Says Who??

Ok, I'm genuinely curious. What sort of virus protection do you use on your computer?

My desktop computer caught a nasty bug for Christmas. I was able to get it removed by accessing the services of McAfee virus specialists - cost me $89 bucks and about 45 minutes of my cell phone time, but they got it all fixed without me having to disconnect my machine and take it in somewhere. Sort of amazing that their support guys who are in INDIA can work on my machine in BOISE by remote access. Anyway, the machine is back up and running, feeling ever so much better. I've now got all three of my computers running with McAfee virus protection and feel a lot more confident that they will stay safe.

However, a good pal of mine in AZ reports having had terrible luck with McAfee and she insists she would never use them again.

So I'm just wondering what others out there are using these days.

I used to have Norton. Then I went to McAfee for a while. Then when I bought my last desktop a few years ago the friend I bought it from had put the free version of AVG on it and said that should be fine. I kept MEANING to change it, but had not gotten around to it. (THAT is how I got infected - never again!) So now I'm back on board with McAfee.

I've found their tech support people to be polite and always able to communicate clearly, and solve the issues I've gone to them for. My own experience has been I have not ever gotten bugs while running their protection. So I feel like I can rely on their product even though someone I know and respect has had a completely different experience.

Which leads me to wonder-apart from virus protection programs, when it comes to other products and services, how much stock do I put in the recommendations / warnings of friends or anonymous online reviews? When it comes to life in general how much do I listen to the advice and council of others and how much do I go after my own inclinations?

Some things are just a matter of a match...for instance some of my students would say the sociology class I teach is fabulous and would encourage their friends to also sign up for it. Others will say it is way too much work and will warn other students away from the mean teacher who is so picky about requiring citations. A lot of services that rely on relationship as much as technical skill - therapists, hair stylists, etc may be a perfect fit for some folks while not being suitable at all for someone else. Other things like banking services can be measured by a more objective yardstick - what are their locations? Their hours? Their fees?

When I go out of town (as I just did) I often read reviews of hotels online before making a reservation. When I buy new products I sometimes look for customer reviews. But on more than one occasion I have gone for some service on the advice of a friend or family member only to be sorely disappointed.

So tell me - how do YOU pick a new doctor or hair stylist or car? Who do you listen to? Also do tell me if you will, what virus protection are you using? I'd really like to know.

New Virtual Book Tour on the Way

Trisiti Pinkston is at it again.

A successful writer herself, Tristi also works as Senior Editor of Valor Publishing. In that role she has been a real champion of finding fresh and innovative ways to get the word out about new books coming to market. One that she has successfully done is the "Virtual Book Tour" in which several bloggers are invited to read a pre-release copy of a new book and then write a candid review of that book on their blogs.

I have been fortunate enough to be included in this gathering of readers in the past. On March 24 I will be reviewing The Cleansing of America by Dr. W. Cleon Skousen.(Click HERE for a biography of Skousen)

While I have heard a lot about Skousen's past works, I have not yet read any of his books. I have a PDF file of this soon to be published work on a flash drive I will take with me as I am traveling to Arizona this week. I have about a three hour lay over in Salt Lake at an airport that does NOT offer free wi-fi. (What's the deal SLC?) So instead of bemoaning the fact that I can't get online while I'm there I'll use that time to do some reading.

I look forward to seeing what the book has to offer and I very much appreciate Tristi's continued confidence in me as a reviewer. I'm excited to have the opportunity to give this book careful thought and share my reactions to it here.

CONNECTED in the Wheatfield

I have a new toy. I just signed up with Sprint MobileBroadband. By plugging in the little gizmo you see pictured here I am supposed to be able to get fast internet service ANYWHERE that Sprint cell phone reception is available. Zowie!

Because I teach online it is critical that I have access to good internet connection. Now that we are moving out to the farm where no DSL is available I had very limited options. Sprint came to the rescue with a plan I can live with. Not only will I be able to get it out at the farm, now when I take my laptop places I will be able to go online just about anywhere. No more paying for access fees in airports or at hotels. Heck, if I'm in the right spots I could even take it camping.

