What Is Google Docs?

It seems that more and more things are being done online. We keep our files online, we talk to people online, we place games online, and now you can make your business files online as well. If you're used to Microsoft's Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) or to Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) you won't be too confused when first you meet the Google Docs suite.

Google Docs does the basics of what you're used to doing in your normal office programs, but cuts out most of the bells and whistles. You can create a word processing document, a presentation, a spreadsheet, a form, or a drawing. You needn't remember to save as it auto-saves up to Google's cloud regularly, and you also have the option of downloading it to your computer so you can work on the document offline assuming you have a similar program on your computer. (You can also upload a file from your computer to Google Docs if you wish to work on it from any computer with internet access.)

You can also share your documents with others with a click of a button, allowing others to either download your document, view it online, or work on it online with you. These are handy options for people who need to collaborate with others who may use different types of computers or programs. It also has a very nice price point- free. That's right, you pay nothing for Google Docs; It's included in your free Google account. Now, keep in mind what I said in the beginning that it is missing some whistles and bells, but if you only do basic document creation and editing, I recommend checking out Google Docs.

Practical Tip of the Day:
In Google Docs, you have many options on which way you'd like to download your document. If you'd like to be able to edit it on your computer without having an internet connection, downloading it in the common Microsoft Office format is recommended (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), but if you do not need to be able to edit it and would like to make it the easiest to view on a wide range of computers and mobile devices, PDF format is best. PDFs (portable document format) are not easily editable, but are able to be viewed using software that is usually included on modern computers, and easily downloaded in case it isn't there. Picking the format of your file is important as it dictates what you can do with your files, and how you can do it. Choose carefully!

What Are Flash Drives?

Flash drives, thumb drives, jump drives. All these different names mean the same thing! It used to be, long long ago (all the way back in the 80's, and yes, I'm being sarcastic) that if you needed to share information with another personal computer you could put it on a floppy disk. Then you could put it on a different kind of floppy disk; These ones weren't really floppy anymore, but they were very similar. Fast forward a little bit and you get to compact disks- CDs for short. Then came DVDs, and then finally, the flash drive.

These are usually about an inch to an inch and a half (about the size of a thumb, hence being called "thumb drives" sometimes). You stick the smaller metal end into the USB port on your computer. If you don't know if your computer has this port or where it is, look at all the holes in the machine, usually on the back, but sometimes on the side or front as well, and look for something that looks similar. It is extremely likely that you have a USB port on your computer as they've been standard for quite some time now.

Once you plug it into your computer, you'll be able to find it using the same technique you use to find files on your computer, and you'll be able to manipulate it in the same ways as well. Flash drives are like mini-hard drives in that they allow you to store files on them, manipulate files on them, and remove files from them as well. They are very handy when you need to share files that are too large to send in other means like email or cloud storage. For example, my husband recorded a video that was too large to send in either of those methods so he put it on the flash drive, brought it to his brother, plugged it into his computer, and then copied it over. The entire process (minus driving time of course) took less than two minutes.

Practical Tip of the Day:
When you go shopping for a flash drive, you'll find yourself overwhelmed with options. There are cheap ones, expensive ones, fancy and plain ones, large ones, small ones, etc. The most important factor in picking out a flash drive is how much storage it offers. If you noticed in the picture I placed above, the flash drive there says it has four gigs. (A "gig" is a unit of measure for computer data.) It is important to think about how much space you'll need before heading to a store. Will you be storing large video files or just transferring small word processing documents? Once you've picked the size, that will help narrow down your choices. Everything else is secondary. They make ones that connect to your keychain, ones that look like movie characters, ones that are as small as your thumb nail, and the list goes on and on!

Special Edition: What is CISPA?

Today Congress passed bill H.R. 3523, even while President Obama has promised to veto it. Being called the "Son-of-SOPA," H.R. 3523 is the new-big-and-scary-Internet-bill. H.R. 3523, AKA the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA for short) is remarkably like SOPA, but has some key differences.


