WTVN Radio • Columbus, Ohio • Sunday morning from 8 until 9

Is this information useful? If so, consider
making a contribution, please.

Sunday, June 15, 2003 - from San Diego

Random thought:

CorelWORLD: Computer killer?

A couple of years ago, when I needed a notebook computer in a hurry because the aging Dell I'd planned to take with me to CorelWORLD went belly-up about 2 weeks before the event, I didn't have a lot of choice. I found a Sony Vaio notebook here in town that had the features I needed, so I bought it.

The computer came with Windows 98, but the sales rep at MicroCenter promised me that I could upgrade it to Windows XP Pro. As it turned out, that model was designed to be upgraded to Windows XP Home, which wasn't suitable for my needs. Recognizing my dilemma, Sony provided a program to "flash" the system's BIOS so that the FX240 would think it was an FX240K. That allowed me to upgrade it to Windows XP Pro.

All was fine for about a year, but the Vaio died at -- where else? -- the next CorelWORLD. Fortunately, it was after I had made my final presentation. I brought the dead computer home, shipped it off to Sony, and (because it had only a 1-year warranty and I had owned the unit for 13 or 14 months) $250 later, I found that the motherboard or the CPU had fried.

When the repaired unit returned, I took it out of the box, popped a CD in the CD-ROM/DVD player and found that the motherboard "repair" had broken the CD/DVD player. Back the unit went to Sony for yet another repair.

Eight months later, the Vaio notebook died again. The symptoms suggested that it may be another fried CPU/motherboard -- or maybe "just" the video subsystem. This time the computer was still under warranty from the previous repair (it certainly should be) and that it was repaired at no additional cost (except the cost of shipping it to Sony.)

This time it turned out to be a "bad solder connection". With another CorelWORLD fast approaching, I didn't want to trust my presentations to a computer that has died 3 times in less than 18 months. Less than 18 MONTHS! And I have to wonder about that 1-year warranty. Given Sony's "premium" market positioning, I'd expect something longer.

Forward to the past

So I found myself in the position of needing another computer before yet another CorelWORLD. This time, though, I had a couple of months instead of a couple of weeks. I gave the buying decision a little more thought. I thought all the way back to the first notebook computer I owned, a Toshiba. It ran DOS. The thing was built like a brick. Maybe better. I don't know where that computer is today, but I'm willing to bet that if I could find it, it would still be running.

I also owned a NEC notebook. Despite its fast (for the time) CPU, the thing was excruciatingly slow. And the mouse kept losing its settings. I distinctly remember being in New York City and seriously thinking about throwing the thing out a window or tossing it into the trash at LaGuardia. But then I figured that if I tossed it out a window, it would hit somebody. And if I left it in the trash, I'd be charged with violating some law against placing hazardous waste in the trash. Eventually I replaced it.

The next notebook was a Dell with a gorgeous 15-inch monitor. I really liked that computer. It's the one that died shortly before CorelWORLD 2 of years ago. Something went bad in the Registry and I had to reload Windows. I'd probably still be using that (300MHz) Dell if, after I formatted the disk, the CD reader hadn't died. I was left with a formatted disk, a DOS prompt, and no way to load Windows. Not exactly useful when you want to show PowerPoint presentations, website development, and publishing applications in use.

In fact, I still have this Dell and it gets used from time to time. When I got back from CorelWORLD 2000, bought a replacement CD reader for the Dell. Since then, that computer has had a couple of versions of Linux on the disk and it's now running Windows XP (a little slowly) and my younger daughter used it for a few weeks when her computer's network interface card was out of service. This is another "like a brick" computer.

What will I throw at CorelWORLD this year?

Well, it certainly isn't a Sony. It's not a NEC. (Is NEC even making computers these days?) The choice was between Dell and Toshiba, two brands that have served me well.

I looked at the Dell website. I looked at the Toshiba website. WiFi is in and trendy. I like wireless connectivity and Toshiba has units with Intel's new Centrino processor. That means 802.11b is built in and that looked mighty tempting. I could get the same functionality with a standard unit from Dell and a wireless card.

Then I looked at run time. With the new processor, Toshiba suggests its battery will run for 5 hours. To get that kind of performance from a Dell, with an earlier generation of processors, I'd need a second battery and at least half a dozen new muscles to carry it.

Next I compared screens. Toshiba offers a 15-inch screen with a UXGA display (1600x1200). Wow! The Toshiba S1 also comes with 3 USB 2.0 ports and drives up to 60GB. It runs Windows XP Pro and I could even get a MultiDrive that reads and writes CDs and most DVD formats.

Oh ... and Toshiba was offering 6 months same as cash.

So it's a Toshiba that I've brought to CorelWORLD this year. Wish me luck.

Beware of spies in the Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain started out as a hobby by a couple of people who liked the idea of allowing people to send e-cards. It grew so large that American Greetings bought the rights. Then they started charging. The fee is reasonable -- less than $20 per year for all the cards you want to send. But now there's a catch.

I was on-line with Blue Mountain to send a Mother's Day card and an advertisement popped up on top of my screen. I closed it.

Then an offer from Gator popped up. It offered to install a service that would make sure my computer's clock is always current. I already have an application installed that does that and if Gator happened to be the only service in the world that offered clock synchronization, I wouldn't use it. I don't care for spy-ware.

I don't mind paying Blue Mountain (American Greetings) for the use of the service, but I am outraged that they subject me to ads and other crap. But then I took a look at the "revised" privacy statement. Among other things, Blue Mountain (American Greetings) says:

"At Blue Mountain, protecting our users' privacy and security is a top priority."

"We use third-party advertising companies to serve our ads on the Internet. These third-party advertising companies employ cookie and Clear Gif technology (aka 1x1 Pixel .gifs, Web bugs) to measure and improve the effectiveness of ads for their clients."

