TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn
900 episodes - English - Latest episode: 22 days ago - ★★★★ - 5 ratingsTechByter Worldwide offers high-tech content in plain English. Programs are approximately 20 minutes long are listed by date and topic. (YYYY.MM.DD: Topic)
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Episodes
TechByter Worldwide 2024-04-12: Bitdefender Tries A New Approach. Short Circuits.
April 12, 2024 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.7 MBRomania-based security company Bitdefender offers a comprehensive protective suite for Windows and MacOS computers, as well as IOS and Android phones. The package includes enough licenses for all devices used by everyone in the family unless you have an exceptionally large family or everyone has five or six devices. In Short Circuits: Your internet service provider would like you to continue renting a modem from them, but there are good reasons to buy your own and cost is just one of the reas...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-04-05: Making Virtual Desktops Your Friend. Short Circuits.
April 05, 2024 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.4 MBThe virtual desktops feature that was added to Windows 10 and improved in Windows 11 can help organize the computer when you need to work on more than one task at a time. In Short Circuits: Artificial intelligence is now being used to improve audio recordings by removing flaws such as background noise and room echo. Despite being new, the results are already astonishingly good. • Bugs are a simple fact of life for computer users. If you’re delaying a purchase until all the bugs have been elim...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-03-29: Operating System Features You May Be Missing. Short Circuits.
March 29, 2024 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.3 MBIf you regularly mutter to your computer that it doesn’t do something you want it to do or doesn’t do something the way you want it to, stop for a moment and investigate. There’s a good chance that the computer can accommodate your desires. In Short Circuits: Anyone who has trouble finding where TV programs they want to watch are streaming, or who forgets to watch new episodes, will find JustWatch useful. • The latest versions of Adobe’s photo editing applications are filled with useful featu...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-03-22: Avoiding The Big Phish. Short Circuits.
March 22, 2024 04:00 - 18 minutes - 15 MBOne of the most common ways that people are victimized online involves the victims failing to recognize social engineering and giving their login credentials to scammers. In Short Circuits: Facebook accounts are filled with gold that scammers like to mine. There’s a quick and easy way to view what crooks see so that you can modify your account to maximize security. • Europeans can remove Microsoft’s Edge browser because of European Union rules, but these rules don’t apply in the United States...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-03-15: Some Reviews Say Fruust.com Is A Scam. Short Circuits.
March 15, 2024 04:00 - 19 minutes - 16 MBWhen a charge for a service I didn’t recognize showed up in an alert from my bank, I found that I had been signed up for a video streaming service I’d never heard of. Eliminating the service was easy enough, but a lot of people have reported terminating it was difficult. In Short Circuits: Even those of us who are not typographers, graphic designers, or publishers sometimes need to deal with typefaces. What most people think of as “fonts” aren’t fonts, but this may be a surprise: It doesn’t r...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-03-08: Exposure X7 Is Still A Good Choice. Short Circuits.
March 08, 2024 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.3 MBExposure hasn’t had an upgrade from the X7 version, which was released in 2021, but it’s still a good choice both as a standalone application and as a plug-in for Lightroom Classic. In Short Circuits: Speaking of golden oldies, I encountered a little connector that could be used to join lots of devices two years ago. It saved the day a week ago when I had to deal with an IPhone that had a low battery. • There’s a lot of concern about the dangers of artificial intelligence, so I went straight ...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-03-01: Dealing With A Hijacked Facebook Account. Short Circuits.
March 01, 2024 04:00 - 17 minutes - 13.9 MBA hijacked Facebook account can be a lot of fun, but only if you have a most peculiar understanding of the term “fun”. It wasn’t my account, but I had to deal with the repercussions of a hack recently. In Short Circuits: The technology that powers GPS, Bluetooth devices, and other modern high technology was invented 83 years ago by someone considered to be “the most beautiful woman in the world.” Even now she doesn’t get the recognition she deserved in 1941. • Ever notice how technology someo...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-02-23: Maybe It’s Time To Re-evaluate Streaming Services. Short Circuits.
February 23, 2024 04:00 - 16 minutes - 15.8 MBWhich is better, cable or streaming? There are lots of variables and cable is perfect for some people while streaming is the winner for others. After switching to streaming three years ago, now seemed a good time to re-evaluate. In Short Circuits: You might have some old digital photos that would benefit greatly from today’s AI-powered applications. I have a couple of examples. • “Warning: Your privacy settings can’t guarantee your privacy on Facebook.” That shouldn’t come as a surprise to an...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-02-16: Excire Search 2024 Finds Photos Fast. Short Circuits.