While both bills would negatively affect the Internet and America's culture as a whole, CISPA focuses more on personal information and your ISP (Internet Service Provider). In short, the bill would allow your ISP (the company you pay to access the Internet) to monitor everything you do on the Internet, without your knowing, consent, or court order. Why would they do that? The bill says it would be to look for "potential threats" it would then report to the government. One of the criticisms of this is that the language is vague in what it is considered a threat. Another is that it would mean that everything you do, every blog you read, every email you read or send, every Facebook post, every picture on the Internet will be monitored and scanned to see if it mentions any trigger words.

Once your ISP knows what you're doing online, they can then share that information- including all your personal information as well like your name and address with other ISPs and the government. There is no way to opt out of this, and the ISPs will be granted immunity from privacy lawsuits. This law will supersede any and all privacy agreements you make with the ISP or any websites you visit.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Even though the bill has passed the House, it still has to pass the Senate and not be veto'ed by the President. You can find your elected officials by your zip code on this website, and can contact them in whichever means is most convenient for you. You can also see how your representative voted on this webpage.

What are Internet Pirates?

Pirates of yore would sail around the world, fighting, drinking, stealing, and in general being bad people. There are still pirates today, and while some are still naval-based, others are no different than the person next to you in the grocery store. Internet pirates don't have to leave the house, and some have never even been on a boat.

"Internet pirate" is a general term for anyone who acquires and/or shares other people's works online. The most commonly pirated types of works are TV shows, movies, and music. In the late 90's, Napster became very common, and people were sharing and downloading music as often as they checked their email. Some people didn't even know what they were doing was illegal. As access to the Internet became faster, eventually people began sharing videos, though at this point Napster had been all but shut down. People simply moved on to the next file-sharing site.

While downloading copyrighted material off the internet is illegal, it is doubtful that the FBI will be knocking down your door to take your computer and lock you up. What is most common for the internet pirate who's been caught is to receive a letter in the mail asking them to pay some large sum of money to make up for perceived lost revenue for the companies who's material you've downloaded. This can be more than a little startling for people who receive these letters, as often they're young people or unwitting parents of teenagers. Sometimes these letters even go to people who haven't pirated anything, but people who left their wireless network unprotected, and a neighbor has used their network instead.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you use a wireless router (if you do not need to plug your internet into your computer), make sure it has a secure password on it. If you leave your wireless network with either no password, or a simple password ("admin", "abc123" or "password") you leave yourself open for people to use your internet to do whatever they want with. While receiving letters to pay for music you didn't steal is on the mild end, there have also been stories of elderly people and families being accused of things as serious as sharing child pornography because someone was using their network unbeknownst to them.

What is Cloud Storage?

It seems everything nowadays offers cloud storage, a place you can keep things up in... the cloud? What is "the cloud", what kind of things go into it, and how does it work? Cloud storage has been around for a long time, but it's seen a surge in popularity in recent years. (Note: This is not a full, technical explanation. This blog, and the articles within, serve to give a "normal person's" understanding of technical topics.)

When people talk about "the cloud" they are generally speaking about servers held by a particular company. A server is a physical computer that serves only one purpose- the kind we'll be discussing are storage servers, and their job is to hold, transfer, and move data and information around. When you put something up in "the cloud" you're sending the file over the Internet, and onto one of these servers. Once it's there, you can access it from any computer you want using the same website you used to put it up. That's it! Cloud storage in a nutshell.

Sometimes cloud storage is known as a "drop box", which I find is a lot less vague. Cloud storage is a lot like your own personal locker on the Internet, where you can access it wherever and whenever you'd like. How big your "locker" is depends on what the company offering it to you has allotted. Sometimes they're small, just big enough for a picture of two, or sometimes they're larger, allowing you to share whole movies with your friends and family.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Cloud storage can be used as a good way to back up your most important files from a "meteor falling on my house" sort of emergency, but may not be a good primary source of backup, especially if you ware using a cloud storage company that also offers file transfers (as many do). A good, recent example of this is a company called MegaUpload. It was taken offline by the government for being a place people would share copyrighted material like movies and music. Unfortunately, there were also lots of people who were using it for legitimate purposes like sharing important business files or storing person files like backups, photos, etc. At this point in time, they are still unable to access any of their files.

Should I Get a New Computer Now Or Wait?

Oh, the age old question! Should I wait, or get it now? While today's culture loves instant gratification, we also don't want to have our new computer replaced by a faster, better one just a couple months down the road. So, the battle rages, should I get a new computer now or wait?

