Wikipedia – All Aboard!

By Bryan Lambert – Sunday, May 10, 2009

So much has been written and said about the website known as Wikipedia that many people may start to wonder what exactly Wikipedia is. Wikipedia is simply a Wiki Encyclopedia (a wiki being defined as "a Web site that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections" [Webster.com]). If the Encyclopedia Britannica is a chauffer-driven limousine, then Wikipedia is the bus loaded with passengers with each having a turn at the steering wheel.

In this Tech Tip, we’re going to take a look at this Wikipedia bus and check out what exactly it is.

Who's Driving This Thing?! YOU ARE!

Started in 2001, Wikipedia now offers over 2,847,000+ articles in the English language (and many more in other languages). Wikipedia is different from other encyclopedias. Instead of an advisory body of experts and a review process, Wikipedia is a free for all. Anyone can make, add to, and edit an article – all for free and even anonymously (though you can sign up with a user name as well, and would need to if you wanted to create a new article). Since 2003, Wikipedia (and its cousins such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikinews, etc.) have been overseen by the Wikimedia Foundation . Within Wikipedia, there are different levels of users, just straight editors (you, me, the man down the street) and Administrators (think of them as über editors).

Because Wikipedia is set up the way it is, there are several positive characteristics of this informational forum. One is that you can have a comprehensive, well-written collaborative article up in no time – even on topics not covered by traditional encyclopedias. For instance, with the sensation that occurred when Susan Boyle sang cheap viagra pills on Britain’s Got Talent television program on April 11, 2009, we find that a Wikipedia article was started about her on April 12, 2009 and has since been revised over 2100 times to date (May 5, 2009). The end result is a very comprehensive, very informative encyclopedic article. Another big positive with this approach is that if you happen to be browsing an article and see something as small as a misspelling or as big as starting an article that you think should be included, you can quickly and easily edit or add the article on the fly. Note that if you don’t like to see your work added to by strangers, edited mercilessly or even removed altogether, then contributing to Wikipedia may not be for you.

A Look Under The Hood

Looking for an article is very straightforward and easy. After navigating to the website (www.wikipedia.org), you are introduced to a search box. Simply type in your search, and you are brought to the article if one exists. For words with many entries (such as "Ringo"), you are brought to what is commonly called a disambiguation page where you find various entries for the word are listed (for example, with Ringo, you find a number of “ringos” listed – everything from musician Ringo Starr to author John Ringo). Now, if we click through to an article (we’ll use the author listed above), we find that there is a simple, straight forward article giving a brief biography and a list of published works .

You’ll also notice at the top of the page four tabs labeled article, discussion, edit this page, and history. Edit this page is self -explanatory. Here you can actually edit the article if you think something can be phrased better; if you want to add information or if you simply want to fine tune the article. If you’d like to see the current thoughts on the article, simply click “discussion” – note that this page is editable as well as allowing you to weigh in on discussing the article along with others (this page has an “edit this page” button separate from the main article). History is simply every SINGLE revision of the page from its creation to the time you are looking at the article (including the editor (IP address if anonymous) – person who did the edit) – very helpful if you’d like to see earlier versions of the article. Of course, there are numerous tools and extensive help sections if you’d like to become more than just a casual editor (found of the left hand side navigation bar).

Cracks in The Chassis

Of course, with its obvious strength also lies Wikipedia’s inherent weakness. Sometimes, articles by committee – especially a committee of everyone – may not necessarily produce the best possible work. Biases, personal opinion, not being scrupulous about the accuracy of the information provided, deliberate defacement, unfavorable information as well as false and misleading information can all cloud the integrity of an article as well as the website as a whole (as demonstrated by the 2005 incident on the John F. Kennedy Wikipedia article). Because of the free-for all nature of the site, another side effect can be varying quality of articles (less popular articles may not receive the attention that they need) as well as “edit wars” erupting from time to time on sensitive subjects. Also, with the imbalance of power between administrators and editors, some have accused the administrators of “bullying” others to have their edits “win out” over others. Yes, Wikipedia depends on users (editors and administrators) to help monitor and clean up articles – but mistakes do slip through. Because of this, sometimes it may be best to take some articles “with a grain of salt.”

