Category: Computers & Networking

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Software Review – Ninite Install and Update All Your Programs at Once

Ninite is one of my favorite software packages of all time. Working in the IT field, my friends and neighbors are constantly asking me to fix, repair and upgrade their home computers. I guess you can call it an occupational hazard. If you have ever rebuilt a PC before you know that its not an overly difficult task, but it is time consuming installing software package after software package.

This is where Ninite.com comes in.

A quick visit to their home page will reveal the most popular open source and free applications for your PC. Everything from 7-zip and iTunes to VLC Media player and Java.  Simply check off each application that you would like installed on your workstation and then click the “Get Your Ninite” button to begin the download and install.

Yes, it’s that simple! The software will start working as soon as its run, automatically selecting all the default options for each application and install in the default folder.  While the install is running, sit back and relax. The software does all its work in the background and will not ask to reboot. Continue reading “Software Review – Ninite Install and Update All Your Programs at Once”

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Amazon adds a screen to Alexa – Calling it Echo Show

I guess this is the natural evolution for the Alexa digital assistant. Poor Alexa has been trapped in that cylinder all these years. Now with the latest version from Amazon, the Echo Show can see you and “show” you things. I have had the original Amazon Echo from day one. My family and I have found it very useful, weather we use her for homework help or to get the scores of the New York Ranger game or just to simply play Jeopardy.

Check out the new Echo Show At Amazon

What can Alexa Show – “Show You?”

The most interesting new feature is the access to video and voice calling. Basically this is a face time clone, however it takes it one step further with the new “Drop In” feature. This new feature is designed to auto accept a call  giving you a 10-second window to reject. I can see this being useful if you want to check in on an elderly  family member, or check in on the kids after school. Continue reading “Amazon adds a screen to Alexa – Calling it Echo Show”

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Build Your Own Google Home Assistant – Google AIY & Raspberry Pi

As a huge fan of the Raspberry Pi, I’m always looking for cool new projects to try. Google had released a free hardware kit with Issue 57 of the MagPi magazine. The kit included a Pi Voice Hat, a microphone board, speaker, a “traditional google” card board case and various bits to put it all together. Apparently this is Google’s answer the Raspberry Pi Amazon Echo that was released last year.

If you were lucky enough to get your hands on the kit, I hope you put it to good use. They were in limited supply and are sold out at this point. Maybe they will make another run and sell them in the Google store?

If you still want to try this project with out the kit you can! Google has published instructions.

Supplies you will need

 

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and power supply

Continue reading “Build Your Own Google Home Assistant – Google AIY & Raspberry Pi”

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Tell The FCC to Save Net Neutrality – Watch this John Oliver video.

If you watched John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on HBO this past Sunday you would have seen his amazing rant about the proposed changes to FCC rules regarding how they classify Internet Service Providers. In a nut shell if FCC rolls back the Obama era legislation the ISP’s will no longer have to follow any Net Neutrality rules.

Watch this video –

Be sure to visit the page GOFCCYOURSELF.COM

What exactly is “Net Neutrality”

Continue reading “Tell The FCC to Save Net Neutrality – Watch this John Oliver video.”

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YouTube will have a new look soon – try DARK MODE before its officially released.

Do you remember the beginning when YouTube was  just born? It was 12 years ago when the world started posting silly cat videos and our daily lives online.

Coming soon YouTube will be updating and simplifying  its design. They have adopted a similar design that is normally associated with Google and Android.

Try out a fresh look for YouTube

“This new desktop design highlights your favorite videos and creators while making YouTube easier and more fun to use. We’re still working on it, but we can’t wait for you to try it out and let us know what you think!”

According to YouTube’s web site the new design will feature:

  • A clean design
  • New Dark Theme to reduce glare
  • A new faster framework, to allow quick development of new features
Dark Mode Preview

Its available right now as a pre-release for you to try here. Keep in mind it has not been officially launched yet, so there may still be some missing features and bug.

 

Thank you for reading my blog,
Joe

 

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How to make a Nintendo NES controller USB flash drive.

This is a fun project that takes an old Nintendo NES controller and converts it into a cool USB drive that your friends will envy.