There are several things to consider when looking to purchase a new computer:

• Is it a want or a need?
• What will you be using it for?
• How familiar are you with your current computer, if you have one?
• Do you feel the need to always have the latest items?

If getting a new computer is a want, then that means you can wait, but if it's a need, you should get one sooner rather than later. If you'll be using your computer for HD video editing and/or graphic design, you'll need a more powerful computer, but if you'll primarily be editing your home photos, sending emails and surfing the web, an average computer will suite you just fine (and save you some money). If you're very familiar with how your current computer works, upgrading to a new one won't be too difficult, but if you're still a novice or you don't currently own your own computer, you won't notice many of the upgrades a newer version has compared to an older one. Lastly, if you're a technophile, or you simply hate not having the latest-and-greatest, well, you know where I'm going with this one.

My own personal computer at home is a five-year-old iMac. That's pretty old for computers, and I can't do everything I used to, but I can still do most of my daily tasks, so I'm waiting for a new iMac to come out before I purchase because I do like having the newest, and I do do video editing and the like. My husband, on the other hand, had a critical failure of his previous computer (one too many drops if you ask me), and he needs to use it for work, so he had to get a new computer right away. There's no hard-and-fast rule about when to buy a computer, but I hope these points help clear it up a bit.

Practical Tip of the Day:
When buying a new computer, don't just go to the store and buy the first one the sales person recommends. Find a few you like, read reviews about them, ask if anyone you know has experience with the brand, and compare them to each other. An ounce of research can help keep you from over spending, over buying or getting the wrong thing altogether. Far too often I see people with simple computer needs being pressured into buying top-of-the-line computers that they simply don't need. If you buy a high end computer to primarily check your email, it's like buying a Lamborghini to drive around the city- you have a super fast car, but you're only ever driving it at 45 mph!

Can You Be Tracked By Your IP Address?

With people around the world being arrested by their governments for things they write on the Internet, children in the US being expelled for Twitter remarks, and the general lack of privacy the Internet affords us nowadays, there is increasing concern about whether you can be physically tracked by your computer or smart phone's IP address.

First of all, what is an IP address? IP stands for "Internet Protocol" and is the address of your Internet-enabled device. (Read: computer, smart phone, Wii, or anything that accesses the Internet) While IP addresses can and do change, you can also tell them to stay the same. An IP address is four sets of number ranging from 0-255 and is separated by periods, for example: 127.0.0.1, and there are two different kinds: public and private. The public one is the one used when you access the Internet, so this is the one I'll be using in this discussion.

In the TV shows, the high tech cop simply hops on a computer, goes to a complicated looking screen with a black background and green text, types in some cryptic commands, and a detailed map pops up showing the person's street, building, and then their apartment. This is almost, kind-of-sort-of, but not really how it happens. What really happens is this:

•  The police acquire a suspect's public IP address
•  The police can figure out the ISP (Internet Service Provider) from that.
•  They go to the company that gave out that IP address, and request/subpoena the information linked to that address
• They now have the billing information for that IP address.

Here are some catches, though:

• That's only the billing address, it doesn't prove who was using that computer.
• It can take days for an ISP to get the information to the police.
• If someone's tech-savvy, and knows what they're doing is bad, they're probably masking their IP via a proxy.

Which leads me to the PTD- what is a proxy?

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you're concerned about your privacy, or being tracked, there are plenty of websites that let your surf the web via a proxy. A proxy jumps you around a bit and gives your a different IP address so when you visit a webpage, it sees that you're in London, not in Chicago. While this can be helpful for those concerned with Internet privacy, it is not a necessary step for most people, and regularly using a proxy can be viewed as a sign that you do things online that you "don't want people to know about."

What is Child's Play Charity?

And what does it have to do with technology? Child's Play Charity is a nonprofit started and largely supported by the video game industry and it's community. They raise money to buy toys, books, movies and games for children's hospitals and therapy centers worldwide. Throughout the year donors can either view a specific hospital's Amazon wish list and purchase directly from there, or donate cash to the charity.

