GMail is the email application run by Google, the company best known for its search engine. Why does everyone rave about it? Because it is probably one of the best email solutions out there.
It can sometimes be difficult for people to imagine getting excited about how they access their email, but GMail is one of those times. A simple interface, accessible from anywhere, with superb integration with mobile devices such as the iPhone/iPod Touch and BlackBerry, it’s hard to dislike it. When you add in that it has over 6 GB storage, a superb search feature, easy filing with the use of their “labels”, ability to store files in their “Documents” add on…
Can you tell we love GMail around here? For me, someone who does nothing but live on the Internet 24/7 as a writer, I have basically given up all other forms of email for my GMail accounts, they all pale in comparison. And, oh yeah, did I mention it’s free?
If you haven’t tried it yet, you really should, you’ll find it difficult to go back.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the method by which people can talk over the Internet in the style of a phone call. There are multiple ways this can be accomplished, whether is be by using a headset with your computer, a physical handset connected to your system, or even stand-alone devices that don’t even require your computer to be on.
A lot of people are put off by the idea because the traditional landline has been around so long, but when you see how much cheaper VoIP is, a lot of those misgivings go away.
The way it works is very technical, but nothing that the common user needs to concern themselves with. In the simplest of terms: your voice is turned into data by the input device, transfered to the recipient, and the device on their end decodes it. It is not that dissimilar to traditional phones, it’s just done in a different manner.
There are two types of phones: soft phones and physical phones.
A Soft phone is a piece of software on your computer, such as Skype, that require you to use your computer as the interface for your phone calls.
Hard phones can be phones that plug into your computer, stand alone, or, in more and more cases, a phone that you can take with you. Examples of stand-alone services would be companies such as Vonage, Lingo, Voip, and numerous cable companies. For an example of one you can use even outside of your own house you unfortunately have to look outside of the United States at this time to mobile carriers like 3, which allows you to use Skype anywhere they have mobile phone service.
What about the money it can save you? All of us here at StarterTech are big believers in Skype due to its ease of use, and the fact you can mix traditional calling with your Internet calls. Calls from one Skype user to another are always free, and if you use their soft phone, you can even do conference calls of up to 20 people. If you want to add a regular phone number so non-Skype users can call you, you can do that also as well as get voice mail, and make unlimited calls around the world to select countries for $9.99 a month. The possibilities with this service are truly endless.
Once Philips came out with their VoIP841B system, things got even more interesting because you now could have a cordless phone that still allowed you to use Skype even when your computer was off. The system allows you to have up to four handsets working off of one base station, giving you the freedom you get from any traditional cordless phone. You can still make free Skype calls from one user to another with it, use your Skype phone number and more.
The other brilliant thing about all VoIP services is that your number will work wherever you are. Say you are on a business trip to Japan and you have a soft phone service on your computer, with a phone number attached to the account for your hometown in California, if someone makes that local call to your number, it will still ring on your computer in Japan. The caller will never know the difference, and it is treated just like a call made while you are at home. Moving cross country? No problem, the number from your old home will still work.
So while all of this may sound like the perfect answer to get away from the burden of a traditional phone bill, there are caveats to it also.
No emergency service – I have yet to find a VoIP provider that can handle calls to an emergency service because it can’t figure out where you are and route you properly.
Calls are only as good as the slowest connection – If one person in the call is on a slow connection, such as a dial-up connection, then your call quality will suffer.
There can be some delay – Even on the best of connections, you can still sometimes detect a delay in the talking.
The technology is constantly improving, and as more, and better, bandwidth is added around the world, the calls will continue to improve. VoIP may not be ready to completely replace your main phone line, but it is certainly ready to be your second line, and an answer to the the prays of people that travel frequently for business.
I recently purchased a Dell Vostro 1500, and while I love it, I am beginning to wonder about the size of some laptop’s screens.
The physical size of the screen is 15.4″, which is a great size, but the resolution is 1680×1050, which is causing some websites, such as my personal blog, to format oddly when I view them. If you click on the image to the right, you will see my screen in its actual size, you will see how an image from one blog entry is colliding into another entry.
Why do I bring this up? If you’re someone who surfs the web a lot, it’s something you should probably consider when buying a new laptop. And as someone such as myself who produces content for the web, I should have considered it more. It’s making it difficult for me to judge how things are going to look once they are published.
So when you are shopping for a new mobile computer, you need to ponder this, and if you are unsure how large a size is going to be, search around in Google Images for an image of a size similar to what your new screen will be, and get some idea of what you can expect.
