Leaning with Intent

Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

It seems that for some time now YouTube is allowing to embed YouTube clips that contain an AdSense unit above the clip. YouTube has various pages that discuss this feature. YouTube claims that this service allows enhancing of a site with high quality, relevant video content from YouTube partners. Of course, it also allows you to earn extra revenue along the way. It is supposed to attract and retain users with highly relevant, frequently refreshed video from popular content providers. You will need to sign up for an AdSense account to participate. This would be yet another way to make money – by embedding YouTube clips on your site.

Most people still do not know that their PCs can easily replace their TVs. Many people think that the Internet is mainly for browsing web pages. Since people like watching movies, they tend to spend a lot of time in front on their TV. However, PCs are more and more often replacing traditional TVs. There are many videos on the Internet that are quite entertaining and are not copyrighted. If you like watching news, you will find a lot of videos for free on the net for which you will not have to pay. If you look for entertainment, you will find a lot of funny videos on YouTube. Many of those videos you would never be able to watch on your TV. There are millions of entertaining video clips and videos on the Internet, so take that into consideration.

Do you want to know how to obtain a free hard drive? I might not be able to tell you how to obtain a regular one, but you can get an Internet virtual drive by utilizing Gmail. You will need to have a Gmail address, but these days it should be quite easy to obtain. Secondly, you will need to download the Gmail Drive shell extension and install it. You can do it by visiting this link: softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/Mail-Utilities/GMail-Drive-shell-extension.shtml. Once installed, this software is going to create a virtual file system around your Google Gmail account. What this means for you, is that you will be able to save and retrieve file directly through Internet Explorer. Of course, the transfer rate of files is going to be a lot slower compared to copying files between your regular hard drives. On the other hand, since it is completely free, it is useful anyway. I must admit that I really appreciate the ability to back up my files this way. There are many users who use this Gmail drive on a regular basis. I would like to encourage more people to benefit from this free hard drive, as I am aware of the fact that not many Internet users know about it yet.

If you are a fresh college student ready to move to your campus, then you probably wonder what kind of computer (whether laptop or desktop) you should take with you, or buy if you do not have one. Your choice will depend on at least a few factors. If transporting a desktop PC is not a problem for you, and if you will have enough space for it on your new desk, then I suggest that you get a standard PC. Unless you need a laptop to take notes in your classroom, a desktop computer will be all that you will ever need. Desktop computer is also a better choice for those students who like computer games. After all, life does not consist of studying only, and you need to have some fun too. Owning a laptop might prevent you from playing the newest games that otherwise would be easily available to you on your desktop PC. The best solution, of course, is to have both a laptop and a PC. You can always take a laptop with you when you go to a library or if you want to take notes during classes. However, when you come to your dormitory or apartment, a PC will give you so much more than just a regular laptop. Take into account the advantages and disadvantages when making the final decision.

Internet music piracy is a big issue that affects many people and companies, especially music studios. They might be comforted to know that there are many convictions related to piracy. For example, some time ago there was a five year prison sentence for Barry Gitarts who was responsible for a computer server which hosted hundreds of thousands of music and video files. The consequences for his illegal activities were very big and this conviction might remind people of that. Currently there are ongoing federal investigations into organized piracy groups who distribute such files, so in the future we might hear about more piracy groups getting convicted.

If you use your computer a lot, and are smart enough to back up your important data from time to time, then you know that external hard drives are very useful. Floppy discs or even CDs do not contain enough storage space to back up everything. These days we gather so much information on our computers that so few megabytes of storage are no longer sufficient. I predict that in the future there will be an even bigger and bigger need for external hard drives. Looking at the progress that happened within the last few years, I see that computers usually store a lot more data than they did ever before. A lot of people store on their hard drives various files such as DVD quality movies, avi files, mp3 files, games, and many different programs. Some of the programs require a few gigabytes of data. I think it is safe to presume that we will be needing more and more external hard drives in the years to come. What do you think will be the average size of a hard drive in 10 or 20 years? Anyway, remember to back up any documents and programs that you have stored on your computer.

