Hello again from beautiful and warm Tucson, AZ. I am back from my photographic adventures in southern Utah and ready to resume my blog editor duties. It was a great adventure and I took several hundred photos in Bryce and Zion National Parks as well as side trips to the Escalante and Red Cliffs wilderness areas. You can see some of these photos on both my Postcards blog and up on Flickr. I only have a few up so far but am working my way through them. I am really pleased with what I took. The Autumn colors in Zion were spectacular and I got my first ever snow photos of Bryce Canyon. It was a great, but exhausting time.
Back to technology…the biggest events that took place were the rollouts of both the new Kindle Fire and Nook tablets. There are so many stories and reviews on the subject that I am putting out a special edition of this blog, hopefully by tomorrow. There you will get tons of info on which one you may wish to buy. Be sure and stay tuned.
But, for today, I have some interesting news and features which you hopefully will find of interest. –JRC
Chase Rolls Out Credit Card with Chip Technology
Chip-based credit cards are already used throughout most of the industrialized world, but the U.S. still primarily uses credit cards with magnetic strips. Now, Chase is offering a card with smart-chip technology that aims to reduce fraud and traveler hassle. Increasing concerns over fraud could mean chip-based cards soon become more common.
Microsoft Looks to the Future of SkyDrive
While Google and Apple are getting a lot of press these days about their respective cloud services initiatives, Microsoft of course has its own cloud solutions, some of which are surprisingly low profile despite their usefulness. One such service is SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage solution, which has undergone a number of important improvements in recent months. But today, the company announced plans to address users' changing needs and, I think, offer something that is more compelling.
What you can do about soaring hard-drive prices
Floods in Thailand — and an ensuing worldwide purchasing panic — have pushed the price of hard drives to nosebleed heights and left us all with fewer choices. Here’s what you need to know about the crisis, the fallout, and what you can do about it.
Everything you need to know about buying a smartphone
Smartphones are like cars - there's no single "best car" for everybody, and there's no "best smartphone" for everyone, either. Just like walking into a car dealership without doing your research on prices and features is a recipe for getting overcharged, walking into your local Verizon or Sprint store without knowing what you need is a recipe for future unhappiness.
Google Music debuts, letting users share tunes via Google+
The service takes advantage of Google search technology as well as its ability to tap the tastes of a user's friends to recommend songs. With three of the four major record labels now participating in the service, users will also be able to buy music.
Which music service should you use?
At this point, music lovers and listeners now have 10 scrillion ways to listen to music online. But where to start? Do you patiently upload all your music to Google Music? Do you check out what your friends are listening to on Spotify? Rdio? Mog? Pandora? Which ones are free, and which ones cost money?
Browser Wars: Chrome vs. IE9 vs. Firefox
You really can't go wrong with any Web browser choice these days. Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari, all are fast, standards compliant, and feature rich. A lot boils down to what you're comfortable with and which features are most important to you.
Tech Turkeys of 2011 (Video)
It's time to talk turkeys. No, not what you're cooking for dinner Thursday; we're talking tech turkeys today. In this video, CNET counts down the biggest fails in tech this year. Who gave us 12 long months of meh? Whose strategy was so bad it will be studied in business school for years to come? A fun video to watch.
MediaMonkey Standard 4.0.0.1459 (Windows-Free)
MediaMonkey is the media manager for serious collectors. It catalogs audio and video files and can be customized to the needs of different 'collections' (e.g. contemporary, classical music, audiobooks, home movies, tv, videos), whether they're located on a hard drive or a network.
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