Should I Get a Smartphone?

A recent study has shown there are now more smartphone users in the US than basic phone users. That means that now more than ever people are using their phones for more than just making calls, but is a smartphone right for you? Even if you easily feel overwhelmed by technology or don't think you'd use all the functions, it's still easy to feel the pressure from friends and family to "get with the times" and buy a smartphone.

First of all, what makes smartphones "smart?" Generally speaking, a smartphone is a handheld device that can make calls and run programs like a computer. This means that on the same device that you call your friends with you can write an email, play a game, check the weather, and almost anything else you can imagine. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, you might be a candidate for buying a smartphone. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who aren't interested in doing anything besides talking on their phone, and if that sounds like you, a smartphone might be unnecessary.

The other major consideration when contemplating getting a smart phone is your budget. Many smart phones nowadays are free or close to when you sign up for a contract. If you don't want to sign up for a contract, many smartphones will increase in price since the cell phone provider will not help subsidize the cost of the phone then. Either way, you want to make sure you look at the cost of adding data to your cell phone plan. Smartphones access the Internet often, and if you don't have an adequate data plan your cell phone bill could go sky high. Check with your cell phone carrier to see which plans and options they offer, and look at others available in your area as well to get a good competitive solution for you.

Practical Tip of the Day:
When in doubt, try them out! Head down to a store you can try smartphones out at and play around on them. See if you can easily figure out how to do all the things you'd want it to do, and make sure it "feels right" to you. There are a plethora of smartphones on the market now, and each one is slightly different. Picking out a smartphone is like picking out a car- make sure you read reviews, ask your friends and family, and do your research before spending your hard-earned money on a new phone.

What is Twitter?

It seems that almost everyone nowadays either has a Twitter account or is vehemetly against them. News organizations have them, companies and non-profits have them, famous and not-so-famous people have them, but what is Twitter and should you get an account as well?

Before you go and sign up for anything I always recommend reading up about it so you have a good understanding of what it is you're getting into. In this case, Twitter is another social networking site that lets you keep up with what people around you are doing, similar to Facebook, but each post is limited to 140 characters. Characters are things you type into the message, including spaces, punctuation, numbers and letters. For example, "I got 3 new hats!" is seventeen characters long.

This limitation keeps things short and sweet, allowing you read more, less detailed, information quicker. While everyone's Twitter habits are different, most people follow ("follow" is the Twitter version of Facebook's "friend" status.) a combination of the aforementioned "Twitterers". Much like Facebook, this makes it easy for information to travel quickly to many people. A humorous example of this was made by a web comic called XKCD. (Click here to see it.)

Practical Tip of the Day:
Just like Facebook, you want to look at the privacy settings in your Twitter account, especially if you're using your real name. If you don't have your privacy settings set up properly, everything you "tweet" will be viewable to the world and will come up if someone looks you up in Google.

Should I Use a CD or DVD?

Now you know what kind of CD to get if you need to buy a CD, but do you need to buy a CD? What about DVDs? DVDs (Digital Versatile/Video Discs) are also discs that you can buy in most electronic stores and share the same versatility in R/RW & +/-, but are generally used for different purposes.

CDs do not hold as much information as DVDs. If you only need to store a small amount of information like a dozen songs or a few hundred pictures a CD will work just fine. If, on the other hand, you have a large collection of data to share, DVDs are best. The most common files found on a DVD are movie files. Movies are very large files since they are both a sequence of photos (think back to how videos were made way-back-when) as well as an audio track as long as the video.

One of the nice things about DVDs is that you can also get-- if your DVD-burner has the capability-- dual layer (DL) DVDs. Dual layer DVDs are like a layered cake. You have two layers of information on the disc so you can fit even more information on it. This is helpful if you have a particularly long video you wish to share.

So which should you use? DVDs are more expensive to make, and therefor buy, so I tell people to use CDs for everything they can, reserving DVDs for he special occasions you need to store a large amount of data on a physical disc.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Not sure if your computer can burn DVDs? If you have it, you can check the owner's manual, but if you're like most people and have no idea where that is, you can also check the front of disc drive on your PC. Often times it will tell you if it's able to read and write certain type of discs, and which variations it can handle. If you're using a Mac, going into "About This Mac" under the Apple menu (in the top left corner of the screen) will give you all the information about your computer, including a full listing of all the types of discs it supports.

