Graham Ricks
Technical Trainer

The web these days has become a powerful tool, and to some a source of addiction. The introduction of the internet essentially provided people with access to nearly any information they could ever want. This “Web 1.0” was a powerful tool, allowing users to speak across oceans; the internet was basically a never-ending library. But with the new millennium came the beginning of a new internet; the new Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is a term that you will be hearing more and more of. It basically describes the change in direction of the internet. Instead of now using the internet as a resource, the internet is becoming a place to live instead of just visiting. Web 2.0 basically describes the way the internet is now connecting people and ideas, and how people can interact with the internet. The new Web is now considered by many to be an actual computer platform, like Windows Vista/XP or Mac OSX. This is because the internet now plays host to its own online office suites, games and other software. Previously if you wanted to use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint you had to install it on your computer, now all you have to do is visit Zoho.com and you can use the same products entirely online.

Web 2.0 has also been applied to the new look of the internet. Web pages have moved to a more streamlined look with bolder colors, special animations and rounded corners. With the shift to Web 2.0 you will begin to see websites with more central layouts that have a much bolder look. This is also being followed by companies such as Microsoft that have incorporated the Web 2.0 look into their software, as you can see in Word 2007.
Moving from the passive internet of the past the more aggressive Web 2.0, users can expect to be drawn into the internet. You never know, when Web 3.0 comes along the internet may reach through the monitor and pull you in.

by Jen Fife

You may have visions of iPods dancing in your head as the holidays quickly approach. But what about those people on your list who just aren’t hip to all of the gadgets offered by the information age? Take a brief trip through some of America’s best and worst decades as you see gifts for people stuck in any era!

For fans of what the early 20th Century had to offer (don’t forget this was the time of the Roaring Twenties!), great options include:

* Betty Boop alarm clock
* Gone With the Wind Paraphernalia (watch, DVD, or even the book)
* Retro soda vending machine or old time cart popcorn maker
* Anniversary Editions or other favorite DVDs of John Wayne or other early 20th century favorites

For fans of the 40’s:
* Once again, you can’t go wrong with a classic DVD set
* A die cast model of a favorite car from the era

And the 50’s:
* An Elvis album
* Collector’s Edition DVD box set of The Diamond Collection (Marilyn Monroe)
* Retro Milkshake Maker
* Vintage candy dispenser
* Lucy & Ethel Musical Globe

For those on your list with fond memories of their hippie days or other events of the 1960’s:
* Star Trek DVD set (or even a Phaser if it’s their favorite show)
* A Greatest Hits collection of The Beatles
* Auto Lava Lamp (read: for the car)!

And for everyone stuck in the 70’s:
* Rocky Horror Tribute Show DVD
* Music of Sonny & Cher or DVD of The Sonny & Cher Show
* Bobble head of a favorite Star Wars character (not exactly technological, but very amusing)
* Table Top Disco Ball

Finally, the last era anyone is still allowed to be stuck in is the 80’s:
* Leg Lamp from the Movie A Christmas Story
* Darth Vader USB Hub
* Dancing Gizmo Plush Figure
* Name that Tune DVD Board Game

These items will surely convert anyone who is still convinced that technology isn’t a great thing. For more era-specific ideas, visit Betty’s Attic at www.bettysattic.com.

Happy Holidays!

by Ashley Johnson

Are you looking for inventive ways to jazz up your PC this year? Well now you can. Creating your own PC modifications (case mod) is a fun and relatively inexpensive way to dress up your tired PC. You don’t have to know a lot about computers to create a case mod. You can find easy “How To” guides everywhere.

Case mods are often conducted on the lights and fans of the system, however; you can go as far as renovating the majority of the computer’s components including its exterior.

Case mods are not limited to computers. Some extreme console users often enjoy creating mods for their systems. One mod I recently found online was a Clerks mod for a PS3.

Computer enthusiasts in the past have created some of the strangest PC modifications ever. The following is a list of awesome mods I recently located online.

10. The Microwave PC-as strange as it sounds in order to create this machine the internal components of a microwave oven were taken out and replaced with computing equipment.

9. The Wall Crawler-built into a wall cabinet, made for a user that wants to alternate between hard drives on a daily basis.

8. The WMD-weapon of mass destruction was built with the intention of looking like an atomic bomb.

7. R2D2 PC-the PC is for Stars Wars fans who want to do more than just watch the movie. They want to keep a portion of the film with them forever.

6. The Lego MAC-is a PC mod created out of thousands of Lego blocks. This one will really take you back to your childhood.

5. The Cyber Pumpkin-speaks for itself.

4. The Y2K Bug-Its outward appearance takes on the look of a random insect but this mod took several months to build.

3. The Gingerbread House-Just in time for the holiday season. This particular mode looks almost eatable.

2. The Toilet PC-This mod is my favorite. The Toilet PC comes complete with its own biohazard sign and painted on excrement as well as a flusher used as a power switch.