February 16, 2024 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.5 MBThe more digital photos you have, the harder it is to find the one you’re looking for. Excire Search, a plug-in for Lightroom Classic, makes the process much easier. In Short Circuits: Libre Office is the ideal office suite for those who are unable or unwilling to pay a monthly subscription fee. The latest version, though, has a surprising number. • Microsoft wants to be the king of artificial intelligence and may well succeed, but do we really need a special AI key on our keyboards?
TechByter Worldwide 2024-02-09: Some Of My Favorite Things Are Free. Short Circuits.
February 09, 2024 04:00 - 21 minutes - 17.6 MBFree, open-source software is often viewed as being second rate when compared to commercial software, but sometimes the best application actually does cost nothing. In Short Circuits: When something starts with Windows, but you don’t want it to, finding a way to make it stop can be a challenge. Autoruns fixes that. • Phones no longer have dials, but we still say we’re dialing a number. Hardware, software, and processes are changing so fast that some arrive, flourish, and disappear seemingly i...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-02-02: Adding Windows 11 To A Reluctant Windows 10 PC. Short Circuits.
February 02, 2024 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.8 MBWindows 11 cannot be installed on certain computers, mainly older models that lack sufficient hardware, but it is possible to force-install Windows 11 on computers that would fail otherwise because they lack hardware security features. In Short Circuits: With so many free email clients, you might wonder why anyone would be willing to pay $60 per year for one. Anyone who uses multiple mobile devices and wishes the same application was available for all portable and desktop systems might consid...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-01-26: Maybe It’s Time To Upsample Some Of Your Old Digital Photos. Short Circuits.
January 26, 2024 04:00 - 22 minutes - 18.4 MBAnyone who has digital photos that are more than a decade old could improve their quality substantially with an application that uses artificial intelligence to fill in details that don’t exist in the originals. In Short Circuits: Speaking of AI, if you’re trying to keep up with what’s new, you may suspect that it’s difficult and maybe impossible. Anything written more than a day or two ago is probably already outdated. • Have you ever needed to use a second computer near your primary compute...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-01-19: Using Sysinternals Process Monitor and Process Explorer To Solve Problems. Short Circuits.
January 19, 2024 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.3 MBThe Sysinternals suite of utilities has been around since the 1990s and has been part of Microsoft since 2006. More than 70 utilities make Sysinternals essential for all Windows computer users and today we’ll take a look at just two of them. In Short Circuits: Believable sound effects are essential for motion pictures and podcasts, but it’s not an easy process. The first step involves identifying and obtaining the right sounds. • Some Windows users like to keep all of their commonly used appl...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-01-12: Where Did All My Disk Space Go? Short Circuits.
January 12, 2024 04:00 - 18 minutes - 15.1 MBWe don’t run out of disk space as often now as we did in the early days, but you might wonder about discarding some old junk even if space isn’t a significant problem. Several utilities are available to help you identify the junk. In Short Circuits: Scammers work hard to earn your trust and then steal your money. A Washington Post article about a retired federal scientist who was bilked out of her life savings is a cautionary tale, and we all need to be on the lookout for thieves. • Microsoft...
TechByter Worldwide 2024-01-05: Use Microsoft’s PC Manager For Quick System Management Tasks. Short Circuits.
