TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

I always enjoy working with individual developers who create small, specialized utility applications. Nir Sofer is one of these people. He has created more than 100 utilities, and this week I'll tell you about five that I consider to be quite useful. In Short Circuits: Have you put off upgrading some of the major hardware components in your computer because you fear it will invalidate the Windows 10 license? Performing a few steps in advance will eliminate that concern. • Google will ship a new Chromecast device before the end of the year. It's priced well, comes with a remote control, and even offers an on-screen menu. In Spare Parts (only on the website): People are using on-line payment systems more because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but concerns about being victimized online are inching up. • Schools in low-income areas are hard pressed to provide quality classes online, and that's probably not a big surprise. • Twenty years ago: Bill Gates was discounting the need for classrooms in third-world nations to be wired for computer access.

The 2021 version of Adobe Photoshop introduces a series of splashy new artificial intelligence features and a variety of other useful capabilities. In Short Circuits: Mozilla has created a virtual reality conferencing system called Hubs. It's not Zoom, and it's not intended to be. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Sales of robotic devices continue to increase by more than 20% year over year. • Graphic artists, photographers, and designers have reacted to 2020 by placing increased emphasis on the pandemic and social issues. • Twenty years ago: Email client Eudora had introduced "Mood Watch" to help users avoid aggressive language in their messages. Yeah. Good luck with that.

TechSmith's SnagIt has one new feature for 2021 that justifies the cost of the update all by itself, but that feature is not alone. In Short Circuits: The annual Adobe Max conference attracted half a million attendees this year instead of the usual 15 thousand or so. • Most of us wish smart phones cost less, but we're willing to go into debt for them because they're considered essential by so many. How about some tips for saving money? In Spare Parts (only on the website): A free 47-page ebook by Wells Fargo Financial Advisors can help safeguard your computer and your finances. I have the download link. • The feds have filed suit against Google, complaining about monopolistic practices. • Twenty years ago: Xerox was in the process of spinning off the legendary Palo Alto Research Center, the organization that invented much of modern computing.

Some people like to replace their computer with a new model around the end of the year, and because the end of the year is approaching, this might might be a good time to think about how to save money on the deal. In Short Circuits: Ad blocker plugs-ins for browsers can be handy, but there's another option that uses a file that dates all the way back to the first networked computers. • Ebook organizer and reader Calibre has been updated to version 5. Although relatively weak as a reader, Calibre is the best organizer you'll find. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Is Microsoft thinking about switching to Linux? There's been some speculation about that lately. • Looking for a really cheap computer? There's the Compute Stick from Intel, but be sure to consider its limitations before buying. • Twenty years ago: Adobe was beginning a concerted effort to develop applications for home users, not just graphics professionals. The effort seems to have paid off.

Big data and artificial intelligence offer a lot of promise, but there are also formidable challenges. Unless proved otherwise, perhaps we should consider these technologies dangerous, or at least potentially hostile. In Short Circuits: The Windows 10 October 2020 update is coming. It's available now only to those in the Windows Insider program, but it won't be long until it's pushed out to all users. It's a small update. • Support for Office 2010 ended on 13 October 2020. If you're thinking this is no big deal, think again. The end of support means the end of security updates and bug fixes. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Sometimes I get the crazy idea that there are scammers who intentionally create email messages with so many errors that no sentient human would fall for them. Why? There's no logical reason. • If you use Zoom or any other meeting application that supports background substitution, Tech Republic has some Halloween images you might like. • Twenty years ago: Security concerns in 2000 were not substantially different from what they are today. The players have changed, but many of the rules remain the same.

Sometimes a magic wand can be handy. Like when you need to use a computer that isn't yours and you don't want to leave any data behind. In Short Circuits: All operating systems have a couple of useful utilities that can show where a problem is when you can't reach a website or any other device with an IP address. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Google Maps has a new layer that might be on your phone, but not all phones have the COVID-19 information layer yet. • Facebook continues to shut down fraudulent accounts. • Twenty years ago: Remember SCSI drives? That's an acronym for small computer system interface, not an opinion about the quality of the drive.

Zoom Meetings has become almost the de facto standard for business meetings, conferences, webinars, and even screen sharing. It's all just talking heads, though. This is a problem that can be resolved by using PowerPoint. Carefully. In Short Circuits: If you have an application on your computer that forces you to right-click the icon and specify that it should run as Administrator, there's a way to eliminate that problem forever, and it takes only a few moments. • Microsoft has been adding functions to what used to be Office 365 - now called Microsoft 365 - features that can help students make better progress in reading, writing, math, and communications. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Photographers have a love-hate relationship with stock photography, and so do project managers. Adobe's bi-annual report on the state of stock photography has just been released. • If the Microsoft segment this week didn't convince you that education tools are a big thing this year, a report from App Annie might do it. • Twenty years ago: I may have been amazed by how much memory could be placed in a small package in 2000, but today there's lots more memory in even smaller containers.

Have you ever turned your computer on and found that your carefully organized Desktop icons are all over the screen? If the location of Desktop icons is important to you, there's a way to glue them in place. In Short Circuits: Tablet and convertible computer users often close applications without intending to. There's a way to fix this, but it's not as easy as it should be. • If you're a Facebook user, you probably have the new interface by now. If not, it won't be long, and there's no way to go back to the old system. Or is there? In Spare Parts (only on the website): Maybe you read a book a few years ago and now you need some information or a quotation from the text, but you can't remember the name of the book. All is not lost. • Microsoft has found that underwater data centers have fewer system failures than land-based data centers. • Twenty years ago: I thought that computers were everywhere, but I had no way to foresee what was coming in 2020.

In addition to Excire's new standalone Foto application, the company has updated Search, a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom Classic. In Short Circuits: Is Facebook's new interface terrible? Many say that it is, but I'm willing to give it a chance, and I'm liking it more as a browser plug-in called Social Fixer continues to improve its abilities to remove the dreck. • Have you seen the video of the two 17-year-old guys who need four minutes to figure out how to use a rotary-dial phone? Maybe you shouldn't be laughing quite so hard. In Spare Parts (only on the website): This year's Adobe MAX will be in no physical location. As an online event, there's no attendance fee, and Adobe would like to hire people to provide some of the virtual trimmings. • Microsoft and LinkedIn have established a plan to provide training for those who need new job skills. Training will be provided without cost. • Twenty years ago: What we meant by "high-speed internet" was a lot different in 2000 than it is today.

MacroExpress is an application that has been on every Windows computer I've used since sometime in the late 1990s. It's one of those rare applications that I consider to be absolutely essential. I'll explain why, and maybe you'll feel the same. In Short Circuits: No, you don't have to verify your account. Any email, instant message, or phone call that says you must "verify" your account information is almost certainly a scam. • In the 1960s, top 40 radio stations had promos that shouted "the hits just keep on coming!" The same could be said about fraudulent emails. This week, we'll take a look at couple of recent scam attempts. In Spare Parts (only on the website): There's one critical step you should take before contacting tech support to report a problem, and that one simple step may solve the problem. • If that one simple, critical step doesn't solve the problem, there's one more thing to think about. • Twenty years ago: Storing files on the internet was new and expensive. Eventually it caught on and became affordable.