Computer Realm

Windows Explorer and Live Photo Gallery support RAW

Orrett — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 23:41:38 +0000

Up until now, editing, much less viewing RAW image formats were impossible in Windows Live Photo Gallery or Windows Explore. That however, has changed recently. Microsoft, who has been increasing the functionality of it’s Live applications, has of now added support for RAW images in Windows Explorer as well as Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Thanks to the new downloadable Camera Codec Pack, users of Windows Live Gallery can view and edit RAW photos. For the average photographer, this might not be big news, but for those professionals who use Windows machines, the inclusion of RAW support is a welcome as it makes managing and viewing photos on the fly an ease without the need to open Photoshop, Lightroom or some other program to do so.

The codec pack supports camera formats from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony and many others. Unfortunately, you will need either Windows Vista or 7 to utilize the codec pack. The file size is 4 or 8 MB depending on if your system is 32bit or 64bit. The codec pack can be downloaded here. You can read more about the release at the official Microsoft Windows Live Blog.

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HDD vs SSD

Orrett — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:55:04 +0000

The debate has raged on for some time now, which is the better option, solid state drives or hard disk drives? Just like every other new or exciting technology that comes out, manufacturers try to push it into the consumer realm, highlighting its features. But as everyone knows, advertisements hardly ever discuss weaknesses of the product unless mandated to do so.

Unlike hard disk drives (HDD) which carry moving parts, solid state drives (SSD) do not carry any moving parts. SSD’s closest companions are flash memory units such as CF cards, SD cards, Memory Sticks and the likes. With the removal of moving parts from the drive comes the ability to move the computer around while reading or writing to the drive without the possibility of scratching the disk in the HDD unit. Also, the speeds of SSD’s are significantly faster than their HDD counterparts. Last but not least, SSD’s offer protection against accidental erasing by a large magnet coming within distance of the drive, a technique that has been used for years to effortlessly erase information from an HDD.

The downside with SSD’s is the failure rate. Unless the HDD is damaged beyond recognition, most often than not, some if not most of the information can be recovered from the defective or damaged hard drive. Unfortunately, when SSD’s fail, it is almost impossible to get any information off the drive. A quick search on Bing or Google will show the horror stories of peoples SSD’s that have failed with no ability to reclaim information lost.

If you can have it, getting the best of both worlds is your best choice. Most high end computers can be configured with two drives, an SSD and HDD or any combination of both. Storing the operating system on the SSD results in faster boot times while documents and such can be stored to the HDD. For added protection, creating RAID support, online backup or network backup can ensure your data is safe.

In the end, it all depends on preference, money and job description. For most individuals, an SSD is not only useless but highly expensive. For gamers, graphic designers and other media intensive individuals, an SSD is a more practical choice.

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Re-Enable Windows Vista Hibernate Option

Orrett — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:42:48 +0000

If you have a Windows Vista based system, you might have noticed that your hibernate option has suddenly disappeared. Thankfully, there is a simple solution you can do to get your computer back to using hibernation regularly. This fix will require some command line use, but we will guide you through the entire thing.

Open the command line prompt by either typing “cmd” in the start menu or going to Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. Remember to right click and “Run as Administrator.”
If command prompt does not navigate to your root C folder “C:\”, navigate there by typing “cd C:\” and pressing enter to execute.
Next, type “powercfg/hibernate on” and once again click enter.
Restart your computer and under shut down options, “Hibernate” will “magically” appear.

You’re welcome!

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Looking For Facebook Themes?

Orrett — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:56:19 +0000

The days of MySpace are over, and with it goes the customization of one’s profile. It’s not a surprise why Facebook does not allow users to customize their profile with themes, graphics, gif’s and other visual effects. The horror stories of MySpace profiles gone wrong reach to the sky and I’m sure that the last thing Facebook wants to happen is someone getting an epileptic shock when they visit someone’s profile.

That said, there are some hacks to get around this “annoyance.” Just like the unofficial Dislike button (Firefox plugin), there are unofficial themes available. However, there is a catch to these themes. Since Facebook does not allow you to modify the CSS or HTML of your profile page, it means that whatever customization’s you make to your profile with these skins will only be visible to you and no one else.

