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Monthly Archives: November 2008
Test Your WiFi signal, find new ones
Wondering just how strong and stable your WiFi signal is? Check out inSSIDer, a free program that will provide detailed information about all of the WiFi signals in your area and chart over time the relative signal strength of each.
A quick glance at the screenshot to the right shows that the two strongest signals I have significantly drop in strength about every 30 seconds (and I wasn’t moving!) Needless to say, I’ve got a problem to investigate.
Microsoft PC Advisor
If you’re one of those folks looking for a simple "tell me what’s wrong and just fix it" solution to common Windows problems try the free Microsoft PC Advisor. For a power user it doesn’t do much (at least it didn’t for me) but it did make some sensible recommendations and made the changes with just two clicks. Hey, it couldn’t hurt to try it.
Phishing Scams in Plain English
Here’s another great video from the folks at commoncraft on phishing. Keep this one in mind the next time someone asks for help responding to one of those e-mails.
The king of wireless keyboards
If you’re one of those folks that wants a wireless keyboard for your living room (there’s nothing like couch surfing 
here’s the one I recommend: The Logitech diNovo Edge. This thing is amazing. I’ve been using mine for more than a year now. First, it’s thin. So thin you just won’t believe it. Second, it’s now available for both PC and Mac. Third, it’s got a built in track pad thus eliminating the need to figure out just how to balance a mouse on the sofa’s arm rest. (However, I just realized that the Mac version doesn’t have this feature. It comes with a mouse instead.) And last, you never need to replace the batteries as it’s got a recharging stand.
Granted it’s a little pricey for a keyboard (~$145 PC, $65 Mac) but in my opinion it’s worth every penny.
Convert your media
Need to get a DVD onto your iPod? Need to turn that .mov file into a .avi file? I’ve tried many of the programs out there and FormatFactory not only works but is free! Unfortunately, it’s Windows only. Mac suggestions are welcome in the comments.
Library Camp Nebraska is today!
If you’re not attending you can follow along in the FriendFeed room or, in testing out something new… right here. Library Camp is scheduled to run from 9am-4pm CST. If you’d like to leave a comment just create a FriendFeed account if you don’t already have one, log in, and click the appropriate Comment link.
Lincoln named nation's top 'digital' city
I’m going to take a point of personal privilege and crow a little bit about my new home city of Lincoln. According to the Lincoln Journal Star:
For the second year in a row, the city of Lincoln’s online services have earned it a designation as a top “digital city” in the nation by the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute.
Lincoln ranked first among cities with populations from 125,000 to 250,000. It is the seventh time in eight years that Lincoln has finished in the top 10.
The full report can be found at the Center for Digital Government.
(Oddly enough the city that won for a population of 250,000+ was Aurora, CO where I moved here from.)
Wondering how the iPhone works?
Checkout the free IphoneBT.exe program and give it a run. Use it to get a basic idea on how the interface for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can’t really make calls or surf the web but it will give you an idea of how that darn on-screen keyboard works.
What should the government's tech priorities be?
President-elect Barack Obama is planning on appointing the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer. If you’ve got an opinion on what should be the CTO’s top priorities you can head on over to www.obamacto.org, log in, and vote on the ideas previously submitted or submit your own ideas. Each person gets ten votes to spread around.