January 05, 2024 04:00 - 16 minutes - 13.2 MBMicrosoft’s new PC Manager takes the place of some other utilities such as CCleaner and offers quick, easy access to built-in Windows functions that are often several layers deep in Settings or the Control Panel. In Short Circuits: If you’ve ever wished you could unsend an email because you forgot to add an attachment or make an important point, SendLater will save the day, but only if you use Thunderbird. • Stardock’s SoundPackager makes it easy to add, change, or delete sounds that Windows ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-12-15: Excire Foto Finds Needles In Haystacks. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
December 15, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 13.7 MBBecause digital photographs are free, we take a lot of them and that can be a problem when we want to find one particular image among tens of thousands on the computer. A new version of Excire Foto adds artificial intelligence that helps a lot. In Short Circuits: Anyone who operates a web domain on one of the big hosting services may occasionally have trouble with email messages being rejected as spam or just being quietly deleted. Using a separate, dedicated SMTP service can eliminate the pr...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-12-01: How To Improve The Windows 11 Start Menu. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
December 01, 2023 04:00 - 18 minutes - 14.6 MBLike the Windows 11 Start Menu or hate it, Start11 from Stardock can make it better. Maybe you’d like the start menu to work the way it did in Windows 7, 8, or 10. Maybe you like the Windows 11 approach, but would like to add some features. That’s the point of Start11. In Short Circuits: Python is a popular programming language. It’s powerful, but the basics are easy to learn. If you’ve looked at Python because it’s now supported by Excel, you’ve already started. Maybe this is a language most...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-11-17: Turning Your Computer Into A Television. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
November 17, 2023 04:00 - 18 minutes - 15.1 MBPlaying DVDs and Blu-ray discs on a computer can sometimes be better than watching them on a television, but Microsoft doesn’t include a player with Windows, and the Media Player app is quite limited. Other options exist, but some are pricey. One is free. In Short Circuits: Even if you use just a single chat application, taking a look at Beeper is a good idea. And if you use multiple chat applications, I consider it essential. • Has your Facebook account ever been cloned by a crook? There’s o...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-11-10: Keeping A Computer Up To Date. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago. Twenty Years Ago.
November 10, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 12.9 MBDevelopment cycles for large applications once were frequently 18 months. Now it’s a rare day that we don’t receive a bug fix, security update, or feature release for at least one application. Keeping up is a challenge. In Short Circuits: Heat is the enemy of electronic devices and notebook computers are highly vulnerable. I recently added a device that places cooling fans below my primary notebook computer and it helps even more than expected. • I’ve been seeing articles about how to get Mic...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-11-03: Adobe Firefly’s Amazing Artificial Intelligence. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
November 03, 2023 04:00 - 21 minutes - 17.2 MBArtificial intelligence is something Adobe has been working on for several years and this year’s advances mark the beginning of what seems likely to be an explosion of advanced capabilities. In Short Circuits: Adobe pointed to some of its plans for future products at the annual Max conference in Los Angeles. The sneak peeks could easily be mistaken for pure magic. • If your Windows computer hasn’t yet updated to version 23H2 and you’d like it to, the process is both quick and easy. Twenty Yea...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-10-27: Use AeroAdmin To Help Others And For Remote Access. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
October 27, 2023 04:00 - 15 minutes - 12.1 MBAeroAdmin is an excellent choice if you need to help friends or family solve problems with their computers and when you want to log onto your computer when you’re not in front of it. In Short Circuits: Artificial intelligence can create text for you, and it can paraphrase your text. Is it worth trying an application such as QuillBot to see how good an editor it is? • We’ve been able to synchronize the Windows clipboard between computers for a while now, but you can also synchronize the clipbo...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-10-20: Windows Copilot Is Live, So Are You Using It? Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
October 20, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 13.6 MBCopilot is the most significant new feature in the Windows 11 Fall update, version 23H2. If your computer hasn’t been updated to 23H2, you can force the update or obtain some of the new features even without updating. In Short Circuits: Opera is a good browser that I’ve recommended several times in the past 25 years, and I still do recommend it, but only if you perform a fully manual installation to avoid some nasty “features”. • It’s hard to keep up with improvements in artificial intelligen...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-10-13: Photoshop’s Newest Features Didn’t Wait For Max. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
October 13, 2023 04:00 - 14 minutes - 11.6 MBAdobe didn’t wait for the annual Max conference to roll out some of the new features for Photoshop and other apps. Generative Fill and Generative Expand are still resolution limited, but they are already surprisingly useful. In Short Circuits: Printers have long been the bane of IT support, and Microsoft has plans to make printers a bit less vexing. Manufacturers will need to work with a universal printer subsystem instead of writing drivers for their devices. • If your browser and any other ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-10-06: A Long Week Of Short Stories. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
