More of Steve’s favorite wastes of time.
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TechBite
TechBite: Using a PC? You Definitely Have Annoyances…
This week’s post is a collection (okay, a hodgepodge) of ways my PC annoys me, with, of course, work-arounds.
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Steve Bass’s Time Wasters – Cobra Pits, Baby Penguins & Snow Rollers
TechBite: Gas Saving Tips (‘Cause the Prices are Killing Us)
By Steve Bass
Internet resources
to help me (and maybe you) get the best deal on gasoline
— and better mileage.
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TechBite: How to Fix Common PC Annoyances
By Steve Bass
PCs are annoying. They do unexpected things and act like
little children. I know, because my computer’s always
troubled — and from the e-mail I get, so’s yours.
This week: Solutions for some of the computing troubles
and annoyances you’ve asked me to fix.
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Steve Bass’s Time Wasters (Games, Videos & More) – April 2011
3 great new videos, a cool game that will frustrate you and the return of the typewriter.
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TechBite: A Nifty Spam Tracking Trick
By Steve Bass
There’s nothing you can do to prevent a third party from
exposing your e-mail address. But there’s a handy trick to
monitor if a company you’ve given an e-mail address to is
using it to spam you. And then block it so you’ll never
see it again.
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TechBite: Shopping for Bargains on the Internet
By Steve Bass
That’s this week’s main topic: The sites I regularly visit
with daily bargain-priced products, those with coupon
codes for discounts or free shipping, and the tools to
make bargain hunting easier.
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More of Steve Bass’s Time Wasters
TechBite: A Nifty Way to Make Free Internet Calls
By Steve Bass
I found a
sure-fire winner for letting home users make free calls
within the United States and pennies per call overseas.
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More of Steve Bass’s Time Wasters
TechBite: Podcast Heaven
By Steve Bass
I’m surprised how many people aren’t taking advantage of
the Internet’s wealth of truly wonderful, enjoyable,
educating, entertaining — and free — podcasts.
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TechBite: iPhone Meets the BBQ
By Steve Bass
Have $100 to burn? (Gawd, I certainly don’t.) If you do, splurge on iGrill’s fancy probe. It’s another thing specially designed for Apple aficionados.
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TechBite: Recycle Your Electronics for Cash
By Steve Bass
It’s unavoidable. With a desk covered with business cards, flyers, and dozens of flash drives filled with product information, CES is still on my mind. And because it is, here are more short takes on products you might find useful. Or not.
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Steve Bass’s More Great Time Wasters
TechBite: CES Wows and Duds
By Steve Bass
I found a handful, maybe a dozen, innovative and smart products in out-of-the-way booths, and a few “oh, wow, I gotta have that” gems. I’ve got a few to tell you about this week — like the gizmos that help you save energy at home and earbuds that’ll knock your sox off.
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Steve Bass’s More Great Time Wasters
TechBite: 12 Smart Firefox and IE Add-Ons
By Steve Bass
Fix Up Your Browser
I can’t get enough of the handy-dandy freebies that clump onto Firefox (and Internet Explorer) and make the browsers smarter and easier to work.
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TechBite: A Very Serious Threat
By Steve Bass
You’re at Starbucks, busy working on your Facebook page. Bad news: The guy at the next table is a hacker, and he’s also working on your Facebook page. Sit tight, I have a few ways for you to make yourself invisible to hackers.
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TechBite: Eliminating The Windows “Corrupt Files” Message
By Steve Bass
I did the unbelievable — a beginner’s mistake, if I ever heard one. I unplugged of a USB-attached device without using the Safely Remove Hardware applet. And up from the depths of the system tray came the here-comes-lunch “Windows – Corrupt File” message.
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TechBite: 2 Useful Gadgets & a Bass Rant
By Steve Bass
Commercials are loud now, louder than I can ever remember…what can you do about it?
Worried your toddler (or for many of you, your great-grandchild) may reach up, grab your large-screen TV, and get bonked on the head? Or maybe you live in California or Nebraska (Nebraska?) and you’re frazzled thinking about earthquakes…what can you do about it?
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TechBite: Extra Online Protection: Free, Easy, Effective
By Steve Bass
Okay, yes, you already have a security tool. But I have three smart, free, no-fuss browser tools that’ll give you an extra edge against cyber criminals.
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TechBite: Oh, Bass, What Did You Do?
By Steve Bass
On March 21, 1991, I stopped using Norton’s security programs.
But I like to see what the dark side is up to, so I recently switched back to Norton. And I’m really happy I did.
Of course, knowing how you always like to hear the dirt, I’ll tell you the back story.
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TechBite: Two Monitors? Heck, Make it Three!
By Steve Bass
Listen to this concession: “Okay, yes, once you’ve used a two-monitor setup, going back to a single monitor sucks.”
That from my wife who last year resisted using a second monitor. It’s so darn quaint when she admits she’s wrong.
Judy found that out when I brought home a friend’s PC for repair, needed a monitor, and borrowed hers. (First rule of computing: Use someone else’s equipment whenever possible.)
The repair was taking longer than I expected — funny how computers do that to you — and, my pobrecita was feeling deprived.
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TechBite: Great Troubleshooting Tips and Tools
By Steve Bass
Sure, there are God-only-knows how many Registry fixer-uppers that purport to get your computer back on track. And every few months, a slick magazine will promise that its 20 Secret Insider Troubleshooting Tricks article will restore your PC to pristine condition. The nerve of those annoying insiders keeping secrets! (Here’s a revelation: I used to be one of those insiders)
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TechBite: Google Voice is Cool & Free
By Steve Bass
For the last year or so, Google Voice (formerly called Grand Central, a name I loved) was available only if someone invited you. Yeah, I know; I never did. It’s now open to everyone in the United States (stop whining) and I suggest you look at it.
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TechBite: Why I Said No to Free Off-The-Air Reception
By Steve Bass
No doubt, watching a TV show or mobile in high definition is miraculous. The picture is sharper than sharp (so much so that like it or not, you can see the pores on an actor’s face).
I’m a DirecTV subscriber, but I’m too cheap to pay their extra fee for high definition service, so I decided to try an HDTV indoor antenna.
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TechBite: The Straight Skinny on HDTV Calibration
By Steve Bass
A while back I gave you some advice for calibrating your PC monitor or high-definition TV. I thought it was pretty good stuff, but the very foundations of the Internet began to rumble and experts started writing. (I never know who’s reading my newsletter.) Here’s what I learned.
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TechBite: Adios USB 2.0–Hello USB 3.0
By Steve Bass
It’s not like I have anywhere important to go to, but I still hate to wait. That’s why I’m enjoying USB 3.0.
Let’s get the numbers out of the way; then I’ll talk practicalities.
USB specs are inflated… they always are. USB 2.0 is rated at 480 Mbit/s (about 57MB/s) while USB 3.0 is 4.8 Gbit/s (572 MB/s). In the real world, the only users getting these speeds are the marketing people who dreamed up the specs. On my PC, USB 2.0 moved files at 25MB/s and USB 3.0 can get up to 55MB/s.
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TechBite: A Smart Printer with $4.99 Cartridges
By Steve Bass
I think we’ve got the razor-blade method of marketing printers figured out: Sell the printer for a couple of bucks, then gouge and exploit us on cartridges. I hate it.
Lexmark makes its money the old-fashioned way. It sells printers at higher-than-competitor’s printers, but then sells the ink cartridges at reasonable prices.
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