hey I got the new site addres its http://www.freewebs.com/mikeville/
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Last Saturday I had a bit of a security breach. I came home from bowling and there were 10 firefox windows open and a help windows open. The firefox windows were all Live mesh help and firefox has been updated, and the help screen was about windows file and printer sharing.
I had no idea what was going on and I really didn’t know what to do other than Disable my wireless access card and run my Virus scan. Then I cracked open my laptop and went to leo’s chats and well no one was there and then I went to GRC but I really wanted an answer then. So I went to Chris Prillos chat and asked my question and they said to restore to back up and if it still seems weird to wipe it out. In the end that is what I ended up doing.
I had to wipe my computer clean mostly cause I wanted to be sure and I wanted what ever I had to be gone. I just could never trust that computer again. The longest thing about all this was reinstalling all of the updates after Vista SP1 because my router kept Disconnecting and I would have to run to the other end of the house every 5 minutes. Finding all my apps took awhile too and subscribing to all my pod casts took a wile.
At this point I got everything back the way it was. I Changed all my passwords words on all my computers so it seems secure again. After all this happened I thought about what was the last thing I downloaded and I think it was a torent file. Its the last thing I downloaded before I went the bed. There are 2 people I would like to thank and that is Chris Prillo for his community he has and Leo Laporte for saying over and over to back up your data and if not for that this all would have been sooooooo much worst.
-Mike
I just downloaded and installed windows 7 Enterprise RTM I haven't really used it yet but I do have some screen shots form the install enjoy =]. Just click the thumbnail to make them bigger.
Just as a note I installed it as a VM so that is why Arose is not turned on.
-Mike
I got this harddrive for my old computer and thats what lead to its end. Im putting it in my new one to back up to. So enjoy me putting it in.
I so sorry Firefox I love you and I hope you can forgive me.
Google had there announcement today about the Google Nexus One phone. Now don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a smart phone, oh no this is a supper phone according to Google. What makes a supper phone different from a smart phone well a cording to Google it is a phone platform that evolves. Like the Nexus One. At the begging of the talk they went over androids evolution.
So what is different about this phone then let say the Droid? The Nexus One has a 3.7 OLED screen, also a 5 Megapixel camera with flash and auto focus. Noise cancelation for a better talk experience. There is support for stereo Bluetooth, power saver censors so if you are outdoors the screen dims to use less battery. The nexus one will do video as well with direct upload to youtube from the phone. From the video of the announcement that Robert Scoble took the phone looked stunning. Google gave credit to the design to HTCs team.
The software on the phone seems to be just as stunning as the phone its self, running Android 2.1 it has all the fetchers of the droid and more. They added 5 more home screen panels to make more room for apps and widgets. There is a new weather Widget that uses the phones GPS to determine ware you are and also lets you track the tempter from the pass 24 hours (even they admit it’s a geeky thing). There was one thing that they showed off that was really kool to me. It is called live wallpaper witch will make you wallpaper more interactive. They an example of a photo of a pond and you could see animated leaves falling into the pond, as they fell the water rippled. They also showed when you touched the water photo the water rippled. Now I know that it’s not that amazing but it does show the power that is in this phone. They compared to a laptop form maybe four years ago. I would agree that, that’s the kind of power in this phone form everything they showed.
They showed off other improvements of built in apps like the photo gallery. The gallery is visually more appealing showing photos like they were thrown on the table. They also made it easier to find photos in the phone, you can sort photos by date, time, and location. There is also integration with Picasa so you can share your photos online. The Nexus One has voice recognition for every text box. This means that instead of typing out a search or an e-mail you can say it. From what they showed it works quite well. Google Earth is coming soon to Android it seems to work just like the desktop or iPhone app with the addition of Voice.
