CyberCoyote - October 26, 2006

NEWS, NOTES and NOTICES

*First Meeting of the Season*
Time and place: 2:00pm on Thursday, Nov. 2nd in NC-2. Our season starts with an AZacc presentation by Bill Davis, a video editing specialist. Bill will present information on editing techniques, and give examples from the START EDITING NOW! Workshop Series video clips to demonstrate concepts.

There's usually an *opportunity* to spend money at these events. Looks as if that's the case here. :-) You may want to bring enough money, or make sure you don't bring any -- your choice. ;-) Marcia and I will be driving to HT as you read this. I fervently hope I'll be at the meeting. :-)
http://www.azacc.org/Speakers/2006_11%20Speaker.htm

*Discounts, offers and good information*
Available as a benefit of HTCC's membership in the AZ Alliance of Computer Clubs. Go take a look at the website. [Click "Benefits", then "User Group Discounts"]
http://www.azacc.org/

TIPS and TOPICS

*Laptop battery recall*
There's a massive recall of Lithium-ion laptop batteries. They're made by Sony, but used in most laptops. A small amount of contamination during manufacture can cause a runaway internal discharge that causes the battery to catch fire or explode. (Ordinary Lithium batteries, like the small CMOS battery in your computer, don't have the same problem.)

Here's what you can do for any laptop: 1) Never use a charger not specifically designed for your laptop. 2) Keep your laptop cool, for example, not in a hot automobile. 3) Don't keep it plugged in when you're not using it. 5) Remove the battery if you use it for long periods while it's plugged in. 6) Consider getting a laptop cooler.
http://cybercoyote.org/url/221.html -- recall
http://www.google.com/search?q=laptop+notebook+cooling -- coolers

*More content in the HTCC Blog*
I used to blog several years ago, but stopped after a while. Now I've found new interest in it. Some of, but not all the HTCC Blog content will end up in the CyberCoyote newsletter too. You won't know what you're missing unless you subscribe to the web feed. There's also always an item in the web feed announcing each new issue of CyberCoyote. You wouldn't need to subscribe by email any longer. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/news/blog.html -- see the blog itself
http://cybercoyote.org/news/rss.shtml -- subscribe to the web feed

COMPUTING

*Don't try this at home*
See what goes on inside a hard drive when it's being used. [best with broadband]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eMWG3fwiEU&eurl=

*Automated online backups*
Michael Arrington, in "TechCrunch", writes about automated online backups. "As the PC becomes the center of our digital lives, having backups of email, photos, videos and music becomes increasingly important. Solutions like Foldershare and USB hard drives help with the problem, but what consumers really need is a dead simple service that backs up your entire hard drive to the Internet regularly."
http://cybercoyote.org/url/216.html -- article
http://cybercoyote.org/computer/backup.shtml#online -- more
http://www.truecrypt.org/ -- make sure your data is secure online

INTERNET

*New version of Internet Explorer*
Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 7.0 after 5 long years. They finally brought tabbed browsing and better security to IE. They've also added some nice features with IE7.
http://cybercoyote.org/url/224.html -- announcement
http://cybercoyote.org/url/225.html -- installation advice
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/ie7.asp -- review and guide

Mozilla is not far behind. They will likely release Firefox 2.0 in November. Both browsers are a rebuild from the bottom up.

*Google cheat sheet*
Google gives you dozens of useful ways to have fun on the Internet, but it's not always easy to find them or get back to one you like. Well, now there's a webpage that has it all. It's not an official page, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something like it someday.
http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm

ECLECTIC

*My son wants to... | alexbarnett.net blog*
http://cybercoyote.org/url/223.html

*Moonwalk*
Turns out that Neil Armstrong said it right. I knew it all along. :-)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5398560.stm
http://www.popandlock.com/html/moonwalk.html -- how to

*Park your Peugeot*
Use left and right arrows to steer, up and down arrows to move. [warning: time waster :-) ]
http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf