Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop (the latest version)


Version 8.10 (October 2008)

Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition delivers the features you need for an increasingly mobile digital life, including 3G wireless support and guest sessions that lets users temporarily share computers without compromising security. Ubuntu 8.10 Server Edition consolidates its support for virtualization with an integrated Virtual Machine builder, and brings with it a fully-supported Java stack and support for per-user directory encryption. More »

Includes the latest enhancements and is maintained until 2010

What does Ubuntu mean?

Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Font program, eating more cheaply, Video downloader and player, and get the LATEST hosts file.

-CFONT PRO FEATURES Supported Fonts Built in support for TrueType, OpenType, Bitmap, and Postscript Type 1 fonts Preview Fonts Preview fonts from any folder, CD, disk, or network drive. See what the fonts are before you install them Font Engine Extremely powerfull font engine provides a detailed view of your installed fonts with a complete property listing of each. Proof Sheets See all the fonts on your system in one convenient view. Control the color, text and style of what is displayed. Complete Find Dialog
Our find dialog will not only search through installed fonts but will also search your computer for fonts. Supports file filter masks (i.e. Ari*.ttf or *.ttf)
Many more features: FREE, of course. http://www.cfontpro.com/

-As the financial crisis deepens, more Americans are cutting back on eating out and staying home to cook their own meals. According to the NPD Group, a market research company, restaurant meals now cost on average about three times what it takes to make a similar meal at home. While fast-food restaurants are maintaining a relatively steady customer flow, sit-down restaurants are seeing sales plummet. According to Edward E. Leamer, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, "There has been so much of a focus on Wall Street and the credit problem, but the real source of the problem in the fourth quarter is going to be consumer spending, and restaurants are one of the canaries in this coal mine."

-BearFlix Basic Version: 1.1.6.1 File Size: 6875k License Type: Free Operating Systems: Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 98 Looking to not only find videos online, but download and play them, and share them with others--all in the same software? Then you'll appreciate this simple-to-use file sharing client that uses the Gnutella file-sharing network. Searching for a video is simple. Type in your search term or terms, see the results, then decide which you want to download. You can manage and queue downloads, pause them, resume them, and so on. It looks and works much like many other file-sharing clients. --Preston Gralla Go to the download page now: http://www.download.com/BearFlix/3000-2017_4-10590188.html?part=dl-BearFlix&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=10590189

-Get latest HOSTS file to block hijackers, parasites and unwanted adware and spyware at: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.zip
The site at: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hostsfaq.htm is a FAQ page for installing and using the FREE hosts file. -tp

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

You tube features; new - Wired Gadget BLOG

It’s not a big new feature but it’s certainly one that will come in handy: YouTube will now allow you to send users to a specific point in a video by appending a short tag to the end of a video’s URL. It’s pretty surprising that this functionality wasn’t available earlier, as Google Video introduced the same feature over two years ago. YouTube users have been forced to rely on third party services like Splicd to do the same thing. To specify a point, append a tag to the end of your video link with the following syntax: “#t=1m45s” (you can change the numbers before the ‘m’ and ’s’ to edit the minutes and seconds, respectively. Here’s an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfOptgMPE0M#t=58s
As another nice touch, YouTube will also automatically detect when someone mentions a time in a video comment and add a hyperlink to that point in the video.
The feature just went live and there isn’t any easy way to do this though the YouTube UI without manually adding the tag (YouTube hasn’t mentioned it on its official blog yet, either). The YouTube team also has a great sense of humor. As was covered earlier this month,YouTube commentors are now presented with a button asking if they’d like to hear their comments read aloud before they are posted, in the hopes of preventing instances of accidental stupidity (the feature is a response to this now-famous comic).

Wired Magazine Gadget Lab BLOG: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/gadget_lab_videoblog/index.html
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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Temporary email address and Obama plans to have a Chief Technology Officer in his cabinet !!