"If you want to prevent a third-party advertiser from setting and/or reading cookies on your computer, currently you may either visit each ad network's web site individually and opt out ...."

They don't mention it, but you can also use an application like AdSubtract.

"If you use our web site to send an online greeting or any other content, we collect your e-mail address and your recipient's e-mail address. This information is necessary to send the content and provide confirmation that it has been received. We will not use your recipient's e-mail address for any purpose other than to send the greeting. We may also use your e-mail address to contact you if you have chosen to receive communications from Blue Mountain or its Partners.

"Additional data may be collected from Members based upon certain services they elect to utilize on our web site. For example, we may track the categories of greetings you send in order to make appropriate recommendations for products or services available on our site or those of our Business Partners.

"Blue Mountain may also use information about you to target advertising while you are visiting our site. For example, we may serve ads from toy companies to users searching the Kids Birthday Greeting pages."

That's reasonable enough. Sending a card always generates an offer for a gift. Matching the gift to the event makes sense.

"Blue Mountain is part of the AmericanGreetings.com, Inc. family of companies. Its affiliates include AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings.com, BeatGreets.com, and SpecialSomeone.com. Blue Mountain reserves the right to share your personally identifiable information with those companies, including your e-mail, postal address, phone number, and purchase history. We may use that information to conduct joint promotions, offer you special premiums, and to share databases and equipment. We also reserve the right to share your personal information with other companies that AG may subsequently acquire. We will only share your credit card information among our affiliates if you expressly give us permission to do so."

American Greetings can harvest any information about me. That's fine, but I'm not so sure that I like the idea that they can share any information they have about me with any company that they may subsequently purchase. This gives them unlimited rights. Where's the fairness in that?

It would be one thing if Blue Mountain was a free service, but when I start paying to use the service, then this kind of nonsense should stop.

"In the event that Blue Mountain and/or its units or subsidiaries are ever sold, acquired, merged, liquidated, reorganized, or otherwise transferred, we reserve the right to transfer our user databases together with any personally identifiable information contained therein, to a third-party acquiring Blue Mountain's assets. In the event we do so, we will place a prominent notice of the sale on the homepage of our site, with links to information as to how you can change your privacy preferences."

Better yet -- when my annual subscription with Blue Mountain expires, I can simply not renew it.

Digital camera preview

Nikon has loaned me a D100, the first true digital SLR from Nikon for under $2000 and I'm really angry. This camera fits my hand, works the way I work, does everything I could hope a digital camera might do (and then some). This makes me exquisitely angry. Why? Because I have to return it to Nikon. I will miss it.

There won't be time on this week's program to talk much about this camera, but it's been a delight to use. I first got to hold a D100 briefly when I visited B&H Photo and Video just before Christmas last year. Yossi Fogel asked if I'd seen the camera yet. When I said I'd seen it only in Nikon ads, he walked over to the sales counter, picked up a D100 and handed it to me. I didn't even have to look at the camera. The controls were all where they were supposed to be. I lifted the camera to my eye, composed an image, and pressed the shutter.

What happened next was amazing: The camera took a picture. Instantly. There was no "digital delay", something that most of us who use digital cameras have come to expect. This delay is no big deal if you're taking tourist snapshots of the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyon -- they don't move around much. But if you're trying to capture a fleeting expression, a sporting event, or a wedding, the delay can be the difference between an outstanding image and an unusable image.

That's a sneak preview of an upcoming program.

Nerdly News

Bugs be gone!

E-mail messages can be tracked. This is done by including a reference to a 1-pixel image. When the user opens the e-mail message, the viewing application requests the image from a website server and the person who sent the e-mail knows that it has been opened. If you're a legitimate advertiser who's using e-mail to communicate with customers, this information can be helpful -- much the same way radio and television ratings are useful.

Those who are deeply concerned about privacy issues, though, see danger here. In addition, these little "Web bugs", as they're called, are used by spammers. No surprise there. Spammers have perverted every legitimate means of communication on the Internet.

Microsoft's next version of Outlook (and the current version of Outlook Express) will both allow users to block the Web bugs.

An extra closet for your computer

Too much data? Danish manufacturer Googie offers external hard drives starting at 80GB for under $300 to 250GB at about $600. Need more space than that? The company has a 3000GB disk drive for about $7000.

Yes, you can order it now -- see http://www.googiestore.com/ -- and let me know when you fill it.

Let us know what you think about this program! Write to:
Bill Blinn --
(wtvn@blinn.com still works)
Joe Bradley --

Joe
(Photo by Sally)

Bill
(Photo by Scampi)

Privacy Guarantee:

I HATE SPAM and will not sell, rent, loan, auction, trade, or do anything else with your e-mail address. Period.

This is the only ad you'll ever see on this site. It's for my website host, BlueHost in Orem, Utah. Over the past several years, they have proven to be honest, reliable, and progressive. If you need to host a website, please click the banner below to see what BlueHost has to offer.

TechByter Worldwide receives a small advertising payment for each new client that signs up with BlueHost but I would make the same recommendation even if the affiliate program didn't exist. (If you don't see a banner ad above and you would like to know more, this link takes you to BlueHost.)

As if you didn't already get enough weather on the radio!

If you do not see a Weather Underground banner above and you use ad-blocking software, please set your application to allow images from "www.wunderground.com" to appear.

Annoying legal disclaimer
My attorney says I really need to say this: The Technology Corner website is for informational purposes only. Neither Joe nor I assume any responsibility for its accuracy, although we do our best. The information is subject to change without notice. Any actions you take based on information from the radio program or from this website are entirely at your own risk. Products and services are mentioned for informational purposes only and their various trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Technology Corner cannot provide technical support for products or services mentioned on the air or on the website.