10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Technology

[Gerald]

Your gadgets and computers, your software and sites — they are not working as well as they should. You need to make some tweaks. But the tech industry has given you the impression that making adjustments is difficult and time-consuming. It is not. And so below are 10 things to do to improve your technological life. They are easy and (mostly) free. Altogether, they should take about two hours; one involves calling your cable or phone company, so that figure is elastic. If you do them, those two hours will pay off handsomely in both increased free time and diminished anxiety and frustration. You can do it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/technology/personaltech/30basics.html?ref=technology



Note: December 29, 2010

[Platapus]

On a related note, I received an Ipad for Christmas. Very cool. But I find myself in a technological quandary: I have in my hands, a technological solution, but I don't have a problem this technology can solve. Kinda embarrassing. I find myself in a position of trying to find something this Ipad can do for me.... Which is not exactly how technology is supposed to work.


So my addition would be the 11th way to get the most out of your technology: Make sure you have a technological problem that your new technology can solve for you. :yep:

For those with Ipads and an addiction to Uboats, there is an Enigma simulator for the Ipad. Go figure! :hmmm:

[Sammi79]

Mostly seems to advise storing a lot of your personal stuff... photos, music etc ONLINE where 'god' knows who may look at it.

(probably only for marketing research mainly)

But do you really want to give them that information? so they can twist their marketing strategies to snag in more people? There is also a reference to Apple software - ITunes in particular which IMO should be ERASED on sight. (honestly my opinion of ITunes as a music player couldn't be worse, I've tried it and tested it a lot) I think the original content of the link is biased toward marketting giants like 'Apple' and although 1 or 2 of the points are good advice, out of 10, this is a poor list.

My advise would be :-

1. Never install any Apple software on a Windows based PC ever. Not ever.

2. O.K, you need Acrobat Reader or PDF files will not view. But only acrobat reader (lite free version) and even that will hijack your comp one day telling you you must have an update (and of course all other running programs at that exact time will be irrelevant (to the Adobe updater) at this point).

3. When you get a new PC/Laptop with windows, it will be bundled with a whole plethora of software which will try its best to convince you you need it when in reality it will only cause you problems. First things to delete are :- Norton (anything), McAfee (anything), Kaspersky (anything), Microsoft Word/Calc etc.. (anything)

4. download AVG latest free version link : http://free.avg.com/gb-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free
and follow the installation instructions carefully. Be sure to UNCHECK the box 'install yahoo toolbar crap' or 'install any other extra crap' when it pops up.

5. Install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free version (MBAM) from : http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php,execute it, select 'update' then run full scan. This is the best, most thorough malware/virus checker scan I have ever seen.

6. In time, you will benefit from a 'cleaner' program that will manage temp files, clean the registry etc. I use CCleaner from Piriform again it's free, personally I was happy to donate for their software. Link : http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/

7. Right, I'm running out of advice here so I'll finish up. Simple internet rules. - 'buttons' or 'links' can be manipulated so when you click them, a (rogue) program is installed and/or executed on your system. BE CAREFULL! If it's the download link for AVG11 free then it is most probably checked regularly (a few times a day) and therefore safe to use. Use your better judgement.

8. Don't get an IPhone (my boss insists I have one for emails?!?!) and if you do, use it as a phone - make and take calls/txts. This will ensure never having to plug it in to your PC again, thus negating the need for ITunes!! Hoooray!!!

9. IPads are so last years news. Who's got one of them Windows tablet things? I wanna hear from you.

10. In short when you get a new comp, delete EVERY piece of commercial software that was bundled with it and immediately install reputable free equivalents. This will save you time which is precious and many, many headaches in about 30 days time, when the trial software expires and leaves you open to every marketeer on earth. (and probably some who aren't)

[Gerald]

Number six, a good but sometimes underestimated tools, :yep:

[papa_smurf]

2. O.K, you need Acrobat Reader or PDF files will not view. But only acrobat reader (lite free version) and even that will hijack your comp one day telling you you must have an update (and of course all other running programs at that exact time will be irrelevant (to the Adobe updater) at this point).

I use Foxit reader to view PDF's. Its free and you can edit PDF's, and does not hijack your computer like Acrobat will:doh:

[Sammi79]

I use Foxit reader to view PDF's. Its free and you can edit PDF's, and does not hijack your computer like Acrobat will:doh:

Hmmm I shall check that out, thanx.