Temporary email address.  Receive only.  http://makemetheking.com

Obama’s CTO: Line Up Tech Nerds - Barack Obama’s run for the White House set new standards in effectively utilizing internet resources and social networking to garner votes, so it comes as no surprise that the Illinois Democrat plans on creating a Chief Technology Officer cabinet-level position should he defeat John McCain November 4. Speculation has already started brewing over who could land that important job with D.C. insiders pointing to candidates like Google “chief internet evangelist” Vint Cerf, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Princeton professor Ed Felten.
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More OO tools, PDF to Word Conversion, Converting Word DOCX files...all FREEBIES

-Open Office Writer's Tools: http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/writertools

-Free Online PDF to Word Conversions - PDFUNdo.net is a free online PDF to Word converter. It's real simple to use and doesn't require your email address or registration. You just upload your PDF document and when the conversion is complete, download your Word document. Download the desktop version of PDF UNdo for Free.
http://pdfundo.net/convert/Default.aspx

-Convert docx to other formats, free, or download proggie: http://www.docx-converter.com/conv_formats.php

-Download coverter for docx to RTF at: http://www.nativewinds.montana.com/downloads/Docx2Rtf.zip

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Go GREEN and get Google ALERTS by email.

The last time I was at my bank, I was asked if I want my statements, etc., sent by email rather than regular mail.  I said yes,of course, and I "went green"...just as I did a few moments ago when I gave my OK to AARP to send me email rather than a hard copy of their monthly publication by postal mail.  I suspect you will see a lot more institutions doing this in the weeks to come.  -tp.

Google Alerts: Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. We currently offer alerts with results from News, Web, Blogs, Video and Groups. http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&gl=
I use alerts when I'm gathering data on a topic or monitoring current news.  FREE, fast, easy.
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Open Office Templates, High School Courses on line and SequimPC News site (NOT SPCUG related)

-Open Office Extras; Templates: http://smalldataproblem.org/ooextras/downloads/labels/index.php?tab=All

-On line high school courses: http://www.brightstorm.com/course/all

-Miscellany from SequimPC News: http://news.sequimpc.com/  (This is NOT a SPCUG site.)

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Making democratic "use" of government statistics, etc.

This is in line with our MISSION statement.
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Government 2.0: Ask What You Can Hack for Your Country
Posted: 20 Oct 2008 11:52 AM PDT

 “The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book, you either do it right or you get eliminated.”
    - Gordon Gecko, Wall Street

Corporations exist in a continuously changing ecosystem, with behavior strategies, evolution, cooperation, competition, camouflage, mimicry, and yes, extinction. The environment is constantly changing; disequilibrium is the norm.

Similarly, the governments of countries exist in a complex global ecosystem of competition, trade, and war. Some countries are up, some are down, and many are in the middle – and these ranks evolve due to many factors. Even Gecko himself compares the fictional Teldar Paper to “that other malfunctioning corporation, the U.S. of A.”

If the federal government doesn’t want our country to go the way of the dodo, it needs to adapt to changing times – and changing technology, including the many emerging Web 2.0 tools. One Gecko-ish malfunction of government is that it collects a huge amount of data with which it does hardly anything truly useful. Crime statistics, labor trends, pothole locations and many other interesting bits haven’t often been easily accessible, and that strategy doesn’t serve the public well.

Information Innovation

No longer. Innovative people are finding interesting uses for government data. Witness just one example, SpotCrime, a comprehensive private sector mashup of crime reports and real-time interactive maps for not just every state in the U.S., but also many countries around the world.

Using SpotCrime-DC for about 5 minutes, I quickly learned of three recent robberies occurring very close to my home – all between 7:00 and 7:30 am. (Note to self, no morning jogs around the neighborhood.) No one is uninterested in this topic, whether you are protecting your family or just scoping out the competition – but without this simple to use mashup, the information would be overwhelming, confusing, and inaccessible (although technically it is “publicly available.”)

The U.S. government has more than just crime data, though. They have massive storehouses of geographic data, labor statistics, transportation information, census data, genealogies, environmental and ecological trends, economic indicators, and statistics on aging, to name a few. There is literally something for everyone.

Now, a lot of this data is already publicly available; but in what formats? Take this example of the top 100 growing counties in the U.S.. However, you have to download the data in an Excel spreadsheet or as a .CSV file – how many people even know what to do with a .CSV file? And what if you can’t afford Excel, or don’t have it handy when you want to use the public data?

Finally, a good reason to hack the country.

Dr. Mark Drapeau is an Associate Research Fellow studying Social Software for Security (S3) at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy of the National Defense University in Washington DC. These views are his own and not the official policy or position of any part of the U.S. Government.
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Friday, October 17, 2008

On line health and medical

I am trying to line up a health worker to deliver a presentation on health/medical sites and resources, but if I am NOT successful, I will do one as best I can, making sure the sites are reliable and up to date.  -tp.

http://www.dmoz.org/Health/

http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Senior_Health/

http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Aging/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/

Medical Dictionary: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html

Medical Encylopedia: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html


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LOTS OF SITES FOR CAR OWNERS: [See Oct. 15 posting for REPAIR PAL, too.]