After all this you might be thinking how do I get one, and Google has changed the way you get Android phones now by launch an online phone store to buy the Nexus One. It walks you through getting the phone unlocked or with a contract threw Tmoblie or Verizon. If you want the Verizon one you will have to wait until the spring to get it. Now for the price to get the unlocked one it will cost you (drumroll please) $529. The benefit being that you can use it with any GSM carrier like AT&T just know if you use it with AT&T there will be no 3G only EDGE for data. Now let’s say that price is a little steep for you, the store will also walk you through getting a plan from Tmobile or when it is available Verizon. The cost of the phone will start at $179 for the Nexus One.
The Nexus One seems like a good soled phone, and a improvement to the Android phone line up. Now we have to wait and see what will happen with this phone. The improvements made almost make the iPhone seem old, almost. Now there is an announcement coming from Apple on the 26th so who knows they might announce a new iPhone or iPhone OS 4.0 and that could just put the Nexus One and Android 2.1 to shame. We just have to wait and see.
Well lately I really haven’t been using myspace that much lately. To me I really don’t like it that much anymore. Well really I never liked myspace I got suckered in to getting one by some one at school. It is nice for keeping in touch with a few friends at school that I don’t normally talk to. I cant say myspace really was all that bad I have met vary intoresting people on mysapce and I love them and I still do talk to them. But deleting my old myspace is the best thing I have ever done I feel. I still got one and I have the friends that I really talk to and stuff.
Its not that im done with social networking and stuff. I just done with myspace and it just is there for me so I can talk to people that I don’t have there myspace page. I have been using things like stickam and Twitter more than myspace. I’m just done with my space there is nothing new and nothing there that would make me want to stay. I’m not saying myspace is bad its just that I don’t want to bother with myspace no more and if I could cut it out of my life completely I would.
But in the end myspace is ok there is nothing new and I think I’m going to do more life casting with stickam but that’s a blog entry for another day. I will keep my new one and im going to add the people that I’m close to and follow closely. Sp to tom and all the myspace stafe good bye and thanks for all the good times.
-Mike
The iPhone 4 is here officially people lined up outside of Apple stores last night so they could be one of the first to get an iPhone 4. Just a little ways from me there were 200 people waiting outside the Apple store at the Carousel Mall in Syracuse, NY waiting for their iPhone 4’s. I would bet that Verizon kicks its self for not getting the iPhone when they could have. The Droid X came out yesterday but there were no lines waiting to get a Droid X or really not much about it at all.
But I’m not here to talk about the Droid X I'm here to talk about the people who got in line at those Apple stores to get a white iPhone to find out that they didn’t have any and that they won’t have any white iPhones until the second half of July. I’m also here to talk about know issues of the black iPhone 4. Apple has come out with a statement saying “White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”
Now I do have a question for Apple what’s so difficult about making a white iPhone it’s the same as the black one, it’s just white. Apple has not said at all what exactly is wrong with them in true Apple fashion (by really saying nothing at all). But the Black iPhone has problems of its own. Techcrunch has seen a number of hardware problems such as yellow dots in the corner of the screen, easily scratches, and poor to no reception if you touch the bezel of the phone. You can read the whole article at Techcruch.
The iPhone 4 seems to be the most hardware bugged iPhone ever, but people still want it and the bugs are not really a no go for those people. Apple has not said this but I ‘am sure that Apple in the next few days or weeks will offer some kind of swap for people that are affected by the hardware problems in the black iPhone 4.
Here is a video that Christine Chan made at the opening of the Los Cerritos Apple Store. Plus she was one of the lucky ones to get an iPhone 4 the other day so check at her unboxing at http://appleisms.com/. Enjoy!
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Christine Chans video of the grand opening of the Los Cerritos Apple Store.
Windows 7 is coming soon, how soon October 22nd at 12:01 AM you can get your copy. If you pre ordered it will be shipped that day. The family pack will be available that day too. Now lets face it most people will not get windows 7 by going to a store and buying a upgrade copy of windows 7. They will get it with a new computer.