Child's Play is a unique charity in that none of the money donated is goes towards upkeep costs. The charity's administrative needs are paid for by the Penny Arcade company, and they are also the founders. (Warning: The Penny Arcade website may contain material that is offensive, and is not for all audiences.)

So now the question of why? Of all the things to donate to, why does Child's Play focus on games for children in hospitals. As anyone who's had to stay in a hospital can tell you, they are b-o-r-i-n-g! That in addition to being scary for children can make for a very bad experience. By giving hospitals the opportunity to have group activities like a Nintendo Wii or board games, they are helping make sure that not only can hospitalized children have something entertaining to do to distract them from their situation, but also provide visiting friends and family members with something to do with them as well.

Last year alone over 3.5 million dollars were raised for Child's Play Charity, and each year they significantly more than the last. Please consider Child's Play Charity when making charitable donation this year.

UPDATE: The creators of Child's Play have recently announced that Child's Play will now be supporting women's shelters as well. "Women's shelters are also often kid's shelters as well." -Mike Krahulik

Practical Tip of the Day:
Donations to Child's Play can be made directly on their webpage, but you can also check out their calendar of events. Many individuals hold fundraising events throughout the year, ranging from competitions to video-game marathons (yes, there is such a thing) and bake sales. If you're going to donate money, why not have some fun with it?

What are eReaders?

eReaders, also known as eBook Readers, are a type of tablet style device who's primary function is to display digital versions of books. (Click here if you are unfamiliar with eBooks.) the eReader market currently has three major competitors, and numerous smaller ones. The three big guys are the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Apple iPad, and I'll be focusing on these today.

Digital books allow you to carry dozens, if not hundreds of books with you on one device smaller and lighter than even most magazines. They display the book, and often have other features as well like Internet capabilities, music playing, etc. When people ask if they should get an eReader, I often ask one simple question, "Do you want to be able to carry books with you wherever you go on one device?" If so, I then go down the list of a few potential negatives: Your "book" has a battery that needs to be charged. If you drop your "book" it could break, and potentially be very expensive to fix or replace. You have to turn off your "book" when taking off or landing in an airplane. You'll have to learn how to use your "book".

If you're undeterred after that, then you're probably a good candidate for an eReader, and then the next thing to consider is which one? I fully admit that I have brand biases, so I'm not going to go into reviews and recommendations, but here's a list of things to consider and compare when shopping for an eReader:

• eInk or LCD
• Battery life
• More than just reading (aka "apps")
• Size of the screen
• Weight of the device
• Selection of books
• Price

For example, if you prefer eInk (where the screen looks like print on paper) to LCD (where the screen looks more like a typical electronic's screen) for reading, you're looking for an inexpensive way to get into eReaders, and you just want books, no Internet or anything else, you might consider the Amazon Kindle. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a tablet that does much more than just books, has an LCD screen, and has a large screen, you might prefer the Apple iPad. Like I always say, read reviews, ask your friends if they have any person experience, and never rush into a purchase.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Older books that have fallen into public domain are always free to download. Never read Dracula? Here's your chance- for free! Current books are sold at a much cheaper rate than their printed cousins, and you can even check digital books out from your local library! How cool is that? Consult your owner's manual and/or your local library for details on how to "check out" digital books, and if you find yourself using the library regularly for your eBooks, consider making a donation to them.

What is Bluetooth?

Your phone has it, your computer has it, your car has it, it seems like just about everything nowadays has it. Bluetooth has become so ubiquitous that it seems a given for any electronic device to have it, but what is Bluetooth? I've been asked this many times, especially in how it's different from WiFi.

Hedy Lamarr. Bet you weren't expecting her in here, were you? This famous actress was actually one of the people that helped invent Bluetooth, though it wasn't called that at the time, and it certainly wasn't invented so you can control your toaster with your computer. She helped invent a way for radio signals to be sent in such a way that they couldn't be blocked or intercepted as part of the wartime effort, but the military simply filed the technology away.

Modern Bluetooth is, in the simplest terms, a way for a wireless signal to be sent in such a way that it "bounces around" various frequencies. Think of it as if you were trying to have a secret conversation over walkie-talkies. You'd hop on one channel, say a couple words, switch to another, some some more words, etc. for your whole conversation. Electronics do this using short-wavelength radio signals, and by using this technology, you can use multiple wireless devices at once with no ill effect.

