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Top Benefits of Sharing Technology

December 27, 2010 By

Capturing crystal clear live sound, still photos, and live video has changed the way memories are kept and communication happens. Living thousands of miles away from friends and family does not have to mean letters are the only way to stay in touch. File sharing has changed the way business and people communicate and share their experiences online.

Photos of people, places, or things are often are more descriptive than simply writing about experiencing that moment or a tangible item. Capturing photos is easier than ever when using digital cameras or cell phones with cameras. Applications for cell phones that allow for panoramic pictures to be taken provide a means to show another person what they are experiencing. This could be a beautiful landscape in the countryside or the seaside while on vacation in the Bahamas.

There are a number of ways to display digital pictures. Uploading them to a frame that rotates between hundreds of photos can save a great deal of space. Cluttering living spaces with too many pictures is no longer a problem when using digital pictures. Only the bests photos are printed out, which saves a great deal of photo paper.

Listening to music is no longer restricted to the mainstream artists in stores or that play on the radio. Independent artists, instrumentals, and music from the world is easily accessible online for a relatively low cost. Downloading only selected songs that you actually like is freeing. Free snippets of songs are available online before purchasing from most artists.

Uploading music and photos through file sharing can easily upload music, photos, and video to an email address or to a digital device. Downloading and sharing files on safe websites is  important to keep viruses and spy ware off your business or personal computer. Use video, photos, and file downloads to increase business or to connect with loved ones.

Filed Under: Technology

The current state of data sharing

December 20, 2010 By

Ever since Napster burst onto the scene in the late 1990s, file sharing has become part of the internet lexicon. The numerous sites that sprung up have certainly caused their share of controversy and initiated a new chapter into the legal history of the use of electronic media.
File sharing media has made its mark on society as a means of exchange, a 21st century bazaar, enabling friends, family and strangers to upload, download, even sideload perhaps, if some enterprising soul decided to take liberties with the new jargon that accompanied the popularity of this new way of sharing data.

Most people thing of songs when they think of file sharing, but with new advances come new websites designed to share other forms of media such as pictures and videos, the king of all video sharing being YouTube, of course. Other websites like shutterfly.com, snapfish.com, and flickr.com specialize in sharing of pictures.

The ease of which data can be shared has saturated the e-marketplace with various websites that cater to all manner of interest. With today’s internet evolving into a “cloud” based world, file sharing will be all the more common. No longer will data be confined to a hard drive, only accessible to the user of that particular hardware. Now, data can be stored in numerous locations, accessible to a user no matter which desktop, laptop, smartphone or digital tablet he or she may be using.

I for one, love the possibilities that are opening up in this new cloud computing universe. Not having to be tied to one particular instrument for accessing data and sharing that data with others will, indeed is heralding a sea-change in the way business is conducted, the way families share Christmas photos and videos, and the way artists introduce potential fans to their music. The tip of the digital iceberg has been plumbed. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

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What do you mean you don’t know how to attach files?!

December 12, 2010 By

My mother and stepfather are snowbirds, splitting time between their home in Connecticut and their winter home here in Florida. They are experienced using a computer, but like others their age, they do have some difficulty at times. For example, I explained in detail to my mother this past spring how to attach photos to her email so she could share photos with her friends. I worked with her for 10 minutes, and she caught on. Several weeks ago, I repeated the process again. I indulged in my usual grumbling about having already showed her, but I explained the process again. She did in fact remember most of the method, but couldn’t remember a step or two. Hopefully, by the time they go back up north, she’ll have it down. It’s much harder to explain it over the phone.
Revisiting this experience made me think about how easy it’s become to share information. The maturation of email and social networking sites have contributed to making it easier to share information. My mother is an avid user of Facebook, and in many ways is more proficient than I am at using some of the site’s features. I am daily getting invitations to participate in games like Family Feud, responding to comments on my status, and viewing pictures on her page.

She also has become proficient at texting. She recently upgraded her cell phone to a “texting” phone. She now has a phone with a slide out full keyboard. Texting has replaced actual phone conversation as our main form of communication. On the whole, I enjoy communicating with her this way, and look forward to the ability to stay in closer contact more often. Now that I have a family, it’s more important than ever to stay in touch, and the Internet and its attendant technologies make it easier to do so. Here’s to more advances in data sharing!

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Download Dangers

December 4, 2010 By

Anyone who has had a computer for any length of time knows what it means to download. We download pictures, movies, or music. We can even download software to help our machines run better. For the most part, downloading is fine to do on any machine and in nearly every setting. However, there are some things to be careful, and pay attention with. For instance, people can attach all kinds of viruses to a download attachment, and before you know it, your machine is giving you the worst message ever, “Hard Disk Failure.”
Many of the known viruses are easy to get rid of and only cause glitches. Some of them can actually attache and embed into your system, and then cause problems in all of your files, and send itself to everyone in your address book for your email, thus affecting countless numbers of people. The first horrible virus that came out was what is called a Trojan virus, named after the Trojan Horse. It can sneak in undetected, and then cause all kinds of havoc.
Security settings on your system, and protection software can you protect you from these types of viruses, but sometimes they do sneak in. If you find yourself with a problem that is new, and has just begun, the best thing that you can do is to get your machine cleaned up as soon as possible. The longer a virus sits in your computer, the more trouble it can cause.
Few people realize that viruses are transmitted through downloading. In fact, it is the only way your computer can receive the virus. When downloading, if your systems security blockers bring your attention to a threat, pay attention to it. It could be the difference between getting a virus, and finding a way to download your information anyway, and having to replace your computer.

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Why Passwords Are So Important

December 1, 2010 By

Password protection on your computer system can have many functions. Other than basic security, you can have specific passwords for specific uses, and for specific people. This way you can set parameters for use ahead of time, and based on the password used, the computer will have settings geared for a certain user. This is a way to have your system complete with parental controls, or for certain users to not gain access to particular parts of your computer system. The beauty is that you do not need to disclose the different passwords, or state that there are different passwords for different users.
There is a key to figuring out a password for your computer, and you want to make sure that it is not the same as passwords that you already use. The reason being is that if someone does figure out the password you use, they will automatically try to use it for a malicious attempt at stealing information, if that is their intent. The logic behind the usage of passwords is to create a semi-encrypted code that makes it difficult for users, other than yourself, to get into your computer, and view information that you have saved.
Most institutions require very specific passwords for their sites as a means of providing security. Whether it has a capitalized letter, a numeric character, or another type of character, the point is to protect your information. By having a diverse character grouping, the password code become that much more difficult to just guess, and therefore complicating any attempt at harming your information or identity. It is the same logic with password protecting your computer from the start up screen. By doing so, you are not allowing just anyone to view what is on your computer, you are being proactive in protecting yourself.

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