The device just came in the mail today...I can hardly wait to get home and get it loaded onto my machine to see if it will work as well as has been promised. I'm pretty excited. This really frees me up to travel without having to scramble for available internet cafes or other hot spots where I can get online. I love new tech toys.

Say what you think...in a whole new way

The line between science fiction and reality continues to blur as new breakthroughs in technology make formerly out-of-this-world "what IF" sort of creations feasible in the here and now. A fellow teacher passed on the following piece from Live Science. Rather intriguing developments to say the least!



Voiceless Phone Calls Now Possible
By Christopher Wanjek

posted: 17 March 2008 ET

Audeo has just demonstrated their subvocal speech input device in a new context; a neckband that translates thought into speech by interpreting signals sent from the brain to the vocal chords. Audeo used it in their Thinking Man's Wheelchair for quadraplegics demonstrated last September.

The device does not provide unlimited translation; it is able to respond with about 150 basic words and phrases. It is anticipated that the device will offer unlimited vocabulary by the end of the year, through recognition of speech phonemes (see video).

Science fiction writer David Brin wrote about it specifically in his 1990 novel Earth.

She took a subvocal input device from its rack and placed the attached sensors on her throat, jaw, and temples. A faint glitter in the display screens meant the machine was already tracking her eyes, noting by curvature of lens and angle of pupil the exact spot on which she focused at any moment.
She didn't have to speak aloud, only intend to. The subvocal read nerve signals, letting her enter words by just beginning to will them...
(Read more about the Subvocal Input Device)

This technology could also make our involuntary participation in the cell phone conversations of a million strangers obsolete.

See a video of the Audeo device controlling a wheelchair. Story via Nerve-tapping neckband used in 'telepathic' chat. Thanks to Winchell Chung for contributing this item.

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission of Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction)

Podcasting Made Simple - AKA - Michael Pollock is My New Hero!!

Many of you know that my day job is as "Learning Specialist" at a small community college in Oregon. One of the things I do in that role is encourage the Luddites on campus to experiment with new technology. I coordinate a weekly seminar called "Technology Tuesday" and am in the process of putting together a series of online modules to give them tips and tutorials for using the various tools we have here (Everything from starboards to clickers to Elmo to who knows what.)

My latest project has been to focus on Podcasting - keeping in mind some of the folks I am working with are so leery of technology they won't use a mechanical pencil. So I began wading through DOZENS of websites and read way more stuff about podcasting than I ever wanted to. I looked at or listened to a phenomenal amount of information until my eyes were going glassy and I just wanted to go sit in a quiet room. Just when I was ready to run shrieking down the hallways and join the ranks of the Luddites out of sheer self preservation, I stumbled upon Michael Pollocks work: The Podsnapper Beginner's Guide to Podcasting.

This is a CLEAR, CONCISE, very easy to understand overview of what podcasting is, what tools are required, and just enough depth to walk the balance between not overwhelming the newbie while still offering some meat for those who are already a bit more familiar. It's visually appealing - nice bright pics, plenty of white space and manageable chunks of text. Pollock NEVER gets condescending or overly technical but he also doesn't write as if he's speaking to idiots. His tone is engaging and informative, with enough personal examples of his own experience learning how to do podcasting to make it seem vey genuine. Honestly - this little guide is PERFECT for what I am trying to accomplish.

So I will still type up my list of other resources that I sorted out, grouping them by categories of:
Tutorials and "How To" Articles
Products and Services
General Information
Directories and Search Engines

But at the TOP of that I will have a box with the following text:

For the best overall summary of what podcasting is and how to get started, go to Podsnapper Guide by Michael Pollock. If you only read ONE resource, make sure this is the one you read. It will give you clear information to understand what podcasting is and how to get started. If you want further information after that, then you can refer to the resources below.

Thank you ever so much Michael. If you lived close I'd bring you a pan of my killer good enchiladas or bake you cookies. But since you don't, you'll just have to accept my undying appreciation.

Gigabites Are A Girl's Best Friend

Marilyn Monroe may have thought that Diamonds were a girl's best friend, but I just don't buy it.

For my recent birthday my husband wanted to buy me a gorgeous set of diamond stud earrings. The were pretty. Sparkly bling bling is a nice thing, I suppose. But I really didn't want them.