If you spend more than a few hours a day at the computer, then you probably have experienced some wrist pain. The standard keyboard is not built for proper wrist placement, neither is the way most people use a mouse on a flat surface.
So, what can you do? This is one of those times that ergonomic items really can play a roll in improving your life. For typing, we here at StarterTech highly recommend the Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000.
Not only does the Ergo turn your wrists in the proper direction, it gives you a padded area for them to rest on. There are some other nice features, such as the quick launch buttons at the top, but the comfort alone is enough to warrant the purchase. People that have never used a natural keyboard get scare at the sight of it, but it really is easy to adapt your typing to it, and I find I even type faster on it than I do on a standard straight line version.
It is not the only model of ergonomic keyboard out there, and you can browse more models at Amazon.com with all sorts of different features and button configurations. And do remember that even if you use a laptop, if you are going to be at a desk on a regular basis, you can attach these keyboards via USB cable and use them anyway, saving your wrists even when you don’t have a full-sized destop.
As for your mouse situation, most people place it on a mouse pad on their desk, coming down at an angle so your wrist is bent while you use it. My solution for years has been the Mouse Arena. This handy little device features a padded wrist rest as well as an antenna you thread your mouse cord through to keep it out of your way.
The elevation, with the addition of the rest, makes this thing a dream to work with, and I always feel awkward when I don’t have it to use. They can be a bit hard to locate, but we’ve linked you to the manufacturer, and they can help you locate a retailer.
I was well on my way to full blown carpel tunnel syndrome around 1992 until I looked into ergonomic computer parts. As soon as I started using them, my wrists started feeling better, and now they feel fine, though it did take years for them to get that way. So why not think of this of preventive medicine? If you feel the slightest bit of wrist pain, you should always consult a physician, but these types of items should be of a benefit to you also.
Microsoft didn’t make it exactly easy in Windows XP for the new user to figure out how to change their desktop image, and even years after release I see people with the same background they had on day one. Considering you can use just about any picture as your desktop, it’s time you changed that boring old background to something that matters to you!
And this article was actually requested by a reader, so if you have something you want covered, drop us a note!
(due to the number of images in this article, please click “Continue Reading” to see it all)
Bandwidth is one of those terms people throw around without much concern to if anyone really understands it. Due to this lack of concern, you also see it quite often getting confused with the similar word, “broadband”.
In the simplest of terms, bandwidth is the capacity for the amount of data that can be transferred, and sometimes at what speed it can be moved.
In the terms of your Internet Service Provider (ISP), they will tell you they offer you “unlimited bandwidth”, and that is to say that you can transfer as much data as you want, they won’t limit it. (although, be warned there is usually a catch to this in that it is misleading and can cost you in hidden fees, and we will discuss that in another post.) Many web hosting companies, where you host your web site, will also offer you unlimited bandwidth, also known as data transfer, or just an extremely high number, but with these you also have to be careful.
The speed aspect of bandwidth doesn’t get discussed quite as much, but it can apply to the rate with which you transfer your data either over your Intranet, an all internal network, or over the Internet itself. So if an ISP tells you that your connection would be 5 Mbps (Megabits Per Second), that would be your “bandwidth”. If you have an internal network with a 10 Mbps connection, that is also your bandwidth speed.
The confusion with “broadband” that I mentioned earlier is in that term refers to any high-speed form of Internet connection, but over time people have had a tendency to make the two terms interchangeable with one another. Just remember you are far more concerned with the “bandwidth” and you should be fine.
Web 2.0 is a “buzzword” that came into play around 2004, and is most often credited to Tim O’Reilly. To clarify the meaning, he later stated:
Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them.
I think the more “basic” explanation would be that a Web 2.0 site does something for you.
When the Web first started, it was very static; Web pages really did nothing more than serve as a way to convey information to users. There was really no way for users to interact with the website, and you merely sat there and read. One quote I read that sums this up is from Darren Barefoot, and he said, “Web 1.0 was about lectures, Web 2.0 is about conversation”. You really can’t sum it up any more succinctly than that.
As designers got more savvy, and came up with more intensive ways for a site to deliver the information, they found they could get web sites to do more than just sit there, doing nothing. A whole new breed of web service was born that the service existed solely on the web without any “offline” use. This led to O’Reilly also assigning levels to web companies.
Level-3: These services exist only on the web without any form of offline counterpart. eBay, Amazon, Skype, social networks and so on fall into this category.
Level-2: These are sites have some functionality offline, but gain major advantages from when you are connected to the Internet. Since Google Docs can now work offline, but you lose features when you do so, this would fall into this category.
