Windows 8 Hotmail integration succeeds where Gmail fails

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Stephen Pate

By integrating all your email accounts into one web client, Hotmail or Windows Mail makes managing email easy

Only Microsoft Office and Windows Live mail can combine all your mail accounts into one client and even one data file.

Download the Consumer Preview of Windows 8

Windows Live as a Microsoft brand will disappear when Windows 8 ships. Windows 8 Mail is a better product that integrates more smoothly with the operating system. Windows 8 will bring many new features for users that make it an upgrade to own.
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Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon and RIM sign privacy accord

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Stephen Pate

In step with President Obama, the California Attorney General reaches signed agreement on consumer privacy

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris signs accord with major IT companies (photo Government of California)

Aquilium Group – Within hours of President Obama’s announcement of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, the State Attorney General of California, Kamala D. Harris, announced an accord to protect consumers’ privacy. (Related: Internet Privacy Gets White House Attention)

Signing on the accord negotiated with the Federal Department of Justice were Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, RIM and HP. The agreement also includes major mobile service providers and is global in scope.

“Attorney General Harris forged the agreement with six companies whose platforms comprise the majority of the mobile apps market: Amazon, Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Research In Motion,” said the press release from Harris’ office. “These platforms have agreed to privacy principles designed to bring the industry in line with a California law requiring mobile apps that collect personal information to have a privacy policy. The majority of mobile apps sold today do not contain a privacy policy.” Continue reading →

Internet Privacy Gets White House Attention

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Stephen Pate

President Obama to announce new regulations to control online use of personal privacy

President Barack Obama (White House photo)

Aquilium Group – The White House will announce today new sweeping regulations and seek Congressional approval of statutory authorities over the online privacy of consumers.
A paper was issued today signaling the President’s intentions entitled Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in a Global Digital Economy. Continue reading →

DNT+ takes back your online privacy for free

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Free IE or Firefox plugin blocks advertising tracking site

DNT+, short for Do Not Track, is free browser plugin that stops advertising and online behavioral sites from tracking your every move on the web.

The software is from Abine The Online Privacy Company. You can download it free. If you use several browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer 9, visit the site with each browser and a browser specific version is downloaded and installed. Continue reading →

Facebook may not erase photographs

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Facebook’s delay in erasing photos deleted by users is ongoing privacy issue

Burning those old Facebook photos (photo Ars Technica)

Users who delete their Facebook accounts have found their photographs still on the internet years later. The proper procedure is to manually delete each photograph or other post to your wall before you delete your account.

Privacy experts and users say Facebook has no timely mechanism to remove photographs and other private material from its servers.

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Google Chrome breaks computers again

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Installing Chrome browser with MS Office breaks the hyperlink feature

Sneak attack on MS Office and LiveMail

Google Earth comes automatically with Google Chrome browser. Installing Chrome on a Windows 7 computer which has either MS Office or Windows LiveMail will break the hyperlink feature.

Hyperlink allows to you to click on a link in a document and automatically go to the internet page in the link.

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Samsung’s Transparent Galaxy Tab will kill iPad

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Transparent and shape-able screens from Samsung will define the next technological advance

In 2013 Samsung will upset the tablet market with a transparent and potentially bendable hand held device. A transparent tablet is right out of Minority Report and Tron Legacy and will have a much higher cool factor than the iPad 3, 4 or 5.

Only a few months ago, pundits were predicting no one could unseat Apple’s near total dominance with the iPad. Those days are over for Apple.
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The future of music is the iPad and HTML5

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Stephen Pate

Roger McNamee says in the bold new world, Microsoft and Google are on the way out as mobile devices dominate computing’s and music’s future

This is the short version of Roger McNamee’s of Elevation Partners presentation to Paley Media Centre that focuses on where the money is in the music business.

Download the Consumer Preview of Windows 8

The whole presentation, about 52 minutes, is a concise explanation of the inflection point in computing and creative content. According to McNamee and it seems probable, more people will be accessing the internet from mobile devices than desktops, breaking the monopoly that Microsoft and Google have created.
Continue reading →

Google Chrome breaks Office 2010

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Stephen Pate

Office 2010 Service Pack may include compatibility but look before you leap

Users of Microsoft Office 2010 are still warned to be careful installing the Google Chrome browser since it disables some of the important features in Outlook and Word.

Among other things, linking an internet address from an email or document stops working in some cases after Chrome is installed. Continue reading →

How to manage cables on the cheap

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Stephen Pate

Low cost PVC pipe cable management behind computer recording workstation (starting from top, left to right: near field monitors with LCD monitors (center), power supply, preamp, monitor switch, AD/DA converter, power supply, vocal channel preamp.

PVC drainage pipe can make a handy cable management system

After living with a spaghetti jungle of wires behind my computer recording workstation I found a great, low-cost solution using Google. Total cost outlay was less than $20 at Home Depot.

There are hundreds of suggestions for managing those cables but none seemed as sensible or low cost as 4″ drainage pipe cut in half. Continue reading →

Internet Explorer 9 wins speed race then stumbles

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Stephen Pate

Actual use of Internet Explorer 9 can be a painful experience while Firefox 4 is smooth

Microsoft Internet Explorer has beaten off its competitors in a series of speed tests but it can be annoyingly slow and clumsy in use.

As the updated chart shows, Internet Explorer 9 is the fastest browser, beating Firefox 4, Safari 5 and the latest Chrome beta. (Thanks to Craig for the Chrome tests since I don’t have the browser).

Tests are not the real world of living on the internet for hours at a time.

Internet Explorer 9 also has some real world improvements such as Pinned Sites which allows you to create Windows 7 Task Bar icons for your favourite sites. I used that for several weeks and loved it. Continue reading →