So I struggled with the ethical dilemma of just graciously accepting the pricey gift from my man to make him feel good or coming out and telling him "please don't." I opted for the latter. I explained that I really did appreciate his thoughtfulness and wanting to do something nice for me. But I did not want diamonds. What I REALLY wanted was a new portable hard drive.

He was baffled by my priorities. But thankfully he did not get offended that I was not interested in what HE thought would be a great gift. He went right out to Circuit City and got me a new
Seagate 250GB external hard drive. It just plugs in to the USB port and GOES. Now I can put all my photos and important documents in ONE place instead of having them saved to various disks and CD's, and I can EASILY transfer any file I have to any other computer by plugging in to a USB. I can preserve not only the programs that are on my home PC, but the appearance of my desk top to take with me to do work where ever I may find myself. Yeah, this is a good thing. Sparkles are nice. But I'll take extra Gigabites any day.

Technology

A while back my blogger pal Jaquandor posted this list of "technologies that USA Today touted as the most important to come along since 1982" along with comments of his opinions... I started to do a response at that time but never got it finished. It has been sitting in my "draft" box along with a couple other half finished things for some time. It's a slow blog day here, so I'll just dust this one off and kick it out the door.

1. Cellphones

YES, I have a cell and I use it A LOT. But I almost never go over my minutes because I mainly use it for family who are all SPRINT users. Since my sons live in Michigan and I live in Oregon the free sprint-to-sprint comes in very handy. I do still have a regular land line phone as well, although every month when I pay double phone bills I wonder why.

When I was in Santa Fe recently I was impressed by the fact they have a city ordinance banning use of hand held cell phones while driving. I admit I do talk on the phone while driving. Not terribly responsible of me, now is it?

At least I don't put on mascara while driving, which I witnessed someone doing recently. But then, I don't put on mascara ever except for hot dates and job interviews....but I digress.

2. Laptops

I LOVE the freedom my wireless laptop gives me. I take it with me all over the place. Gives me access to geocache coordinates, blogdom, and my online classes. Also when beloved and I are traveling together it gives me a quiet way to amuse myself in the middle of the night when he's sleeping and I'm up with insomnia.

3. Blackberrys

Don't have one. Don't particularly want one.

4. Debit cards

ABSOLUTELY! I almost never go to banks anymore. My husband and I both have direct deposit of our pay checks. I pay most my bills online. Then when I need cash I just get extra back at the grocery store. I seldom ever carry more than $20 with me, if that--don't need to. My trusty debit card gives me freedom to do most transactions quick and easy AND keeps a record of it.

5. Caller ID

Don't have it, don't want it. Unlike Kelly, I DO answer my phone. If it is someone I don't want to talk to I say so and hang up. Otherwise it is a nice surprise.

Actually we do get LOTS of hang ups on our answering machine that I have NO IDEA who is generating. But I can live with the mystery.

6. DVDs

Nifty little storage units for media. However, they are just one more in a long list...I'm sure these too will go the way of the 8 track before we know it.

7. Lithium rechargeable batteries

I like rechargeable batteries. They're neat. What else to say?

8. IPods

I don't own one yet but this is on my current wish list. Having music at my fingertips would be way cool, but even more than that is my desire to have access to the many educational podcasts or others, such as the ones my pal Papa Herman just let me know about, a three part series regarding Fr. Seraphim Rose featuring interviews with Abbot Gerasim and Fr.
Damascene. Granted, I can listen to these from my computer. But I like the notion of having it mobile.


9. Pay at the pump

This is certainly useful for some folks, but since there is a STATE LAW in Oregon that we cannot pump our own gas it really doesn't enter my radar. I will be doing business with a human being regardless of what sort of technology they have on the pump.

10. Lettuce in a bag

While I have eaten bag-o-salad on occasion I'm MUCH rather make my own, and generally do.

11. Digital cameras

Love 'em. Just wish I could find the lost power charging cord to mine!

12. Doppler radar

Never gave this one much thought. Of course, back when I lived in the Tornado zone of the Midwest it was a different story!

13. Flat-panel TVs

Would be wasted on me. I watch very little TV. I do love my flat panel computer screen.