What's the Difference Between CD+,CD-, and CD+/-?

Last week we looked at the difference between CDRs and CDRWs. If you're standing in an electronic store, eyes wide at the vast choices of discs, you're not alone! Today we're looking at what all those +'s and -'s are about on the discs, and how to pick the right one.

Back when making CDs at home was new and computers only started to come with CD drives that could also write, there were two different types. + and -. The exact differences are not of great importance anymore as they both make a disc that can be read in 99% of CD readers (be it your car, computer or other device). It was very important to make sure that you got a disc your computer could write on, otherwise it wouldn't work.

Nowadays most CD drives in computers are +/-, which means it can write in either format. This is very handy because it means when you go to a store to buy CDs you can get any of the three aforementioned types. What should you do if you find yourself needing to buy discs for a computer for which don't know the type of drive though? In that case, the best thing to do is buy a CD +/- because they can work in any kind of drive.

Now that you know the difference between CDRs, CDRWs, and +,-,+/- you're ready to tackle the CD section of the store! But... should you use a CD or a DVD? Most people think DVDs are just for videos, but they can be used for storage too! Next time we'll be looking at which type of disc to by for your unique needs.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Once you've burned a disc, I highly recommend you use a permanent marker to write a short description or title on the non-shiny side of the disc. If you leave your disc unlabeled, you may later think it's an unused disc and try to write over it, or you'll have forgotten what was on it in the first place. Never use a pen or pencil to write on your disc since it may scratch it, and don't write on the shiny side since that's where your data is held.

What's the difference between CDRs and CDRWs?

At some point, you may wish to make a physical copy of something you have on your computer. Maybe you want to make a backup of some of your photos, or burn a playlist of music for a special occasion. Whatever your reason, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the different options given to you by your local electronic store's disc section.

Quick side note: I've already made reference to the phrase "burning a disc", and will continue to do so. "Burning" simply means the process of putting information on the disc from the computer.

You'll see discs in electronic departments separated three ways. DVDs vs. CDs, CD+ vs. CD- vs.CS+/-, and CDRs vs. CDRWs. I'll be taking each of these factors into it's own seperate article, so be sure to stick around and read the subsequent articles on the following Tuesday/Thursday. First to tackle CDRs vs. CDRWs.

CD stands for "compact disc". CDR means "compact disc readable". This means that once you burn the disc with your information it can't be altered. Think of the kind of CDs that you get from the store either for music or programs. You can't write over the disc to put your family photos, you can only read the information put on the disc by the manufacturer. These are CDRs. These are ideal for instances where you don't want the disc to be altered like for business or school presentations.
CDRWs stand for "compact disc re-writable". These discs can be burned, and reburned, and reburned. These are more like flash drives or your computer's hard drive. These are ideal for making backups as you can use part of the disc now, and then add more information to it later. You should be careful though. CDRs, just like your hard drive, do get worn down from being written and rewritten on, and thus do have a "lifespan". (Click here if you're not familiar with this concept on hard drives.)
So which one should you use? That's entirely up to you and what you want to use the disc for. Next time we'll discuss what all the plus and minus signs on CDs are about, and which one to use. Once you have that, you'll be able to pick your compact discs like a pro!
Practical Tip of the Day:

Discs often come on what's known as a spindle, one right on top of the other. Once a disc is burned, it should go in a type of case. This can either be a small plastic case or a paper sleeve. The reason for this is that the disc has tiny grooves on it that is read, much like a record player, and if it gets scratched it may not be able to be read and you've lost the information on that disc. When handling a disc, I recommend holding it by it's edges, putting a finger in the hole for added balance if need be. This helps prevent finger print smudges and scratches from ruining your disc.

How Fast is 4G?

Now that you know what 4G LTE is (click here if you don't) let's take a look at how fast it is. Is it really worth upgrading your phone to get it? Will you get it everywhere? Will you actually notice a difference in speed?