October 06, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.1 MBThe main article is really three short pieces: One about PowerToys Run, a quick and easy way to start an application or launch a search; the next about the now limited “unlimited” hosting plan from Bluehost; and finally a fond farewell to WordPad. In Short Circuits: Living like it’s 1983. If you loved WordStar, you can now install WordTsar and try to remember some of the obscure key sequences that made things happen. • If you’ve ever read either a privacy policy or a website’s terms of servic...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-09-29: Freely Editing Videos. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
September 29, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.2 MBEven basic smart phones can create remarkably good videos and more people are editing videos at home. As a result, there are lots of applications, both free and paid, designed to take the place of editing suites that once cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build. In Short Circuits: New features in Adobe’s audio editor, Audition, are rare, but three improvements in the 2023 version will wow audio editors, while others will wonder why they’re such big deals. • Aptos is Microsoft’s new typ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-09-22: Jotti’s Malware Scan Averts Disasters. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
September 22, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 13.5 MBIt’s a good idea to check out any file you receive as an attachment, even if the file seems to have come from someone you know. Jotti’s free malware scan will show the file to more than a dozen antivirus applications so you can make an informed decision. In Short Circuits: Sometimes modifying a computer setting fixes a problem even when you’re absolutely certain the setting cannot have any effect on the problem. I’ll tell you about one of those I encountered recently and, although it couldn’t...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-09-15: Ground News Helps You Sort Fact From Fiction. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
September 15, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.3 MBBeing able to tell the difference between truth and lies is increasingly difficult, especially on the internet, but also with organizations that claim to be presenting facts. We can’t escape bias, but we can at least try to be aware of it. In Short Circuits: Mouse Without Borders, a relatively new feature in Microsoft’s PowerToys utilities, solves a problem you may never have encountered. For those who have experienced this problem, the solution is absolute genius. • If you’ve ever wondered a...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-09-08: Adobe Express: Quick, Easy, and Fun. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
September 08, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 13.6 MBWhether you’re a graphic designer or not, Adobe Express has something for you. Professionals can use it to give themselves more time for custom creativity and non-designers can leverage Express to perform tasks they couldn’t do by themselves. In Short Circuits: Although Python has been available as a paid add-in for Excel, it will soon be included in the application. Currently it’s available only in the Beta channel for Microsoft 365 Insiders. • Installing and using more than one web browser ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-09-01: Thinking About Buying a New Computer? Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
September 01, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.2 MBBuying a new computer includes some of the same processes and decisions needed when buying a new car, and it’s important to base the buying decision on facts instead of on emotions. In Short Circuits: Sometimes antique computer-users like me say old DOS computers seemed faster than today’s Windows machines. That’s not entirely inaccurate and the Windows Task Manager helps us understand why. • Safe Mode is useful when your computer has a problem, even if it can’t boot normally, but getting int...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-08-25: A Disk Partition Manager Can Be Helpful Even If You Think You Don’t Need One. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
August 25, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.1 MBDisk partition managers are essential tools for technicians, but they can also be useful for any computer user. Third-party partition managers include more features than the one that came with your computer and might be free. In Short Circuits: The Employee Retention Credit Act was established at the height of the covid pandemic to help businesses that paid their employees while the operation was shut down. The Internal Revenue Service warns about scammers who are now using the ERC to defraud...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-08-18: Thunderbird’s Attractive Face Is Just Part Of What’s New. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
August 18, 2023 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.7 MBMozilla has been working on a new version of Thunderbird for a while and the combination of improvements, new features, and ongoing debugging make it well worth looking at regardless of which email application you’re using now. In Short Circuits: Sometimes Microsoft does something so astonishingly ignorant that it’s hard to believe management was aware of it. I’ll describe what seems to be the dumb and petty decision to pull support for the OneNote Clipper from Firefox. • Usually I recommend ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-08-11: How Much Internet Speed You Need And How To Find Out If You’re Getting It. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
August 11, 2023 04:00 - 22 minutes - 17.8 MBInternet access is slower and more expensive in the United States than in many other countries, so it’s important to figure out how much speed you need and then to confirm that you’re getting what you pay for. In Short Circuits: The Windows package manager, WinGet, provides access to more apps and utilities than the Microsoft Store does, but it’s a command line function that’s cumbersome to use. A graphical user interface, WinGetUI, makes it much easier. • Generative Expand has been added to ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-08-04: The Files On Your Computer Are Probably Worth $120 Per Year. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
