Sunday, November 24, 2013

Yesterday's Browsing

Yesterday's browsing resulted in several web sites you should see.  The first is an amazing photo of Saturn; I've made it my desktop background.  Very impressive.  http://goo.gl/QB4mEa

Next, is some aerial photography by Claytonius F.  Here's the link to You Tube - http://goo.gl/cLmgiF.  Cool.

Next are some sites regarding computer issues.  The first is from Gizmodo, "How To Fix Your PC, The Right Way".  Some pretty detailed suggestions on fixing slow and/or dead computers.

My favorite site, Lifehacker, is next with "Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software".  I, also, subscribe to many of these alternatives and have tried/used many of them.  Try them out for yourself.

The last site describes some tinkering with a Raspberry Pi and an LED TV.  Looks like a little bit of work, but if you have an older tv and some soldering skills, it might be a fun project.  If anyone is up to it, let me know and we can document your progress on this blog.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Time ....

Here's a site that provides a great perspective on when we are.  Yes, when.  Take a look - http://hereistoday.com/

Saturday, November 16, 2013

StartMail

During the last meeting (or maybe it was the one before), I talked about a web search engine that keeps no tracking data - startpage.com.  That same company is developing a secure email program called StartMail.  A few days ago I received the following from them -

We know you've been waiting patiently to receive private email through your StartMail beta test account. Now, after nearly three years of hard work, we're excited to announce that StartMail Beta is about to launch!

Within the next week or so, you'll receive a link to a confidential email usage survey. You need to complete the survey before we can launch your free three-month StartMail account, so please check your inbox for the link.

We realize it has taken longer than we originally anticipated to develop StartMail, and we truly appreciate your patience. The revelations this summer of NSA spying through the PRISM program prompted us to add even more features to our already rock-solid privacy. Those tighter security features added to our development time, but when you see them, we believe you'll agree they were worth the wait.

All StartMail users will now have access to a fully-encrypted user vault, the protection of perfect forward secrecy and transport layer security, state-of-the-art SSL encryption, and the confidence of knowing their email provider is based in the Netherlands, outside of US jurisdiction.

Thank you for joining more than 50,000 people worldwide who are helping us make email privacy a reality. We can't wait to get started!

On behalf of the StartMail team,

Alex van Eesteren
Vice President, StartMail Product Innovation
support@startmail.com


p.s. If you have friends who missed the opportunity to be beta testers, don't worry -- they can reserve their own paid StartMail accounts by going towww.StartMail.com and checking the box at the bottom of the page. By reserving an invitation, they will be given the option to purchase an account, but will be under no obligation to do so.


I'd suggest you take advantage of their offer and reserve an account.  Don't know what the price will be, but the reservation will cost you nothing.  It could be a very worthwhile product.

Monday, November 11, 2013

GCRV Computer User Group Meeting

Last week's discussion pretty much covered the problems associated with cellular service.  Especially for those who are visiting from Canada.  Well, yesterday my favorite web site (Lifehacker!) published an article about the "Five Best Pre-Paid Cellphone Carriers".  I thought some of you might be interested - here's the link - http://goo.gl/w94glF.

See you at Wednesday's meeting.