tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56298792032143050362008-12-30T18:05:46.447-05:00This is a blog containing information about various, helpful uses of technology to make your life simpler. Of course, all information is supplied for you to use at your own risk.Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-18434982150870589802008-12-29T17:59:00.004-05:002008-12-30T18:05:46.607-05:00

About a week or two ago, I stumbled upon this nugget and just had to share. Anyone remotely concerned with keeping his or her machine secure and free of malware, viruses, worms, rootkits, etc. should already be using Firefox. That being said, there is one more weapon that you should wield. My friends, I give you Location Bar 2. This is an add-on for Firefox that alters the appearance of your

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-24914640056376053632008-12-29T17:12:00.002-05:002008-12-29T17:29:40.435-05:00

Traveling with data has always made me nervous because of the possibility of losing my thumb drive ... with passwords, FTP info, POP3 email (still working on a solution for that one), etc. This same problem transcends my thumb drive (no pun intended) ... the laptop is also a major problem. My friends, I bring you True Crypt AND Portable True Crypt. Using this free, open source application, you

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-82800918229518685742008-10-29T20:51:00.002-04:002008-10-29T21:07:29.251-04:00

When it comes to tech stuff, I'm the kind of person that is all about trying new things ... the problem is that I usually need a reason for it. I discovered Yahoo! Pipes a little bit ago, but never had a real reason to do anything with it. Well, I did, but I guess it didn't quite work the way I had hoped. My fiancee is actively pursuing employment and regularly monitors 50+ sites (mad kudos

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-84893531689683956892008-10-28T18:20:00.003-04:002008-10-28T18:31:43.641-04:00

Earlier in the year I did a blog on the wonderful contraption of Virus Lock. I had to retire the device because I've moved on to SATA drives and this is only for IDE drives. Back up for a second - the concept for the Virus Lock is that you are able to have two different machines in one tower ... two hard drives separated by a physical switch that allows only one (or both depending on the

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-33923525502178716132008-10-28T18:06:00.003-04:002008-10-28T18:19:26.073-04:00

In March I did a blog about Virtual PC 2007. I'm going to revisit that briefly because there are some updates that I'd like to add to that. For starters, I discovered Virtual Box and had a chance to go at it. It too is free and open source and worth looking into for a variety of VM needs. I really like the idea of having a Linux box of some kind and having a guest OS. I really like the idea

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-58577430614508312352008-04-09T18:43:00.003-04:002008-04-09T19:17:45.758-04:00

I stumbled upon this little nugget while reading some publications for work. A coupon codes (for online purchases) via web site or internet browser plugin. I bring you Registered Coupons I was only able to test some of them ... most online vendors want you to either create your account or log into your account before you can get to the coupon code section. I was kind of paranoid about

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-84633801514785829282008-03-26T18:16:00.002-04:002008-03-26T18:29:51.079-04:00

I'm considering this Stage 1 in regards to my traffic alert voyage. I'll probably have it down to an art just before traffic alerts are sent to us ... "smartly" ... that's where "Stage 2" will come into play. I am happy to announce that I've come up with a way (if you are in PA, MD, or DC) to receive real time traffic updates via text message at no cost (unless of course your mobile provider

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-59331572858632108872008-03-03T20:28:00.004-05:002008-03-03T21:20:41.319-05:00

The concept of virtual machines has been around for quite some time now. I haven't really had a chance to see it in action until using Parallels at work. Today I was reading in PC World about Virtual PC 2007. One of the big selling points (for me) is that it's free. As it's getting time to upgrade my desktop, I've been kicking around quite a few ideas. The main problem is that I have several

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-26569639921928307342008-01-02T18:44:00.000-05:002008-01-02T18:51:18.549-05:00

I can't justify doing a single post on Sketch Up, so I'm lumping it in with Street View. Sketch Up is a Google application that allows you to do some 3D renderings. Combined with Google Maps, you can see renderings of various buildings that other people have made. It's pretty neat if that's your thing ... I'm more impressed with Google's "Street View". Go to Google Maps, click "Street View"

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-33695525243663960632007-12-18T18:03:00.000-05:002007-12-18T18:06:56.753-05:00

This is a REEEEEALLY easy gem that I just discovered. Bear in mind ... I grew up on PCs, so this is a HUGE step for me. I'm all about key commands. When it comes to shutting down the PC, it's [start button key], U, [enter key]. I've longed for that when it comes to a Mac ... but I was unable to find anything ... ... until today! Shutdown your Mac quickly [command key], [eject button].

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-38244416636739271422007-11-19T17:35:00.000-05:002007-11-19T18:22:46.828-05:00

With the holiday season coming up, I thought I'd pass along this little gem that I've discovered. A lot of times when you make a purchase, you are entitled to receive money back should the price of the item drop after you make the purchase (within a certain time frame of course). Well, Price Protectr.com is a web site that watches for these fluctuations in price. From their web site "We watch

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-40975969441744794082007-10-10T20:48:00.000-04:002007-10-10T20:55:10.541-04:00

I recently had to download Internet Explorer 7 as part of the compatibility check that I do when designing web pages. I found one really cool feature (and discovered that it also exists in Firefox 2) ... multiple home pages. This is really convenient if you find yourself going to the same pages at the beginning of your surf cycle. First, pick your browser of choice. Next, open in new tabs

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-14405089043528148462007-09-29T10:40:00.000-04:002007-09-29T10:48:51.942-04:00

