Mac Computer Group (NEW) Sarnia, Ontario

ATTENTION ALL MAC COMPUTER USERS:
MAC Training In Sarnia now available

brand new Mac group – free to join – come and learn more…

Freeling alone out there? Nobody to show you some “how tos”? Why not try out our brand new and FREE Mac Computer Users Group?

Contact Me for more info or help with your Mac:

Gregory West
Phone: 519-331-5067
Email:  gregorywest (at) bell.net
MAP: Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

There is a new FREE computer group for Mac computer users. This group is based in both Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron Michigan. The group met for the first time last week and will continue regular meetings every 2nd Thursday.

Gregory West
Phone: 519-331-5067
Email:  gregorywest (at) bell.net
MAP: Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

A regular columnist for Computer User Groups worldwide
through APCUG

Writing for APCUG

MacSpeech – It types as you talk and FAST

CAN’T TYPE? Don’t let that stop you from writing long emails or that timeless Blog. Check out this easy-to-use program that all you do is talk and it types at the same speed you can get the words from your mouth. It is well worth the money if you own a Mac. If you don’t own a Mac, read on anyway and see what is out there in new technology for speech to type:

Monday next week I am giving training to a client on Apple’s “MacSpeech” recogition software. At first glance it certainly has potential.

This program types as you speak, and FAST. Listen this Apple representative as he explains the program in an interview with Geek Brief TV:

Also, here you can actually seen the program in real live action:

Sarnia Computer Group Newsletter

For some good tips and reviews please have a look at my final edition of SCUG Report magazine. I have resigned as Editor of the Sarnia Computer Group. I was spending too many hours each month whereas now I can use to explore new avenues in Cyberspace.

(CLICK HERE for a copy)




This move will allow me more time for other projects that I deem more important now.

CLICK HERE for info.

I am also working on a new murder/mystery novel and lovin it. To see the novel writing ideas and progress CLICK HERE for a Novel Idea.

This blog is updated now on a regular basis keeping the Computer and Internet Tips flowing freely.

So don’t forget to check back here at least weekly for NEW TIPS being added all the time. And check for the upcoming FREE Basic Computer and Internet seminars

CLICK HERE for information on FREE Basic Computer and Internet Training – Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

Bing vs Google – a New Engine In Town

Google Stand Aside – There’s A New Engine In Town

“Bing” – The Decision Engine by Microsoft – www.bing.com

by Gregory West
(as published in the July 2009 issue of First Monday magazine and SCUG Report)

Given Google’s supremacy, who would ever have thought that there would be any competition in the Internet search business? Most of us would bet the farm that would never happen. But wait, hold your bets, because there is a new engine in online who is giving Google employees a major headache. Welcome the brand new search engine owned by Microsoft named: “bing”.

So what makes bing a competitor that can stand up against Google? The answer is quite simple:

* “Searchers can choose the best scope for their search query
* Bing can provide best match and useful links and information
* Quick Preview of any website
* Bing can provide Instant Answers
* Bing will Auto-Suggest the search queries” (toputop.com).

Soon, many of us will do our searching using bing for everything from travel, to shopping, and targeted researches. The main reason to switch to bing is you retrieve accurate and related websites in your search, rather the clutter that Google is now producing in their first five or ten listings. Google is gathering too many junk results for search requests. In that regard, I believe, as many others do, bing will put a serious dent into Google’s dominance in the world of search.

Is Google scared?

You bet. The New York Post says. “You’d think nothing would get under the skin of search giant Google. But co-founder Sergey Brin is so rattled by the launch of Microsoft’s rival search engine that he has assembled a team of top engineers to work on urgent upgrades to his Web service”.

Great praise for this new search engine is pouring in as INFORMATIONWEEK reports, “Bing includes features that allow users to book travel and engage in other e-commerce transactions with just a few clicks.”

To get a real taste of bing watch this VIDEO. It demonstrates the accurate search results that are more targeted results as Google squirms: http://tinyurl.com/mrsjum
One must admit, “bing” is kind of a wimpy name, but hey, what about the name Google?

“Back in the day”, or so they say, I remember when nobody used Google because it was a strange name. There was another strange named search engine along when Google started up named: “Dog Pile”. Dog pile never made the big time as Google certainly did and it never became a household phrase like “Google it”. However, “Dogpile search engine earned the 2006 and 2007 J.D. Power and Associates award for best Residential Online Search Engine Service”, according to Wikipedia.com.

This new engine in town is a “must” to test drive.
See for yourself: www.bing.com

[bi-line]
Gregory West is a software reviewer, basic home computer consultant and author. Gregory provides free basic Computer – Internet seminars at Central United Church. Gregory can be reached at gregorywest@bell.net
Check out his blog for free Computer & Internet Tips:
http://tips4computers.wordpress.com

WEB 2.0 – A Book Review

Web 2.0:

execellent description on this subject

A Strategy Guide
Author: Amy Shuen
Published: 2008
 O’Reilly Media, Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-596–52996-3
Pages: 236
US $24.99 CAN $24.99

We hear the question all the time: “How do they make money on the Internet?” The answer is: Web 2.0. But just what is this thing: Web 2.0, is the almighty question.

This book answers these questions and much more. In fact, if you are looking to start a new business this is a book that you cannot do without. It uses companies who have succeeded in the world of Web 2.0 to turn their business into amazing success stories.

Social networking, both online and offline is covered in great detail, demonstrating how corporations are now using this new medium to their advantage. Facebook, YouTube, Skype, MySpace and Flickr play a huge part in a “company’s business and financial valuation”, as it now depends on “the number of users and how quickly those users accept, adopt, and bring their positive network effects to a new online service” (page 77 – Web 2.0).

The challenge businesses face, from going from a Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, (static to dynamic websites) is high competition with the power of social networks. If a company today does not support social networking they will face “disastrous consequences”. This book shows, not only individual entrepreneurs, but major corporations such as Microsoft and Apple, how social networking and Web 2.0 can make the difference.

Businesses have changed their way of thinking and planning, by using the public’s help online.

This book shows how companies, such as Google, get advertisers to “pay for keywords”. Many small businesses are modeled as being a huge success as they take advantage of Web 2.0. Whether you are a corporate magnate, a Wall Street investor, a small business owner, or just a curious computer user, this book takes you on a fact filled adventure showing how Web 2.0 has changed the way we do business. This book also demonstrates the necessity of utilizing the public’s amazing network in the ever-growing Internet.

NEW MOVIES via Internet & TV Shows With Archives

WATCH 1st-Run-MOVIES THAT ARE STILL AT THE Theatre on your computer…You can connect your Computer to your TV too.

Click on the Star Trek LINK below here to watch the NEW movie at the theatre.

I confess, I am a Star Trek fan, mainly of the original series.

Yes I am a Trekie LOL

CLICK THIS:
Star Trek Now at Theatres

If you want to watch TV shows or other 1st Run Movies go here:

FREE Movies and Tons of TV Shows.

COMMERCIAL FREE haha, gotta love it eh?

Enjoy the world of the Internet today…

PS: A tip on how to catch and download video from the Internet FAST is coming soon here via my tips4computers Blog…so keep coming back here.

greg

"A blog?" What is it…

Blogs: What – Why – Whom?
by Gregory West
A Member of APCUG & SCUG

Blogs live in Cyberspace, but just what is a blog anyway?

Alright, let’s get this out-of-the-way right now…

DEFINE:blog       ”Blog — (weB LOG)  A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger” (www.blogscanada.ca).

Enough tech talk…

Blogs are extremely popular. The newspaper business is smoldering in the aftershock of the Internet. Well let’s face reality here: Newspapers (as we know them) may edit themselves from newsprint to the Internet. However, time will tell for sure. What will be their replacements?

In fact, a recent article in the Globe and Mail newspaper shows us that “newspapers face the greatest crisis in the history of the business.” Globe reporter, David Ebner, goes on to say,  “Every paper is hurting. Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, among others, is freshly dead. Once-unassailable titles such as the San Francisco Examiner teeter.” We are certainly in interesting times.

So, what’s next?

From the United States comes startling statistics (www.pewinternet.org) that “In total, 33% of internet users (the equivalent of 24% of all adults) say they read blogs, with 11% of internet users doing so on a typical day.” In anyone’s books, that is a lot of people who are reading blogs. And there’s more.

Canadians rank near the top when it comes to Internet usage. “Of Canadian internet users, a recent poll suggested that over 42% had read a blog in the previous three months” (wikipedia.org). Canadians love their blogs; surprisingly, we love our political blogs. This may strike a strange note, but former Prime Minister, Paul Martin “kept a widely read blog while he was in opposition” and all political parties maintain blogs. Interestingly enough, “the largest political blog group are the right leaning Blogging Tories with 300 blogs and 3,000 readers on average every day” (wikipedia.org).

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries, while many blogs serve as a political platform. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. Many videos now include video to enhance the text. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Hyper-linking from one blog to another creates a massive spider web on the “information highway”. We can immediately see “the other side of the story”.

Popularity in blogging is growing and no wonder…Newspaper and magazine writers have their own blogs. Newspapers such as the London Free Press advertise their writer’s blogs on the LFP website (www.lfpress.ca/blogs). More often than not, this is where the real “meat” of a story is told. Editors cannot take their scissors to the text…You may even find the “Paul Harvey” version of the story, the “rest of the story” that did not get edited out.

Newspapers world-wide are now facing the question of whether to disband from using newsprint and going strictly online (Internet version) only. The jury is still out on whether this will enhance blogs, making them much more in demand and widely read.

“In March 2008, Universal McCann published a report that indicated 184 million blogs worldwide were created, with 346 million people reading blogs globally (Brian Solis on March 10, 2009).

Most news agency-writers have blogs. CNN, The Detroit Free Press, The New York Times and on and on and on the list goes. David Pogue, a famous Technology writer has a very popular blog that is read by millions (http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com) is called: POGUE’S POSTS. Pogue’s blog is connected directly to the NYT paper’s website as are most other writer’s blogs.

You can easily “google” content that may be found in a blog. For instance, bring up Google Search on your computer or cell phone, or whatever other flavour you choose to get onto the Internet.

Try a google search for a blog…

For instance, bring up your “Google Search”, and in the blank search box type in: barack obama blog. This will take you directly to the blog of the US President. Change out the phrase “barack obama” for anything you are interested, leaving the term: blog. You may never go back…

Welcome to the future; welcome to Cyberspace.

[bi-line]
Gregory West is the Editor for “SCUG Report”, a monthly for the Sarnia Computer Users’ Group (www.scug.ca). SCUG is a non-profit computer/technology help group that is open to the public for Newbies and Geeks. Gregory also provides, FREE to the public, Computer – Internet lessons at Central United Church each Wednesday.  Gregory can be reached at gregorywest@sympatico.ca

My New Computer Tips Blog

Hi Everyone…

A click for help

Everyone loves Computer and Internet tips? Especially ones that are FREE.

check out: http://tips4computers.wordpress.com

You will love these tips and links are loaded with free software.

enjoy,

greg

All Work & No Play…

ATTENTION ALL GAME PLAYERS IN CYBERSPACE

Most of us would take play over work any day of the week. The reason is simple: Playing is fun.

Check out these FREE computer games

On the computer many people take time out from their daily grinds to take on the enemy, to match minds with the best of chess, and to challenge themselves to solitary games on the computer.

Here is an excellent site that will keep you pumped for hours…The best thing about this site is that the games are FREE.

Personally, I am NOT a game player as I love to work on software programs. I have tried out several games and found them to be fun, however my thing is learning new software programs…The challenge of “man against machine” LOL.

Don’t forget to check out Gizmo’s
TEN BEST COMPUTER GAMES here

Digital Photos – Need Something New?

Just as we ALL have tucked away our digital cameras…Remember when everywhere you turned somebody was snapping a digital photo because it was new and the cost of taking pictures was and still is FREE?

After about eighteen months of this snapping and clicking, many cameras stayed, either at home, or were kept in pockets and purses and only pulled out for special occasions. Nothing new has popped up to bring back the rapid use of digital cameras; the novelty has well worn off and the paint is now dry.

Need Something New and Free?

Befunky. Yes, now you can have some fun with your ten million photos you have on your computer’s hard drive. Pick a picture, then turn it into a real work of art.

Why pay big bucks for these features, when you can befunky for FREE?

How? Go online and get http://www.befunky.com/

This photo editing enhancing program is amazing. The claim on their website is so true:

“BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These “one-click” photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.”

Give it a try and show off your new-found talents to all your friends.

Spring Clean Your Computer

Spring Cleaning Your Computer

4 STEPS

Come Get Going

This article is a “must read” to give you an overview of your spring cleaning task. Don’t worry if you do not understand the technical terms, just try and read what the certain tasks you should perform and to give you an idea of what is going on when you start your cleaning. Here is the very informative website: http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2009/March/18/How-to-Spring-Clean-Your-Computer.htm

Steps for Spring Cleaning Your Computer - Inside & Out

1. How to Remove the Dust and Cookie Crumbs

Pay the money and buy an can of air to do this job properly.

On April 1 we saw a live demonstration on how to clean the inside of your computer tower. Make sure you ground yourself first – just touch a metal part of the case from time to time to make sure you’re nice and grounded.Then simply unscrew the side panel to remove it. Spray canned air (Walmart for about $10) all around the contacts and the fans to blow out the dust. Also, after you put the side back on the tower spray the air can on the keyboard to remove anything that might be trapped between the keys. Next use an electronics safe cleaner to wipe down the keyboard, screen and cables. It is wise to spray the cleaner on a soft towel and take care not to press too hard.
website link: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1611561/spring_clean_your_computer.html?cat=15

2. RUN A FULL ANTIVIRUS SCAN

RUN A FULL SPYWARE SCAN – delete all spyware and malware

3. RUN SCAN DISC

How To Run Scan Disk in Windows XP

Step 1. Select My Computer on the Desk Top and Press Enter.

Step 2. Arrow to the C drive, but don’t press Enter.

Step 3. Press the Applications or Context menu and up arrow to Properties and press
Enter. This may also be accomplished by holding down the Alt key while pressing
Enter.

Step 4. Shift Tab once, The heading will say General.

Step 5. Right arrow once to Tools.

Step 6. Tab once to Check Now and Press Enter. Note; Depending on your screen reader
it may not say exactly check now.

Step 7. Tab to the Check Box that says something like Automatically fix errors and press
the space bar to check it.

Step 8. Now shift tab back to start and press Enter. You will be told that scan disk can’t
run now and asked if you would like to schedule it for the next time the
computer reboots. Press Enter on Yes.

Step 9. Now Tab to Ok and press Enter.

Step 10. You are now finished, simply close out the window. Scan Disk will run the next
time the computer reboots. Allow a few extra minutes for the computer to boot
up the next time.
website: http://www.accessible-devices.com/runscandisk.html

4. Defrag Your Computer

The defrag tool does its best to reorder your hard drive.

Follow this to defrag: (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter)

Update Your Operating System (Windows) Windows Update can also scan your system and present a list of updatable items.

Follow this to Update your computer:
(Start > Control Panel > Windows Update)

——————————————————————————————
Any questions still bugging you, email me at prospector16@gmail.com greg

Welcome to Computer & Internet Tips

Welcome to my newest Blog.

PURPOSE:

To show you neat tips & tricks about computer programs. We will also travel across the Internet discovering amazing websites that not only will enhance your computer skills; they will blow your mind…Each turn on this journey through the Web will evoke a “WOW”.

So, bookmark this site right now before you forget; as you view the pages in this NEW blog, please let me know what you think: Email me at: prospector16@gmail.com (prospector is the name and size of my canoe in case you’re wondering LOL)

Here are my Cyberspace homes:

• FREE Basic Computer & Internet Training Sessions

• Sarnia Computer Users’ Group

• Association of Personal Computer Users’ Groups

You can visit my other blog that has been around for several years, with tons of archived pages of articles from “soup to nuts”, so to speak:

http:gregorywest.wordpress.com

So, enjoy this new blog and don’t forget to tell me what you like, dislike; and most important, please send me any new websites you discover that made you say:

“WOW”

thanks and enjoy,

Columnist - Presenter - Reviewer

greg

Identity Theft of the Worst Kind

USE COMMON SENSE BEFORE “IT” HAPPENS AGAIN

All too often, of late, the bad guys have been dressing up as cops in efforts to trick innocent civilians into feeling somewhat safe while they are near.

A short while ago a young girl was abducted in Canada, as the attacker was believer to be impersonating a Police officer.

The New York Times reports today that a suicide bomber in Bagdad, dressed up with a cop’s coat on, walked easily and “took aim at a group of Iraqi army officers on their way to a reconciliation conference, killing 33 people on Tuesday”.

Ironically, this bad guy also adorned “a national police uniform who struck a group of officials in a marketplace near the municipal building in Abu Ghraib”, according to the New York Times.

This “stealing” of Police officer’s coats and badges etc. must stop. These items should be better protected so that they cannot fall into the hands of the villains out there.

We don’t need legislation to enact this; we need some common sense on the part of whomever is leaving this stuff laying about for anyone to take.

Be Careful On What You CLICK

While reviewing several on my blogs, well actually many of my blogs, I became click happy. When I refreshed the main blogsite some were gone like “poof”.

This is due to one clicking delelte instead of edit, update, or save etc. There are so many buttons these days it is very easy for one to hit the ‘DELETE” button.

This can also happen with photos, text documents, spreadsheets, and any file format you have on your computer or even ones stored up in Cyberspace through CLOUD COMPUTING efforts.

I believe once you delete something online it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to get your material, files and all the data returned. Sad, but true.

However, in the case of losing files on your computer, a USB “thumb” “stick” drive, or on your camera’s storage card, such as an SD card, you do have a second chance.

If you ever lose ANY file you a device, STOP. “Don’t touch that dial”, as they say.

There are several programs that will help you restore lost data files and photos on your hard drives, but you stand a much better chance of retrieving such files if you stop doing anything on your computer as soon as you notice the files missing.

Here is a FREE program that can help you recover those lost files on your computer or camera:

http://www.roadkil.net/listing.php?Category=1

The important thing here is that once you realize you have lost or deleted a file, STOP. The sooner you try to recover lost files the better.

Good luck out there…

greg

Computer & Internet Tips and Tricks

Computer & Internet Tips and Tricks
by Gregory West

As Editor, for the Sarnia Computer Users’ Group, I do a lot of online research for interesting websites and also free software. I am fortunate to have people who send their online gems. Here I share some of these amazing finds with you. Remember: The programs you are about to see are FREE and legal and for you to download and use. Try out programs, or simply take a sneak peek at what they can do for you; the choice is yours. So, happy clicking and email me with what you think about these programs: editor@scug.ca

Gimme Back Those Deleted or Lost Files File Recovery Program Website: www.recuva.com
Runs on Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista 
We have all done it. You have too, come on, admit it.

Yes when you accidently delete a file from your computer, the Recycle Bin, digital camera memory card, USB stick, or even songs from your MP3 player, this program will help you to recover those lost files. It is a good program to have on your computer for those times when you least expect it and you DELETE in error.

ATTENTION ALL eBay USERS – A Must Have eBay Desktop
Website: http://desktop.ebay.com Runs on Windows XP/Vista or MacOS X 10.4/10.5 This desktop application puts you in total control of your eBay bargaining with an eagle-eye live gatekeeper of your bid or bidders. Never miss an eBay bargain again. 
 This is WEB 3.0 at its best. “EBay’s slick new app does more than simply recreate the auction site on the desktop — it makes the whole experience thoroughly interactive and much more engaging” (wired.com).

Catch Thieves in the Act – Live and Recorded Video Security System Using Your Webcam 
Website: www.yawcam.com
Works on Windows 2000/XP/Vista
 This security webcam software for windows is simple and easy to use and includes most of the usual security camera features such as: Video streaming, Image snapshots, motion detection, Online Web Forum for help.

The software program is very easy to work with and after a short time you can set your webcam to catch a thief stealing your stuff. The video or pictures are sent immediately to the Internet (where you designate for safe keeping). The program senses motion in a room. You can have the program set so that it will record a video of the thief in action, or email you a photo, or upload (FTP) the live video to a website. Real nice to be able to hand over a full video of the thieves in your house. If you are away, say in Florida, you can easily email the Police the video or photo of the live crime scene with full video and photos of the bad guys.

Windows Live Family Safety Website Download: get.live.com
Website Information: http://tinyurl.com/24k8fo We are all worried about young children using the Internet these days. This program puts you in control of your computer and Internet browsing experience. You are in charge of your children’s online Internet surfing habits. You can also monitor Windows Live Messenger contacts and block who they talk to online. As well, you can also block Internet websites too. This is a must have for any family with a computer connected to the Internet.

NOTE: “Windows Live Family Safety is a Web service that’s free to people who use Microsoft Windows XP. If you use Windows Vista—the operating system installed on many new computers—you can use the built-in family safety tools.” (Microsoft.com)

Connect to your Home Computer While Away with Logmein Website: www.logmein.com While away from home, wouldn’t it be nice to access files and programs from your home computer. Now you can. You can easily connect to your PC with a software program called logmein. This program is also used by large corporations to connect to offsite PCs. This program will also allow a friend fix your computer even though they are thousands of miles from your PC. It is easy to set up and easy to operate. Give it a test drive…You will love it.

Gregory West is the Editor for “SCUG Report”, a monthly for the Sarnia Computer Users’ Group. SCUG is a non-profit computer/technology help group that is open to the public for Newbies and Geeks. For more information: www.scug.ca. Gregory can be reached at editor@scug.ca.

This article first appeared in First Monday magazine, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

DON’T BE AN ASS

Oil Pigs Gouge Our Pockets Again

How Come THEY
put the price of gas up
from yesterday to today
by over 12%?

GREEDY OIL RICH PIGS

How many times do we need to see the price at the pumps go up and our net income goes down?

But worse than watching the said above go up and down, we must concern ourselves with why are the OIL RICH BARONS allowed to rise the price of gas at the pumps for the chimps like you and me, when the cost per barrel of oil is the lowest in years?

COMPLAIN – online!!!

We Need YOU

Don’t just sit
back and do
nothing,
even
a Jackass
can send
an online
message
to complain:

Cellphone vs. Land line: Do We Need Both?

What do you think???

Do We Need Both?

Maybe – Maybe Not…

how do we ever get by these days LOL

Really, that is a loaded question; one that cannot be singularily answered by many.

For the past year and a bit, my wife and I dumped our “land line” and went “cell phone only”.

Problem: Wife likes TV and FTA is fading away. Cell phones for 2 phones and lines is costing over $100.00 montly. Cell phones batteries are aging and not holding a charge. Need new phones???

Answer: Switch from Bell to Cable. For $100.00 per month we will get my wife her TV, a land line phone, and highspeed Internet.

Right now we are paying $100+ for the cell phones, $55 for Internet, and nothing for FTA Sat TV which is failing.

We still need cell phones (no real need for the land line but it comes in a cheap bundle with the IDIOT BOX package. However, now we need to figure out the cell phone issue:

PAY AS YOU GO vs PACKAGE DEAL WITH A PHONE COMPANY?

…to be continued

Lambton Outdoor Club

Fly-In to remote river destinations of Quebec

AIR SWISHA thanks the Lambton Outdoor Club for posting a video showing off their fly-in services for Whitewater Canoe Trips in Quebec.

This video is hosted on YouTube.

and hosted on the Lambton Outdoor Club’s website and scroll down to where it lists: Video.

If you are planning a whitewater canoe trip to the remote river destinations of Quebec, Canada where you can run the rapids on three of most exciting rivers check out online: Air Swisha

or see for yourself:

FACEBOOK – What IS IT?

If you have to ask, well you are just not part of it. Come eh – Get with it eh?

The following is my latest article for my TECH column in First Monday magazine:

get tuned in

FACEBOOK: What Is It?
by Gregory West

Gregory West is the Editor for “SCUG Report”, a monthly for the Sarnia Computer Users’ Group. SCUG is a non-profit computer/technology help group that is open to the public for Newbies and Geeks. For more information: www.scug.ca. Gregory can be reached at editor@scug.ca.
Are you on Facebook? If not, you are vastly becoming the minority.

Almost everyone on the planet is using Facebook these days. Well, not quite everyone; according to research, and “more than 3 million users become fans of Pages each day” [i]  and those numbers are multiplying. This new tech hype is known as “Social Media”, and at the forefront of this medium is Facebook.

Recent statistics [i] demonstrate the massive usage of Social Media.
More than 150 million active users
More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
The fastest growing demographic is those 30 years old and older

Since day one I have been on the Internet, give or take a week or so, and have watched its social development, so to speak. Many things spurred Internet popularity, and certainly quickened corporations to finally jump on board the Internet ship to the future. One of the first online social medium communication devices was ICQ, used mainly as a chat feature, however later users learned ICQ could transfer large files between computers that email programs restricted (and still do). Online chat was the forerunner of these communication devices and now have exploded into extremely useful and most popular text messaging and live realtime communication and file sharing; file sharing now used by not just individuals, but also businesses have jumped on board and use file sharing and text messaging to communicate with employees in the field and around the planet.

What exactly does Facebook offer us humans?

First of all, it is a great place to upload and store for free, you photos, videos, and various information that you so choose. Others can easily check out your profile and view your uploaded media files. Friends can post messages on your Facebook page which is referred to as your: “WALL”. This wall is visible to all who view your site; in other words the “wall” is an electronic communications board sending instant communication worldwide. However, Email is quickly becoming “old school” when it comes to communications. “It takes too long”, is the common complaint by many.

Of course, if privacy is an issue, you can easily send a “private” message to others and it will show up in their “private” inbox, as is done with Emailing.

You can set privacy settings for your own Facebook page wherein by default are quite strict. For instance, “ Facebook allows each user to set privacy settings, which by default are pretty strict. For example, if you have not added a certain person as a friend, that person will not be able to view your profile. However, you can adjust the privacy settings to allow users within your network (such as your college or the area you live) to view part or all of your profile. You can also create a “limited profile,” which allows you to hide certain parts of your profile from a list of users that you select. If you don’t want certain friends to be able to view your full profile, you can add them to your “limited profile” list. [www.sharpened.net]

Many people have said they have “hooked up” (online through Facebook) with people they went to school with over 40 years ago. As well, you can do a search to see if anyone you know is also on Facebook and then you can send them a message. Just last month I received a message from someone I went to High School in Toronto, 40 years ago. I can barely remember this person, but we both know all the same people. We are now communicating through Facebook.

The new communication, social media, is exploding into something great, a magnetic force that is bringing the “Global Village” closer with each mouse click. Social media will be a way of life for all who are connected out there in cyberspace.

POPULAR FACES who use Facebook: [v]

Barack Obama -                3,733,612 supporters online (and rising daily)
Sarah Palin –                    433,661 supporters online
Hillary Clinton –                184,831 supporters online
Arnold Schwarzenegger –              53,751 supporters online

And on the Canadian of the border we find other Facebook users:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his family
Dalton McGuinty Premier of Ontario
Margaret Atwood a Canadian author
Don Cherry from Coaches Corner

So, how did this all begin and where did the concept of Facebook originate?

According to Wikipedia, “Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while he was a student at Harvard University. Website membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Ivy League and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over.” [ii]

Although, this concept of a social medium is nothing new. Sorry, Net Geners you did not invent it. One of the first mentions of this type of worldwide communications was first popularized by Marshall McLuhan in 1964 where McLuhan stated: “Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.” [iii] McLuhan made famous the sayings: “the medium is the message” and “global village”. [iv] Forty four years  back he was right on the mark.

However, today we are seeing the foresights of McLuhan’s studies bear their fruit. the online social medium is here to stay and will become a very strong and united voice, not only in gossip and sharing of photos, but as a strong worldwide voice on politics, war, and the health of the planet, and its inhabitants.

REFERENCE SITES USED (and for more on Facebook and Social Media):

[i]    http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
[ii]    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
[iii]     http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_mcluhan.htm
[iv]    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan
[v]    http://www.facebook.com/pages/?browse&ps=151

Are U Part of the NET GEN?

Are you a 21st. Century dinosaur, or are you absorbed in the NET GEN?

Author, Don Tapscott’s latest best seller: Grown Up Digital, written after a $4M about how young people (11-30) live and breath.

In part, Tapscott relates: “The Net Generation isn’t content to wait until 6pm for the nightly news – or 8pm for their favourite TV show. They want it where and when they want it.

Most Net Geners get their news online, from official news sources and blogs.”

I have been prediciting the downfall and demise of TV for years, ever since the Internet peeked its head out from the monitor.

Newspapers are just a matter of time. So are companies such as Microsoft unless they change their ways of thinking up convoluted software programs that are build only to confuse.

My first computer was an APPLE Mackintosh 128 in 1984. In 1990 I switched to PC Windoze and last year I switched back to a Mac…I still use Windows XP and Vista on my Mac to teach Seniors about computers, but I certainly have no other use for ANY Windoze OS’s (operating systems haha).

I hate commercials of any kind, however I must delcare that these following videos are so true they hurt: microsoft LOL…