Music on the Internet

It's that time of year when you want to have music by the pool or patio.

You can accomplish this in many ways, but one I do it is by utilizing the music on my PC.

By purchasing a USB transmitter and receiver (or wireless speaker), you can send any audio anywhere in your yard.

You can listen to your iTunes playlist, play a CD or listen to an Internet radio station.

One of the best site's to use is last.fm which offers lots of genres of music. You can also listen to a local Internet station like pennspeak.com
This is a great alternative to bringing out the boombox and listening to commercial radio!

Stop using Eudora

I am amazed at how many emails I've recieved from people telling me they are still using Eudora for their email.

Eudora was discontinued in 2006. And while there was talk of newer versions being developed, nothing has been released in several years.

With no support, there are no security updates, which means you are vulnerable to hackers. And that represents a big risk to those who still use it.

My suggestion now is to use either Thunderbird by Mozilla (which is free), or go with Microsoft's Outlook (not outlook express) which is very solid but costs.

It is never a good idea to use a program that is no longer supported by its owner because it is not being updated to protect you from the evils of the internet.

STOP SENDING EMAIL HOAXES day on June 28th!!!

How many times do I have to get an email saying "Snopes" is a fake?

Or how about the small car at the lumber yard piled high with lumber crushing its shocks? This one has to be at least ten years old!

Or the email claiming Microsoft & AOL are the two biggest companies and if I forward the message, I'll get $249 from Bill Gates?

I can't believe these are still circulating after all these years... is it because people really want to believe this stuff? or do you think its so funny, you have to pass it around to everyone?

I would like to send my backing for a one day event... a moratorium on sending any type of email hoax, scam or joke on June 28th...

Join the revolution!

The Future

With all this new technology, will we forget how to do things?

A few things to ponder:

Cars that parallel park - this will be a lost art!

Wind a watch (is anyone wearing these anymore?)

Driving without a GPS - have we forgotten how to ask for directions?

Pay phones - is that a pre-paid cellphone?

Flash cubes - you got one flash bulb per picture (are you kidding!?!)

I think you get the idea...

My new Linksys router!

Well, the time has come to let my old wireless router go... after almost a year of weekly "resets", I decided to go take a look at something NEW!

I am partial to Linksys routers, so I didn't bother to look at other brands. But in the Linksys section, I came across another "flavor" of router from Linksys' parent company Cisco.

Behold the Valet, a wireless router for those technically deficient. The idea is to make it simple for anyone to have secure wireless routing in the home.

You do pay more for the convenience, as a comparable Linksys router costs less but requires more work from the users.

I went for the Linksys E2000 wireless router because I want to have more control over all of the settings.

So bottom line is: if you don't have a technical bone in your body, you can still get secure wireless internet access.

Microsoft Has FREE Anti-Virus Program

Security Essentials is the latest offering from Microsoft to keep your PC virus free.

It is a FREE anti-virus program joing the ranks of Avast and AVG. While it still has a way to go in being as effective as other established FREE AV programs, it is getting there.

Independent testing by A-VTest.org says it is 98.44% effective in detecting virus threats and 90.95% effective in stopping adware and spyware.

And SE works well with your MS operating system since it is made by Microsoft. On the other hand, it ONLY works with MS OS, specifically XP, Vista and 7.

We'll keep an eye on it and see how well it continues to fight malware.

Internet Radio is Tuned In!

I remember the old days... using my browser to find radio stations on the Internet.

But now, there are Wi-Fi Internet Radio devices that use your wireless router to bring you crystal clear radio... and it works well!

I tried a device over the weekend. It was a simple set-up to type in the passphrase for my router, and soon it was searching for stations.

The amazing part is that it has radio stations in its database from all around the world... and from every state in the US. So if you want to listen to stations in Oklahoma,Montana or Florida - you can! It's got AM and FM radio stations, as well as INTERNET RADIO STATIONS.

The only drawback to the one I have is that you must hook it up to speakers, or the AUX input on a radio or home theater system. But NO COMPUTER is needed... at all!

If you remember being able to tune in a Chicago AM radio station at night from Philadelphia, you're gonna love this!