Tatango

So for the last four years at Murray State University, I've been in Sigma Phi Epsilon and always active in the technology part anything we did. Well I was used to old technology (RJ-45 Jacks, Wired Speakers, etc) and I never got to experiment with anything new. Well now I get the chance! I've heard about a year or two back in one of my classes about a mass texter that organizations on campus use for contacting members with meeting times and important news.

  Tatango is a mass texting service that actually is for free! Of course, like everything else on the web that is free, it comes with advertisements. I tried out the service a few days ago with a few messages sent from my phone and sent from my laptop and computer. It was extrememly useful, and the ad took a very small space at the bottom of the screen. You can also send out a large amount of emails or voice messages. Yes, Voice messages. You call a number say what you need to say, and then after a few seconds everyone in your group gets called with the voicemail you just left. Ill keep you all up to date on how useful this program is and how well it works. 

See Ya Soon!!

The Tech Medic

Want a great jobskill to go along with any major?

Want to know what a great job to have regardless of your major?  Most businesses will have a website along with their physical business and will either use it to provide information or to sell products online. So why not take the extra step above the competition when putting in resumes for a job. Learn HTML! You may not think it is important right now, but if you get into anywhere besides a large corporation where there are it professionals already there, you could always be asked to help maintain the site. 

So regardless of what grade level or year of life you are in, pick up a book, or check out w3schools, which is a great online source for html tutorials and learn this very easy language. If you are still in high school check to see if there is an html elective, and if you are in college There has to be a HTML class where you are at.

Get programming!

Do you use P2P Software?

First off to clear myself legally by saying I do not endorse or promote using P2P software or engaging in piracy. I myself am not admiting by posting the information below that I engage, but am only supplying information.

So you use Limewire, uTorrent, Bearshare, or any other P2P or Bittorrent software?

Many of you people will use this software, download a few songs a month, and that's  it. Some of you download movies that just came out of the theatre or dvd. And a few of you know how to download games, movies, shows, or anything that can downloaded. What do all of you have in common? You're being watched.

There are thousands of people and companies looking for people like you. Even if you've downloaded once, you will be found. There is some good news though, there are programs that fight anti-p2p software. I'm gonig to briefly talk about one today, PeerGuardian.

PeerGuardian was made for the purpose of blocking IP's of comanies and gov't organizations trying to spy on you. Although it is not 100% percent effective, and you have to keep your block list updated, it will block alot of people trying to spy on you.

To get it to work on your computer google PeerGuardian and download for your operating system. If you have Windows Vista you will have to disable your UAC, which is a utillity that makes your computer think PG is a virus, and will not let it run. Once you hae it up and running you can download with more safety (remember it's not 100% effective), and open ports that were previously blocked if you couldn't use limewire at your work or something.

Email me with any more questions that you may have about this topic and good luck!

Clean up your PC at the new year.

With the new year underway you should do your PC a favor and clean it up. Now I don't mean to grab a dust rag and spray some cleaner on it, I mean getting rid of those files you havent touched since last year and won't touch ever again. Im going to give you some quick tips to clean up your PC and make it run faster and more efficent for the 2009 year. 

• Delete that old file from a class you took last year!

If you are never going to touch that paper you wrote then why save it? If you are proud of that paper and don't want to get rid of it at least zip it and store it in an archive so it's not wasting disk space.

• Use Disk deframentor

It's in your start menu, and if you've never used it before you are behind on the times. USing the DD will remove and replace files in a better order on your hard drive so there will be less load times to load up games or files.

• Spyware!!!!

Go to download.com, and download a free spyware or anti-virus software. DO yourself a favor and clean your computer so these programs wont run in the background and slow your computer up. It will also delete your temp files and other system files. Most of the files are free to download so go now!

SourceCube Development

Well with the upcoming date of graduation at the end of the year, and with a brother in Computer Science and a friend also in that field, we have put their skills along with mine to create a small company to use to program for money on a website. rentacoder is a site where you can post projects needing to be finished with background knowledge in programming languages, video editing, and tech writing. We have created a company, SourceCube Development, and have started our first project helping someone create a poker game for their class at a undisclosed university. I'll keep you posted though on how we do, and if you have a job to do, everything has a price!

The best computer you can buy...?

People always ask what are the 3 best computers you can buy? Here are the top 3 and why they are the top.

3. ACER

Acer is on this list because they make a large portion of the market for computers, meaning more money for research in better computers. And although quality may not be as good as the number one on the list, your price that you pay is more than cheaper and still pretty decent quality.

2. Dell

The reason I chose Dell as number 2 is because of Price, quality, and availability. First, their prices are phenomenal. Although you may have to pay higher prices online, you still have a huge discount offered on the pre-built ones. The quality of these machines are amazing. I have owned one for 7 years now and it still has not gone out on me. I liked them so much I bought a laptop from them too for my work/school. The availibilty is also amazing becuase they will have a computer from the simple user all the way up the extreme gamer, and you can get one in a store or make one yourself online.


1. Alienware


Alienware is the king of kings when it comes to computers. This company only deals with higher end computers and gaming type systems. If you own one of these systems you are awed by most of the gamer community out there. The best quality you will find, but not the best prices. If you have extra money and want a computer that can keep up for the next 10 years, then an Alienware is you.


The pictures were from the corporate websites and here are their links for purchasing questions.

3. Acer
2. Dell
1. Alienware

Technology has come a far way...