Malware is a term commonly used for malicious software. It is a software that you do not download intentionally, but your computer gets infected by it while opening various Internet websites. You can also unintentionally download malware while downloading programs, such as shareware. Shareware is a type of software that you are allowed to try out before you buy it, or a software that is completely free to use.

Keep in mind that the creators of this type of self attaching malicious software are very cunning and smart. They are doing everything for your PC not to detect it, even if it is installed on your computer.
One of the newest types of malware is so-called root kit. These root kits install themselves on your hard drive, and run secretly underneath the computer’s operating system which makes them very hard to detect. Currently, security companies around the world are trying to create a software that will counterattack root kits, but it is not such an easy task. One advice that I can give you is to keep your eyes open on everything that is going on with your computer. If you notice something suspicious about your PC, immediately check it out. Only download software from reputable sources where ideally some people confirmed that the files are not infected. Remember to also keep your eye on the newest ways to prevent your PC from being infected by malware. Try to protect yourself the best possible way.

The problem with working in an office is that you might not always be busy. And when a worker is not busy, he might be tempted to start looking for something to do, like surfing the Web, or writing emails. There are many people who just surf the Internet for fun during work, or use their email for other purposes then strictly work. According to the study conducted by AMA (American Management Association) among three hundred companies US companies more than a quarter of employees were fired because of misusing email, and every third worker has been let go for not using the Internet properly at work. Whereas accessing pornographic sites during working hours was the main reason for being fired for misusing the Internet, simply surfing the Web was the reason one third of the employees lost their employment. Office workers are also being downsized for the misuses of emails, mostly because of the inappropriate language used in correspondence. Twenty five percent of bosses said that they fired their staff because of excessive personal use of email.
I think that it is quite apparent that a worker should not access pornographic websites, or other sites considered to be offensive. When it comes to emails avoiding using vulgar language is another thing that employees should remember about. Workers should also realize that in order to have everything under control many companies monitor their Internet connections, and as a matter of fact, it has been said that 66% of companies monitor their Internet connections. In many cases companies do not even have to notify employees that their activity at the computer is monitored. Every employee should remember that and try to represent their company in the best way possible. Employees should also try to use their time effectively because they are usually paid on a per hour basis. Of course, employees also deserve privacy to some degree, so monitoring Internet connections may not be the best way to motivate employees to work more efficiently.

Which browser should I choose? This is the question which many people ask, while others spend hours upon hours in order to prove that their browser is superior. While I also have a browser preference, this is not really what I wanted to talk about this time, as I rather want to point out something else. With so many browsers advertising that they are the best, we often feel like we have to make a specific choice, and that is not really the case. Some people might not know it, but you can actually have multiple browsers installed on your computer. You can use Firefox, IE, and Opera interchangeably, and you do not have to be limited to just one. You may wish to use Firefox when accessing dangerous sites, as Firefox is considered to be the safest browser. On the other hand, you may also want to use Internet Explorer when you want to open some of your bookmarked pages, because most websites are compatible with IE. You can use Opera when you feel like you want to quickly jump from one tab to another, as Opera is a very fast browser. Remember that you do not have to limit yourself to just one browser.

Choosing the right hosting can be difficult, as there are a lot of hosting providers. Some of them are large companies, while others are just resellers who may not have a lot of customers. In any case it is important to have a reliable hosting company, especially if you spend a lot of time working on your site. In some cases hosting downtime can damage your site’s reputation, as visiting might think that the site does not exist. In other cases you may lose money because of it, if your site sells products. When it comes to choosing reliable hosting, I usually look at the price and what people are saying about the site. I could give you some recommendations, but the situation is changing rapidly, and what I would say might no longer be true in a few months. That is why I encourage you to do some searches in your favorite search engine to see what people are writing about hosting providers. Personally, I would avoid unknown hosting providers because you never know if their business will fail very soon. You should try to find established hosting companies which you can trust. After all, you do not want to lose valuable data that you have on your website. You shoulf be especially careful if you do not back up your website very often.