Software

This section of Tech Tips covers all articles that are software related. This includes topics such as software updates, spam blocking, security and more. Geeks.com is your trusted source for information and instructions on computer technology. We've designed Tech Tips to help educate consumers so that they can be intelligent shoppers. Smarter shoppers are happy customers. Every week we post a new Tech Tip. As the Tech Tips archive builds over time, we hope that the software topic you are interested in will be listed. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

NaNoWriMo Month - What a “Novel” Idea!

Posted by ttblogger • 14 Comments • Permalink
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Have you even been half way through reading a novel and and thought to yourself, “I can write something like this - and do it better! ” Or perhaps, you have writing a novel on your “bucket list” - something to accomplish before you die. Maybe you always wanted to be an author (or to just look like one).

If so, then November is the month to stop putting off writing that book because it has been declared as “National Novel Writing Month! ”

In this Tech Tip - we’ll take a look at that phenomenon known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) and see what they can do to help you “git ‘er done! ”

1,667!

It all started back in 1999 in the San Francisco bay area when a group of friends (headed by one Chris Baty) decided to stop putting off writing that book - and to (paraphrasing the famous words of the Nike commercial) “JUST DO IT”. Fast forward to today and you now have a something that just can’t be stopped! You have it all its glory - NaNoWriMo! The goal is simple, to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. From November 1-30, you write for “thirty days and nights of literary abandon” - creating your masterpiece for the personal satisfaction of knowing that “you just did it! ” That’s a mere 1,667 words a day. When you break it down that way, you realize that it is really doable.

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Sunday, September 11, 2011

What are Bitcoins?

Posted by ttblogger • 18 Comments • Discuss in Forums • Permalink
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Bitcoin is a digital peer-to-peer currency system that provides a decentralized method for performing transactions.

Bitcoins (BTC) are also the name of the unit of currency. The Bitcoin protocol is based off a paper by Satoshi Nakamoto called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” that is designed to allow monetary transactions between users without a central authority like a bank or services like PayPal.

Avoiding a central authority allows you to be anonymous, can lower the cost of transactions, prevents your account from being frozen, and lowers the entry barrier for new users. Of course, without a central authority, that leaves nobody to make sure users are not counterfeiting or double-spending their money, right? The Bitcoin protocol protects against this using its peer-to-peer technology to verify each transaction and make sure only the authorized users are transferring their own bitcoins.

“…When you make a transaction, it is announced to everyone on the network, so everyone knows your wallet made a transaction to another wallet to prevent double-spending.”

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

4 Technology Trends That Could Affect You

Posted by ttblogger • 19 Comments • Permalink
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Technology not only continues to be a driving force in our everyday lives, but since we’ve become so dependent on it, we should be mindful of the trends that could directly impact how we live, attend classes and do business.

The following trends address the continuous evolution of digital technology and how you can adapt and benefit (by saving money!) from knowing what technology can help (or not help) you.

Computing Horsepower

It’s safe to say that computers built in the last 5-6 years still have relatively enough horsepower to help people plow through everyday tasks like email, MS Word/Excel, Facebook and iTunes. However, one trend that could help consumers who are looking to buy a new rig is the advent of integrating the graphics card and the CPU into one single package. Intel already has this technology, called Sandy Bridge, in which the graphics card is inside their CPU. (Intel Core i3- i5-i7 processors)

Unfortunately, Intel’s flavor (HD 3000 series) leaves much to be desired. A cheaper alternative, AMD’s Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) has better built-in graphics (Radeon 6000 series). What this means for consumers is that if you’re looking to build a new system and your multimedia needs are moderate, opting for an Intel Sandy Bridge or AMD APU can save you from spending extra on a physical graphics card. It also provides a smaller computer chassis to save space.

The Future of Gaming

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Sunday, July 17, 2011

iOS 5: Top 5 New Features

Posted by ttblogger • 7 Comments • Discuss in Forums • Permalink
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Coming this fall, iOS users will be getting a an upgrade to their mobile OS, one that adds over 200 new features to the already popular line of iDevices. With this many features, it might be hard to get a handle on just how some of these new features are going to affect your experience.

In this TechTip, I’m going over the top 5 new features in iOS 5 that can change the way you use your iDevice.

iMessage
Do you want to cancel your text messaging plan because it’s too expensive? Okay, you probably won’t be able to do that right away with iMessage, but it might be enough to subscribe to a lesser plan. With iMessage, all iOS 5 devices will be able to send text, images, video, locations, and contats with all other iOS devices, over Wi-Fi or 3G, for free. Data rates will still apply, of course, but you’ll be free from the limits of messaging plans.

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