Posted on August 20th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
Readers wrote immediately to tell us we’d missed something in our Windows 10 announcement. We said it’s free but after a year you have to pay for it. Turns out it’s free, period. But if you wait longer than a year to download and install it, it will cost you $120.
By the way, Microsoft has said you will no longer need any anti-virus software because Windows will be fully protected against all viruses, and presumably any other hack attacks. If you believe that, Bob wants you to know that he has a large bridge in New York that he’d like to sell you. (No new operating system ever produced has been invulnerable to virus attacks.)
Nevertheless, Joy, our master tester, likes Windows 10, saying it has the best of Windows 7 and avoids the worst of Windows 8. (Bob is sticking with Windows 7. He grudgingly went on from XP after his old computer got balky.)
If you want Windows 10, beware of scams. There are sites that lure visitors with the promise of a free copy. It’s already free, but be sure you get it from Microsoft.com. The exact address is Microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10. Click on “download tool now.” If you aren’t sure whether you have a 32-bit system or 64-bit, you can find that by searching on “system info” from the help area of your computer. Just hit the “F1” key to bring up a help menu. If you still can’t decide, it’s almost certain that you have a 64-bit system; we haven’t seen 32-bit systems in many years.
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Filed under: Microsoft, Windows | Comments Off on OUR SAVVY READERS
Posted on August 17th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
Joy’s friend Frieda is going to France but leaving her Kindle behind for safe keeping. Joy said to her: “Why not use your phone as a Kindle?” Here’s how to do that:
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Filed under: apps, books, Kindle | Comments Off on BOOK EM!
Posted on August 16th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
SSA.gov/oact/babynames lets you find out how popular your name is. “Robert” was in the top 10 from 1900 to 1983. “Joy” never made the top 100 and is now at 475. Some names like “Scott” were wildly popular in the 60s and 70s, not much now. “Noah” is currently the most popular boy’s name (never would have guessed that). “Emma” is the most popular girl’s name. An unusual name might be the best bet; it never goes out of style because it was never in.
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Filed under: Internuts | Comments Off on THE MOST POPULAR BABY NAMES
Posted on August 16th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
Transparency.org has a “Corruption Perceptions Index.” By their measure, Denmark is the least corrupt country in the world. New Zealand is the second least corrupt, Finland third. The U.S. is tied with Barbados, Hong Kong and Ireland for 17th place. Greece and Italy are tied at 69th. Somalia and North Korea are tied at the bottom — 174th. In the “Economic Freedom of the World” index, Greece is 144th, Germany is 31st and Canada is 10th.
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Filed under: Internuts, trends | Comments Off on THE LEAST CORRUPT COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
Posted on August 15th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
“15 Cool Sci-Fi Technologies We’ve Already Blown Right Past.” For example, in 1997’s “Men in Black,” Agent K shows a miniature compact disc saying “They’re going to be replacing CDs soon.” The very next year the first MP3 player was released. In Star Trek, the character “Data” could perform 60 trillion calculations a second. In China, the “Tianhe 2” can perform 34 quadrillion calculations per second. The robot dog in 1977’s “Dr. Who” could play chess and move about looking for danger. The U.S. military’s robot cheetah can run over 28 miles an hour, climb hills and jump over some obstacles. But … it doesn’t play chess.
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Filed under: Internuts | Comments Off on 15 COOL SCI-FI TECHNOLOGIES WE’VE ALREADY BLOWN RIGHT PAST
Posted on August 15th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
Spotify online radio now has a Shakespeare channel. You can listen to ninety-eight straight hours of Shakespeare’s plays and poems. Of course they will be performed by actors speaking too fast and with forced accents, so you won’t really be able to understand that they’re saying, but that’s the way it is with Shakespeare performances.
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Filed under: music, radio | Comments Off on SHAKESPEARE ON THE RADIO
Posted on August 14th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
“Sidekick” by Hubspot is a free add-on for Google Chrome or Microsoft Outlook that lets you know when your emails were read and also when to schedule them. The business version syncs with the leading contact manager Salesforce and fills in info from the giant Salesforce database. That way you know which companies have visited your website, what competitors they have and other info. Gotcha!
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Filed under: email | Comments Off on HELP WITH EMAIL
Posted on August 12th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
Having our smartphone hacked — and heaven only knows what kind of information became available from that — made us wonder if we could have had our identity stolen. The next thought was: what would that information be worth to somebody. So we did the research rounds on the web and beyond and found that a stolen identity — the requisite numbers and passwords — sells for about $20 on the hacked-info black market. That’s it? Twenty bucks? What about our priceless collection of Pez dispensers?
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Filed under: security | Comments Off on WHAT’S YOUR IDENTITY WORTH?
Posted on August 11th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
The glass on our cell phone cracked. (Should have left the case on.) Even worse, we turned in the phone to a local repair shop and when we got it back two days later, we think it had been hacked.
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Filed under: security, tech support, virus | Comments Off on NOW CALLING FROM FLORIDA
Posted on August 10th, 2015 by Joy Schwabach
We never take our favorite umbrella out because we’d probably lose it. (We’ve lost at least a dozen over the years.) It’s decorated with “Peanuts” and other comic strips, and we’d never find another like it. But coming soon is a smart umbrella that tells you where you left it.
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Filed under: crowdfunding, gadgets | Comments Off on SMART UMBRELLAS