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but it is better than nothing at all. In order to get the themes to work, you will have to use a browser plugin. Most skin websites support Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. That being said, the vast majority of the themes follow the idea of MySpace themes. I have listed a few of the sites below.

fbSKins: One of the premier Facebook skin websites, this site carries over 50,000 skins. Best of all, unlike other skin websites which require that you install crapware such as toolbars and the likes, all you have to do is install the plugin and the skins will work.

pageRage: Another website offering free Facebook skins, Page Rage also allows you to create your own skins. They offer premium memberships as well, though I highly doubt that such an option would be of interest to most individuals.

Just remember that whatever theme or skin you decide to use, will only be visible by you. So in the end, it defeats the purpose but for those who are still stuck in the MySpace era, this is for you like chips are to a recovering smoker. Enjoy.

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4 Tips to Hide Your Online Identity

Orrett — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:06:49 +0000

Identity theft is becoming more and more of a problem, and with the increase in Internet users, unfortunately the numbers are going up and not down. If you would like to hide your online identity, there are some simple no nonsense principles you should follow. I will list four of the ones I and others I have talked to use. Just remember, it is almost impossible to be completely anonymous online, but you can follow some simple steps to make it harder for people to follow your online footprints, whether it be to steal what is yours or stalk you.

Share little identifiable information: Thanks to Facebook, which has been getting people in trouble since 2004, people nowadays seem willing to tell the entire world about their deepest darkest secrets. Do not become one of those, even if you have a private profile, you cannot guarantee that your friends profile is private or that they are the only ones who has access to it. Do not put your business over Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or any other social networking site. I am not saying you shouldn’t have one, but be very careful what you share.

Change usernames frequently: Using just one username or a variation of the same one is not a good idea. You can leave tracks for people to follow. Do not use the same username for every site your register for unless you want people to know who you are.

Change your language: Pay attention to phrases and words you use commonly. If you want to keep completely anonymous and throw of anyone trying to track you, try and change up your lexicon. It’s not a must, but it is added protection.

Delete unused online accounts: Have a Myspace or Twitter account you’re not using? Deactivate or delete it.

There are many other tips you can use, however these are some of the easiest and most efficient methods. Remember, the less you put online, the less people will be able to track your online movements.

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Grooveshark: Is It Illegal?

Orrett — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:00:52 +0000

You probably would have heard of the website Grooveshark, a place that allows you to listen to almost any song for free with unlimited skips, without commercials, customized playlists and mobile applications for almost all the major smartphone brands. What a lot of people ask, is if they can get in trouble for listening to music on Grooveshark. In a one word answer, NO! Read on for a more detailed answer.

The RIAA, the organization that handles the affairs of musicians and record labels alike, has become infamous among internet users for their harsh penalties and constant vigilance over the distribution of songs both legally and illegally and most naturally you have heard of cases where individuals were sued for millions because they illegally shared music.

The horror stories are not as bad as they sound however and only a small group of people are liable to be sued. First of all, before the RIAA goes after an individual in court for pirating music, they will generally send them a letter telling them they need to pay a sum of money for their illegal activities or face a lawsuit. Most people take that option, and though steep, paying a $2-4,000 fine versus going to court and possibly being required to pay millions is a much better option.

However, this only applies to those who are actively distributing pirated material, such as file hosting sites and P2P networks. It is very cost ineffective to go after an individual who has downloaded 2,000 songs illegally (value: $2,000). Just the legal fees along would surpass any amount of money the RIAA could possibly think of collecting because they can only sue for the market value of what you pirated.

However, if you were distributing pirated material, the cost goes up significantly because you can be charged for every person who downloaded the file from you, which is why P2P networks are so dangerous to use.

This brings us back to our original question. Is Grooveshark illegal. Yes and no. Grooveshark pays royalties to the RIAA, though the RIAA wants more of the money the company makes. This has led the RIAA to pressure Google and Apple to remove the Grooveshark app from their application stores (the app can be side loaded on Android devices or installed on Jailbroken iPhones).