If you are going to buy it you need to think witch one will suet your needs. The ones you have the choice of are Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, and Windows 7 Ultimate. There is a good chart to figure out witch one is for you on Paul Thurrot’s Supper site for Windows. The other thing you might want to decide on is 32 bit windows or 64 bit windows. You might wonder which one is should I get. Well it decides what you want to do. If you do a lot of video editing or Photo editing then you might want more then 4 GB of RAM you should go to 64 Bit windows then your limit is up in the hundreds of GB’s of RAM. Though if you are going to do 64 bit you might want to make sure there is drivers for thought's devices. If they were bought in the last year or two most likely they do and if they have the compatible with windows 7 sticker on the box like this
To read more about the windows 7 logo program click here. If you go with 32 bit everything that worked in Vista 32 should work just fine. But just remember if you want more then 4 GB of RAM you need 64 bit windows.
Windows 7 has a lot better interface with a redesign start menu. The quick lunch bar that has become more important. Think of it like a favorites for your applications if you always use firefox pin it to the task bar and it is always there. Windows now minimize into there icon on the task bar to make it easier to find the window you are looking for much like OS X. The start search is improved as well in windows 7. If you have XP you may have never herd of this. For me that's what one me over to get Vista. Start menu search makes it so much easier to find things in you computer you just type what you are looking for and it finds it (as long as it is in your computer or network).
If you install Windows 7 on an existing computer like a laptop you might see a speed increase and a an extra bit of battery life. This is because Windows 7 uses less rescores then Vista or even XP so if you are looking for a reason to upgrade I think that is more then enough reason to upgrade to windows 7.
Wile I'm sure everyone will not probably go out and buy windows 7 and will most likely get it with a new PC it should be noted that if you are not looking into a new computer but want to get a bit of performance out of your current computer get a upgrade copy of windows 7. Just remember to format the drive and install windows 7.
-Mike
For the longest time I loved myspace and I would move to Facebook. For the lonest time I thought what seperated myspace users from facebook users was myspace was for middle to lower class people wile facebook was all upper class. Well I finnaly see what really seporats myspace users from facebook users. Facebook users just had enof of the slow wait times to get to other peoples pages and had enof of peoplee being dumb and haveing these like never ending pages with huge pichers that take up the hole screen and pages that will never render right.
Wile Myspace users well they will never learn they dont under stand and they will keep doing it till myspace gose out of business. Witch is sad myspace is a good social network they just have so many dumb ass that don’t know how to make a web site cause thats what the custumizeable options are for there is to make your myspace more for a web site.
Facebook can be custemized its just limited as to what they will let you do. Some might think that is a bad thing but it works no matter what facebook page you go to it works. I mean they let you have applections and they were the first to do so. Yes most of the appes there now are kind of well bad but there is so much protenchal to make good appes and I think it might be a plat from that deveplopers will look at as we try to do more and more in the cloud.
Though at this point im toren only because I have friends that have facebook pages and ones that I can only talk to on myspace if I could I would only have my facebook page. I can see a day when good apps come out for facebook or myspace but one of them has to go frist. Though there are new social networks that come out everyday so for all I know theyy could be better than myspace and facebook combind.
-Mike
Windows Vista SP1 is out as you all know. I got it and I installed it on all the computers in the house with Vista. My desktop computer benefited from it because I had only had it for a day and I hadn’t gotten to do that many updates for windows. It saved me from waiting for hours doing tones of restarts. On my laptop I really didn’t see a different before and after. Though that is probably because I had the built version of it so I basically had it on there. On my desktop it took only an hour to install it. My laptop it took almost 3 hours to install. I really did not think it would take that long to do it on there. I knew it would take a little longer for my laptop only because of the fact it doesn’t have a fast presser. But over all I’m happy. It helped me more than it knows.
I took the update and I burned it to a DVD with along with some Office updates. I did this because if you have to restart windows it makes it easier to get your computer up to date before you even get on the internet. On my disk I only have SP1 and the Office 2007 compatibility Pack. I make one of these disks after every big windows service pack. I think SP1 is good for anyone running Vista not that Microsoft really gives you choose with updates.