August 04, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.5 MBSometimes saving money is a really bad idea. For example, doing without a backup system for the files on your computer because you don’t want to spend $100 to $200 per year. How much are your files worth to you? In Short Circuits: The utility CURL has been around since 1996, but it was just added to the Windows operating system this year. It’s a command-line function and it’s old, but it still performs some useful functions. • When it’s time to kick back and play with the computer, there are ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-07-28: Scams That May Be New To You. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
July 28, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.2 MBScammers are always trying to find new ways to extract money from people they can fool. New variants of old cons are common, and for the past several months phony feedback surveys have been big. Most scammers can be defeated by treating any offer with a bit of suspicion. In Short Circuits: Early personal computers had the command line and no graphical user interface until the mid 1980s. The command line is still useful and we’ll look at a few such instances. • When you need to copy text on pa...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-07-21: How To Acquire A Better Nameserver. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
July 21, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.3 MBWhen pointing your browser at a website, the browser needs to find the site’s IP address, so it calls on a domain name service server. Using a better DNS server can improve the browser’s response time, but only by a bit. There are other reasons to use DNS not from your internet service provider. In Short Circuits: Adobe’s Firefly (generative fill) function, even in beta, has shown itself to be surprisingly good at some tasks. It can also be used to create an oil-painting effect on a photograp...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-07-14: What’s the Best Office Suite in 2023? Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
July 14, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.4 MBMicrosoft 365 might be the best office suite for you, or maybe Google’s offerings would be better. Or perhaps you don’t need a suite at all. Let’s ponder that. In Short Circuits: Correspondence today heavily favors email and text messages, but sometimes you might need to send a real paper letter in an envelope using the US Postal Service. You can, even if you don’t have a printer, an envelope, or a stamp—and without leaving your house. • Formulas can save time for spreadsheet users, but often...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-07-07: Local Account Or Microsoft Account–Which Is Better? Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
July 07, 2023 04:00 - 15 minutes - 12.8 MBWhen you set up an account on a Windows 10 or 11 computer, it can be a Microsoft account or a local account. Some pundits maintain that Microsoft accounts should never be used, but I don’t like the word “never”. There are good reasons to use a local account and good reasons to use a Microsoft account, so let’s look. In Short Circuits: Scammers are finding that artificial intelligence is a marvelous tool they can use to hoodwink victims, but AI can also be used to identify scams. • There’s an ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-06-30: Selecting A Comfortable Screen Size, Number of Pixels, and Resolution. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
June 30, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14 MBWhether you need to replace a notebook computer that has a built-in screen or find a new monitor for your desktop system, it’s important to think about screen size and resolution. In Short Circuits: Renaming one or two files is easy, but when you’re faced with hundreds of files that need to be renamed, it’s time to call for the Bulk File Renamer. • Generative Fill, which Adobe also refers to as “Firefly”, can make image modifications in seconds that previously would have taken hours. I have a...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-06-23: Choosing The Right Camera. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
June 23, 2023 04:00 - 14 minutes - 11.9 MBWhether you need a huge camera with a lot of heavy and bulky lenses, just a smartphone, or something in between depends on how you approach photography. Let’s explore that. In Short Circuits: Most new computers come with solid-state drives. If you have an older computer that you’re not yet ready to retire, now would be a great time to upgrade the boot drive to an SSD. • Beeper is a new approach to messaging, whether you use Messenger, IMessage, Twitter, or one of the other services. Beeper pu...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-06-16: Advantages Of Using A Virtual Private Network. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
June 16, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 14.1 MBA VPN is essential whenever you use a mobile device with a public Wi-Fi hotspot, but it can also improve privacy and security at other times. It’s important to understand the trade-offs, though. In Short Circuits: Some internet crooks are stupid and I like to make fun of them, but there’s no shortage of crafty criminals. We all need to be aware that they exist and to beware of their tricks. In other words, be wary. • I’ve been trying to find time to talk about some of the enhancements Adobe h...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-06-09: Fingerprinting Your Browser. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
June 09, 2023 04:00 - 18 minutes - 14.6 MBYour browser blocks ads and pop-ups, you use incognito mode, and you don’t allow sites to access the computer’s hardware. Safe, right? Your browser can still be fingerprinted and you can still be tracked. In Short Circuits: Canary is an email application that runs on Windows, MacOS, IOS, IPadOS, and Android. In addition to artificial intelligence for creating or responding to messages, the app strengthens security and the versions work about the same on all platforms. • Artificial intelligenc...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-06-02: Make Life Easier With Nirsoft, SoftwareOK, And PowerToys. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
