's Top 10 News Searches of 2014
Washington Times - Celebrity Deaths in 2014
Bing Link to People, Moments, and Events That Shaped 2014.
CNN - What You Really Googled in 2014

Enjoy the links - and stay tuned for part two of this list in the coming days!

Regards,
Stu

Brief History of the Internet

Hi All,

So you like to use the internet to: send email, exchange pictures, post to Facebook, send birthday cards, download games, do online banking, check in with your favorite quilting site, buy books on Amazon.com, send Tweets on Twitter, search for movies on the Internet Movie Database, use Google to find out about gardening, stream movies via Netflix, check sports scores or write a blog entry?  I guess that means that you are a bona fide internet user!  Congratulations.

And now...that you use the internet, wouldn't it be at least a bit interesting to learn about how it came into being? Indeed it would be - its an interesting story filled with lots of technology, history, big names in computing, government sponsorship and much more!

Click on this link from the Internet Society for a very comprehensive (they call it 'brief') History of the Internet.  The article includes a timeline, has sections on internet concepts, proving the ideas, documentation and a very extensive list of footnotes.

Regular readers will not be surprised to see this next link from Wikipedia.  This Wikipedia entry goes to an article titled, 'History of the Internet'.  Similar but different than the prior article. One interesting link from the Wikipedia article goes to 'External Links'....

Another interesting article come from the Computer History Museum - and includes a very interesting (and extensive) timeline of the internet.  Cool stuff - and easy to digest and read.

Finally, click on this link from History.com for an article titled, 'Invention of the Internet' - while fairly brief, it introduces readers to some of the major players and the basics of the invention of the internet.

Enjoy the links - and of course - enjoy the web and the internet.

Regards,
Stu