The biggest problem with answering "How fast is it really?" is that it changes. There are several factors that could affect the speed of your wireless data, regardless of whether we're talking about 4G, 3G, Edge, or any other kinds. While 4G is often said to have speeds of about 100 Mbps (Megabytes per second), it's still subject to the same limitations as all cell phones. First, do you have coverage? There's not much point in having a 4G enabled phone if you live in the country and rarely go to major cities for example. At this point most cell phone carriers are just starting to have 4G coverage in major cities.

Second, if you do happen to be in a major city that has 4G coverage, your speed could also be affected by how many other people around you are using 4G. If you've ever gone to a convention, sports game, or any other large gathering of people, you may have already noticed that it's difficult to access the Internet on your phone when you're in a crowded place. That's because your phone is only one of thousands trying to connect to one tower.

Lastly, there are differences in speed based on the carrier you're using. Some carriers claim faster speeds (but less coverage), and others claim more coverage (but slower speeds). It all comes down to if you're actually going to be able to use it to it's full advantage. Is 4G really that much faster than 3G? In a word, yes, but that's only in theory.

Practical Tip of the Day:
When looking at a new cell phone, also make sure the provider is right for you. Most cell phones are available at multiple providers, so looking at your provider's coverage map for both phone and data plans as well as their advertised speeds can help you decide if a provider's right for you. If you live in a major city, speed might be more important since coverage is almost guaranteed, but if you live in a rural area, coverage may become an issue.

Should I Get a Laptop or Desktop?

You've finally decided that it's time to upgrade. You know what price range you're looking at, what you need the computer to be able to do, and you've saved up your pennies. Time to get serious about looking at computers, but should you look at desktop computers or laptops?

Here are the questions I usually ask people who are in this conundrum:

1. Where will you mostly be using your computer?
2. How often do you travel?
3. What will you be using the computer for primarily?

If you'll be mostly using your computer at home, especially if it's mostly in a place like a home office, a desktop might be better suited. A laptop computer that stays plugged in sitting on a desk most of the time won't work very well when you do need to unplug it and take it somewhere. Rechargeable batteries are a lot like our muscles- if we don't use them, we loose them!

If you travel frequently, either for work or leisure, a laptop might be better suited for you. Desktops need to be plugged into an outlet to work, but laptops have batteries that can last for hours. I have seen people who get small desktops (like the Mac Mini) to take back and forth to vacation homes, but desktop computers are not as well suited to movement and travelling as laptops and therefor you should take caution when travelling with them.

If you have very easy to meet needs for your computer like web surfing, movie watching, sharing photos, word processing and the like, you can get an inexpensive laptop that can handle those tasks easily. If, on the other hand, you're making videos, editing photos, building websites, etc. you'll end up needing to spend a lot more money to get a laptop computer that's as powerful as a desktop computer. That's because making everything portable and during has a cost, and that shows up on the price tag.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you do have high demands of your computer, but only travel once or twice a year, more and more people are opting to get a desktop/tablet combination. That way you have a powerful machine at home for when you need to make a movie, but then have something small and portable for your lighter needs while you travel. A desktop/tablet combination usually comes out to being about the same or slightly cheaper than an equally powerful laptop!

What is 4G LTE?

It seems that if you want to make sure you get a good cell phone nowadays you need a degree in mobile communication technology! 3G? 4G? LTE? Hot Spot? 16GB? 32GB? Droids? iOS? Anyone else here getting a bit confused and overwhelmed?

It would take far too long and boring an explination to explain all the terms to look at when picking out a cell phone, but since "4G LTE" has been being thrown around without explination a lot lately, I thought it would be nice to humanize it a bit. 4G LTE is a description of how a cell phone accesses the Internet. 4G stands for "fourth generation" and just means that it was developed after the 3G standard.

Each generation of technology (usually) is better than the last, and 4G is no exception. Actual speeds will vary depending on several factors I'll cover in a subsequent post, but it is generally accepted that 4G is faster than 3G. Faster at what? Internet access speeds will affect how quickly you can open up webpages, post photos to the Internet (like Facebook), stream movies from Netflix, and a slew of other things. Think of it as how fast your car can drive; If you have a slow car, it'll take longer to go places and do things.

