Computer Tips -Tech Info

This is the first of a few articles that will highlight some of the tools/gadgets/gizmos that I find useful. I’m starting off with one that’s almost essential. External USB hard drive adapter. Recently, I’ve been looking for something a bit leaner than your typical usb -> hard drive converter. Yes, I’ve carried something like this […]

There was a time when you had to download Windows-only software to access Rhapsody (an online music service owned by real networks.) However, that has changed. It’s a move that I’m glad to see as a linux user, but just in general it makes sense that they can open it up to anyone with a […]

The Oboe service has launched. It’s a project that Michael Robertson of Mp3.com and Lindows/Linspire fame has been building interest in for the last 6 months or so. (Maybe a bit longer). The idea is that for a $39 per year subscription you can have an unlimited amount of space online to store your music […]

DesktopLinux has the news of a new release of Inkscape, an open source SVG editor for Linux, Max, Windows and Unix. The program boasts capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, and Xara X, which also use W3C standard SVG file formats. I’ve used Inkscape before and I’m not big into drawing graphics, but it’s VERY […]

One of the sub-stories in all the Sony DRM mess of the last month with the XCP copy protection was that it was really an ineffective way of preventing copying of music anyway. In other words, you could press shift while inserting the cd to avoid the installer, then other programs could access the cd/allow […]

I was surprised to do a search and find that I haven’t mentioned tightvnc before (or even merely VNC as a useful tool.) Ok – here’s the scenario, you need a way to get remote pc access, or remotely view a desktop, maybe it’s a Windows machine and you’re using a Mac? Or Maybe it’s […]

Newsforge has a comparison up of three open source word processors. Abiword, Kword and the beta release of the write component of OpenOffice.org 2 are compared in this review. Abiword and OpenOffice.Org should both be available for Windows or Linux (or Mac) and Kword is primarily Linux (Mac OS X packages are available though.)    […]

Sunbeltblog has a flurry of posts today. This one muses on wireless networking (in)security. One of the points that they make is that there are “acceptable” levels of security depending on your circumstance. In other words, if you’re miles from nowhere and feel comfortable with WEP (which is breakable) fine.    Send article as PDF […]

According to The Register among other sources, there is a vulnerability in all Acrobat and Reader software prior to the following safe release numbers: Windows and Mac Reader users please install 7.0.3 or 6.0.4 to be fixed (all other 7 series and 6 series versions are vulnerable). Acrobat users on Windows or Mac should update […]

Long ago there was talk about the desktop not meaning anything anymore and that software would be delivered through the web. Well, it looks as though AJAX has brought that closer to reality. Wired news takes a look at where things are in the arena. Explains what Ajax is and what makes it so meaningful. […]