Even if you have twenty Bluetooth devices turned on and working at once (you have a Bluetooth headset on your phone, wireless mouse and keyboard on your computer, wireless printer, etc.) you'll get no interference between them because they're jumping around on their signals enough that it's highly unlikely that any two objects will be using the same wavelength at the same time, and even if they do, they use it for such a short amount of time you won't notice it.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Most phones and computers that have Bluetooth capabilities have it turned on by default. Having this running if you're not using it can not only drain your battery, but can also be a security hazard. If you see the Bluetooth symbol (see right), go into your settings and turn it off until you do need it.

How Do I Know if a Webpage is Secure?

Ever been ready to fill out a form online and then pause, wondering who's actually getting your information? Most websites are public, and the information you share on them is unsecured, meaning people other than the intended recipient may be able to access it. How can you be sure if a website's form (the part you fill in) is secure or not?

Look up at your URL bar. The URL bar is where a website's address is displayed on your web browser's window. The text inside usually starts with "http://" See it? Now, go to a website where you need to type in your personal information like a bank's webpage. It's ok, I'll wait. Did you see it? The difference? The URL (URL is the technical name for a website's address) didn't say "http://", it said "https://" The little "s" makes all the difference! S stands for "secure".

When a website's address has that S at the end of "HTTP" it means that that website has special measures in place specifically to ensure that the information you type in to that webpage goes directly to them, and does so in a secure, safe way. While I'll spare you the techno-babble of the "how," just make sure you're more aware of the websites you visit, and their security status.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If, instead of outsiders, you're more concerned with people who share your computer getting your information, consider using your web browser's private browsing settings. Generally called things like "Private Browsing" or "Incognito Mode" (these are examples for Safari and Chrome respectively,) these modes allow you to browse the web without the history being recorded, cookies being saved, and various other tracking methods disabled.

Help! My iPhone's Frozen!

You're going along, using your iPhone, when suddenly it stops. It doesn't respond to any of your touches or button pushes. You can't even turn the screen off! What should you do?

Modern phones are really just mini computers, and like computers, sometimes they lock-up. Unlike computers, they don't have a power cable you can pull if it locks up really bad though. In cases like these, the cellphone manufacturer usually has a set of troubleshooting steps to help get your phone back to normal. While there are lots of different kinds of cell phones out there, I'm going to focus on the iPhone today.

Basic Troubleshooting Steps:

1. Press the Home button (the round button on the front of the screen).
2. Press the Screen Lock button (the button on the top of the phone).
3. Hold the Screen Lock button down for 15-20 seconds. (This is how you would normally shut your phone off.)
4. Hold down the Home and Screen Lock buttons at the same time for 20-30 seconds. This forces the iPhone to reboot, much like forcing your computer to turn off and then turning it back on again.

If you make it all the way to step four, the screen should go black within that 20-30 second time frame, and then display the Apple logo. Your phone is in the process of rebooting. It can take up to a few minutes for it to fully reboot, so be patient.

If you experience this once, don't worry. If it becomes a regular occurrence (once a month or more) I would recommend restoring your iPhone and/or speaking to Apple about it.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Should you have problems with any of your Apple devices, contacting Apple or an Apple repair facility is the best option. If you live near an Apple store, making an appointment online for the Genius Bar and speaking to a technician in person is my recommended method. If you don't live near a store, or if it would be inconvenient to go to it, Apple also offers phone support at 1-800-APL-CARE.

What Are QR Codes?

You've probably seen them around. They're printed on packages, passed around as stickers, and incorporated into magazines and even some newspapers. The QR Code.

If you have a smart phone, and that phone has an application to read QR codes, you can scan this code (think of it as a newer version of a UPC code), and it will take you to a website. This particular code will take you to the APOD site. (NASA's APOD Site)

That's it. In the simplest of terms, a QR code ("QR" stands for "Quick Response," by the way.) is like a UPC code that takes you to a website. Some people have used QR codes for interesting things. I've seen QR codes on movie posters that take you to the trailer, codes to take you to the nutritional information page of a food product, and even creative resumes that link to videos.