Level-1: Level-1 sites work offline, but gain functionality online that aren’t essential to their operation. iTunes, for instance, gains a store when you are online, but when you are offline, you still have access to all of your music and other features.
Level-0: The last level is any application that is the same online as off.
Besides the functionality, there was also a move to what I call “the candifying of the Web”. It is a mixture of glossy/shiny graphics and a dwindling supply of domain names that ended in the extension of “.com”. People have become comfortable with “.com” and that is the first thing they think of when they hear a websites name; very rarely will you see someone immediately think of “.net”, “.org”, or any of the other ways a domain name may end. This quickly deplenishing pool of names led to companies choosing names for their websites that had little or no connection to what they do, or they would take any odd spelling they could find that might be close.
Skype, which I mentioned above, is a company that allows you to make free phone calls over the Internet from one user to another, and while very useful, the name is nonsensical. What is a “Skype”? What does it have to do with phone calls? No one knows! The list of companies with names such as this is endless: Bebo (a social network), Flickr (a place to share photos), Yelp (a directory for local businesses and reviews) and so on.
The shiny graphics tricks, such as with Skype’s logo above, is that it became a quick way for people to have a visual cue that the site they are using is Web 2.0. However, glossy graphics does not a 2.0 service make. When using a site, and you are unsure, ask yourself if the site is allowing you to contribute in some way? Is it allowing you to generate your own content? Does it somehow allow you to collaborate with others? Is your experience with the site a dynamic one? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, than you are using a Web 2.0 site, welcome to the future!
People that work inside of the technology field, such as myself, have come to have a bit of disdain for the term “Web 2.0″ because it is over used, but it is still a quick way to identify this movement inside of the Internet community. All I can do is encourage you to do is get out there and see what the web has to offer you, it is a constantly changing landscape these days, and there is a service out there for just about every need now.
If you would like to learn more about the constantly changing field of Web 2.0, I recommend blogs such as Mashable (disclosure: I work there), ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch to give you the latest info on what is going on.
People discuss social networks, and social networking, endlessly, but what do these terms mean? They only came in to prominence in the past couple of years, but it seems like everyone just thinks you should automatically know what it means, and why it’s so important.
The basic concept is simple: you join a community that is close to your interests, set up a small profile about yourself, and try to locate others who may share your interests. Once you find other people who share your thoughts, you can talk with them, get suggestions how to further your hobby or career, and do some true networking with them.
Originally the networks were sites like Classmates.com which focused on you reconnecting with people you went to school with, but as time progressed they evolved into sites like MySpace.com where you could connect with people you had never met, but shared interests with.
The problem then sprung up of social networking lost its focus. People became obsessed with accumulating as many “friends” as possible, giving no regards to the quality of people they were connecting with. So now the reverse is happening and we are seeing hundreds of social networks pop up, but all with very specific topics that make it easier to sort through the signal to noise ratio of the other members you meet. And, if you have an interest that doesn’t have a social network yet, or you just want to set up one for a specific group like your little league team, there are options known as “white label” sites where you can set up your very own, such as Ning.com.
Overall, social networking is still probably in its “toddler phase”: it can walk, but it’s not very sure of its footing yet. As we have gone from narrow focus to broad focus, and now we’re coming back down to narrow again, it is getting more useful as you can really get at the meat of any given subject.
How do you find them? The link I gave above lists over 350 networks, but if you go to any search engine, enter your interest followed by “social network”, you are bound to come up with some results that will interest you.
There is probably nothing more important to safeguarding your online identity than picking a strong password. However, the trick is coming up with a password that is not only strong, but can be easily remembered by you and won’t be something someone can easily connect to you.
One of the most common mistakes people make is creating a password that is something as simple as their child’s name or their wedding anniversary. If someone knows you, such as a coworker, and they want to gain access to your email, those will be the first things they try.
Here is a list of definite password inspirations you should avoid:
Anniversary dates
Any basic word you could find in a dictionary of any language
So there you have it, all of the things people do wrong, so what can you do right? Therein lies the eternal question: How do you build a good password? Some people recommend that you use a mixture of capital and lower case letters, but not all password systems offer case-sensitivity. A mixture of words and numbers can also work, but if you pick a favorite word and number, it again becomes a bit too easy for someone to figure out. I personally like to suggest replacing some letters with symbols that look somewhat like the letters of a word, this way you can use a word you do know, but it will be mixed up some. Here are some suggestions:
A = ^ or @
C = (
E = 3
I = 1
S = $
T = +
So let’s say you want to use a word like “sparkle”, using the symbols it would be “$p^rk13″. This actual word is too short, but it gives you a good visual example of just how much you mix up a word by just throwing in a few symbols into it.
Now you’ve learned what not to use, and how to build a stronger password, how do you test it? How do you come up with one that is totally random? There are free checkers and generators out there that will help you with your password.
Password Strength Meters
CertainKey Passphrase Strength Meter – This one really lets you know what’s going on, scoring as you type and telling you how many days it would take to crack.
Microsoft Password Checker – From software manufacturer Microsoft, this one emphasizes length and complexity to give you a password score.
PasswordMeter.com – Numerous options and meters to judge the strength of your password and give suggestions.
ChooseAPassword.com – A bit basic in that only asks you three questions and then arranges those three answers into a password.
GRC.com – This one will generate passwords that you have absolutely no chance of ever remembering, but you would be hard pressed to beat their strength.
PassPub.com – Every time you load the page you will receive randomly generated password that are 8 characters in length.
PasswordFire.com – This one will ask you a couple of questions and try to combine your answers into one jumbled up password that you can remember, but would require someone to do a lot of guessing.
PwdGen – Another one that will randomly generate a password for you that has considerable strength, but, again, you will have a heck of a time remembering it.
SafePasswd.com – This one gives you numerous options such as number of characters, type to include and more.
This is certainly not a complete guide to all the rules and suggestions of passwords, but hopefully it will set you on your way to a more secure future online.
What is this symbol that you see on blogs all the time, and what does it do? This is the accepted symbol that indicates where you need to click to subscribe to a website’s Real Simple Synication (RSS) feed.
In the old days of blogging, you had to go to your favorite blogs and check them, sometimes multiple times a day, to see if they had added new content to their site. In 1999, the first version of RSS appeared, changing the way people accessed their favorite blog information forever. Instead of having to go to the site to see the newest info, you could now have it delivered to an RSS reader, such as Google Reader, as soon as a new article is published. With the content being delivered to you, you could now keep up with far more blogs than ever before, in much less time than it used to take to check just a few.
Now, anytime you see the symbol shown here to the right, it means the site offers a feed that you can subscribe to and have it added to your reader. Why not subscribe to our feed right now and be guaranteed of getting all of our future tips? This is also a good time to learn about it as May 1st Is RSS Awareness Day, where blogs all across the Internet will take time that day to discuss the merits and benefits of what RSS can do for you as a user.
GMail is the email application run by Google, the company best known for its search engine. Why does everyone rave about it? Because it is probably one of the best email solutions out there.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the method by which people can talk over the Internet in the style of a phone call. There are multiple ways this can be accomplished, whether is be by using a headset with your computer, a physical handset connected to your system, or even stand-alone devices that don’t even require your computer to be on.
Once Philips came out with their 
system, things got even more interesting because you now could have a cordless phone that still allowed you to use Skype even when your computer was off. The system allows you to have up to four handsets working off of one base station, giving you the freedom you get from any traditional cordless phone. You can still make free Skype calls from one user to another with it, use your Skype phone number and more.
If you spend more than a few hours a day at the computer, then you probably have experienced some wrist pain. The standard keyboard is not built for proper wrist placement, neither is the way most people use a mouse on a flat surface.
.
As for your mouse situation, most people place it on a mouse pad on their desk, coming down at an angle so your wrist is bent while you use it. My solution for years has been 
Bandwidth is one of those terms people throw around without much concern to if anyone really understands it. Due to this lack of concern, you also see it quite often getting confused with the similar word, “broadband”.
Web 2.0 is a “buzzword” that came into play around 2004, and is most often credited to Tim O’Reilly. To clarify the meaning, 
Besides the functionality, there was also a move to what I call “the candifying of the Web”. It is a mixture of glossy/shiny graphics and a dwindling supply of domain names that ended in the extension of “.com”. People have become comfortable with “.com” and that is the first thing they think of when they hear a websites name; very rarely will you see someone immediately think of “.net”, “.org”, or any of the other ways a domain name may end. This quickly deplenishing pool of names led to companies choosing names for their websites that had little or no connection to what they do, or they would take any odd spelling they could find that might be close.
People discuss social networks, and social networking, endlessly, but what do these terms mean? They only came in to prominence in the past couple of years, but it seems like everyone just thinks you should automatically know what it means, and why it’s so important.
There is probably nothing more important to safeguarding your online identity than picking a strong password. However, the trick is coming up with a password that is not only strong, but can be easily remembered by you and won’t be something someone can easily connect to you.
