How Not To Dispose Of a Computer, and What You Can Do To Do It Right
For the past couple months, I have been trying to get the pieces in place to start a charity that donates old computers to underprivileged children. The only problem is, where do I get the computers?
The complex I currently live in has trash-pickup every day and people just put the trash near the sidewalk. Well, the other morning I was on my way to work and someone had thrown out two perfectly good computers (although old), a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. Seemed like a perfect opportunity to get a start on my non-profit venture.
I hauled the computers three stories to my place and headed off to work. That night I came home and decided to plug one of them just to make sure they were actually still working. Sure enough, the Windows ME splashscreen popped up to my enjoyment. God how I miss the ME days. What a classic operating system. It could easily be compared to such great OS’s as Windows 1.1 and Mac OS 9.
Thoughts On Microsoft Office 2007
So Windows Vista is out. I haven’t talked about it much, but if you want my quick opinion, I do not in any way suggest upgrading to it, but if you are in the market for a new pc, go for it. I do really like what Windows has done, but anyone who knows Windows, knows that the only proper way to upgrade a pc is a clean install.
It also seems that more time was spent on the DRM built into Vista and the glossy finish than actually adding new features. Also, XP is working just fine for me, running right next to my Ubuntu Linux box. This brings me to Office 2007
SpeedTest Updated
SpeedTest.net has recently been updated and is now better than ever. I wrote about these guys a while back as one of my Site’s Of the Week.
There are a ton more servers to choose from, so if you didn’t have one close by, there’s a good chance you do now. There are also a lot more ways to view statistics.
You still have the option to view your past results, but they’ve added graphs and other stats to give you more of an idea of where you are. My Global Rank was 74% and the country rank was 63%. My fastest download was 6802 kb/s and the average of the three tests I did was 4799 kb/s. Here’s a shot of my second test:
The other tab at the top is for “Global Stats”. This is really cool because you have the ability to not only see what other continents and countries are getting as far as speeds, but you can centralize your location.
Firefox 2.0.0.2 Released
Just got an update from Firefox to upgrade to version 2.0.0.2. Not a major upgrade but there have been some bug fixes, extended Windows Vista support and some language updates.
Some of the security fixes include buffer overflow vulnerabilities, cross-site scripting attacks, and a CSS3 hotspot property to spoof such things as the host name and security indicator built into Firefox.
You can get the newest version of Firefox by going to “Help” –> “Check for updates” if you already have FF, or you can go to GetFirefox.com.
Taggers Unite – Site of the Week Starts Up Again
For the last 6 months Randy Jensen Online was converted to Randy Jensen Offline. Now that I’m back, I thought I would try to start Site Of the Week again. I normally do them on Friday but since I forgot, I’m doing it now.
The Site I found is called Vidavee.com. If you’re not a Chinese kid lip-syncing to the Backstreet Boys, you may not find this site very useful.
Vidavee is a site that allows you to take your uploaded videos and “graffiti” them with anything from an alien, to a television that looks like it’s morphing into an octopus. Just imagine what you could do with the video you shot last week of your buddy swallowing three entire packs of minty mentos followed by a massive 2-liter bottle of Coke. Oh the possibilities.
Ted Stevens Strikes Again
It seems Mr. Stevens is at again.
If you recall, last year he introduced a bill called DOPA (Delete Online Predators Act).
*Note to self…find out how to delete people from the internet. I want to delete the bastard who keeps sending me emails trying to sell me V1@gr@. I’ve told him over and over again that I already have plenty. I wonder if it has to do with these mysterious tubes I keep hearing about? Hmm…
Oh sorry. Anyway. The bill stated that all schools would have to block any and all interactive websites. This included most notably, MySpace, Facebook and Digg. The bill went nowhere and died on the steps, just being a bill.
But don’t count the T-Train out quite yet…or is it T-Truck? Anyway…
Somehow out of the ashes, our lovable, idiotic, “I need a funny quote for my blog” punching bag, Ted Stevens, has risen once again.
A Rant About Viacom and Internet Video On YouTube
There’s a saying in the internet marketing realm. If you’re not on Google, you don’t exist. I believe this same saying goes for YouTube. If you have a video that’s not on YouTube, you may as well keep it in your sock drawer next to your “One Night In Paris” videotape.
Recently Viacom has told YouTube to take down all of their copyrighted videos, which was around 100,000+. This includes anything on MTV, Comedy Central, BET and VH-1. That means all those Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart videos, poof.
Let’s rewind real quick back to “Lazy Sunday” from SNL. No one gave a damn about SNL because they’ve not had anything funny in years. They were old, stale and as much fun as Tim Hardaway at a Gay Pride parade.
Hewlett Packard Company Secrets Released…Shhhhhh
There have been a couple articles that were run by The Consumerist this week (here and here) where a former Hewlett-Packard employee has released some very interesting company secrets. Here are some of the ones that really stuck out for me.
- Many HP Printers, like their laser printers, have a built-in page-count after which they won’t work. This resides in the a transpart sometimes called image or drum kit. Rather than get the printer fixed, it’s often cheaper to buy a new printer, OR you can do a NV ram reset. It resets everything in the printer, including all the page counts, but it’s not without risks.
- If a set of cartridges cost more than the printer, don’t buy the printer. It’s considered a “throwaway” printer. HP service techs are told to spend no more than 30 minutes working on these because at that point, you are costing HP money.
Windows Update For Daylight Savings Time
This is for all you Windows XP users out there. If you don’t know about the daylight-savings time change, read this Cnet article. Basically starting this year, daylight-savings time will be extended by four weeks. Microsoft just released a patch this Tuesday to make sure everything is taken care of without a hitch, so just make sure you have automatic updates turned on or you run the updater manually.
…oh and by the way, when I said “without a hitch”, I meant mostly without a hitch. Microsoft just released a statement that there is not a patch for it’s calendaring programs (eg. the one in Outlook) which means you should double check all your appointments in March and April.
