Windows

iTeleport

by Doc Coleman - Nifty Tech Editor February 15, 2011 iOS
Thumbnail image for iTeleport

[Editor - Sorry for the delay in getting this one out folks. Unfortunately, there is little that you can do when your guts kick you in themselves. Hope you enjoy.]

Ever go off somewhere, to a meeting, or to visit a friend, and realize that you wanted to show something on your computer to someone? Maybe you had your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad along with you, and you checked Dropbox and Evernote and cursed yourself because the file wasn’t in either one, but was safely on your computer at home, just out of reach. Well, if you have iTeleport installed, that file won’t be out of reach anymore. You’ll be able to connect to your home computer, find the file and drop it into Dropbox, e-mail it, or anything else you want!

This is a preview of iTeleport. Read the full post (1460 words, 14 images, estimated 5:50 mins reading time)

Tagged as: iTeleport

6 comments

AVG Anti-Virus

by Scott Roche January 31, 2011 Featured

My personal philosophy when it comes to anti-viruses is, so long as you follow a few simple rules they shouldn’t be necessary. Most of the big name commercial anti-virus packages are what I call “bloat-ware”. They slow down even the newest computers and in my experience either lull people into a false sense of security or bombard their owners with too many “false positives”. As a result I actually don’t load them on my personal computers as a general rule.

This is a preview of AVG Anti-Virus. Read the full post (652 words, 2 images, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

Tagged as: AVG Anti-Virus, Security

9 comments

Scrambled Bits – Part Three: TrueCrypt

by Scott Roche January 3, 2011 Featured

In parts one and two of this series I talked to you about the encryption software native to the newer versions of Windows. Contrary to what some would like to believe there are a lot of older versions of Windows still running around out there. There are also a number of operating systems other than those put out by Microsoft that people are fond of. And that’s not counting people that aren’t fond of Vista or Windows 7. So what if you find yourself in this group?

This is a preview of Scrambled Bits – Part Three: TrueCrypt. Read the full post (545 words, 3 images, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Tagged as: TrueCrypt

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Scrivener 2.0

by Guest Author December 20, 2010 Featured


[This week's review for The Nifty Tech Blog is a Guest Review by author Philippa Ballantine. Pip is the author of Geist and the co-author of the forthcoming Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel. We are happy to have Pip's review as part of her Blog Tour promoting the release of Geist.


Some notes not included in Pip's review: Scrivener is published by Literature & Latte Ltd. and costs $45 . Up until this year, it has been Mac OS only, and developed by Keith Blount. But now Keith is assisted by a number of contributors, and a new Windows version is now in public beta. But enough of me, here's Pip! Enjoy! - Editor]

This is a preview of Scrivener 2.0. Read the full post (974 words, 10 images, estimated 3:54 mins reading time)

Tagged as: Philippa Ballantine, Scrivener

4 comments

Scrambled Bits – Part Two: BitLocker To Go

by Scott Roche December 6, 2010 Windows


Previously on “Scrambled Bits” I told you about how to encrypt your computer’s hard drive using a Windows tool called Bit Locker. It’s fairly straightforward and better yet it’s free. Even more important than encrypting a PC’s hard drive, is encrypting the ubiquitous USB drives that so many people carry in their pockets. It’s easy enough to misplace them and without encryption any stranger can plug one into any PC and read its contents.

This is a preview of Scrambled Bits – Part Two: BitLocker To Go. Read the full post (626 words, 3 images, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Tagged as: BitLocker To Go

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Scrambled Bits – Part One: BitLocker

by Scott Roche November 8, 2010 Windows

[This week we are pleased to bring you the debut review from Scott Roche, our Windows corespondent for the Blog. Please welcome Scott, and enjoy part one of this three part series. - Editor]

Security is, unfortunately, not number one on many peoples’ minds when it comes to their home computers. Oh sure, they think about anti-virus and anti-spyware software, but that’s about the extent of it. When it comes to a bit more intensive precautions I’ve seen eyes glaze over or roll completely back into the individual’s skull. I can’t blame them. Most people who own computers aren’t geeks and they aren’t as aware of the dangers out there as the pros. Or, if they are aware, they’re often scared or confused to the point of immobility. Hopefully, with a few simple pointers, we can change that.

This is a preview of Scrambled Bits – Part One: BitLocker. Read the full post (798 words, 3 images, estimated 3:12 mins reading time)

Tagged as: BitLocker

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AirPort Extreme

by Doc Coleman - Nifty Tech Editor July 19, 2010 Hardware

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Simultaneous Dual-Band) (MC340LL/A)As mobile devices become more popular, the need for wireless networks increases in order to provide the most demanding apps with the bandwidth they require. And eventually, one begins to look at setting up your own home network. These days, many internet providers are filling this demand by providing uplink devices with built in wireless modems. For some it is an option, for others it is a premium service with an accompanying monthly fee. For some people, letting Comcast or Verizon or whomever set up their wireless network is good enough. But others want more control over the network, and who is allowed on it. In this review, I’d like to show this last group of people one of the easiest, fastest, and most robust ways to set up your own wireless network: The AirPort Extreme.

This is a preview of AirPort Extreme. Read the full post (2278 words, 14 images, estimated 9:07 mins reading time)

Tagged as: AirPort Extreme

4 comments

Evernote

by Doc Coleman - Nifty Tech Editor June 7, 2010 iOS

Are you one of those people who goes out to a restaurant and has great ideas over dinner? You scribble them down on a napkin, or the back of your receipt and then stuff it into your wallet or a coat pocket and never seem to get back to it? Or if you do get back to it, some important part of it always seems to be missing? If you can relate to this, Evernote was created for you.

This is a preview of Evernote. Read the full post (1814 words, 10 images, estimated 7:15 mins reading time)

Tagged as: Android, Blackberry, Evernote, Palm

2 comments

iTunes

by Doc Coleman - Nifty Tech Editor May 24, 2010 Mac OS X

Yes, you read that right. This week I’m reviewing Apple’s iTunes software, the music management, iPod/iPhone/iPad/Apple TV syncing software that has been around since 2001. After 9 years, iTunes certainly isn’t new, cutting edge tech. But then again, it isn’t the iTunes that was released all those years ago.

The basics: iTunes is free, is available from Apple at http://www.apple.com/itunes/, and the current version is 9.1.1(12) as of this writing. It is available for Mac OS X and for Windows, but not for Linux. Every Mac currently shipping comes with iTunes installed, and everyone who has an iPod or iPhone has already had to install it on their computer.

This is a preview of iTunes. Read the full post (3590 words, 20 images, estimated 14:22 mins reading time)

Tagged as: iTunes

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Crash Plan

by Doc Coleman - Nifty Tech Editor March 29, 2010 Featured

One of the most important things you can do with your computer, is back it up. Backups preserve your important data and can save untold hours of work by letting you revert to previous versions when you discover that you’ve done something to mess up one of your precious documents. Backups also soften the blow of losing a computer to age, theft, or other disasters. But if all of your backups are in one place, then how safe is your data?

This is a preview of Crash Plan. Read the full post (1643 words, 2 images, estimated 6:34 mins reading time)

Tagged as: Crash Plan

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