[Sailor Steve]

I just downloaded and installed it. Thanks for the tip. :sunny:

[krashkart]

On a related note, I received an Ipad for Christmas. Very cool. But I find myself in a technological quandary: I have in my hands, a technological solution, but I don't have a problem this technology can solve. Kinda embarrassing. I find myself in a position of trying to find something this Ipad can do for me.... Which is not exactly how technology is supposed to work.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYEuJ5u1K0

[Platapus]

10. In short when you get a new comp, delete EVERY piece of commercial software that was bundled with it and immediately install reputable free equivalents.


Why the inordinate love for "free". I have just the opposite viewpoint. There is nothing free when it comes to software. :nope:

When some company "gives" me "free" software, they have to get their money from somewhere/someone. Now why would someone pay a software company to give me free software? :06::06::06: Out of the kindness of their hearts? :nope:

As I get older, I find that frequently I can't afford free any more. It is too expensive.

[the_tyrant]

Why the inordinate love for "free". I have just the opposite viewpoint. There is nothing free when it comes to software. :nope:

When some company "gives" me "free" software, they have to get their money from somewhere/someone. Now why would someone pay a software company to give me free software? :06::06::06: Out of the kindness of their hearts? :nope:

As I get older, I find that frequently I can't afford free any more. It is too expensive.

200% agreed
What's so bad about paying for software? Software is a commodity, like everything else, we should pay for it

[antikristuseke]

Unless it is really made to be free, open source ring a bell?

[the_tyrant]

Unless it is really made to be free, open source ring a bell?

Open source is good and all that, but we should still treat opensource software like mods. Its good, but we still can't 100% rely on opensource stuff, especially not “10. In short when you get a new comp, delete EVERY piece of commercial software that was bundled with it and immediately install reputable free equivalents.”

On average, the updates and support for opensource stuff is just not as good as Commercial stuff

More than once I was told that since they gave me the source code, i should fix my own problems.

Also, the drivers we use are still proprietary, so its impossible to not use commercial software

[krashkart]

:yep:Some open source software is very well maintained. But yeah, probably a good majority of OSS is developed in someone's free time and doesn't come with the support staff that a commercial software company would have on hand.


EDIT:

@the_tyrant - Whoever told you to fix the bugs yourself is in no position to be offering a product of any kind without proper PR skillage or at least one person who can carry out support tasks. That's sort of a hiccup with OSS; some devs are more code-minded and don't know how to deal with people. A well staffed dev team will have someone aboard who can liase with the public and offer advice both ways. Sounds like you got the blowoff from someone who knows code, but hasn't fully mastered the art of providing a quality service to their customers.

[Platapus]

I discovered a technological limitation with my Ipad yesterday.

I decided to take out subscriptions to several of the local news papers. It was supposed to be easy and convenient.

I found out that having puppies poop on your Ipad when it is displaying the newspaper is not a good strategic move. :nope:

Sometimes the "older" technology is still the bestest. :yep:

[the_tyrant]

:yep:Some open source software is very well maintained. But yeah, probably a good majority of OSS is developed in someone's free time and doesn't come with the support staff that a commercial software company would have on hand.


EDIT:

@the_tyrant - Whoever told you to fix the bugs yourself is in no position to be offering a product of any kind without proper PR skillage or at least one person who can carry out support tasks. That's sort of a hiccup with OSS; some devs are more code-minded and don't know how to deal with people. A well staffed dev team will have someone aboard who can liase with the public and offer advice both ways. Sounds like you got the blowoff from someone who knows code, but hasn't fully mastered the art of providing a quality service to their customers.

Of course, i'm a huge opensource supporter and occasional contributer too
(I work on ubuntu translation)

but still, opensource is still not enough to replace "every piece of commercial software"

[Gerald]

I discovered a technological limitation with my Ipad yesterday.

I decided to take out subscriptions to several of the local news papers. It was supposed to be easy and convenient.

I found out that having puppies poop on your Ipad when it is displaying the newspaper is not a good strategic move. :nope:

Sometimes the "older" technology is still the bestest. :yep: Above all in many cases, the technology has a different stamina, a bit like a woman actually, :DL

[Sailor Steve]

Why the inordinate love for "free". I have just the opposite viewpoint. There is nothing free when it comes to software. :nope:

When some company "gives" me "free" software, they have to get their money from somewhere/someone. Now why would someone pay a software company to give me free software? :06::06::06: Out of the kindness of their hearts? :nope:

As I get older, I find that frequently I can't afford free any more. It is too expensive.
Should that also be true of game mods? The modders have to get their money from somewhere.