So, as you can see, QR codes can be very interesting when used properly, and there are lots of free QR code generating websites out there.

Practical Tip of the Day:
While most QR codes for restaurants simply take you to their main website, every once in awhile you'll find a QR code that gives you a coupon! Nothing quite like waiting in line to order your food and finding a 10% discount right there for you. Keep in mind, you do need a smart phone (a phone that can run programs like a computer) to be able to scan QR codes, but if you already have one, get scanning! You'll never know what you'll find.

How Much Time Should My Kid Get With Games?

As many times I've been asked this question, I'm still surprised there isn't a universally recommended amount by pediatricians. Some think that video games cause aggression, depression, obesity, and ADD, while others accept it as a common activity for modern children and tout the benefits to problem solving, team work and critical thinking. That being said, here are some things to consider before you let your kid spend all day on video games.

• If they're playing video games, they're not spending time exercising. Even systems that make you move like the Wii or Xbox Kinect don't give you as much exercise as a game of soccer or a walk to the park.
• Video games often involve creative thinking. Games like Minecraft allow children to build things and explore, giving them a fun way to play with engineering, design, and math.
• If you're sitting down you're more likely to munch. Same with adults! If you're sitting still, you're more likely to mindlessly snack, and before you know it, the whole Pringles can is gone.
• Some video games involve extensive reading. Games like Pokemon are text-heavy, and give young children a motivation to read.
• Staring at a screen can hurt your eyes. Looking at a small screen for too long can damage your eyes and give you headaches. Make sure your child keeps the screen a reasonable distance from their face, and that they take frequent breaks to look at something farther away.

All that beign said, I am pro-video-games-in-moderation. I have a young daughter (almost five) that loves to play video games, but she has a limit of 10 minutes a day. She's learned quite a bit from video games, and it's something we enjoy doing together. Playing the games with your children will not only give you bonding time, but will help make sure that you are aware of the type of games they play. Far too often parents let their children play games that the children ask for, but are rated for older players.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Many computers and console systems (e.g. Xbox, Wii, PS3) allow parents to set up time restrictions. You can set a maximum amount of time and sometimes even time-of-day restrictions. This allows you to say "Jimmy can play on the computer for 2 hours on the weekends and 1 hour during the week, but he can't use it after 7pm." Check your owner's manual to see if you have the ability to set up these kinds of limitations.

What is a Computer Virus?

They're there. Lurking in your inbox, behind that photo attachment, inside that program- the fearsome computer virus! Viruses in the physical world are microbes that are self-replicating. Viruses in the digital world are small programs that are self-replicating. A virus in your computer takes advantages of weaknesses in your security in much the same way a real virus takes advantage of weaknesses in your immune system.

A virus can do anything, or even nothing. Some sit there doing nothing but slowing down your computer, some will corrupt your data, others will take over your computer for someone else's use. Regardless of what it does, it's not a computer virus unless it self-replicates, meaning it makes a copy of itself and sends it on to another computer. I've compiled a small glossary of commonly used and misused terms related to this topic:

• Virus- A program that self-replicates (typically) through computer programs and usually does harm to your computer.
• Trojan- A program that claims to be one kind of file (like a game or music file), but is actually doing harm.
• Worm- A program that self-replicates through a computer network, not through programs. Usually does not harm the network itself.
• Adware- A program that pops up advertisements even when you are not connected to the internet.
• Spyware- A program that spies on you, reporting your activity to an outside source without your consent.
• Malware- A program that does bad things. This is a general name for all of the above terms.
• Phishing- An attempt- usually via email or webpage- to trick you into giving your information to a fraudulent source.

The last one, phishing, usually isn't a program at all, and thus is one of the most dangerous ones since there is no program to keep you from giving your own information away. One of the most common tricks is an email that appears to be from your bank saying your password has expired and needs to be changed. It then links to you what looks like your bank's webpage, and then asks for your log in, old password and new password. Once you hit submit, your banking ID and password is now available to whoever sent that email.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you do ever receive an email from your bank asking for you to log in, do not follow the attached links, but rather navigate to the bank site as you normally would and log in from there. This keeps you from being navigated to a fraudulent site. Be suspicious of anything that asks for personal information of any kind. Most companies have a strict policy of not asking for log-in or personal information via email. If in doubt, call the company to verify the email.