I was sitting down with my grandmother this thanksgiving and were were talking about the past in general. When she said something in particular though, it caught my attention and I had to write about it. Back in the early 50s she said there was a museum exhibit that her middle school went to that contained a range, dishwasher, and microwave all in one kitchen. They called this place a "Kitchen of the Future". This made me laugh and think, you, whoever is reading this, is using a computer, which didn't even exist until 20 years ago. Think of your life w/out computers? I would be out of a job!
I also wonder what it will be like after a few decades. Will we actually have virtual reality, flying cars, and a world modeled after "back to the future"? Comment me and let me know your thoughts.

More to add to my geek-i-ness..

If I wasn't set in computer knowledge yet, I just got a chance to learn a whole lot more. I just received an internship with a software development firm out in Benton, KY. This will enable me to build on experiences there, in the real world and not in the the classroom, and use what I learned to further succeed in my classes and prepare for the work-force whenever I graduate from the university. I decided to post this because I would like to add to the credibility of my comments and posts on this page.

Plasma VS. LCD

There is a battle going on right now for which television to buy... PLASMA or LCD

Here i'm going to give you a short overview from plasmatvbuyingguide.com of each of them and try to tell you which type of television would work best for you:

plasma technology has the better picture quality in normal to low room lighting conditions and are better in 4 out of 5 picture quality categories. Plasma technology will almost without exception triumph during night time viewing. LCD televisions are great for sunroom/breakfast room type environments. Also, LCD monitors are generally better for public display such as airport signage and retail store signage due to the bright room light environment.


Fast Moving Video Playback

Plasma displays get the nod here because of their excellent performance with fast-moving images and high contrast levels. There are still some 2^nd tier manufacturers whose plasma product displays some phosphor lag, a dragging from brights to darks.

While the "response time" of LCD TVs has markedly improved in the last couple of years, they still suffer from a slight "trailer" effect, where the individual pixels are just slightly out of step with the image on the screen. During fast moving sports scenes, the most discerning eyes can detect this slight motion response lag.

Longevity:

LCD manufacturers claim that their displays last, on average, 50,000 to 65,000 hours. In fact, an LCD TV will last as long as its backlight does - and those bulbs can sometimes be replaced! Since this is nothing more than light passing through a prismatic substrate, there is essentially nothing to wear out in an LCD monitor. However, one nasty little known fact about LCD technology is that as the backlight ages it can change colors slightly (think of florescent office lighting). When this occurs the white balance of the entire LCD will be thrown for a loop and the user will need to re-calibrate, or worse, try to replace the backlighting or ditch the unit altogether. Some of the early purchasers of larger LCD screens will be learning this tidbit in a couple of years. One thing that I’ve found in this industry, it is not easy to find out whether the backlighting on LCDs can be replaced. Manufacturers are either hesitant to discuss the topic, or they just don’t know.

Plasma, on the other hand, utilizes slight electric currents to excite a combination of noble gases (i.e., argon, neon, xenon), which glow red, blue, and/or green. This is an essentially active phenomenon, so the phosphoric elements in plasma displays fade over time. Many manufacturers state a new half life of 60,000 hours. While I am skeptical of this spec, I do believe strides have been made to nearly even the playing field with LCD. At half life, the phosphors in a plasma screen will glow half as brightly as they did when the set was new. There is no way to replace these gases; the display simply continues to grow dimmer with use.

All in all, and in an overview of this quick sample of the ongoing fight here's what I would suggest:

The gamer who has the need for size and great picture resolution: Plasma
The gamer who doesn't need size but wants something that will look great: LCD
The person who only needs one in their dorm room to watch off of and wont be used alot: LCD
The middle-aged person who wants that main television to go somewhere in the house: Plasma

Email me at any time to find out any further information about this topic, because I know I didn't cover everything but would love to help you decide your next purchase.

picture from www.allcomputerservices.net

Geek Squad. Just words of Caution...

Have you been to Best Buy within the last few years and bought your laptop or computer there? Well they probably asked for that extended warranty with the Geek Squad in store. Now you ask yourself that question, like any other person does, should you buy that 2 years of protection? My answer is if it's solely from geek squad then NO.

Being a techie and having jobs repairing and maintaining electronic equipment I have the same knowledge capabilities as one of their workers, I actually took the test they take to apply and scored perfect, while most dont even pass their first try. These people are a joke and I don't know how they get hired at these pavilions or offices. I believe, in my total opinion, that they hired these kids to try and tell non-tech-savvy people to pay more money into Best Buy. I walked in there a little bit ago to an un-disclosed store and tried to explain to them a problem I was having with my ipod. A 100% software problem that would be completly covered by the 2 year extended warranty I purchased along with it. Low and behold the worker told me to go back home and try precedures like reinstalling itunes or restarting the ipod. After telling him I tried all that and that I actually know what I am doing with computers, he chuckled and replied " That's what everyone thinks, and that's why we're still in business". So after a day of coming back I still had the same problem. He had given me a refurbished ipod to test and make sure it wasn't my computer. I ran through everything and it turned out that a line of ipods had gone bad and were getting recalled. I went back to the store with a printed article from ipod stating this. He wanted to give me another one from the same line! I fought with the manager and finally got myself a new ipod like I HAD PAID FOR. This is just one simple story of why to second guess that friendly tech guy in your store. Go to your nerdy friends, they won't screw you over.

picture from www.wannabesporty.com