Most free software is created by programmers who do work for somebody, but also hate the "extras" that come with a lot of commercial programs, so they create a better version on their own time. After fighting with Adobe for the longest time I'm glad to find a PDF reader that doesn't infect my computer with all kinds of extra junk. The only problem I'm having now is that Adobe Reader won't let itself be uninstalled, and I can't figure out how to make it go away.

[antikristuseke]

I discovered a technological limitation with my Ipad yesterday.

I decided to take out subscriptions to several of the local news papers. It was supposed to be easy and convenient.

I found out that having puppies poop on your Ipad when it is displaying the newspaper is not a good strategic move. :nope:

Sometimes the "older" technology is still the bestest. :yep:

This brightened my day, thanks for that:haha:

[krashkart]

Of course, i'm a huge opensource supporter and occasional contributer too
(I work on ubuntu translation)

but still, opensource is still not enough to replace "every piece of commercial software"

Oh, now I see what you're saying. My "thinking" brain shut down last night. :oops:

Definitely not enough to replace all commercial software. At best only a small portion of it can be replaced. It's a pretty good dream but next to impossible to ever accomplish. I mean, I've tried running straight Linux systems to "unchain" myself from the ebil Micro$oft and never could stick to it. Games are an important staple group in my computing environment, and the *NIXes just do not support enough of them to make it worthwhile. I don't even go through the trouble of setting up WINE anymore... for all the time they've spent working on it, it still doesn't run enough Windows programs. There are commercial emulators that do a bettter job. :lol:

And of course, as you mentioned before, there is the issue of drivers. That's always been a thorn in my side. I must admit though that some hardware companies are much better with providing Linux modules than they were ten years ago. :)

[the_tyrant]

Oh, now I see what you're saying. My "thinking" brain shut down last night. :oops:

Definitely not enough to replace all commercial software. At best only a small portion of it can be replaced. It's a pretty good dream but next to impossible to ever accomplish. I mean, I've tried running straight Linux systems to "unchain" myself from the ebil Micro$oft and never could stick to it. Games are an important staple group in my computing environment, and the *NIXes just do not support enough of them to make it worthwhile. I don't even go through the trouble of setting up WINE anymore... for all the time they've spent working on it, it still doesn't run enough Windows programs. There are commercial emulators that do a bettter job. :lol:

And of course, as you mentioned before, there is the issue of drivers. That's always been a thorn in my side. I must admit though that some hardware companies are much better with providing Linux modules than they were ten years ago. :)


I wasn't thinking straight yesterday either:salute:

anyways, i think React os (http://www.reactos.org/)
is the only non windows os that can actually threaten windows.

I mean, that os is a rewrite of windows, it supports everything windows supports. I think its a great idea, and the idea can really take off if it got the same attention as the bigger opensource projects

[Castout]

I'm downgrading my internet subscription because the ISP increased the bill from 30 to 40 bucks for a mere 2 Mbps service. :damn:

It's day 2 of 2011 I haven't seen the downgrade yet I already called them yesterday saying hey it was still 2Mbps connection. They said they were working on it and I willl only be charged for a 1Mbps service this month(22 bucks).

[antikristuseke]

What the... A 120mbit line here cots 26 euros a month. Jeez your are paying outrageously much.

[the_tyrant]

What the... A 120mbit line here cots 26 euros a month. Jeez your are paying outrageously much.

Are you joking?
120megabytes/second for 26 euros:o

you sure its not 120 megabytes per minute?

[antikristuseke]

120 Mbit/s via the isp Starman here in Estonia. Elion, their main competitor has a similar offering. No data transfer limits involved with either isp.

[DarkFish]

Are you joking?
120megabytes/second for 26 euros:o

you sure its not 120 megabytes per minute?Very cheap indeed:hmmm:
Here in the Netherlands it's about €1 per MB.

[the_tyrant]

wow
and i though 7mb line for around $100 with a 120 gb cap was cheap

[Takeda Shingen]

On a related note, I received an Ipad for Christmas. Very cool. But I find myself in a technological quandary: I have in my hands, a technological solution, but I don't have a problem this technology can solve. Kinda embarrassing. I find myself in a position of trying to find something this Ipad can do for me.... Which is not exactly how technology is supposed to work.

I was considering buying one for myself when I came to the same conclusion. What it can do is, for the most part, already accomplished in superior fashion by my phone, iPod, Kindle and internet. The TV and newspaper reader is cool, and if I commuted by train I would have a good reason for it. However, I can't use it and drive and I can't use it when I ride my bike to work, so the only times that I would be using it are when I am in proximity to one of the devices that already do what the iPad can do.