- Mike
This week is wipe week for me. This is the week ware I start backing up and getting ready to wipe my computers. Yes it takes me a week to do it cause I know If I try to do it all in one day I will not remember to back up something’s. I figger this is a good time of year to do this kind of thing since its almost time to start school in like another month. It doesn’t make senc to wipe in the middle of the school year. So I do it before school starts and give myself a good month to get the bugs worked out of my systems and get things back in order.
I find this is a good thing to do cause it helps keep your computer running nice and smooth and gets rid of all the little software that you install that you may use once and never take off. I’ve been doing this with my old windows 98 computer since I was like in 5th grade and its still running to this day.
I bought DVD’s today to do the back-up then got home and saw they were not DVD’s they were CD’s so I have to get up tomorrow and go back to walmart and get DVD’s and its going to take for ever cause I’m going to have take the bus so we will see how that gose hell I’ll even record it. So if you can and have the time wipe out your pc along with me Aug 1st.
-Mike
The FTC is at it again and this time it is not Microsoft they are looking at this time, it is Intel. Yes Intel our best friend that could never do anything wrong to us… right? Well nothing is public yet and the trial is not until September of 2010 but we can take a look at the market today, and look at what is out there for us to get. Well if you were to walk into a Wal-Mart and look at they got you will probably see 10 computers and maybe one of them will has a AMD chip in it. Why is this well it is because Intel offers a rebate for OEM’s to use their chips. That doesn’t sound bad. Its savings that could be passed on to consumers.
The FTC thinks that Intel is a monopoly. Which is defined as “exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices” and Intel dose have somewhat of an exclusive control over the Netbook market. Just look at netbooks its all Intel Atom CPUs, you don’t see any AMD CPU’s or even VIA CPU’s in netbooks. The netbook market is pretty much run by Intel.
Why don’t we see more AMD CPU’s in desktop computers? Well most would argue that Intel CPU’s are superior witch is true but what about for the average person walking into a Best Buy looking to buy their family a PC and just needs to the normal every day stuff like surfing the web, playing some games, and work. Wouldn’t an AMD CPU do that just as good? But most OEM’s go with Intel chips. Now these choices are made by the OEM. They could have their reasons, or there could be something going on that we do not know yet.
The FTC also thinks that Intel is stopping innovation. I think there could be argument to be made that Intel has execrate innovation. Intel chips run cooler and have use less power than other chips, but you pay for that. While AMD chips use more power tend to run a little hotter, but are cheaper. FTC says there is no choice for consumers witch I feel is not true you could always get a PC with a AMD chip in it you may have to look a little harder but they are there. It’s the fault of the consumer that most people just don’t look they don’t even care Intel is just a name on the box. Most people that buy computers don’t know what a CPU is or what it does.
Intel says that there CPU’s are better than their competitors. This may be true but FTC says
[1]“ In addition, allegedly, Intel secretly redesigned key software, known as a compiler, in a way that deliberately stunted the performance of competitors’ CPU chips. Intel told its customers and the public that software performed better on Intel CPUs than on competitors’ CPUs, but the company deceived them by failing to disclose that these differences were due largely or entirely to Intel’s compiler design”. Now I’m no coder but from what I make of this is Intel has some secret stuff in there compiler that makes it harder for other CPU’s to make heads or tails what program wants to do, so when programs run on other CPU’s they don’t run as smoothly as if they were running on a Intel CPU. If I’m wrong please tell me so I can correct that.
The trail is not set until September of 2010. This is going to be something to keep an eye on. I’m sure there will be a lot to learn between now and then. Is Intel guilty? I do not know that, what I do know is there is something fishy going on over at Intel. Though I do not think that it is enough for the FTC to be suing Intel over it.
[1] FTC document http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/intel.shtm
About 3 years ago I was looking for a good media player like an ipod, but I didn’t want a ipod at the time. I didn’t want a ipod at the time cause I didn’t want to buy in to the fad. I had a little san disk player and it worked. The controls were really bad but I could listen to my music and it was better then the CD player I was using. The iphone came out and I thought to my self if only they had a iphone minus the phone and that came out the ipod touch.