LTE is just a description of what type of 4G network it is. LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, and if you forget that in two minutes, no one will fault you. There is another type of 4G used in the world called WiMAX, but unless you're planning a trip to South Korea any time soon I wouldn't worry about it, most major countries in the world either have or have plans to roll out LTE networks in the near future.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Some cell phone carriers are starting to offer wireless cards you can plug into your computers. Plug it into the USB port on your computer, and even if you're not connected to the Internet either physically or through a Wifi hotspot, you'll still be able to access the Internet. This is ideal if you travel for a living or go on a lot of vacations!

What is LinkedIn?

Of all the social networks, LinkedIn is often thought of as the highest form. There aren't any 12 year olds, it's not covered in ads for trendy new clothes, and the interface is low-key instead of eye-popping. While I have no reports to support this, I would go out on a limb and say the average age of a LinkedIn user is higher than either Facebook or Twitter. While being a more refined social network, many of it's users don't fully understand what LinkedIn is for and therefore don't use it to it's full potential.

The biggest social networking aspect of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with people you know ala Facebook, but instead of keeping in the know about how their pet turtle is doing, you're able to track their career and job information. LinkedIn focuses less on a person's personal life and more on their work life. Filling in a LinkedIn profile is not too unlike filling out an online resume. You enter your current and past work experiences, awards, certifications, etc. From there LinkedIn helps you find former coworkers you might be interested in business networking with.

LinkedIn also has a job search function very much akin to other job search websites like Monster.com or online classified ads. Once you search for a job, it'll give you a description of the job, tell you how to apply, give you options to save this job so you can read it later, and even let you share this job opening with your friends on other popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twiter. LinkedIn will also look at the people you're connected with, and offer you job opportunities it thinks you might be interested in. Used to work at Circuit City? There's a new Best Buy opening up around you, and they're hiring. Things like that, but not only for smaller retail jobs. They also list high-level copies and high-level jobs. In conclusion, if you're in the market for a new job, or you're thinking of ways you might be able to expand your professional network LinkedIn is a good solution for you.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Whenever you sign up for a new website, even the most well respected ones, be careful how much personal information you give out. Only put on the Internet what you're comfortable letting everyone in the world know. Your parents, children, pastor, coworkers, boss, strangers, I mean EVERYONE!

What Should I Do If My Computer Locks Up?

Uh oh. It's happened. It starts with a program slowing down and becoming unresponsive. Maybe it spreads to other programs, but maybe you're lucky and it's isolated. If the program doesn't respond, how can you tell it to quit?

When your computer becomes unresponsive, it's called being "locked up" and it's a source of stress for countless computer owners. I'll give the short answers for two of the most common types of operating systems. (Click here if you don't know what an operating system is.)

Windows (aka PC):
Hold down the control (ctrl) and alt keys, then tap the delete key. (NOT back space!) This should bring up a small window called the Task Manager. It'll show you all the programs you have running, and their status. Look for the one that says "Not Responding", click on the program's name, and then click the "End Task" button at the bottom of the window. That should force the errant program to close, and unlock your computer. If this doesn't work, hold down the power button on your computer for ten seconds, or until it turns off. (The power button looks like a circle with a line through the top, like a clock that's struck 12.) Wait 15 seconds, then press the power button again (you don't need to hold it down), and your computer should be good as new. If it isn't, you may want to contact your local computer repair center.

Mac:
Similar process, except the key command is command, option (opt), escape (esc). I tell new Mac users this mnemonic to help them remember. "When you're in trouble, just tell your computer that you COMMAND it to give you the OPTION to ESCAPE." It'll bring up a window similar to the Windows'
Task Manager. Follow the same steps for trouble shooting.

Practical Tip of the Day:
There are worse things than just locking up. If your Windows computer ever goes to a blue screen with techno-babble on it, or your Mac screen goes grey with a message about rebooting, that means something has gone pretty wrong. Just follow the steps on the screen, but don't worry about it unless it begins to happen regularly. These error screens are called a Blue Screen and Kernel Panic respectively. If your computer does begin to lock up or give the above error screen regularly, take your computer to your local computer repair center for a check up.

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.