[antikristuseke]

wow
and i though 7mb line for around $100 with a 120 gb cap was cheap

Caped connections have never existed here, unless all ISP's went there at the same time, its not going to happen either.

[DarkFish]

wow
and i though 7mb line for around $100 with a 120 gb cap was cheap
Just doublechecked and it's around €1 per Mbit, not per Mbyte. Which makes it around €8 per MB (I hate MB and Mb, I just can't seem to remember which is which:shifty:). Still twice as cheap as your ISP, and with a fair use policy, so essentially without cap.

But I guess Estonia must be much cheaper yeah.

[antikristuseke]

Small country with a highly developed communications infrastructure. It has its perks. Then again, the internet is used a lot here, I even file my tax return on the internet and it takes me about 5 minutes to do it.

[Castout]

What the... A 120mbit line here cots 26 euros a month. Jeez your are paying outrageously much.

I know :damn:

It's not even Mbytes but Mbits(2 Mbps is only about 240 kBps)


At least it's not capped. Many wireless 3G internet service providers here charge about 20 bucks for a 3Gb cap. 3Gb!!!
A mere 3 Gb for the whole month!!! @%^^%*# [throw shoes]

And it's just about with anything sold here!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/roh_kudus/jaguar-xf-sedan.jpg
I just saw yahoo news that a Jaguar XF is sold about $54,000 presumably in US continent but here it definitely will sell for more than US$200,000

For comparison 50,000 will not even land you a BMW 3 series here. That will cost you more than US$60,000!



Another example is the Benz CLS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/roh_kudus/mec-design-mercedes-benz-cls-class-1.jpg
Sold in US continent for less than US$50,000 (to my knowledge) but sold here for about US$200,000

And if you see Ferrari or Lambo here you can be sure those people paid for it for about US$500,000...yes even the standard Gallardo or F430.


And ordinary cars cost too much too considering what you're getting and the prices in US continent!
It's not like we only have a ridiculous small piece of land like Singapore.....

[Gerald]

I know :damn:

It's not even Mbytes but Mbits(2 Mbps is only about 240 kBps)


At least it's not capped. Many wireless 3G internet service providers here charge about 20 bucks for a 3Gb cap. 3Gb!!!
A mere 3 Gb for the whole month!!! @%^^%*# [throw shoes]

And it's just about with anything sold here!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/roh_kudus/jaguar-xf-sedan.jpg
I just saw yahoo news that a Jaguar XF is sold about $54,000 presumably in US continent but here it definitely will sell for more than US$200,000

For comparison 50,000 will not even land you a BMW 3 series here. That will cost you more than US$60,000!



Another example is the Benz CLS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/roh_kudus/mec-design-mercedes-benz-cls-class-1.jpg
Sold in US continent for less than US$50,000 (to my knowledge) but sold here for about US$200,000

And if you see Ferrari or Lambo here you can be sure those people paid for it for about US$500,000...yes even the standard Gallardo or F430.


And ordinary cars cost too much too considering what you're getting and the prices in US continent!
It's not like we only have a ridiculous small piece of land like Singapore..... And here you can get wireless, from $15 (12GB) per month, :yep:

[Castout]

And here you can get wireless, from $15 (12GB) per month, :yep:

yea I'd consider that fair price. And to think that most university graduate employee here earn less than US$500.00 a month so you get the picture about our society level of welfare(many graduate employee even live on $200 monthly wage). Americans and Europeans earn more and spend less for most things aside from food.

I don't mean to sound so negative but I can't help feeling whenever I'm in a new car, be that of my brother in law's who's doing pretty well currently or checking out a new car on exhibit that I fail to see where half or more the money has gone to in the car. :doh:. Until it came to my understanding that they are sold at much lower prices outside.

It doesn't feel like a car that carries such value when you compare with the amount of money the car is selling and certainly don't look as much as well especially in the inside or interior. And it goes with basically any other car that's being sold today even to the basic small cars. I bet even at half the prices they are selling today, car manufacturers would still reap plenty margin especially if they are mass produced cars.

[Gargamel]

On a related note, I received an Ipad for Christmas. Very cool. But I find myself in a technological quandary: I have in my hands, a technological solution, but I don't have a problem this technology can solve. Kinda embarrassing. I find myself in a position of trying to find something this Ipad can do for me.... Which is not exactly how technology is supposed to work.