Here's another little gem that I stumbled across but haven't had the opportunity to actually test out ... There's an application called 'Decrapifier' (PC only). This is great to use on new computer systems because a lot of the times, these systems ship with all kinds of applications that you don't need and, more importantly, don't want. Going through Add/Remove Applications (Settings->Control

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-42856318462441674982007-09-24T16:39:00.000-04:002007-09-24T16:52:02.286-04:00

I recently purchased a 'Chocolate' from Verizon. I am very happy with the purch. Initially it was a little counter-intuitive to use, but I really think any phone would be after using the same one for 2 years. I am all about customizing things ... whether it's my laptop, my iPod, or my cell. It's important that it becomes 'mine'. I opted to purchase the 'Music Essentials' kit which included a

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-66262025265854011252007-09-04T18:35:00.000-04:002007-09-04T18:44:57.435-04:00

I was searching tonight and looking for information on increasing my design skills and I stumbled across this little nugget - Email Warden. It takes the idea that American Express(?) had with disposable credit card numbers and brings it to email. A lot of times you need to give an email address to register for something. With Email Warden, you can simply generate an email address alias that

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-508706957492771642007-08-25T21:48:00.000-04:002007-08-25T21:54:10.206-04:00

The other day (err, last week) I was looking for directions for a wedding. I found something VERY cool on Google maps. At first glance, it's a typical "Point A to Point B" sort of driving directions. However ... if you look above the directions, there is a link that says "Customize Your Route". By dragging the line connecting the endpoints, you can opt to go different ways and the directions

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-11733126929845838512007-08-25T21:39:00.000-04:002007-08-25T21:47:59.924-04:00

Social networking is currently as the craze. While there are probably some great hindrances, there are also some great benefits. One item that came out of the social-networking hype is a web site called, or as I call it, Delicious ... though it's technically del.icio.us It's a social networking site with a twist. It's a social-BOOKmarking site. One of the great features about it is that you

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-14933325111423826552007-08-25T21:36:00.000-04:002007-08-25T21:37:14.344-04:00

For those of you that read my blog on 'Launchy' (May 29th), I discovered an equally cool application for Macs ... you guessed it. It's called Quicksilver. http://quicksilver.blacktree.com This is still one of the coolest apps that I've come across. I installed it on my Mac today and couldn't have been happier. Good-bye 'Command-Shift-U' then searching for Disk Utility. Nay. Option-space,

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-88207855778818339062007-08-25T21:18:00.000-04:002007-08-25T21:35:09.903-04:00

I was never good at following calendars and appointments. I found that I was really good at booking things, but really bad at checking to see if I had anything booked for the day. I've gotten much better. There are 3 key components ... well, 4 I suppose, that can make your life that much easier. 01. Google Calendar Account 02. Mozilla's Sunbird or Portable Sunbird 03. Automatic Export 04.

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-67593680086473158682007-08-25T21:08:00.001-04:002007-08-25T21:16:46.541-04:00

If you find that you multi-task quite frequently, you've probably also noticed that switching from the mouse to the keyboard and back to the mouse can be fairly time consuming. My computer skills go back to the 'MS-DOS' days, so I'm quite fond of the keyboard ... the mouse? Not as much. (Hence the blog on 'Launchy'. One little thing that I do to save time is I'll make good use of the 'start'

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-43618207291558593562007-08-25T21:03:00.000-04:002007-08-25T21:07:30.070-04:00

Basically, I have 3 personally machines here. Ever since the HP started going retarded on me (sorry Ginny =p), I've had to rely on the home network a little more than before. With that, I bring you the genius of mapping drives. For those of you new to the idea, mapping a drive is basically like creating a short cut to a file, web site, whatever ... but it's in the form of a drive ... IE - it

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-56770486491388793922007-08-25T20:55:00.001-04:002007-08-25T21:02:35.996-04:00

This blog was inspired by the AT&T web page ... which is SOOO slow tonight. I'm trying to pay my bill, but it kept hanging up on the web site 'ads.media-something-or-another'. That lead me to: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865 This is an extension for Firefox that blocks certain web sites from loading advertisements. It's a tool that everyone should have loaded in their

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-8566594688836159622007-08-25T20:53:00.000-04:002007-08-25T20:54:44.097-04:00

If you read my previous blog, here's another one that I found prior to ... portableapps.com - GENIUS! I have a few businesses on the side. I usually travel with my laptop, but sometimes I don't. With portable apps, you can install various (free) applications on your thumb drive and use them anywhere you go. For example, if a web client of mine needs a page edited ... bam! Portable Filezilla

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-48185654666161255482007-08-25T20:43:00.000-04:002007-08-25T20:52:12.798-04:00

While reading the May issue of PC World, I came across a great little App called 'Launchy' which you can find and download here: Launchy.net Launchy is like a desktop search ... only much, much better. I suspect that it's like google's desktop search program. Ever since I read how web browser tool bars (Yahoo, Google, etc.) often include spy/adware, I've been reluctant about installing

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629879203214305036.post-9908734133250591482007-08-25T20:40:00.000-04:002007-08-25T20:55:51.013-04:00

With the tech-difficulties I've had recently, I'm finally starting to take backing up files a little more seriously. As a freelancer, certain things just cannot get lost. So I introduce you to the magic of briefcase. It's probably one of the greatest things that Microsoft has created. To use: 01. Create a new briefcase on your desktop (or anywhere). 02. Drag and drop files of importance. 03.

Dan Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17186184922152412313noreply@blogger.com0