-DriverSide.com - DriverSide can help you find a car and maintain it once it’s yours. The site provides news about recalls, when to get your car serviced, helps you find out how much parts cost, and they will even help you sell it.  Covers pretty much the entire life cycle of an automobile.

-GarageSeek.com - Finding a reliable and honest auto repair garage can be tough, but GarageSeek attempts to provide you with reviews of garages throughout all of North America.

-Ownersite.com - Ownersite is a subscription plan service that helps you keep track of your car’s maintenance, costs and reminders of when you next need service.

-ServiceBeacon.com - Keep track of your car’s maintenance schedule, receive email reminders and schedule appointments with your dealer online.

-TheAutoLog.com - Set up a profile for your car, track its maintenance history and display it for others to see.

-TheCarTracker.com - Track your car’s maintenance, as well as modifications and costs that you have incurred.

-YourGarageOnline.com - Keep track of your car’s information, repair history and easily see when you need to go in for your next check up.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tech support, music, radio, visual searching, auto repair costs and file sharing

Tech support, manuals and trouble shooting: http://www.fixya.com/

Music search engine and jukebox: http://songza.com/

Area radio stations.  Listen on line: http://radiotime.com/search/98382/Sequim_WA.aspx

Search Me.  Visual searches: http://www.searchme.com

Estimate costs for auto repairs: http://repairpal.com/estimator  Can be localized by zip code, too.

Drop io .   Private file sharing: http://drop.io/
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Interesting site, watch video on line, and Internet GOOD for the brain...

-Interesting site: http://www.hyperexperience.com/

-Watch movies on line: http://www.thepiratecity.org

-Internet use 'good for the brain' Brain activity in an experienced internet user when carrying out simple reading task. Areas activated by reading a book in the brain of an experienced web user. For middle aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power, research suggests.It has long been thought that activities which keep the brain active, such as crossword puzzles, may help minimize the impact - and the latest study suggests that surfing the web can be added to the list.  Lead researcher Professor Gary Small said: "The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7667610.stm
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Artificial Intelligence BOT

Interact with AI...Elbot at: http://www.elbot.com/
Winner of Turing Test in the 18th
Loebner Prize.  If you are interested in AI, see full article from Science Daily at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081013112148.htm
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Monday, October 13, 2008

Opera Browser Ver: 9.60


Opera 9.6 is designed with your life in mind. The day is short and productivity is essential, so let the Opera Web browser help you tackle your ‘to do’ list.

What's New?

CheckOpera Link: Now lets you synchronize custom Search engines and typed History too. So any website address you typed in one computer will be available in all your other computers.

CheckFeed Preview: Click on the feed icon and you will see it in a clean and efficient layout especially formated for your window size. This makes it easier to see the feeds content before subscribing to it or even bookmarking it for quickly viewing what's new in a page without distractions.

CheckSpeed Enhancement: Go on, surf around, you'll notice the Web is snappier in Opera 9.6 with faster page loading than previous versions.

Opera Mail (We haven't seen mail since the old version of Netscape)

CheckLow Bandwidth Mode: Now the mail client reduces data downloads as much as possible so you can check your mail faster when you are on the move. Enable it in your account properties and enjoy a faster email experience.

CheckFollow Threads: Keep your eye on important discussions by right-clicking on one of the emails and selecting Follow Thread. All related emails will now appear under the Followed Thread view in your Mail panel.

CheckIgnore Threads: Not really interested in the American Idol discussion your co-workers have going on? Just right-click on the email and select Ignore Thread. Past and future emails from this thread will now skip your unread view.

http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/new/

The File Cluster more Free software, Drivers & Reviews







http://www.filecluster.com/

Friday, October 10, 2008

Startup Delayer and Secure NotePad


Startup Delayer v2.3.130

Released: 14th December 2007

The power to speed up your computer's startup process!

Can you learn another language in the time it takes for your machine to boot? Do you turn on your PC when you go to bed, so it's finished booting by the time you get home from work the next day?

When Windows loads it's Startup file, it attempts to load every program in there at the same time. Therefore if you have quite a lot of programs starting when Windows starts, each program will try and grab CPU time so that it can load.