What Does "Open Source" Mean?

With the raise of the Internet, information is being shared at amazing speeds and with astounding numbers of people. This has lead to record numbers of people trying to protect their intellectual property and creations with copyrights and trade marks, but it has also given rise to the Open Source movement.

"Open source" literally means that the source of the product is open and available for anyone to copy, use, redistribute and edit. While this term is most commonly used for things like computer programs, it applies to anything who's creation information can be shared. Some examples include food and drink formulas/recipes, pharmaceutical research information, and schematics for machines. The original creator shares the information they have with others, and they in turn can use and study it, thereby adding another person's set of experiences and knowledge to the development of the product that it normally wouldn't have received.

Open source usually means free, but some people do place limitations on what they are sharing. For example, a lab may only share their pharmaceutical information with other accredited labs. One of the most common limitations on open source computer programs is that it cannot be sold. This keeps people from using the information they were given for free to make a product they then sell for a profit. Many people who believe in the open source philosophy believe that information should be free and available to everything, and therefor selling the product made by free information is counter-productive.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Programs that open source usually have several versions available for download from the Internet. Be sure you're downloading from a legitimate source, and that you are downloading the version that works for your computer. Almost all websites that allow you to download a program will give you the system requirements for the program. These are the minimum standards your computer must have for the program to be able to install and run properly. Think of it as the minimum speed on the highway.

What's an Operating System?

Windows, Mac and Linux. These three are the most commonly used operating systems in the world, almost every personal computer using at least one of these, maybe more. The operating system can make or break the user's experience, thus making it one of the most important parts of your computer.

The operating system (or "OS" for short) of your computer is the system of programs that allows you to operate your computer. (See what I did there?) Without it you wouldn't be able to communicate with your computer, and it couldn't communicate with you; Your mouse, keyboard and monitor wouldn't work for starters. In a way, it's the translator between the two of you. The OS controls everything from how you empty the "trash" to how you connect to the internet, what kind of programs you can run and even your privacy and security.

For example, many people have heard that Macs "can't get viruses". While that's not entirely true, Macs and other Unix-based OS'es (like Linux) are innately more secure, making it more difficult for viruses, trojans, and other bad programs to get into your system. One of the reasons they're more secure is because they "speak" a different language than Windows, whom most of the viruses are written for. Imagine, if you will, that Windows speaks Russian, Macs speak Spanish, and Linux speaks French. If you gave a book written in Russian to Windows, it'd understand it. If you gave it to the Mac or Linux though, they wouldn't.

(Side note: You might have noticed in my analogy that I gave the Mac and Linux languages that are similar (romance languages); This is because both of these computers are similar when you get down to their underpinnings, but have diverged enough to make them distinct.) That's why a computer game you buy at the store might work on your Windows computer, but not your Mac or vice versa. The three systems speak different languages that allow them to talk to you, and you to it, but maybe not so much with each other.

Practical Tip of the Day:
While most types of computer files are "universal", meaning they can be used on almost any kind of computer, some are "proprietary" meaning they can only work on one. An example of this is the Windows .EXE file. This is a file that contains a program, but if you put it on a Mac or Linux computer, it wouldn't do anything. If you receive a file that you don't recognize, a simple Google search for the suffix (the characters that come after the period in the name) will usually tell you what kind of file it is. As usual, I NEVER recommend opening a file you received from unknown sources as it can contain a malicious program.

Should I Get The New iPad?

Yesterday Apple announced the third generation of the iPad. Immediately, people began asking whether they should get it or not. Here's a quick breakdown of the new/improved features:

Screen- Higher resolution. This means your pictures, movies and even your webpages and books will look crisper and sharper.

Processor- They've used a quad-core graphics processor. This means this iPad is significantly faster than the previous version. This primarily comes across when running applications.

4G- Certain models of the iPad can use a cell phone carrier's 4G network. This means that you can access the Internet when you're not in a wireless hotspot, and if you're in an area with 4G your webpages, YouTube videos, etc. will load faster.

Camera- They've increased the quality of the camera so now it can take 5 megapixel pictures (pretty good), and record HD video.