However, just like the MPAA or any film distribution company will not sue you for watching a movie illegally online, it’s the same rule that applies to the RIAA. They will not sue you for listening to a song online.

Grooveshark allows it’s users to upload their musical collection to the internet however, and this might pose a legal matter for those who do, especially if Grooveshark is subpoenaed to disclose who uploaded what and how many times the media was played.

You as a user, on the other hand, is almost always immune to court action, due to the fact that it is both not cost effective and highly risky to go after a user than the distributor.

So to answer the question, no Grooveshark is not illegal. I wouldn’t go as far and say it is legal however, but listening to music on the online service is definitely not going to put you behind bars.

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eReaders vs. Tablets

Orrett — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:05:13 +0000

Tablets are becoming more and more common and eReaders are taking the book, magazine and newspaper into the next millennium. That said, it is becoming increasingly clear that both devices are competing, though not in the traditional sense of the word compete. But still, with the push for digital media, one will prevail while the other fails or in the end, both will coexist or merge.

Many have asked the question, whether they should get an eReader such as the Kindle or Nook, or go with a tablet such as the Galaxy Tab, Transformer or iPad. To be honest, there is no straight answer, but if you can answer a couple of the following questions, you might have yourself an answer by the end of this article.

Are you a heavy reader? If the answer to this is yes, you might want to take a second look at the eReader. Thanks to eLink technology, reading from the screen of an eReader is a lot easier on the eyes. Not just that, but eLink is perfectly readable under direct sunlight and even night thanks to back light. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of most tablets.

Do you have a smartphone? If the answer is yes, getting a tablet could be overkill especially if your smartphone is Android or iOS. Companies might not want to say it, but all tablets are actually smartphones with more screen real estate, for the most part, unless of course, your tablet happens to run Windows, Mac OSX or Linux. Of course, this is up for debate, but the tablet is no where near as versatile as the laptop, and does not seem to be the case for the near future.

Are you a college student? College students will generally benefit from a tablet more than almost any other group. They are great for note taking, reading, writing and entertainment. That said, with the Kindle and Nook app being available for both Android and iOS tablets, it is not hard to find all the popular textbooks right on a 9 or 10 inch screen.

Conclusion: Both devices are excellent. However, they are geared towards different audiences. If you are a heavy reader, an eReader will suit you better. However, if you find yourself surfing the web more often than catching up on the latest Tom Clancy novel, a tablet might be in your line of sight.

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Pandora vs Slacker

Orrett — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:52:13 +0000

The war rages on, which internet radio service is better? Before I became an avid user of both, I used to wonder the same thing. Thankfully, after continual heavy usage of both, I began to notice patterns.

Interface

Out of both interfaces, Pandora has the cleaner and more intuitive one. That said, Slacker offers more ways one can customize their listening experience. One of the best things about Pandora is that except for the advertisements, there is very little distraction. Not only that, but being a heavy user of the mobile apps for both services, I noticed that Pandora was the easier of the two to navigate. Not being a big fan of most radio stations, due to the fact that they play more ads than music, Pandora and Slacker are almost always on when I am driving. Pandora offers much less distraction and I can easily navigate my stations with a glance or two.

WINNER: Pandora

Music Quality

I have not noticed a significant difference in music quality. Both offer settings to increase or decrease the quality of the music. I have noticed that Pandora takes longer to buffer when the music quality is set to high, however, it is not significantly longer than Slacker.

WINNER: Tie

Listening Cap

If you are a heavy user of Pandora, you will notice those frequent emails saying you are reaching your cap. In reality, you get about 40 hours of streaming music a month for free. Anything above that requires a premium account. The account does give you unlimited skips and no ads however. Slacker, as of now, offers unlimited music listening with no caps. Pandora premium costs $39 annually. Once you have reach your cap however, you can pay $0.99 and receive unlimited music listening for the remainder of the month which works out to be cheaper than the annual subscription, though it does not include any premium features.