If each program tries to do this at the same time, you soon notice the slow down that occurs, due to your CPU trying to help all the programs to load, and your hard disk accessing multiple files.

Startup Delayer allows you to setup how many seconds after Windows has started, to load each program.

For Example:
If you have your mail program and a special clock starting up, then you can make your mail start say 10 seconds after Windows has loaded, and then the special clock start 20 seconds after Windows Starts.

Compatible with Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista

http://www.r2.com.au/software.php?page=2&show=startdelay

My Secure Notepad

Very tiny (40KB using LVCL) secure notepad: it's a Safe/StrongBox/Coffer notepad and file cipher utility. Uses AES-256 and SHA-256 encryption from my fast and open-source Crypto library: with such a level of key size, your data are top-secret protected!

Free Download (current version is 1.00):

The installer creates a shortcut on your bottom screen bar: just click, enter your secret code, press OK, and you will have all your passwords/serials at hand! You can modify the text, update your private data, and the modifications will be automatically saved after confirmation. Thanks to my Crypto library, the software can use padlock engine on via C3/C7.

To encrypt / decrypt some files, just drag and drop files to the “password” window. They’ll be renamed .crypt. Then decryption is available by double-clicking them.

Never forget your secret password: no one could ever get your files/data back - that’s about security... :)

To backup your private notepad, just backup the MySecNotepad.crypt file, stored in the installation directory on Windows 95-XP, or in C:\Users\{UserName}\ AppData\ Local\ VirtualStore\ Program Files\ My Secure Notepad on Windows Vista.

http://bouchez.info/delphi-securenotepad.html

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Temp. phone number and Terminology

Get a temporary phone number in Portland for one hour, day, week or month:
http://www.inumbr.com/  Your calls will be forwarded to your cell.

TIGER TEAM: The term is still used to refer to any official inspection team or special "fire fighting" group called in to look at a problem from outside the box. Referring to a team set up solely in response to a specific situation or problem, without considering any wider or longer-term issues. The team typically operates (at least partially) outside the normal chain of command, and reports directly to a higher company officer. Particularly in aerospace engineering, tiger teams would often attack thorny technical problems that appeared late in the design phase.
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Friday, October 3, 2008

Clean LCD display, Freeware, Photo calculator, FILMS, Wireless failures, and Update to Norton Removal Tool

-How do you clean an LCD display?
QUESTION:
Have you ever covered the best way of cleaning an LCD display? My LCD manufacture (ACER) includes no recommendations. It's fairly dirty with some crusty spots (kids sneeze, spill stuff, etc.). What's a safe way of cleaning the older styles that do not have a glassy covering (I hate the glassy ones - especially when using laptops in open places)? Thanks - Sam M.
ANSWER:
I love the glossy displays for just this reason, but I still have plenty of the older style LCDs around and cleaning them can indeed be a challenge. First, turn the monitor off. You can clean it by wiping very gently with a soft, lint-free cloth that's slightly dampened with distilled water. You should not use tap water because the chlorine and other chemicals can damage the more delicate screens. And never spray water or any other liquid onto the screen. You may also use one of the products sold in office supply stores specifically for this purpose. Make sure it does not contain alcohol or ammonia. Commercially available LCD cleaning kits are relatively inexpensive. With anything new, I would try it out on a very small area in one corner of the screen first. Don't apply hard pressure, and let the screen dry completely before you turn it back on. Since all LCDs are not alike, check the owner's manual or the manufacturer's web site for any special recommendations or precautions.

-Freeware Portal. Mohawke's Best of the Best Free and Open Source Software Collection- Mac OS X and Windows software Collection: http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/
 
-Freeware-Products and Downloads by Vasilios: http://www.vasileios.gr/freesoft/_app_index.htm

-New. f-Calc is a calculator for photographic formulas: http://tangentsoft.net/fcalc/

-PhotoFunia. Effects for your Photos: http://www.photofunia.com/

-SnagFilms. watch full-length documentary films for free: http://www.snagfilms.com/

-Tracing a wireless failure - Tips from The Kim Komando Radio Show- & Web site: http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=4839

-Update. Norton Removal Tool (2000-XP-Vista) 2009.0.0.41: http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039?Open&src=&docid=2004093015165236&nsf=tsgeninfo.nsf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=
 

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