1. Miss Kanna PC-For all of you Manga fans out there this PC is for you. This design was actually created for a magazine in 2004. It’s structure is made out of piping and clay.

(Information taken from http://gadgets.fosfor.se/the-top-10-weirdest-case-mods/)

Other interesting case mods include: Leela Futurama case mode, DOOM 3, and Battlestar Galactica case mods.

Computer Moding equipment can be found at some of the following locations:

www.FrozenCPU.com

www.Xoxide.com

www.ArticMod.com

by Graham Ricks

Now that we have officially moved into the holiday season many people have begun the search for the perfect holiday gift. The only thing harder than finding a gift for the person who has everything is finding some technology for a demanding geek. Here is a list that will hopefully shorten your search for gifts and make your techie happy they know you.

1. Kingston DataTraveler 150 32GB Flash Drive – $46.99 on Newegg.com – This product can be found all over the internet for around $50 but newegg.com also offers free and very fast shipping.
Newegg.com
Search: DataTraveler 150 32GB

2. Canon Powershot A1000 IS 10MP Camera – $142.95 on B&H Photo –
A very popular point and shoot camera by one of the leaders in the digital photography market. This 10 Megapixel image stabilized digital camera comes in a variety of colors and is perfect for your holiday photos.
Bhphotovideo.com
Search: A1000 IS

3. Garmin Nuvi 205W GPS – $149.99 on tigerdirect.com – A 4.3 inch touch screen with turn by turn voice directions for $150? What more can you ask for?
Tigerdirect.com
Search: Nuvi 205W

4. Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player – $249.99 at CirtcuitCity.com – A speedy Blu-ray player that supports BD-Live, the latest industry Blu-ray standard, and it even comes with free shipping for the holidays.
Circuitcity.com
Search: DMPBD35K

5. The Dark Knight on Blu-ray – Pre-order $23.99 on Amazon.com – The only choice for your first Blu-ray movie to go with your new Panasonic Blu-Ray Player, available with a digital copy for your computer and the latest format Blu-ray disc.
Amazon.com
Search: Dark Knight Blu-ray

With the internet and this list along side, you no longer have to fight long lines and search empty shelves for the perfect tech gift.

by Jen Fife

The end of the semester always carries with it the dread of projects, papers, and finals. Another tidbit that creeps up on students to accompany the end of the Fall semester is the Holiday season. How will you make the holidays work when coupled with so much stress and so little time and money? A few clicks around the cyber universe will help you do Holidays on a budget, and below are a few to help you get started.

http://www.edgetechcorp.com/holiday/ This site offers tech gifts organized by price range--starting as low as under $10--interest, or person. The site also boasts a “you choose” category for such things as camera memory and flash drives, and an “EDGE picks” category with a Top 10 list. It is perfect for one stop shopping, even if you’re on a tight budget.

http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/a ... ving_guide This site provides tips on cheap holiday gifts for a student’s friends, parents, roommates and professors.
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/ ... free_gifts Oprah’s website offers ideas for gifts that are very cheap or even free.

A simple Google search will provide many more ideas for Holiday gifts. Remember, lots of money is unnecessary to give a gift someone will love. Put your time and energy into doing well on your final projects, papers, and exams.

Happy Holidays!

by Jen Fife

Thanksgiving will come and go on Thursday, and everyone knows what that signifies: the beginning of the holiday shopping season! Sure, you could wake up before dawn on Black Friday and wander through huge crowds hunting for bargains, but there is a better way: let the internet help you.

2008 Black Friday Ads maintains an up-to-date list of Black Friday ads as well as a strategy guide for truly devoted shoppers.

SlickDeals.net provides up-to-date information about bargains and also offers coupons for electronic items.

Forbes offers a list of the top 15 Black Friday bargains.

PriceProtectr sends email alerts if the price of an item you purchase drops within 30 days of your original purchase. If the store where you bought the item has a price match guarantee, you may be able to take the receipt and proof of the lower price to the store and be refunded the difference.

These sites should prove to be helpful tools for your holiday shopping.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

by Graham Ricks

With the holidays fast approaching, people are beginning the search for the perfect gift. Our nation’s most prolific shopping day, Black Friday, is a week away. Stores have already begun stocking for this shopping rush. Each year we hear more elaborate stories of people camping out overnight for a Tickle Me Elmo doll, or the newest game console, but with the use of the internet you no longer have to worry about fighting those long lines and sitting in hours of traffic.

Cyber Monday has brought holiday shopping into the 21st century. For those of you who have not heard of Cyber Monday, this is the name given to the Monday after Thanksgiving. Instead of fighting people for the last toy on the shelf, many people have decided to do all of their shopping online, and most people tend to do it while at work and behind their computer. Below are a few tips to follow when doing online shopping.