14. Electronic tolls

I was flabbergasted by tolls when I first moved to Ohio. What do you mean I have to pay money to drive on this road?? But I must say the tollways were the BEST equipped for dealing with snow removal and almost never had pot holes, which is a lot more than I can say for the general freeway system back there. Sure it stinks to have to fork over the cash, but like a lot of other things, we get what we pay for. Seems to me having some sort of electronic debit system would be a lot more convenient that scrounging for quarters.

15. PowerPoint

Really? I'm not so sure how that one made the list. I'm currently involved in a project that has me creating presentations in PowerPoint and then converting them to Flash files. So I think of PowerPoint the same way I do flour and yeast when I'm baking bread - it's an essential ingredient, but not the end product. No matter what Al Goremay think, there are slicker ways to do things

16. Microwave popcorn

I'm not a big popcorn fan, but my beloved treasures his stash of this.

17. High tech footwear

I'm just darn grateful my jock son with the size 15 feet is grown up and emancipated so I will never have to pay for these again.

18. Online stock trading

Never have, don't expect to.

19. Big Bertha golf clubs

See answer above in #18

20. Disposable contact lenses

I am the poster child for Lasik. One of the best investments I ever made.

21. StairMaster

Exercise equipment is one of the most frequently discarded/resold purchases there are. Most of these end up gathering dust.

22. Tivo

Although I don't have it and don't want it and would never pay for it, I CAN see the merit of being able to have what few TV programs I DO like available to watch whenever I care to see them and being able to fast forward through the commercials.

23. Purell

In one of my anthropology classes many moons ago we talked about a study involving two remote villages in Africa that had similar resources, similar customs, yet RADICALLY different mortality rates. What the anthropologists finally figured out was the key difference was that the village with the LOW mortality rate had a case of soap that had been left behind by some missionaries who taught them all to wash their hands. The other group had no soap, nor any training in hygiene practice. It make the difference of who lived and who died. (Particularly since the same people who prepared bodies for burial were preparing food.) Yea, I guess this is important.

24. Home satellite TV
We have dish network so my husband can watch all those hunting /fishing shows he likes so much and I can get BYU TV for conferences, education week and the like. So it has its merits. For the most part however, scrolling through the 100+ channels just means it takes twice as long to find out there is mostly crap on.


25. Karaoke

I know there is a whole social phenomena wrapped up in this, but I am a humanitarian so I don't sing in public.


I also appreciate Kelly's other remarks:

"What about widespread GPS technology? Or the friggin' World Wide Web? Yeah, the bones of the Internet existed before 1982, but not the Web. And I'd cite digital visual effects in movies. Lots of people complain about rampant CGI in movies, but frankly, the crap-to-goodness ratio back in the days when effects were models and matte paintings probably wasn't any less than it is now."

Thoughts?

As for things that have DIRECTLY impacted MY life?

(CAUTION! All male readers may want to stop right here....)

I'm grateful for tampons, control top panty hose, good moisturizer, and my home foot spa!)

Creative Uses for Floppy Discs

My co-worker Gwen was being all industrious today, cleaning/organizing the office supplies. Among a lot of other odd things in the drawer, she found a brand new box of 3x5 floppy discs. Her computer does not even have a floppy disc drive. MOST of the machines around here do not. More and more people are going to flash drives for saving files. So we puzzled over what they might be good for.

Here are a couple ideas we found: You could make the STARSHIP ENTERPRISE or an INDESCTRUCTABLE SHOULDER BAG.

But since we have too much work to do to get that crafty, we just took a 5 minute break and had a floppy disk frisbee contest seeing who could fly them the furthest down the college corridors. It was great fun.

We've also thought of using them as coasters.

Anybody else have any ideas?

TECHNOLOGY

I've been giving some thought to the ways our lives have changed in recent years as a result of technology.

.

I am a Sputnik Baby. I was born the day that the first ever Earth satellite went up into space. I came into the world just as science and new innovations were beginning to radically change the way human beings in the developing world would live and believe.

.

