TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

An inexpensive vector graphic program might be just what you need, even if you use Adobe applications for other tasks. A disk drive suddenly goes off line and all efforts to revive it fail. Panic time? Not exactly. In Short Circuits: A plug-in for Chrome makes the N ew tab more useful, maybe to the point that some people will use it! A misbehaving mouse problem was resolved (I think) with an easy Registry patch. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Free tax preparation that really is free if you meet certain conditions, predictions that we'll see a lot more artificial intelligence used by stores, and retailers will also increasingly make use of the Internet of Things.

Do you use a smart phone to control things in your house? Thermostats, TVs, maybe the light switches? A voice command can turn devices on or off, but they can also create some nasty problems. Video editing once required a large room full of high-priced equipment. Then, in 1991, version 1.0 of Adobe Premiere was released to compete several existing programs. Desktop video editors changed everything. In Short Circuits: This week the Guardian newspaper published an article by the guy who invented the World Wide Web. Tim Berners-Lee says the web has fulfilled some of what he hoped it would do, but improvements are needed. If the headline "Smart Phones Will Read and Write Better Than 32 Million American Adults in Next Decade" doesn't frighten (or at least concern) you, it should. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Members of the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) seem to be making changes faster than we can deal with them, and a new IOS and Android app is being promoted to help with snakebite victims.

It's official: Windows as a service and Microsoft says there will be no annual fees. When you buy a device with Windows 10 on it, upgrades will be provided without cost for as long as you use the computer. Writing in the San Jose Mercury News, Troy Wolverton has outlined some common-sense steps needed to protect net neutrality. We'll take a look at the key points. In Short Circuits: For the second time in a little over 2 years, RadioShack has gone bankrupt and is planning to close more stores. Facebook outlines its plans to reduce the impact of fake news -- not by removing content, but by providing more. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The latest version of the Raspberry Pi is being sold in the US only at Micro Center and the pricing is unusual. The National Institute of Standards and Technology hopes to be able to measure something that has been known, but unmeasurable, for centuries.

Whether your computer is meek and mild mannered or a screaming powerhouse, it's a good idea to buy the best peripherals you can afford. Adobe's experience design application, XD, brings designers a way to create websites and screen-based applications that need to perform well on every device from an index-card-size phone to a giant TV screen. In Short Circuits: More than half of mobile device users had to reset at least one password in the past two months. Trying to put an end to robocalls -- 2.3 billion of them in January alone! In Spare Parts (only on the website): The US Department of Justice and police in several other countries have charged 19 people with fraud that cost victims more than $13 million, someday in the future you might be able to visit a virtual amusement park in the past, and with phones getting larger, LG has just released some of the smallest and lightest notebook computers.

Libraries continue to expand the services they provide and Hoopla, a video streaming service, brings free access to an array of videos. Malware continues to be a danger for everyone, but more is being aimed at Macs. Google is offering a new kind of wireless phone service that might appeal to you even though you'll probably need to buy a new phone to use it. In Short Circuits: Auto dealership personnel thought that millions of customer records had been exposed recently, but nothing of the sort happened. Verizon will pay about $350 million less for Yahoo as a result of the numerous data breaches Yahoo revealed, but $350 million is chump change in this deal. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft delays February's Patch Tuesday until March and no matter how essential email is to your business, it's also the primary vector for spreading malware.

Have you asked Cortana for help? After more than a year of ignoring her, I'm trying to decide if I want to keep her on full time. Sometimes a Google search for help with hardware, software, or a service can lead to more trouble. In Short Circuits: Microsoft's annoying messages that badmouth browsers other than Edge can be stopped, but only with a large hammer. The German city that led the way toward adopting open-source software now plans to return to Microsoft applications. In Spare Parts (only on the website): According to Ars Technica: Malware comes to Macs, thanks to the same Russian hackers who meddled in the US presidential election and if you can spare a little blood, a company says it can make recommendations that might improve your health.

Affinity Photo has been around for while on the MacOS, but it's new to Windows. We'll take a look at the features and one important shortcoming. Frustrations abound when a hard drive appears to be failing, but no symptoms can be found. In Short Circuits: Google is planning to do something that should have been done long ago to shut down malicious websites. An issue that shouldn't be even slightly political is being made to seem political as the big internet service providers eye big profits. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Finding legitimate news can be a challenge, but there are many reliable sources on the internet and Forbes Magazine has some suggestions. A start-up company wants restaurants to get rid of their laminated floor plans and grease pencils because there's a better way to seat people.

TechSmith just released a minor-version update of its flagship application, SnagIt, but the improvements are surprisingly robust for what's considered a minor release. I store random thoughts and small stories that show up and have some promise, but aren't big enough for their own segment. When the batch is large enough, I compile them and give them a fancy title. That's what you're in for this week. In Short Circuits: Popcorn Time Ransomware starts by apologizing to you, but you'll still spend nearly $1000 to get your data back. There's a better way. A new company promises to help us identify and eliminate fake news. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Most companies seem to concentrate more on the loss of customers than on the loss of data if their systems are breached; if you're a Facebook advertiser, you might want to take a look at an app from ConsumerAcquisition.com; and maybe you remember when computers were fragile, but some of today's computers can survive a misadventure at a construction site.

Criminals are buidling more convincing tricks that attempt to get users to revel their login names and passwords and it's easy to be fooled. Google offers 2-factor authentication and if you use any Google services, it's a good idea to take the time needed to set this up. In Short Circuits: A new record was set for the number of data breaches in 2016, but the real record was set in the number of records that were exposed. Sears has an exciting new application that helps you buy ... tires. Well, maybe "exciting" isn't quite the right word, but it is useful. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Better late than never, Facebook finally tries to take on the scourge of fake news and there are efforts to design ways to give remote employees and third parties an easy-to-use method for secure access to corporate resourses.

There's just one topic in the main section of the podcast this week and it's an important one. The data on your computer is at risk and crooks are working to find a way to get at it. In Short Circuits: Bogus pop-up warnings in browsers are increasingly common. Shutting them down is easy if you know how. When several unexpected directories with strange files appeared on my computer, I was concerned, but there was no real threat. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The Economist magazine and Kaspersky Lab ran a competition that challenged college students to find a way to use blockchain technology to make on-line voting safe and tablet computers continue to evolve even though the market segment is becoming mature.