Once that came I out I was sold. I wanted it and I got it. Though by the time I got it a few months later the 2nd gen touch came out. At the time if the Zune had been out I would have gone with that. Why you may ask. Well The ipod touch is grate I love it with all my hart but its only really use full when I got WIFI. Most of the apps I have for my touch need internet and well ware I live WIFI dose not grow on trees like it dose in some places. The zune would be better cause it would easier with windows then itunes dose and I would love to have subscription service that the Zune has.
Now is the ipod touch better then the Zune yes I just think that its more practical then a Ipod touch if you are just using it for music and video. Im hoping in the next gen touch that they have a in EDYO card built in to it so you could sign up for a service so you can have internet any ware and you don’t have to have WIFI. Then when I’m out and about my apps are not useless. In September im going to go looking to get a new ipod touch so what ever they come out with Im getting. Im sure that they will have a 3rd gen touch to compete with the Zune HD. Apple make me happy please.
*UPDATE: Since I wrote this iOS 5 has come out and my Mac is coming early I should have it by the end of tomorrow.
This week seems like it will never end. I know a lot of you probably are thinking the same thing you as well as me want the week to end. Some people want it to end so they can get their new iPhone 4s some may want it to end so they can play around with the iOS 5 update that comes out later today. I want it to end so I can finally get my Mac. After about 13 years I will finally be getting a Mac. It is something I have waited for, for about 13 years to get a Mac. I want the waiting to end but I still got 2 more days left.
I got the $599 Mac Mini. I went with the mini because it was the cheapest Mac and it makes the most senses to my desk because there is no room where to put an iMac and I don’t have the money for an air. The Mac Mini is still an upgrade over my HP computer that I use as my main computer as well.
Truly the reason why I want the Mac has nothing to do with the hardware, it is the software. I’ve loved the look and feel of OS X forever and at times done so much to try and mimic the feel of OS X on Windows by skinning it and moving things around but I never can get that feel. Well I no long have to do that because I will have OS X lion.
The other thing I’m looking forward to is iPhoto and iMovie. I always loved iPhoto and what it does and how easy it makes it to organize your photos on a Mac. I hoped that maybe one day Windows would have something like iPhoto and we did get something like it Windows Live Photo gallery its nice it makes it easier to organize and find photos and get them on Facebook and other photo sharing sites, but it’s just not iPhoto. It just does not have the feel I get from iPhoto I know there are probably way better apps to keep your photo organized and make quick slide shows but I do love iPhoto most.
iMovie is the other thing I’m looking forward to trying out. Yet again I know there are way better video editing tools then iMovie but I don’t do a lot of video editing so iMovie will probably be good for me. On Windows we have Windows Movie Maker and in recent years they have made it way better than what shipped with Windows XP but it gets the job done and that’s well and good but I iMovie gets the job done and also destroyed what movie maker can do. I think this video shows off what iMovie can do.
There is so much more but those are really the top 2 things I want my Mac for. It comes sometime Friday and you can but I will be posting about it and lots and lots of photos and screen shots and all around geeking out about my Mac Mini.
The iPhone 4 is coming out this Thursday and a friend of mine got into a bit of a nerd fight with people on Friend Feed (ya friend Feed is still around) and I told her personally I don’t want an iPhone, I want some kind of Android phone. The phone went silent at that point, and then I heard “what the hell? why?" I stopped and thought for a sec and I came up with a few reasons why.
· The first thing that came to mind was Google voice. The Google voice app. for Android makes using a Google Voice number your main number so much more easier then it is on the iPhone phone or any other phone. They give you the option to always use your Google Voice number on the app. instead of your normal phone number. It also adds visual voice mail to your phone for free, something AT&T and Verizon charges for.