So my addition would be the 11th way to get the most out of your technology: Make sure you have a technological problem that your new technology can solve for you. :yep:

For those with Ipads and an addiction to Uboats, there is an Enigma simulator for the Ipad. Go figure! :hmmm:

My recommendation ( I have an iPhone) is get the netflix app, and all the book apps you can. I prefer the kindle app. At least with these apps, you can entertain yourself (not in the dowly way elither) when your on the go. the ability to watch a movie while sitting outside can be nice at times. There's also a bunch of nice scientific type apps, graphing calculators, unit converters (I do use this during SH3 sessions), etc. I use the AP app for my news, so I dont have to read a paper every day. And discovery news is very good.

Take what you like to do, search for an app to see if it can make if more fun. I downloaded a lot of the readmes for the real nav mods on here, and learned how to use my phone as a "poor man's" (sic) sextant.

[Gerald]

yea I'd consider that fair price. And to think that most university graduate employee here earn less than US$500.00 a month so you get the picture about our society level of welfare(many graduate employee even live on $200 monthly wage). Americans and Europeans earn more and spend less for most things aside from food.

I don't mean to sound so negative but I can't help feeling whenever I'm in a new car, be that of my brother in law's who's doing pretty well currently or checking out a new car on exhibit that I fail to see where half or more the money has gone to in the car. :doh:. Until it came to my understanding that they are sold at much lower prices outside.

It doesn't feel like a car that carries such value when you compare with the amount of money the car is selling and certainly don't look as much as well especially in the inside or interior. And it goes with basically any other car that's being sold today even to the basic small cars. I bet even at half the prices they are selling today, car manufacturers would still reap plenty margin especially if they are mass produced cars. No I do not take a negative part in this, I am fully aware that the prices of various services and goods are different in your country versus country in West.

[Sammi79]

Should that also be true of game mods? The modders have to get their money from somewhere.

Most free software is created by programmers who do work for somebody, but also hate the "extras" that come with a lot of commercial programs, so they create a better version on their own time. After fighting with Adobe for the longest time I'm glad to find a PDF reader that doesn't infect my computer with all kinds of extra junk. The only problem I'm having now is that Adobe Reader won't let itself be uninstalled, and I can't figure out how to make it go away.

This is pretty much exactly how I see it. My initial rant was probably a little OTT (And I am biased against Apple thoroughly for my own reasons) but in terms of free versus commercial, what is bundled with your PC should either be included in the cost or freeware. Windows is 'free' in a sense because if you buy a new comp it will come pre-installed already paid for. Imagine if after 30 days windows refused to boot telling you your trial period had expired and you needed to wire £100+ to Microsoft. For me it is the same with internet security/Office suite software. Better the machine came with nothing than a 'trial version' that will expire unless you pay... It is little more than advertising and as such I treat it as junk and remove immediately. If a free piece of software turns out to be crap, so what? If it turns out to be good and you can afford to, then donate. I may at some point in the future decide I would like to 'trial' McAfee Internet security suite, or MS Office 2020, etc... and at that time I will download their trial versions. Until then, leave me alone.

I am not against paid for software, just against pushy marketting which revolves around the fact that a lot of people are unaware that sending a pile of cash to Norton or whoever is unneccessary. There are good freeware alternatives for all mundane computing needs. Specialist stuff it can be advantageous to pay for I.e. Image editing if you are a photographer, Music software for a musician etc... although only because the freeware versions may not quite be up to your specialist needs.

Sorry to hear you're having problems removing Adobe Reader, It is gone from my system now. Foxit works lovely.

[DarkFish]

And I am biased against Apple thoroughly for my own reasonsNothing wrong with a bias against Apple. The day I buy an Apple product is the day I enter the asylum.
Apple products are much less good than their competitor's counterparts, for a much higher prize. Buying an Apple product is not much short of being a thief from your own wallet.

An iPad is maybe even the worst of it all. It's specifications are about as good as those of a modern smartphone (e.g. the Xperia X10, which has more RAM and the same processing power), for a twice as large price. And where the latter has convenient dimensions, the iPad is too large to put in your pocket. If you want a large screen, buy a 3 times better laptop for half the prize. If you want something you can carry with you, buy a just as good smartphone for half the prize.

[Platapus]

My recommendation ( I have an iPhone) is get the netflix app, and all the book apps you can. I prefer the kindle app.

That's my problem, I use my Sony Reader, that I got for my last birthday for my reading. I have transferred all my books to the Ipad, but the Sony is easier to carry around.

So far I have downloaded some game apps and they seem fun.