June 02, 2023 04:00 - 24 minutes - 19.4 MBSmall specialized apps generally known as “utilities” can solve problems and add capabilities not provided by the operating system. We’ll look at new functions in PowerToys utilities from Microsoft and from two individual developers. In Short Circuits: Adobe released Firefly a few weeks ago for people to try and now the AI component has been added to the beta version of Photoshop that’s available to Creative Cloud subscribers. • When testing files that might contain malware, maybe you’d like ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-05-26: Improve Computer Sound With An Equalizer. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
May 26, 2023 04:00 - 16 minutes - 13.1 MBInstead of massive home stereo systems, most of us now listen to music on our computers. Adding a software equalizer can improve sound, even on less-than-perfect sound systems. In Short Circuits: Photoshop Camera is free and it may be the best way to have fun with the camera that's in your smartphone, but it's not compatible with every device. • Meta has agreed to a $725 million settlement to end a class-action suit. Any US citizen who has used Facebook in the past 16 years could get a piece ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-05-19: If You Own A Scanner, You Need VueScan. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
May 19, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.5 MBEven if your scanner came with a scanning application, using the scanner will be easier and more productive if you buy a copy of VueScan. In Short Circuits: I’ll tell you about some of Adobe’s new photo suite features soon, but one that stands out above all the others is a game changer called Denoise. • Geoffrey Hinton, Google’s former chief artificial intelligence scientist, retired abruptly and has begun warning us about a time when AI will be smarter than humans. Let’s consider that. Twent...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-05-12: Pick The Right Tool For Website Development. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
May 12, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutes - 13.9 MBAnyone who wants to create a website needs to start by selecting either an application that edits website code or a service that offers site design tools. Many choices exist, but the two primary contenders are Dreamweaver and WordPress. In Short Circuits: A virtual private network on your computer is on the way to becoming essential, and Google’s VPN service that’s part of Google One might be sufficient. • The internet is full of useless attractions that are amusing. Among them are the abilit...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-05-05: The Ultimate Windows Tweaker Fixes Not-Quite Annoyances. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
May 05, 2023 04:00 - 18 minutes - 14.9 MBWindows has features that, while not quite annoyances, don’t work the way you’d like. The Ultimate Windows Tweaker fixes a lot of these not-quite annoyances, and it’s free. In Short Circuits: When I bought a new keyboard, I noticed a lot of extra keys. Some of them are surprisingly useful. • Trying to print a website page is often an exercise in frustration because website pages are rarely designed for printing. PrintFriendly is a clever website, and a browser extension, that makes website pa...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-04-28: Save Time And Improve Accuracy With MacroExpress. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
April 28, 2023 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.9 MBWhen I set up a new computer, MacroExpress Pro is one of the dozen programs that are installed immediately. Those who don’t need all the power of the pro version may find one of the three more basic options useful. In Short Circuits: DPReview has been an essential resource for anyone who uses digital photography, but Amazon has ended its quarter-century run and soon all traces of the site will be gone. • Although Google was an early leader in artificial intelligence, ChatGPT and others took t...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-04-21: Fixing Oddball Windows Annoyances. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
April 21, 2023 04:00 - 19 minutes - 15.6 MBReinstalling Windows 11, as I did a few weeks ago, gave me the chance to rediscover some of the “features” Microsoft offers that don’t work quite the way I want them to. Let’s look at some annoyances that are easy to fix. In Short Circuits: Maybe you consider the seemingly never-ending announcements and notifications from Windows 11 to be an annoyance, too, and you have have more control than you may think. • Adobe has a free artificial-intelligence tool designed to fix less-than-perfect audi...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-04-14: Taming Windows 11’s Start Menu And Quick Settings. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
April 14, 2023 04:00 - 20 minutes - 16.1 MBSo many people complain about Windows, but then don't take the time to figure out how to fix what's bothering them. It's usually not difficult, so let's consider some of the annoyances that can be fixed with minimal effort. In Short Circuits: If you have a computer that's running slow and you've already replaced the mechanical hard drive with a solid-state drive, adding memory might help. • A common bit of humor has old people who need tech support calling on their six-year-old grandchildren ...
TechByter Worldwide 2023-04-07: A Clean Machine Works Better. Short Circuits. Twenty Years Ago.
April 07, 2023 04:00 - 21 minutes - 17.1 MBYou probably already know about the importance of keeping your computer, notebook, or tablet clean and up to date just as you ensure that your car is maintained properly, but what about your smartphone? In Short Circuits: When you're on vacation with the kids, having some motion pictures along can make travel time easier, but nobody wants to carry a stack of discs. Legally it's a gray area, but you can rip DVDs and Blu-ray discs to smartphones and tablets. • The Kerbango internet radio was in...