My generation grew up discovering Tang, Jiffy Pop, TV dinners and saccharine. We got color TVs and microwave ovens. We got home size freezers for our groceries (I do remember when it was typical for families to rent a locker at the local butcher shop). We were thrilled by vacuum cleaners that weighed less and sucked more, ziplock baggies and more new cleaning products than we could ever find all the uses for.

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There were medical breakthroughs, space travel, and all sorts of keen inventions. But I keep having to ask myself, did life overall get BETTER as a result of technology?

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I have a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, a laptop, a cell phone, a palm pilot and all the typical toys of fat Americans. Yet I seem to have LESS time for relating to my neighbors than my grandmother did in an age when she ironed absolutely everything, cooked from scratch, beat her rugs and darned socks. (When I see holes in a sock I just say "that darn sock!" and throw the sucker away).

.

Our work hours keep extending, our relaxation time seems consumed with invasive media. Granted, there are CHOICES to be made here... I can turn the TV off, I can choose to go for a walk instead of work on my computer, I can visit with a neighbor rather than run through another level of my "to do" list.

.

All I'm saying is that it seems odd to me that with all these time saving devices we seem to have less time than ever before. And clearly, the social structure of this modern day is feels far more depraved and chaotic than in earlier times. I am ever so grateful that when I was in grade school I got to munch down sugar cubes holding the precious potion of the Salk Polio vaccine, rather than live in fear of the iron lung. I'm glad that when my vision became distorted I was able to get glasses to correct it, and later was able to have Lasik surgery to banish those glasses entirely. Yet I'm not so sure I am grateful for air conditioning and garages, things that contributed to the loss of front porches from most homes so neighbors no longer sat out on quitet summer evenings drinking lemonade and waving as others passed my. And I remain quite ambivalent about the development of 24 hr TV, or the introduction of a lot of other things that have become so ubiquitous in every day life. (Remember when the TV stations used to play the National Anthem to signal they were about to end broadcasting for the night?)

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Sometimes I hunger for slower, quieter, simpler times.

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But then, I suppose that longing is nothing really new. For that matter, the prophet Nephi, son of Helaman felt sorta the same way:

"Oh that I could have had my days in the days when my father

Nephi first came out of the land of Jeruselum, that I could have

joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy

to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and

slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto

the words of the Lord-- Yea, if my days could have been in those

days, then would my soul have had joy in righteousnes of my

brethren. But behold, I am consigned that these are my days,

and that my soul shall be filled with sorrow becouse of the

wickedness of my bretheren." (Helaman 7:7-9)

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Maybe David Chadwell is right when he says: The "times when things were simple" exist only in "selective memory." They are illusions that appear in the rear view mirrors of the "complicated now." As each generation ages, it looks back to "a simpler time" when things were not so complex and life was not so demanding. However, our backward glances suffer from a perpetual illness. Backward glances "see" from the pleasant light of "glowing memories." Those memories commonly focus on the "good experiences" (often exaggerated) as the person refuses to recall "bad" realities. "

.

I can certainly support his summary line when he says:

Only one eternal constant exists in our complex world: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yes and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). The ages will never be too complex for Jesus to rescue and sustain. Understanding Jesus will enable any generation to cope with and survive its age. "

EONS

I've discovered a new website that I think is a very cool resource. At eons.com you can make a LIFEMAP. This is a visual map of the important events of your life - whatever you define those to be. It could include academic, job, family, trips taken, or anything else that is of significance to you. You can upload photos, write little clips, etc to annotate. Today I spent most of the afernoon and evening on into the night working on this. I put WAY more photos and info on mine than I would ever choose to share publicly. But for my immediate family and friends it's a nifty little record of what I've been doing over the past 50 years. It's rather bizarre to play the slide show of photos and watch myself mature from a wee babe into the person I am today. I have all my elementary school photos from Kindergarten through 8th grade and then an ecclectic collection of snapshots and family portraits.

The cool thing is that the site correlates your personal events with things that were going on in the world at that time. So for every year of my life I can now see where I lived, where I was working, what trips I was taking, etc but also who was president, what music was popular, what scientific breakthroughs were happening, etc. It's facinating to me to see how my own personal history fits into the era that I lived....

Vista Upgrade Advice

I found THIS flow chart to help make the decision of whether or not to upgrade to the new Vista OS absolutely hillarious.