WINNER: Slacker

Music Selection

One of the best features of Pandora is the ability to select a song and build a station around that. Slacker on the other hand allows you to create a station around an artist/band etc. and include music from related artists. Overall I noticed that the selection of music on Slacker is much better than Pandora. Also, the repeating of songs is a lot less on Slacker vs. Pandora.

WINNER: Slacker

Conclusion

When it comes down to it all, Slacker takes the prize. It’s user interface might be a bit harder (and by a bit, I mean by a negligible amount) to navigate than Pandora, but it makes up for that in better music selection and less repetition of songs.

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Does Smartphone Virus Protection Work?

Orrett — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 07:11:04 +0000

Ever so often I am posed with an unusual question. The other day the question was about a very popular virus protection tool in the Android Marketplace, this app will go nameless. The question was asked if the app could protect a user’s personal data stored on their phone from being stolen by another app or malicious code.

To answer this question, requires a bit of knowledge on how apps work. Don’t worry, I’ll try and keep it as simple as possible. What a virus protection tool does is search for programs, scripts or other potentially malicious code that could affect the user. On desktop and laptop computers, these antivirus programs work very well.

So do they work on smartphones? Yes and no! In a program, you have something called source code. Consider this, the instruction manual that allows the program to run. Within this code, the app developer can program event handlers to mine the data from a user’s smartphone. Unfortunately, most virus scans for smartphones do not read this source code and thus an app could potentially be uploading your text, call and email history to the web, and yet the virus scan comes back negative.

The reason behind this is apps are not allowed to access the source code of other apps on most mobile systems, unless the mobile phone is hacked (jailbroken, rooted etc). Pandora and other apps have received enough criticism for mining user data and yet when these apps are installed on my phone and I run a virus scan, the scan still comes back negative.

Put in simple terms, what these apps claim to do, is not what they are allowed to do. It might claim to scan an app, but unfortunately, it is unable to determine if that app is data mining or not.

In the end, your privacy is up to you, or until mobile OS companies decide to take mobile security more seriously. Many popular apps have been known to send personal information including text message and call history to undocumented servers in China and certain Eastern European countries. If you want to protect yourself from this, your best bet is to research every app you download and check to make sure you know what permissions it claims it needs, that way you will have an idea which apps are accessing information and which are not.

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3 Causes of External HDD failures

Orrett — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:44:44 +0000

External hard drives, whether desktop or portable, are a great way to back up important files or add additional storage to any connected devices. However, when such a hard drive begins to fail, the ramifications can be serious. Fortunately, if you know what causes external hard drives to turn on their owners, you can prevent your drive from losing that all important data.

Probably the single most common cause of hard drive failures is abuse. Abuse can range from neglect, such as leaving the drive in extreme weather conditions (heat, cold, humidity etc), or physically damaging the drive. Whether a drive is in use or not, dropping a hard disk drive can damage it because the disks inside the drive can get scratched by rubbing against each other or the reader since the space between said disks are mere millimeters. Under no circumstances should you abuse your hard drive, unless of course you want it to fail. Do not drop the drive, leave it in hot, humid or cold weather.

Speaking of abuse, another issue that causes many drives to fail is moving the drive around while the disks are spinning. If you have the drive connected to a computer, more likely than not those disks will be spinning. It is quite easy to tell if information is being written to or read from the drive as the drive will generally make a humming noise or will vibrate when the hand is placed on it. Moving a drive around while the disks are spinning causes the same problems as mentioned earlier, the disks become scratch and eventually can become unreadable.

The third most common cause of hard drive failure involves improperly disconnecting the hard drive. Most naturally, the drive will either be USB, eSATA or in rare cases FireWire. Before you unplug a hard drive, be sure to safely remove the hardware through your Windows or Mac OS before disconnecting the drive. Not doing so can eventually cause the connectors to wear out. This means that the hardware interface of the external drive can go bad and the only way to retrieve information stored on the drive is to pull the hard drive out of the housing and hook it up to a computer.

If you notice that your hard drive begins to make clicking noises, it is a sign that the hardware interface is going bad or the reader is scratching the disks. In such a case, unplug the drive immediately to prevent further damage and seek out repair options.

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