TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

It's not uncommon to think of the VLC media player as a video player. It plays video files, DVDs, and Blu-ray disks, but it can also play internet audio, CDs, and network files. And if you need to convert video or audio from one format to another, it does that, too. In Short Circuits: The 2022 update to Adobe Illustrator has several welcome and worthwhile additions and improvements, but huge improvements to 3D functionality are the big story. • Windows 11 users will find monthly updates are faster because downloaded files are considerably smaller. In Twenty Years Ago (only on the website): I was hearing a lot of questions about whether it would be wise to upgrade to Windows 95 in 2002. I said that it depends, thus proving that some things just never change.

This week's podcast is brief, just 4 minutes long, with some year-end thoughts and a quick look at changes you'll hear starting on 7 Jan 2022.

This is one of two weeks every year that TechByter goes silent. The link is to last week's podcast.

The most accomplished software developers work hard to improve their skills. Sadly, this is also true of the best scammers. If you want to protect yourself and your data, it's important to update your skills, too. In Short Circuits: People who speak more than one language are often more mentally adept, and the best time to learn a language is during the first few years of life. So a Cleveland company working with Children's Hospital in Columbus is developing a way to give children a boost toward bilingualism in their first year. • Collaboration was big before the Covid pandemic, became more important during the past two years, and is now an essential function for many office workers. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Clippy makes a return to Windows 11, but not an an annoyance. Clippy, whose real name is Clippit, returns only as an emoji. • Electric vehicles are still a hard sell for people worried about how to charge them, but that's beginning to change. • Twenty years ago: At the end of 2001, I noted that if you wanted a top-of-the-line computer for 2002 -- one with a 2GHz CPU -- you'd probably need to spend $3000 or more.

All of the apps in Adobe's $10-per-month photo plan received updates at this year's Adobe Max conference, and time-saving artificial intelligence tools continue to lead the way. In Short Circuits: Far too many people operate computers without any defined backup system in place. This is unwise, particularly when free backup applications exist. • Although health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid cover the full cost of Covid tests, you may want the convenience of rapid in-home testing. Some organizations provide them for free, and costs are dropping if you have to pay for a kit. In Spare Parts (only on the website): According to Fakespot, more than 30% of online product reviews are phony. • People looking to stream episodes of the Netflix hit "Squid Game" often end up downloading malware instead. • Twenty years ago: I was cautiously optimistic about the future of big tech trade shows such as PC Expo. That optimism was largely misplaced.

Exposure X7 comes with several new ways to create and modify masks. Although that is clearly the most important enhancement in this version, there's lots more to like. In Short Circuits: Macros help computer users perform tasks easily and accurately, from complex activities that involve multiple applications to simply replacing what are essentially abbreviations with much longer sections of text. • The Vivaldi web browser continues to add customizations that make it even more versatile. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The old GM plant at Lordstown, Ohio, is being sold to Foxconn, the company that manufactures IPhones. The goal is still to build electric trucks there. • Adobe's most recent acquisition, Frame.io, is expected to speed the development of videos by providing cloud-based collaborative editing. • Twenty years ago: Apple announced the IPod in October and started selling them in November. Ten years later, they sold the 100 millionth device, and they're still selling IPods today.

This is one of two weeks every year that TechByter goes silent. The link is to last week's podcast.

If your computer isn't eligible for Windows 11 but you'd really like to have Windows 11, there are ways to install it on most computers that run Windows 10. Microsoft won't stop you, but they also won't help you. In Short Circuits: Because of privacy concerns, Facebook says it will no longer use facial recognition when users post photos and videos. • Scammers are sending email messages that tell people their antivirus subscriptions have been renewed for absurdly high prices. They're hoping recipients will call so they can be conned into handing over credit card information. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft's new Power Toys utility has just added a feature that helps users locate the mouse cursor. • Tesla had to push out emergency patches to about 12 thousand cars in late October after a previous update created a problem that could result in unexpected emergency braking. • Twenty years ago: Amazon and NBC had set up a system in which the TV network offered books and CDs related to their shows, and then sent viewers to Amazon. It wasn't exactly a success.

For the second year in a row, the covid pandemic transformed Adobe MAX from an exciting in-person event to an exciting virtual event. We'll take a look at some of the updates released at Max. In Short Circuits: If you think you'll never be involved in a data breach, think again. It's entirely too easy to have your information stolen even if you do nothing wrong. • A small utility called TrayStatus can display the status of certain computer settings in the Tray. That much should be obvious, but it does a lot more. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft is introducing a new and better Store for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users, and it's better for consumers -- not just for Microsoft. • Social engineering continues to be one of the most successful tools that scammers can use. Caution continues to be the primary defense. • Twenty years ago: Digital camera manufacturers were rushing to create the perfect consumer camera -- one that would create two-megapixel images and cost no more than $1000. Today you could buy a digital camera with far better resolution for less than $50.

The Windows 11 Start menu differs quite a bit in appearance from Windows 10. Those who want to manipulate Start in Windows 11 manually can use the same procedures that worked in Windows 10, but you don't have to. Windows 11 Start finally gets this operation right. In Short Circuits: Anyone who owns a Windows computer has at least one disk drive that's formatted as NTFS, but is this the right file system for other connected devices? • I'm a fan of utility applications. Recently I encountered System Ninja, which appears deceptively simple but comes with a lot of power even though it's free. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The governor of Missouri says he wants to sue the St. Louis Post-Dispatch because the newspaper alerted the state to a security problem and then printed the story. • Shoppers are worried that supply chain and delivery delays will create problems with holiday gifts this year, so some started shopping in early October. • Twenty years ago: Iomega's high-capacity backup disks were hot, but the market was about to start cooling.