· Gmail seems to be better on android then on the iPhone. Now I’m sure that I could always use the web app. for Gmail on my iOS device but it should just be on the device already. iOS 4 is making it better, but it’s still not Gmail and that’s what I want is Gmail. The Android one looks like Gmail the way I know it to be. I do know that it’s not in Apples interest to have a Gmail app. on iOS devices so I let Apple off on that.
· Everyone always says how iOS is so much more polished then Android and how clean and simple it is. Well I don’t want that in my hand, I want a computer in my hand. I want file menus, a task manger, and all these things that make Android feel more like a PC in my hand.
· The last case for Android is freedom. The fact that none of the apps. on Android go through any approval proses to be able to work on Android devices. If Apple wants to make an iDisk app. for Android devices Google wouldn't stop them, but Google tries to make a decent Google Voice app. for the iPhone and they get booted. Now for the record no one knows if Apple kicked them off the app store or if that was AT&T’s call.
I would like to say that I know my wants for a smart phone are different from everyone else. If my mom said she wanted a smart phone I would tell her get an iPhone 3GS or an iPhone 4, I would not recommend an Android phone. I think it would be too much. My mom is someone who just wants things to work and that’s what the iPhone does best it just works and Apple makes sure of that. So I’m not saying Android devices are better than iOS devices, but I do feel there is room at the top for them both. You just have to get the device that is right for you and for me an Android device would be right for me.
Hey I just uploaded some screen shots of Docs.com for you to look threw enjoy them. The photos are over in the screen shot gallery.
Now you know what you want in your computer. So where do you get? Well there are a lot of choices and I think it depends on what kind of a user are you. If you need to call customer support a lot or relie on the neighborhood geek you might want to get your computer from a OEM that has good customer service. If you can support yourself then it might not matter where you get it as long as the computer is built right.
For people that want Microsoft Windows you’re in luck there are a lot of places to get computers running windows. OEM’s that make Windows computers are companies as Dell, HP, Gateway, and many others. My top 2 would have to be Dell and HP. They both build really well and sturdy PC’s and they stand by them as well. There is a problem with getting a PC from OEM’s; they put so much crap ware on your computer. They put things like Norton AV, trial for Microsoft Office, and just other things that bog down your computer. Though Dell is not as bad about putting crap ware like HP.
Most OEM’s also sell their computers in places like Walmart, Staples, and any place that sells electronics. This just means you don’t have say as to what is in your computer. If you call or go online they normally let you customize your computer as far as how much RAM you have in the computer, the size of the hard drive, and what CPU is in it. Sometimes if you are getting a laptop they will even let you choose what design is on your laptop. Prices for these computers form these places can go from $200 to 1,000.
Let’s say that is just too much for you and you want Apple’s OS X then you’re in luck. You only have choice ware you can get your computer and that is Apple. This maybe what you want Apples iMac line and Macbook’s are sleek and good looking computer. Unlike the Windows computers you can’t go to Walmart and buy a Mac, you have to go to the Apple Store or go to the Apple web site. Though if you are one that needs support then Apple has awesome support. Now you’re going to pay for this iMacs start at $1,199.00 and for a Macbook they start at $999.00.
It’s up to you if after reading this series and everything points to Apple then get the Apple computer if everything points to a PC then get the PC. There is no such thing as the best computer. The best computer is the one that dose what you want it to do. I really hope this helps you in getting a new computer. If you have any questions email me or leave a comment.
Well if you have looked at my twitters to day you have notice that I have been play with Firefox today. I wanted to make my own skin and just play with it but I lack the coding skills and the art skills to do it. I’m still going to try though. It got me thinking Firefox 3 is coming out soon and dose anyone cares I mean threes nothing really new about it. There is nothing that isn’t in IE7 that will be in Firefox 3 except skins and add on’s that’s all really. I’m going to use it because I’ve used it for so long that I have a hard time using IE and I like the master password thing on Firefox. It’s hard for me to go to a friend and try to get them to switch to Firefox if I had to now. I though Firefox 3 isn’t out yet so there is still hope I think. I think the guys at Mozilla have so good ideas left some ware to make Firefox 3 stand out form the rest.
- Mike