The Bus Came By and I Got On, That's When It All Began!

Wikipedia, the massive, hugely successful, popular collaborative encyclopedia website is a prime example of what the power of the internet can bring to the average user. Here we not only have volumes of information (so to speak), but the ability to add to and improve this information. Even with its shortcomings, Wikipedia has much to offer. Why not try your hand at the wheel of the bus and see where Wikipedia steers you and where you can steer Wikipedia.

Should I Upgrade My Web Browser?

By Bryan Lambert – Sunday, May 3, 2009

The car I drive is a beautiful bright yellow Mustang convertible with big bold racing stripes, while the car that my neighbor drives is a small, economical silver Toyota Prius. While the cars will get you from point A to B with no problems, they do it in different ways. The Mustang looks “cool”, it drives “cool” and it gets you to point B in “cool” while the Prius drives solid, is an engineering marvel and gets you from point A to B with quiet, fuel efficient “coolness.” Internet browsers are very much the same, they (for the most part) will get you from point A to B – but how you arrive can be totally different factors of cool.

While a lot of this Tip may be more subjective than objective, it will give you a good idea of different ways to arrive at point B (so to speak) with your internet browser.

Internet Exploder

Where else to start the discussion of browsers than with the defacto standard for browsers – Internet Explorer (currently with nearly 67% of the browser market share). The reason that it is the biggest (much to the European Unions consternation) is that it is bundled with Microsoft’s Windows operating system. While it’s not necessarily the first browser available, or (in many persons' opinions) the best browser available, it is still used by many, many people. Microsoft just recently launched Internet Explorer version 8, and now they are starting to include it in their automatic updates for Windows (no need to fear if you are in love with version 7 of Internet Explorer, the update is an “opt in” type, where you get to choose if you want it installed). The newest incarnation of Internet Explorer offers some very nifty “innovations.” You’ll note that the word innovations is in quotes – this is because they are innovations for Internet Explorer, but not necessarily browsers in general. These innovations make it well worth the upgrade over Internet Explorer 7. A word of caution though, Internet Explorer 8 will run rather s.l.o.w.l.y on some “lesser” (read that slower) processors.

As a side note, if for some reason you are still running Internet Explorer 6, do it a favor and put it out of its misery– upgrade to another browser – ANY OTHER BROSWER than Internet Explorer 6. The faster that this malware loader masquerading as a browser with its antiquated HTML (the basic language of the web) rendering engine goes away, the better off the whole world will be. Now that Internet Explorer 8 is out, it has some users wondering just what else is out there. Fortunately, there are terrific alternatives to Internet Explorer.

Alternative Browsers – AKA: Browsing the Browsers

When running Microsoft Windows (or really whatever operating system you have), it is good to remember that there are always alternatives to the browser that your computer shipped with. The really cool thing about internet browsers is that several can be loaded onto a computer at the same time. Though they may try to vie for being the top dog (that is, the default browser), they will peacefully coexist. This means that along side Internet Explorer you can run one or more of the alternative browsers (even at the same time as one another). Some of the major browsers that you may want to consider are: Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari or Opera (made by Opera – who also make a popular mini version of their browser that can be used on many cell phones). A really nice thing about running multiple browsers is that if a particular browser may have a problem rendering (displaying) a web page, you can always launch another browser to see if the problem is that web page or perhaps the browser.

Speaking of other operating systems, if you are running Apple's OSX, then your default browser is Safari, and if you are running some version of Linux (like Ubuntu), then your default browser is usually Firefox. In addition to these browsers, there are several smaller builds as well as "skins" that go over existing browsers. What do these browsers' offer that Internet Explorer may not offer? Where do we start? All are pretty much faster; all are highly customizable, and all are innovative. In fact, many of these browsers innovations usually show up in Internet Explorer a little down the road. All are free to download and use, and as mentioned all can run on the same machine at the same time. If you have not had a chance to run them, I’d highly recommend downloading them all and giving cheap viagra overnight them a whirl. When you install them, they will even conveniently import your favorites and other options directly from Internet Explorer – so you don’t have to waste time “rebuilding” them.

Another terrific feature that these alternative browsers offer is that most of them are built with cross platform use in mind, thus while Internet Explorer (from version 6 forward) only runs on Windows machines, Opera and Firefox will run on Windows, OSX and Linux machines; Chrome and Safari currently have OSX and Windows versions (note that Chrome is still in beta for OSX). But, whatever browser you choose, be sure to get the most recent update for that version so that you have the latest security fixes installed. This is much less of an issue than in years past in this age of automatic updates – but it is always worthwhile to check every once in a while. For a list of some other alternative (and lesser known) browsers available, you can always check the terrific Wikipedia article on “Comparison of Internet Browsers.”

Final Thoughts

While this Tech Tip offered a quick overview of internet browsers in general, we also have some older Tech Tips on specific browsers (such as Chrome) that are worth a look. It is true that while these browsers will get you from point A to point B (figuratively speaking), they all do it a little differently and with their own version of “cool”. Also, while reading about a browser may be good, we encourage you to go ahead and give some of the alternatives a test drive – you may be surprised that you like what you find and that you’re happy trading in your current browser for a different "set of wheels".

What is Microblogging?

By Scott Nesbitt – Sunday, April 26, 2009

Social networking. That phrase has been all the rage over the last couple of years. With sites like Facebook, MySpace and the like, more and more people are connecting with each other and interacting online. Blogs, too, are a popular way of sharing information and attracting an audience of people with similar interests.

But more and more people are making that kind of interaction quicker and shorter. Instead of writing long posts or email messages, they're tapping out quick missives telling their friends (and the wider world) what they're up to at the moment.

How do they do that? By microblogging.

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What is microblogging?

Microblogging is the act of posting short messages to the Web. And when we say short, we mean short. A microblog post, which is called an update (or, in the case of the most popular service out there, a tweet), can be a maximum of 140 characters, including spaces. In case you're wondering, the 140 character limit comes from microblogging's inspiration: SMS text messages sent from a mobile phone. A microblog update looks like this:

Presenting advice from Garr Reynolds: think naturalness not perfection – http://tinyurl.com/df26mj

Simply posting a 140 character message somewhere on the Web isn't the way it works, though. You have to use one of the many microblogging services that are out there. More on these in a moment. These services collect and publish updates in different ways. The central form of aggregation is called a timeline. That's just a collection of updates. The main page (or thereabouts) of most microblogging sites have a public timeline, which lists all of the latest posts from users. You can have a timeline of your own updates, which is on your own page (for example, http://identi.ca/scottnesbitt).

Microblogging services also allow people to subscribe to (also referred to as following) your updates, or at the very least read them. People can follow you or read your updates at the microblogging site or using software. A future TechTip will look at some popular microblogging clients.

As you've probably guessed, microblogging is very similar to conventional blogging. A microblog can focus on one topic, and can be used for personal or business reasons. The biggest difference is the length of the post and the immediacy. Microblogging is definitely more immediate – updates are instantaneous. In the time it takes for a conventional blogger to write and publish a post, a microblogger can post any number of updates.

Why do it?

Most microbloggers (in the words of a popular microblogging service) do it to “communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

A lot of people who microblog find it's an easier alternative to conventional blogging, or even using sites like FaceBook and MySpace. All you need to do is sign up and start typing. You don't have to worry about tweaking the look and feel of your microblog, or anything like that.

It's not just folks with time on their hands who do it, either. A lot of businesses and consultants put considerable effort into microblogging.

What's it good for?

Think of a group. Chances are that members of that group are microblogging. Friends microblog to keep up with each other, and to exchange information and gossip. Other people do it to share information or to promote their pet causes. Businesses microblog to get feedback from customers and to announce new products or share news. Consultants microblog to promote their business and to showcase their expertise.  There have even been cases in which writers serialize the stories or poems that they're working on at a microblogging site. Nigerian author Ben Okri, for example, recently published a poem on a popular microblogging site.

On a recent visit to Toronto, actor and Twitter user LeVar Burton posted a message asking for a good place to have a pint. Not only did he get the recommendation, he also met up with a bunch of fans at that venue for what was a meetup of microbloggers in the real world.

Something that's become popular is people microblogging during presentations and conferences. They're sharing their thoughts, and the thoughts and ideas of presenters, with both fellow conference attendees and the wider world. Believe us, it's a lot easier and more immediate than liveblogging.

Where does microblogging fall flat?

One complaint about microblogging is that it can be more than just a bit narcissistic. Remember Web pages, circa 1996 or 1997? Or most personal blogs? Updates can be just as vapid. For many, except maybe someone's followers, the fact that the microblogger just got back from walking the dog and is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich or that they're trying to read Finnegan's Wake for the sixth time isn't all that captivating.

While microblogging started as way of keeping friends, family, and classmates up to date, for many it's become a race to collect the most followers. They'll post updates about anything that will attract readers. Many purists view this as being insincere, since the person posting the updates really has little interest in what their writing about. They just want to be popular.

What services are out there?

The undisputed king of microblogging services is arguably Twitter. You've probably read about Twitter in a newspaper, a magazine, or a blog post. You might even know someone who regularly uses Twitter. Hundreds of thousands of people use Twitter, and post countless updates (called tweets in the Twitter world).

Make sure to follow Geeks.com on Twitter!

But it's not the only game on the Web. While other microblogging service may not come close to denting Twitter's market share, they do offer alternatives to the service. The services (around 100 of them worldwide) all work in generally the same way. The only things that differ are the terminology they use, some of the features, and the number of users. Here are a few popular services:

First up, Jaiku. Now owned by Google, Jaiku allows you not only to post updates (called jaikus) to the general public, but also to channels which are collections of updates on a single topic.

A service that's gaining in popularity is identi.ca. What sets identi.ca apart from most other microblogging services is that it's built using Open Source software. In the words of the developers: “If you don't like how Identi.ca works, you can take your data and the source code and set up your own server (or move your account to another one).”

An interesting take on microblogging comes in the form of Yammer, which has been termed “Twitter with a business model”. What makes Yammer unique is that it's focused on internal communication in companies. Instead of being based on the question “what are you up to?”, Yammer is based on the question “What are you working on?”. It's like an internal discussion board, but limited to 140 characters.

Finally, there's Plurk. In addition to letting you post short text updates (called plurks), Plurk lets you share images and videos from YouTube with your followers. Being able to share images and video definitely adds a very interesting dimension to microblogging.

Is it right for you?

That depends. Some people will always think that microblogging is a waste of time and bandwidth. Others swear by it. We've met a number of people on both sides of that fence, and even more who inhabit the middle ground between them. The latter group uses microblogging, but isn't consumed by it.

The only way to find out if microblogging is right for you is to give it a try. Take a look at a microblogging service on the Web. Spend a week or two, and see how you like it – both as an updater and a follower. You might find that microblogging is a lot more fun and interesting than you thought it would be.

Must-Have Apps for the Blackberry

By Scott Nesbitt – Sunday, April 19, 2009

While the iPhone is all the rage, no smartphone says business like the BlackBerry. It's a powerful little device that lets you send and receive emails, browse the Web, view documents, keep track of tasks and contacts, and even take photos and videos. Oh, yeah, you can also make phone calls with it.

The first thing that just about every new BlackBerry user does is load the device with as many applications as they can. Finding applications and choosing the ones that fit your needs can be a long, drawn out process. This TechTip looks at some useful BlackBerry software. Some of it will help you be more productive, and some will keep you better informed. Most of them are free to boot.

Before you start installing

Before you put your first application on your shiny new BlackBerry, consider getting a microSD card. Most BlackBerries, especially newer ones, come with a decent amount of internal memory. But you can always use more – whether it's for the applications themselves or for your files and photographs.

A microSD card gives you that extra storage. It's relatively inexpensive, you can get one for under $20. And it's easy to install. For more information, check out this video.

Keeping organized and synchronized

One of the great things about a BlackBerry is that it works well with a number of Web-based applications. Ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you that I do a lot of work in the cloud. But that's not to say that I completely trust Web-based applications. A number of high-profile outages have occured, and it's always good to have an offline copy of certain information.

Google Sync

If you use Google's applications, you can synchronize your calendar and contacts using the free Google Sync. It's not just for the BlackBerry; there are versions of the software for other mobile phones and smartphones, too.

Google Sync pulls the contacts from you GMail account and adds them to the address book on your BlackBerry. That means you can send email to those contacts from your smartphone. If you add a contact on your BlackBerry, that person's information will be added to your GMail contacts. Google Sync also does the same for entries in your Google Calendar. It's quick and it's simple.

MilkSync

One Web-based application that I and whole lot of others rely on is cheap viagra 100mg title=”http://www.rememberthemillk.com/”>Remember the Milk. It's an online task management tool, which not only stores details about what I need to do but also reminds me when I need to finish something. You're probably wondering why I continue to use MilkSync.  The biggest reason is that I can synchronize the task that I enter in Remember the Milk with those on my BlackBerry – you can set it up to do a two-way sync.  It's fast and efficient and it beats trying to maintain two sets of information.

While the MilkSync software is free, it will only work with a Pro account on Remember the Milk. The account costs $25 a year, and is worth every penny.

Reading news

Information. None of us can get enough of it, and it seems to be something that many BlackBerry users are addicted to. That's where a good news reader comes in. I've tried a number of them for the BlackBerry and the only one that I've found to be a keeper is Viigo. Viigo lets you view content from a literally thousands of sources. You can get news, weather, sports, entertainment, airline flight and travel information, stock quotes, blogs and podcasts, and a whole lot more.
The Viigo service has a library from which you can add information sources (called channels). Or, you can add your own channel. That can be just about anything – RSS, a Web page, or the feeds in a feed reader like Google Reader, My Yahoo!, or Bloglines.

One of the great things about Viigo is that it's easy to use. The interface is really designed for a mobile device, and it's one of the few interfaces (on any platform) that I've found to be anything close to being intuitive.

On top of that, Viigo is free, although you do have to sign up for an account. Vigo is supported by ads, which appear in the top left corner of the application. The ads are small, and easy to ignore.

Using the Web

Out of the box, every BlackBerry comes with a Web browser and (depending on your wireless provider) applications that connect you to such popular social networking sites as Facebook and MySpace. The browser isn't the greatest, although it is useful for installing applications over the air. While they have a lot of user, not everyone is interested in Facebook or MySpace.

The next couple of applications fill in a few gaps.

Opera Mini

Two weaknesses of the BlackBerry browser is that it doesn't handle Javascript, and it's kind of slow. The free Opera Mini browser, on the other hand, doesn't have those problems. It's leaner and meaner than the BlackBerry browser and a lot more flexible.

Besides the Javascript support (which is essential for Web applications), Opera Mini also compresses Web pages by up to 90% and lets you choose the quality of images. Lower quality images on a page mean faster loading times, and you burn less of your monthly data limit.

For me, though, the biggest advantage of Opera Mini is that you can use it over a wireless connection. The default BlackBerry browser balks at that.

Twitter

Say what you will about Twitter but it's become a popular way for people to connect and express themselves on the Web. All you need to do is type 140 characters or less – sort of like a text message.

Of course, to use Twitter you need a free account. Many people post to Twitter by logging in – with a BlackBerry, you can use the mobile version of the site. But why do that when you can view and post messages at your convenience? That's where a good mobile Twitter client comes in.

An easy-to-use Twitter client is TwitterBerry. You can view the latest from the posters that you follow on Twitter, and can quickly send your own posts to the service. TwitterBerry even gives you a character count, so you stay within the 140 character limit of a tweet.

The only drawback is that TwitterBerry doesn't work on a wireless-only connection. If you have a newer BlackBerry, and need to tweet over wireless, check out Yatca, which is a Twitter client and a lot more.

A Pair of Others

What other software is useful? That's definitely a loaded question. But here are a couple good choices:

Moving files around your BlackBerry can be a bit of a chore. The built-in Media application does a good job of managing audio, video, image, and music files. But it's not the best. File Manager Pro does a fantastic job of managing every kind of file on your handheld. You can move, copy, rename, and delete files; compress them; and send files by email. It also enables you to create a new folder in both your BlackBerry's memory and on an microSD card. The drawback? File Manager Pro costs $11.95. But after the seven day trial period, you'll probably find it so useful that it's worth the cost.

One of the strengths of the iPhone is that it's backed by Apple's AppStore. You can literally download and/or buy hundreds of pieces of software for the iPhone. That's convenience. Until recently, to do something like that with the BlackBerry you needed to visit a handful (or more) of Web sites. In April, 2009, though, Research in Motion (the company behind the BlackBerry) launched BlackBerry AppWorld. It's both an online marketplace and an application for the phone. You can browser various types of software, and download free or trial versions. If you like the application, you can buy it right from within AppWorld using a PayPal account. AppWorld is kind of slow, but it does have a good search function and makes finding useful software a lot easier.

Do you have a BlackBerry application that you can't live without? Feel free to share it with everyone by leaving a comment.

"Computers In The Air" –
What Is Cloud Computing?

By Bryan Lambert – Sunday, April 12, 2009

It's supposed to be the next big thing in computing. It’s supposed to revolutionize the way we work at home and at the office. It’s supposed to slice bread, iron your clothes and make breakfast for you. Yes, its "cloud computing". OK, maybe it won't do household chores but with the way people speak about it, you'd think it would.

Life On A Cloud.

Well then what exactly is cloud computing? I'm sure you've heard the phrase often enough the last couple of years and may be wondering what the hoopla is all about. What exactly is this life on a cloud? This is actually a point that the proponents can't seem to agree on.  So is it renting more computing power for your business?  Is it coordinating a potluck with a bunch of your friends over the Internet using Google Apps? Is it small and inexpensive enough for the average Joe at home, but scalable enough and powerful enough for a Fortune 500 company? Yes, it’s all this and so much more.

While some of the concepts and ideas behind cloud computing have actually been around for awhile, the term cloud computing seems to be the term that has really captured imaginations and gained traction recently. Basically, the idea is the use of the Internet (the cloud, so to speak) as a central area for use of computer technology. Whether it be what is called Software as a Service (SaaS, apps on the web), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS, previously known as Hardware as a Service – this is where IT geeks can buy more virtual computer power and online storage) or Platform as a Service (PaaS, where developers go and play, think Google Apps Engine) cloud computing encompasses this and more. While the IT geek and the coding geek may be interested in the IaaS and the PaaS side of things, for the real world application of cloud computing most users (that reads: “the rest of us”) will be interested in the SaaS side of things.

Apps Drizzled Down On a Cloudy Day

Software as a Service is one of the most exciting features of cloud computing. Software as a Service is basically applications (think programs) “served” through the Internet via your web browser.  These programs never (or rarely) actually reside on the computer that they are run from – they all stay on the providers' server.  Because of this, you are able to access these applications anywhere you have a PC and an Internet connection.  These applications for the most part also offer online storage, so you can save your work online as well.  This may seem to describe such services such as webmail, which have been around a long time, and yes, are very useful, but it also describes some of the newest crops of very sophisticated, robust programs available on the Internet today. While some may be for rent (that is, you pay either a subscription fee or a use fee), many others are absolutely free for use of basic services.

Some of the more popular cloud computing SaaS applications are Google Apps (which offers popular office suite utilities (Google Docs) as well as e-mail (Gmail) and calendars (Google Calendar). The Google Docs is particularly popular for its no-cost basic service, its collaboration features, its strong compatibility and terrific flexibility. Also online is Microsoft’s cloud computing office suites, Microsoft Office Live. Like Google Apps, they offer a free basic service called Office Live Workspace that offers a place to store and share documents online, however this service does need Microsoft Office installed on the PC for a document to be edited (which does make the free service that much more robust). Apple is also starting to jump into the fray with iWork, which while in beta is offered as a free online extension of its popular iWork suite (they plan to make it a subscription service on its full release). Not to be overlooked are the excellent online suites offered by OpenOffice and Zoho as well.

Some other examples of SaaS offerings online are: photo editing; video editing; tax preparation; many games, and much, much more! There’s cheap generic viagra online even talk of a streaming video game console content delivered right to your PC via the internet with quality on par with the Sony PlayStation 3.

Really, with the SaaS aspect of cloud computing, the horizon seems limitless as to what can be done.

Sunshine of a Cloudy Day

Whatever the future brings to the Internet, whether the popular Software as a Service discussed in this Tech Tip today, the IT geeks Infrastructure as a Service, or the coding geeks Platform as a Service, you can be sure that cloud computing will be a major part of it.

So, what are you thoughts on Cloud Computing?