Time to build: 1 hours
Skill Level: Easy

Supplies:

A classic NES controller. Can be found on EBAY or at the bottom of your closet or in the basement.

 

Any USB drive extracted from its case. I used a 16gb drive for this project.

 

A USB extension cable. I found this one laying around the shop.

 

Continue reading “How to make a Nintendo NES controller USB flash drive.”

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Shining light on the Deep Dark Web! How Tor can keep your online identity private.

Last week I wrote a post about Internet privacy. Basically I covered how the repeal of the Internet privacy act was simply allowing your ISP to continue to collect information regarding your Internet usage. The law was never enacted so its still business as usual for the service providers. I had suggested the use of a VPN to help protect you from prying eyes.

Previous Post: Internet Privacy Should I Care?

Today I am going to give you one more weapon to protect your surfing life style. You may have heard the term “Dark Web” or “Deep Web” on TV. Silly prime time network dramas make it sound like a hang out for hacker gangs and hit men for higher but for the most part its not. The Tor project as it is officially know is your answer to Internet privacy.

  What exactly is the Tor project?

Continue reading “Shining light on the Deep Dark Web! How Tor can keep your online identity private.”

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Take a trip down memory lane with the Internet Archive and a working MacOS System 7.0.1

I remember joining the school news paper publication and was introduced to the Macintosh and MacOS  for the first time. Up until that point I had used my Commodore 64 and IBM Compatible 386 for all my computing and gaming needs. To a teenager that loved computers the whole 90’s era felt like the Wild West.

Back to the future with emulation:

The Internet Archive has been around quite a long time with their Wayback Machine. This Internet marvel has been saving copies of web pages to be archived for all time. Who knows maybe some day this blog will be archived for future generations to enjoy.

One thing I didn’t realize was they were also archiving entire operating systems that could be launched and run in a browser.I found this beauty while rummaging through the archive the other day. Its a fully operational MacOS_7.0.1

Continue reading “Take a trip down memory lane with the Internet Archive and a working MacOS System 7.0.1”

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Internet Privacy – Should you care? Is VPN the answer?

There is no simple answer to the Internet privacy solution, but lately the news media has been kicking up a storm regarding the repeal of the Obama era privacy laws.

Lets take a look at what is going on in the realm of Internet privacy and I will give you some good options to protect yourself if you deem it necessary.

How many people did you say?

You are just 1 of 3,200,000,000. Yes you read that correctly there are over 3.2 billion people on the Internet across the entire world. You are just one bit in the world of terabytes upon terabytes of people. Does any one marketer care about you specifically, not exactly.  Most of the time your ISP and other Internet companies are compiling data in batches to analyze trends. Maybe count the number of Netflix subscribers, or the number of YouTube videos watched. However more recently we have been seeing increasingly targeted  campaigns at specific groups users. Is this a breach of your privacy?

Was the Obama law repealed?

Yes and no. The new FCC rules would have given consumers greater control over what their internet service provider can do with their data by requiring them to get permission from customers before using their information to create targeted advertisements. However, the rules were never in effect. So basically we repealed a law that never happened anyway. Its business as usual. The controversy of the law stems from different standards for the ISP (like Verizon, Comcast, Cox, Spectrum etc) and other websites like Google and Facebook. In other words the law would force the Verizon and others to obtain consumer permissions to track and sites like Google would not need consent giving them an unfair advantage. Continue reading “Internet Privacy – Should you care? Is VPN the answer?”

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6 Simple tips to AVOID email phishing scams!

Recently a colleague at my day job fell for a scam email that appeared to be from PayPal. She clicked and entered all the info they requested and at the very end realized she had been taken for a ride. This post will cover some of the things you can look for to help identify a scam “phishing email” .Many of you are able to identify a phishing email in seconds, but if I can help one person identify a scam its worth the effort to write this post.

1. English as a second language

A good portion of attacks originate in non-English speaking countries. The hackers generate a phishing email that may be grammatically correct in their language, however when translated using google translate some of the message is lost in translation.

Continue reading “6 Simple tips to AVOID email phishing scams!”

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