Now, does all of this add up to needing a new iPad? If you only use your iPad for checking your email and occasionally playing games, probably not. If you've been thinking about getting an iPad, or you have a tablet that's too slow or doesn't meet your needs I'd recommend taking a look at them.
Practical Tip of the Day:
If you aren't one of the people who feels the need to have the newest product all the time, you can save quite a bit of money by buying the previous generation (aka version) of a product. Often times companies who sell the product will put the older versions on sale, and individual people put their used products on sale on websites like eBay and Craigslist. Buyer beware on purchasing from individuals though- "good condition" is subjective and may mean different things for the seller and buyer.

What Are Cookies?

In addition to small, delicious desserts, if someone's talking about cookies, they could mean internet cookies. It's very common for even web-savvy people to be slightly confused about what cookies do and what they're for. Some people have come to fear internet cookies, deleting them every chance they get.

So what exactly is a cookie as it relates to the internet? In the simplest of terms, when your computer visits a webpage, the webpages gives your computer a cookie, which it stores on your hard drive. When your computer visits that webpage again, it shows the website the cookie, and the webpage "recognizes" you. Think of it as a small badge or ID card the website reads.

If you've ever visited a website twice, and it's remembered your log in information or your automatically logged you in that's because of a cookie. When I log in to my Google account, it automatically knows my account, password, name, preferences, and lots of other things. That's because I have a cookie on my computer that has this information on it. A cookie is simply a small text file like "ID=JaneSmith Password=2Cute4You!"

A lot of people think that cookies can let viruses in to their computers, or let hackers get their personal information, but that's not true. A cookie saved on your computer is the same as any other text document with words on it. The worst thing a cookie can do is go bad.

If you have a technology question you'd like answered, comment on this post or send me an email. Reader submitted questions are the best ones!

Practical Tip of the Day:
If your web browser is acting slow or funny, you can try deleting your cookies. Sometimes something happens to internet cookies and they just "go bad". All web browsers have options for deleting cookies, usually in the settings. Once you delete your cookies, you'll notice you'll need to log in again to all the websites that normally remembered you, and maybe fill in forms by hand again. (Some website cookies remember things like your home address if you enter it into a form on the page.)

If I Delete Something, Is It Gone Forever?

Most of us have heard that when you delete something from your computer it's "not really gone." Which inevitably leads to the question of "How do I make it really gone?" In order to really understand why deleting something doesn't obliterate it, you first need a quick primer on hard drives. If you haven't already read the article on How Do Computers Remember Things, click here to go over it- we'll be building on topics covered in there.

When a hard drive remembers something (aka "saves" it) it doesn't usually write it down in one spot on it's discs. It usually spreads it out and puts different parts in different spots, and creates a sort of mini table of contents so it can quickly find all the spots. It does this so if there's a small problem with one of the discs, it might affect a small part of a file and therefor keep it still usable, whereas if all the parts were together, the entire file would be broken.

When you delete something, it doesn't actually delete the different parts scattered about your drive. Instead, it deletes that table of contents file and thereby forgets it. Eventually the hard drive will put other files in that same space (remember, hard drives are magnetic so it can easily be rewritten), but until then, that part of the file is there as good as new. As time goes on, it becomes harder and harder to read part of a file that's been rewritten, much like if you wrote something on paper with a pencil, erased it, wrote something else over that spot, erased that, and so on. Each time it gets harder to read what was originally there.

There are ways to make things more permanently gone. For example, the Mac has an option called "Secure Empty Trash" that will first delete the parts of the file by re-writing over them seven times with random 1's and 0's (click here if you don't know why 1's and 0's) and then delete the table of contents file. There are similar things on Windows and other types of computers. If you use a method like this, it's highly unlikely that the file would ever be able to be found. (I never say never on these kinds of things!)

Practical Tip of the Day:
While it might be tempting to use one of those permanently delete options like Secure Empty Trash, you don't want to use it frivolously. Just like the paper beign written on and erased in the analogy, extra wear is put on the hard drive when you use these methods, and therefor slightly shortened the lifespan of your drive. My general rule of thumb for when to use this method is this: If this were a physical document, would you put it in the trash or shred it? If shred it, then use that method, otherwise, don't worry.