Technically Speaking 02/24/2005

As I write this editions installment, the suicide of journalist Hunter S. Thompson is all over the news, he was 67. The author of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and writer for many mainstream magazines, Thompson was at the forefront of a new kind of personal journalism revolution that went against the stiff established style. His style of writing coined “Gonzo” Journalism, changed the face of journalism.

Another revolution in “journalism” is well underway and it had its’ birth in the late 90’s it is the BLOG, a shortened way of saying “weB LOG.” I call it a revolution in journalism because most of the large news gathering organizations now have teams that monitor BLOGS for breaking news and to get an idea of public opinion. They are also a way for regular people to air their views instantly for the world to see. I am sure that many of my readers have read a BLOG or even have one of their own.

While there are many ways to start your own BLOG, by far the easiest is by using Blogger, http://www.blogger.com . It is a free service that hosts your BLOG and has an easy to use interface that will help you make your first BLOG. Blogger does not require any software to be on your computer, the posting interface is accessed through your web browser, much like web mail, so you can access it anywhere you have internet access.

Your BLOG does not have to have any real focus; it can be your daily musings, commentary on the days’ news, snippets of poetry, or whatever you want to tell the world. Budding artists or photographers can upload pictures to include in their posts. Many people use BLOGs to express strong political or social opinions, others categories include music, life, technology, humor and more. You can even upload pictures to include in your posts.

You only need two things to start BLOGGING, internet access and something to say. Join the revolution today.

If you are looking for some interesting BLOGS to read to get an idea of what you can do with a BLOG then Blog Wise http://www.blogwise.com/ is a great source. The site is an index of thousands of BLOGS on all subject matters. If you start a BLOG you can also register it with Blog Wise and have it listed there. Warning: some of the BLOGS listed on Blog Wise may contain adult language or images, view at your own peril.

Illegal cell phone jammers are popping up for sale on websites; the jammers have a limited range and also block emergency calls and the public airwaves. Some of the jammers are small and portable and can be carried and used while walking down the street. What do you think of this? If you could jam cell phones in a specific area where would that area be? Why? Send your comments to mat@muw.edu

Something a bit different this edition; my game picks and each gets five words:
Mercenaries (Xbox, Ps2) Exciting, immersive, visceral, explosive, and addictive.
Resident Evil 4 (GC) Chilling, beautiful, intense, inspired, and exciting.
Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (GBA) Classic, engaging, timeless, long, and memorable.
Pirates (Windows PC) Engrossing, intuitive, entertaining, humorous, and fun.

This editions’ cool link: AllMusic http://www.allmusic.com is a great site if you want to know the story behind your favorite musical artists. They have biographies, full listings of albums and singles, and even samples of the songs. The interface is great with many search categories (even search by instrument) and each band has a listing of similar artists. AllMusic has two companion sites AllMovie and AllGame that offer similar content.

As always you can send your tech-related questions to me at mat@muw.edu, and I will post an answer in a future edition.

Mark Taylor, a senior in communication, was previously an information systems trainer for the US Air Force and a technical support technician for an internet service provider. A game and consumer electronics reporter during the Dot Com boom, he now owns Fanfare Media Services in Columbus.

This installment of Technically Speaking comes with a warning: great software does not have to be expensive; in fact sometimes it is free.

I am sure that a good percentage of my readers use Microsoft Office for home and school use. It can be rather expensive, especially if you want the professional version that includes everything. There is an alternative, OpenOffice, and it is free!

Even if you already own Microsoft Office it is worth a look. It is ideal for a second installation on a note book or even as a compliment to Microsoft Office on your primary machine. It is a very nice and compact suit that also has very modest hardware requirements; it is perfect for an older slow system or a not bleeding edge notebook.

The suit contains:

· Writer, a word processor like Microsoft Word and very flexible, can also be used to make web pages.
· Calc, a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel, with some great options.
· Draw, a nice drawing program, very powerful.
· Impress, a great presentation program like Microsoft PowerPoint, with some unique options.

The programs work well together and can open most files created in Microsoft Office. OpenOffice can also save files in Microsoft Office formats making transferring files between the two easy and convenient.

A couple of very nice options that OpenOffice has that Microsoft Office lacks are the ability to save documents as a .PDF (viewable in Adobe Acrobat) and also as a Flash (.swf) file. These are great options and very useful. The ability to save presentations as a Flash file is very interesting, it allows for a self running slide show that will run independent of Impress and making presentations for inclusion in web pages a breeze.

In fact I write all the Technically Speaking columns on OpenOffice. Find out more about this great free program at OpenOffice.org ( http://www.OpenOffice.org ) there are links to download for the Windows, MAC, and Linux versions. A direct link to the download for Windows follows: http://download.openoffice.org/1.1.4/index.html

Life is not all about business, there is the artistic side of the brain needs some stimulation and ArtRage fills that role nicely.

ArtRage is a painting program, but that doesn’t do it justice the description from the site does a better job than I can:

“ArtRage is a painting package designed to provide a realistic and fun simulation of using paint on a canvas, along with pens, pencils, crayons, and other tools. You can run ArtRage on a normal Windows machine with a mouse, but it works particularly well if you have a graphics tablet.
ArtRage is all about playing with paint without the mess, and having fun in the process. You can paint your own image from a blank canvas to completed work, or load in a picture to trace and have the tools pick their colours for you as you paint over it.”

It is a great program that once you get the hang of it will steal a lot of your free time. It is a quick and easy windows download from http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html

If you are not convinced to try it, go to the site and look at the Gallery, it is amazing what people have made. This is a must have for art students, and it can help bring out the inner artist in anyone.

This edition’s cool link: The Wayback Machine, type any website address into the Wayback Machine and take a peek at how it used to look. Type in www.muw.edu (don’t forget the www this time) and look at the MUW site all the way back to 1996. http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Technically Speaking 02/17/2005

This edition it is my turn to ask you, the readers, a question. Do you own an MP3 player? What kind/brand is it? And how long have you had it? End you answers to me at mat@muw.edu by and I will publish the results of this informal survey in a future edition.

As always you can send your tech-related questions to me at mat@muw.edu, and I will post an answer in a future edition.

For clickable links to the programs mentioned, check out The Spectator online at muw.edu/spectator.
Mark Taylor, a senior in communication, was previously an information systems trainer for the US Air Force and a technical support technician for an internet service provider. A game and consumer electronics reporter during the Dot Com boom, he now owns Fanfare Media Services in Columbus.

Technically Speaking 02/09/2005

This edition of Technically Speaking begins with a warning, be careful. While you may be using Firefox, or just doing safe browsing there are still things to be wary of. There is a lot of ‘free’ software out there and much of it is safe and useful, but there is software that contains spyware or adware. These are little programs that are packaged with the software that either sends data about your browsing habits to companies or that make endless advertising Pop-ups appear. Some even hijack your browser; change your homepage, and more. Without being too technical, these are generally bad news. They are however the way that the ‘free’ software makers earn an income.

Even more sinister is that some of these programs carry a ‘payload’ that allows others to control you computer remotely; this will allow them to view your files and personal information. Some will even use your computer and connection to send unsolicited email (Spam).

One of the most common are the sites that offer to let you use their free search bar in your browser, they are almost impossible to remove and almost certainly contain some form of either spyware or adware. Most of the software that is offered in Pop-ups is also suspect.

My suggestion is to only use search toolbars from the major sites like Google, MSN, Yahoo, and others. I can assure you that all of the software mentioned in this column is really free and spyware and adware free.

In order to protect yourself you need to use a spyware and adware scanner and remover for your system. By far the easiest free program is Ad-aware, made by Lavasoft. Not only is it free but it is highly effective. You can download it at http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/#free , I recommend the Download.com button for the download. When you download it run the Update so you will have the latest version. Lavasoft is adding the most recent spyware and adware information to keep it effective. It is best to run the check at least weekly, and run the update just before running the scan. After the scan is finished all you do is check the boxes next to what it has found.

All the safe surfing is useless if you decide to download MP3s and pirated software. Cleaver hackers now are propagating the file sharing networks like Kazaa with MP3s that have a surprise, a virus or other harmful extra. This does not apply to legitimate sites like iTunes, the new Napster, and others. This has been a problem with pirated programs for years, but the ever creative hackers now have figured out a way to infect music files.


Regardless of your surfing habits you need an Anti-Virus program. The most popular is Norton Antivirus it is expensive and requires an annual subscription. It also suffers from a rather big problem, since it is so popular some viruses can disable it. There is a free alternative AVG Anti-Virus from Grigsoft, a free and safe download from http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ .

This is a great program that can be set to run automatically nightly. Remember you have to run the updates for this program just like Ad-aware, your software is only as effective if it is updated.

Our email question for the week regards WebCT not working right since a user updated their Windows XP with Service Pack 2. The most common reason is the pop-up blocker that SP2 adds to Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), you may need to turn it off while using WebCT. To turn it of temporarily choose Tools from the menu bar, then Pop-up Blocker and choose Turn Off Pop-up blocker. Don’t forget to turn it back on when you are finished.

The last program for the day is not essential or security related. This little program, Tiny Spell, has become must have tool for me. All it is a tiny program that monitors what you type in practically all programs you use, be it in Microsoft Word or AOL Instant Messenger and alerts you when you make a spelling mistake. Install it, use it and you will be impressed and perhaps avoid embarrassing spelling errors in papers and chat, like typing ‘a lot’ instead of ‘a lot’. When you install it make sure you click on it in the task bar and enable Open Spelling Window, you can move it anywhere on you’re desktop.

Send your tech related questions to me at mat@muw.edu and I will post an answer in a future edition.