CyberCoyote - October, 2006

NOTES and NOTICES

Read the latest Smart Computing Newsletter online.
http://cybercoyote.org/articles/smart.shtml
http://cybercoyote.org/club/smart.shtml -- about Smart Computing

Acoustica sent some software offers that might interest you.
http://cybercoyote.org/news/06-oct-x1.shtml

From AZaac: 260+ user groupies (pun intended), primarily from AZ and CA, converged on San Diego in August for the Southwest User Group Conference. Were any of you there? I didn't think so, but we do have consolation prizes. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/news/06-oct-x2.html

TIPS and TOPICS

"Folder Guide" is a superb utility for navigating in Windows Explorer. It also works just as well in file dialog boxes -- the ones that pop up when you click "Open", "Save As" "Browse", etc. It can cut your clicking by 80%.
http://cybercoyote.org/url/218.html

If you'd like to edit your photos with Photoshop, but want to do it for free, give "Paint.NET" a try. It is powerful and easy to use (as photo editors go). Unless you already have Microsoft ".Net" installed Paint.NET a huge download, but even that's not too bad with broadband.
http://www.getpaint.net/

"Internet Explorer 7 looms — be prepared" | Windows Secrets
I've been running IE7 - RC1 (Release Candidate 1) for a month or so with no problems, but not everyone will be as lucky as me. You may want to look at Woody's advice before you leap. He hadn't written about it before I leaped. :-)
http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060914/#story1

WINDOWS

Microsoft Watch | "The Vista Coupons Are Coming"
(Otherwise, who'd buy a new computer with Windows XP on it at this late date?)
http://cybercoyote.org/url/204.html

Wonder what's taking so long when Windows XP boots up? "UNKNOWNREFERENCE" has a blow-by-blow description (don't be put off by the garish page design).
http://cybercoyote.org/url/189.html

SECURITY

Voice Phishing: A new dimension in con games
http://www.websense.com/securitylabs/alerts/alert.php?AlertID=534

"Ten Top Tips For Protecting Yourself At Hot Spots"
http://www.desktoppipeline.com/189600887?cid=rssfeed_pl_dtp

INTERNET

"I want to download the Internets. Do I need a bigger hard drive?" That's a blend of two old jokes, but just what would it take? First the data: Google now has the bulk of the (public) Internet stored in it's "BigTable". In raw data, it amounts to some 850 terabytes (TB), or 850,000 gigabytes (GB).

Let's do the math. Hard drives are huge these days. You can easily store 900 GB on one ordinary PC by installing two (really) big hard drives. Therefore, 1,000 of those PCs would hold the "Internets".

Most of that data from the Internet is very compressible though (think *.zip files) so the Internets would actually fit on 100 of them (or on about 1,200 ordinary ones, each having a 80 GB hard drive).
http://cybercoyote.org/url/215.html -- the rest of the story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internets_%28colloquialism%29 -- Internets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terabyte -- definition

ECLECTIC

"Dealers wanted for 1932 Ford Roadster" | I Go Cars
http://cybercoyote.org/url/217.html -- the news
http://www.b2designgroup.com/ -- the car

"Color: Meaning, Symbolism & Psychology" | Squidoo
http://www.squidoo.com/colorexpert/

"Anticrepuscular Rays Over Florida" | APOD
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060917.html

Putting things in perspective.
http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm