Technology Blogs (216)

If you wanna be a power user, you shouldn't deny the usefulness of hotkeys. They improve your everyday work and give an absolute boost in your productivity. These hotkey combinations will certainly come in handy for every Windows and OS X user!

Create a virtual desktop 0:46
Switch between virtual desktops 1:24
Return to the desktop from apps 2:15
Open an app from the taskbar 3:04
Split-screen between two apps 3:50
Switch apps 4:24
Program management and troubleshooting 5:27
Open File Explorer 6:17
Use the Magnifier 6:48
Take screenshots 7:41
Use Action Center 8:24
Access the Settings 9:02
Talk to Cortana or Siri 9:22
Use the Windows Game Bar 10:02
Lock down your PC 11:20

I remember the old style pay phones and maybe you do too.
They had a coin slot at the top and it was ten cents to make a local call.
This was more than 40 years before they invented caller ID.
Doing so, made it easy to be in informant of illegal activity and not having the call traced.
A simple call to the Police to let them know of some suspicious activity and hang up.
That's where the term 'Drop a Dime' came from.

Pay phones have become a thing of the past.
Hopefully, no one reading my blog has money in a pay phone company.
I knew of a guy was was on the front technology for phone cards that offered low cost long distance service. That lasted a generation and all the competition made rich men poor men if they didn't get out when 'everyone and their grandmother' was selling phone cards.

Soon after, low price cellphone plans put the 'kibosh' on calling cards.



I still see pay phones everywhere I go.
Unfortunately, if I didn't have a cellphone, it would be a long walk to find a pay phone that actually worked!

For years, I had a personal website that I used to display photos and drawings of my work. They raised the price a few times while other sites were lowering theirs. For years I put this off. It's time... more than. I switched to another hosting company last night and by paying for 3 years, I was able to do it for around 75% less than my yearly rate with the other host.
I backed up the menu, data and HTML codes, unlocked the site to capture a code needed by the new host so they can transfer the domain name.
Tech support said to check back in a few days to confirm the transfer went through so I can upload my website at a new host.
The entire event should take an hour here and an hour there and maybe a few more hours to add some updated photos.

Like most hosts, they have 'site builder' software that should make the job go quicker. It's been years since I built a website.

Houston, we've got a problem. Could be a glitch. I'm working from my cellphone right now and parts of the website aren't working correctly.

On April 10, 1790 the federal government of the United States enacted the fist patent statute. It was a concise law defining the subject matter of a U.S. patent as "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement there on not known or used. It granted the applicant 'sole and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing and vending to others to be used' of his inventions.
Simply put... if you invented something unique and had it patented, no one could legally copy, sell or infringe on your patent rights.

History records inventor Thomas A. Edison had a few thousand patents to his credit. You can also find that many claim some of his patents were stolen from his workers and colleagues. That's the case with many scientists and engineers who work for large corporations and are required to sign contracts, especially ones with non-compete agreements.

I met a man who claimed to have been working for General Electric and invented the rheostat... it's common name was a light dimmer. They got the patent, he got a paycheck.

Someone told me a story of the the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper control. He went around to a few car manufacturers looking for someone to buy his idea. He couldn't afford the patent. None of them showed any interest and a few months later, one manufacturer had a similar yet improved device was added to their newest model.

Jonas Salk was a medical researcher who discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines in 1953. He never patented his discovery believing, like the sun, a vaccine for polio belonged to the people.

Some 200 years of patents and long ago it was recorded by one of the clerks in the patent office, that everything that could be patented already was!

I could see he was a man of vision... less than two feet from his nose.

I've always been impressed with some of the more simple inventions...
Amazed how the 2 liter bottle that Coke-a-Cola is made and more impressed who designed the slots on the threads so a pressurized cap doesn't harm someone when when unscrew it!

.....they highlight in unusual colors, but won't open. Rest of CS seems OK. Must be what the CS big house looks like. Well, who deserves it more than I? I'll be careful never to bend over to pick up soap in the open pod showers. Adios, friends.

There are few public parks with model aircraft flying sites provided by Palm Beach County - Parks & Recreation where people go to visit and fly airplanes, helicopters and drones.

One problem is many are within 50 miles of president Trump's Mar-a-Lago retreat and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has banned all model aircraft on days when he's in town.

I believe the normal restrictions are 400 feet maximum altitude and no flying within 5 miles of a commercial airport.

So any Palm Beach modellers who only fly weekends and holidays get shut down when the president is at Mar-a-Lago on those days.

Happy flying... !

I am quite thankful for the real ones I get. But many come in without photos, and in black and white, and never seem to really exist. Not being a cyber hero, can't figure it all out. But seem like scammers.

I try to backup my cellphone to a computer once a month. Since it's running an Android O/S on a Samsung, gmail handles all my contacts, data and apps. If my phone were lost/stolen most of the data can be restored. The exception is if the thief decides to crack the phone and delete my information. That's reason enough to have a copy on my personal computer where I can restore the image via USB connection.

The one thing I wasn't backing up is the 128gig SD memory card and more than 4,000 photos, documents and videos. Many of my photos are work related and in separate folders. I was copying them to a computer folder by folder. When I hit the camera folder, Windows took a long time to calculate the time required to copy to the hard drive. It then reported some crazy 20+ hours to do it. Ahhh... okay, let it happen. I'm in no hurry. Anyway Those time reports aren't accurate. It did take about 2 hours to copy all the information I needed to save.
Halfway through all this, I realized I could have turned the phone off, removed the SD memory, plugged it into an adapter and directly connected it to the computer. That speed increase is easily 10 times faster than the cable method.

well... duh!! That's what I'll do the next time I do a backup.

SAMSUNG is to start work on the first ever smart TV that can be controlled by the user's mind, according to reports.

The software will allow people to change channels and the volume using only their brain.



Samsung are to start testing first smart TVs that can be controlled by your mind, according to reportsSamsung says it is developing the technology with the help of a team in Switzerland to help those with disabilities.

The research, called Project Pontis, wants to enable "users with physical limitations to change channels and adjust sound volume with their brains".

Brain-monitoring sensors and eye-tracking hardware are currently used to identify what selections the individual intends to make.

But they hope to make so advanced it will be able to work on brain commands alone.

That means you’d only need to think about changing the volume for it to happen.

The company predicts new prototype testing in early 2019 and there is not any suggestion it would be commercially available product.

It is currently aimed at specifically helping those with severe disabilities.