Computer and Web Articles

I searched high and low! I scoured the Internet! I ventured to the far corners of the world!  And I did it all so that I could bring you, the wonderful people of Summit County, the most useful news and websites on this lovely day in June. Let’s get going!

I love learning about the latest gadgets and technological advances. I never cease to feel amazed by the rapid development within the tech industry and the speed with which incredible technology advances are made.

Do you share this excitement with me?  If so, you simply must visit the following url: http://tinyurl.com/2vbkj. Visiting this link will take you to a recent article on the ABC News website that covers a “Gadgets Exhibition” held in Seattle at the end of May.  This short article is sure to tantalize your technology taste buds in giving you a glimpse of the future of technology. 3-D computer monitors, anyone?  How about thin and flexible super-slim screens that you can actually wear?

Changing course a bit here, let’s talk politics.  Or rather, let’s learn about a new tool that allows you to gather the information you need so that you can talk politics!

A company by the name of StreamSage has developed a fascinating new technology that actually scours audio and video broadcasts–by analyzing speech.  Rather impressive, if you ask me!  Utilized at CampaignSearch (www.campaignsearch.com), StreamSage’s technology allows normal folk like you and me to “search a database of keywords and topics from campaign-related Audio/Video content.”  How cool is that?

Search for campaign topics that are important to you.  Educate yourself on campaign issues you feel unsure about.  At the very least, try out a search or two and be amazed at how this technology can present relevant audio and video information to you in a matter of seconds.

Now.  For those of you who don’t feel the need to conduct additional political research, I have a question for you.  Do you like LEGOs?

Oh who am I kidding?!  Whether you like LEGOs or not you’re sure to be amazed by the content shown at Henry Lim’s LEGO Sculpture website: http://www.henrylim.org/LEGOSculptures.html. Mr. Lim’s sculptures and exhibits are nothing other than extraordinary.  (Seriously; when was the last time you created a fully functional harpsichord out of LEGO blocks?)

Moving forward: I think it’s timetosmile.  I ran across a website a while ago that I bookmarked as a Favorite because it never fails to make me chuckle.  “Signs of Life” (http://signsoflife.goose24.org)  is an ongoing community photography project with a goal of “capturing images of signs that somehow reveal our humanity.” Often, our humanity is revealed via signs with funny spellings, grammatical errors, bizarre placements, and possible alternative meanings.

Everyone is welcome to submit photos of signs. In fact, Signs of Life just added its 100^th sign on May 14^th. One of my favorite signs, number 83, shows a street corner in Virginia with a 20mph Speed Limit sign.  Not twenty yards behind the sign is a School Crossing sign with flashing lights stating that the speed limit is 25mph when children are present.  Nice.

The questions have been piling up in my Inbox lately. It’s time to share some answers!

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Question: Sometimes you write about something called “Mozilla” in your articles. What is that?

Answer: Mozilla is an Internet browser. Think of it as an alternative to your Internet Explorer or AOL. Many people swear by it, not just because it’s an alternative to a Microsoft product, but because it has a number of outstanding, useful features. Mozilla has “tabs” which allow you to load multiple Web sites at once - instead of opening separate instances for every Web site. It has a built-in pop-up ad blocker. It offers automatic import of all your Internet Explorer bookmarks (so you don’t have to worry about losing them or resaving them). Plus, Mozilla offers a clean interface and great speed. I use it all the time. You can have multiple Internet browsers on your computer at the same time. You can download Mozilla for free here: http://www.mozilla.org.

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Question: Hello eRin. I have a small Web site for my business in Summit County. As the number of unreliable sites, scams and useless Web pages out there continues to grow, I am becoming increasingly concerned about making sure my Web site appears credible. Do you have any tips for me?

Answer: A few years back Consumers Union (www.consumersunion.org) commissioned the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University to undertake a study that looked at how people judge a site’s credibility. One of the major findings suggests that site designers should “avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.” Broken links and misspellings are sure to make your company appear as if it simply doesn’t care and fails to pay attention to details. Another major finding recommends that site owners update their site’s content often - or, at the very least, show that it’s been reviewed recently. Stale, outdated content makes your site visitors wonder if you still exist.

A third finding explains the importance of making it easy to contact you. The study’s complete results can be found in .pdf format at http://tinyurl.com/2bmqm, and the research summary (a bit easier to digest) can be found here: www.webcredibility.org/guidelines.

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Question: Hey eRin. I’m a retired English teacher and love looking at grammar, spelling and literature sites online. Do you have any fun suggestions for me?

Answer: Most definitely! Go to http://yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html to view a list of the 100 most often misspelled English words. Or check out one of my personal favorites, the 100 most often mispronounced English words (and phrases): http://yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html.

Helloooooooooooo everyone.  As you sit back in your lounge chair, eating chocolate chip cookies and cream puffs while browsing through the paper today, watch me attempt to answer the following vague question: “What’s going on?”  Here we go.

As a Summit County resident, I’m willing to bet that every once in a while you wake up in the morning, take a look out your window, scratch your head and wonder, “Now what exactly is going on here??”

Don’t be left in the dark! Know what’s going on with the weather in your county.  Visit the following weather websites, pick your favorite and bookmark it, and stay up-to-date.

Try these: www.weather.com, www.accuweather.com, www.wunderground.com, and www.nws.noaa.gov.

Next week my parents will be flying in from the Bay Area in California for their annual summer visit.  Of course I want to be present upon their arrival, but at the same time I surely don’t want to sit around waiting for them if their flight is delayed.

Thus, in order to find out “what’s going on” with their flight, I will simply visit www.flightarrivals.com and type in their airline and flight number.  With a few keystrokes and a click of my mouse I’ll know exactly what’s gong on.

Next I have an update for those of you wondering what’s going on in the world of Summit County business technology: the brand-spankin’ new Summit County Business Directory is exactly what’s going on!

What happened is this: I partnered up with EmbiMEDIA to co-sponsor an all-new Summit County Business Directory, which is simply an online directory for businesses and organizations in our area.

While trying to use a variety of other Summit County online directories over the past few years, we felt that there was something missing from each of them.  They required payment for your listing or membership . . . . or they required you to have a website . . .they only provided listings for a limited number of businesses.  This is simply no good, we cried!

With all of this in mind, there’s now a new online directory that will allow businesses to post their own listings… for FREE.  You can even see how many people click on your directory website link.  It’s trustworthy.  No spam.  It’s useful.  It’s growing by the day!

Most importantly, though, it was created by and is run by Summit County folk specifically and only for Summit County folk.  Hoooray!  Check it out:  www.summitdirectory.com.

Lastly, I need to tell you what’s going on with a specific scam.  Just the other day I received an official-looking email from what appeared to be eBay.  The email started out by stating, “You have received this email because we have strong reason to believe that your eBay account had been recently compromised.”

The link to the eBay website looked real.  Everything looked official.  I could easily have been duped.  But what’s going on with this email . . . .is that it’s nothing more than a scam that some people have created in an effort to collect personal information from you.

If you receive an email like this asking you to “verify your account,” make sure to toss it in the trash immediately.  For more info visit: http://tinyurl.com/33tyf.

And THAT’S what’s going on!