* First of all, make sure you are dealing with a reputable online retailer. This time of year a lot of websites pop up hoping to catch unsuspecting shoppers giving out their credit card numbers for a seemingly good deal. If you stick to larger retailers like Buy.com, Overstock.com, or even EBay’s Shopping.com you have less to worry about than if you shop at a generic internet discount store.

* Make sure that any page you submit any personal information to begins with https://. If the web page address does not begin with this, DO NOT ENTER PERSONAL INFORMATION. The “s” in the address indicates that the page is secure; if the “s” is not there your information could be captured by an outside source looking to steal your identity.

* Look for logos on the site from groups like TRUSTe or VeriSign. These are companies whose business is to verify the legitimacy of other websites. They look at things like how long the company has been in existence, customer surveys and the amount of internet traffic they receive. Making sure a website is verified by TRUSTe or VeriSign will ensure a more pleasant shopping experience.

If you follow these guidelines for online shopping safety, you are going to insure that you have a pleasant and safe holiday shopping experience.

Happy and Safe Computing!

by Jen Fife

Thanksgiving is coming up next week, and a Google search will generate many websites oozing with turkey-day suggestions. Below are a few nifty sites to enhance your Thanksgiving experience.

Thanksgiving involves many kitchen appliances, but if you have no idea where to start in the Thanksgiving Extravaganza you’ve decided to host for your friends, try the Food Network. This website will provide you with menus, recipes, and even step-by-step instructions.
www.foodnetwork.com/thanksgiving/package/index.htm

Meat centered dishes abound this time of year, but what if you’re trying to stick to your newly declared vegetarian lifestyle? Look no further than Vegetarian Kitchen. The site provides meat-free recipes for salads, main courses, stuffing, side dishes, and desserts.
http://vegkitchen.com/recipes/vegetaria ... giving.htm

After dinner is over and you just want to take a nap, it’s always a good idea to pop in a movie. This website provides a list of great movies for Thanksgiving Day, along with little blurbs about why the movies are so fabulous.
www.springfieldlibrary.org/reading/thanksgivingmovies.html

You will very likely have massive quantities of food left over from Thanksgiving Day, but why throw it away? Use the recipes from Mr. Breakfast to turn your leftovers into body and brain fuel for your Black Friday escapades!
www.mrbreakfast.com/thanksgiving/asp

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving Break!

by Joni Meadows

Everybody uses a camera these days, whether to take pictures of friends or to capture a beautiful landscape. No matter the reason, cameras are a universal product that is created for everybody to use.

Photography companies like Nikon, Sony, Canon, and other camera manufacturers are always upgrading their latest products to suit the evolving requests of potential buyers. With each new product, they promise several factors such as better picture quality, easier use, higher resolution, or other special features like zoom or video capabilities. Each camera is different to better suit a person’s interests. For example, someone wanting to carry their camera around with them may want a handheld camera, while someone with a desire to make a profession out of photography would want something more complex. Cameras have come a long way since the camera obscura, the very first camera where a person stood behind a curtain and traced out a person's picture, by being able to take pictures at a much faster rate, with better looking photos, and becoming much more convenient.

To choose which camera would best fit your needs means to start looking at different manufacturer’s websites and go to your nearest electronics store. If you’re looking for a brand new and fun method of showing off your pictures, the new Nikon Coolpix S60 might be for you. It’s small and lightweight, comes in several fun colors, and is even shown in a commercial with Ashton Kutcher. The LCD screen on the back is touch-sensitive and when viewing your photos, you can flip through them with a swipe of your finger. But what if you’re looking for more of a professional camera that concentrates more on quality than quantity? These cameras are usually bulkier, have detachable lenses, and have more manual settings than compared to the smaller point-and-clicks. But these are only digital camera options. Maybe you would rather develop your own photos or just stick with the camera on your phone? There is no right or wrong camera because they all come out with the same result: your memories captured on film.

by Jen Fife

Children are an infinite wellspring of energy. This little fact can be unnerving. But what if that energy could be applied usefully? New York based Saber Technical intends to find out.

Saber has developed green playground technology in the form of systems that use children’s energy to create electricity. The most common equipment being used seems to be the merry-go-round. Children run around it to generate electricity, and they are rewarded by flashing lights if they run fast enough.

Green merry-go-rounds are in place on many private-school playgrounds in the United States, and many universities are following Saber’s lead and their various science students are replicating such technology. A group of Brigham Young University students have already installed an electricity-producing merry-go-round in a small village in Ghana that provides electricity for the small school located there.

Saber tech is hoping to start sister programs for their donated playground technology in India, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The company also has projects in the works that hope to improve living and educational conditions in various countries using their kid power playgrounds.