Has anyone ever asked you if you’ve defragged your hard-drive? Ever wondered what the heck that means? People often refer to this mystical process as something “you should do†or as the cure all for a slow computer. The truth – it’s useful and important, but like the magic bullet of any get rich/healthy/smart quick scheme, on it’s own, it’s just a tool. Read more »
I can’t seem to get away from it – whenever I hear someone has a new camera, I’m programmed to respond with “How many megapixels?†Why would I want to break this habit? Because it doesn’t matter!!!! Seriously people, we need to work together here. Megapixels are like weight for cell phones. Most phones only weigh a few ounces these days, but people still seem interested in getting a “light†phone. A recent blackberry ad on the subway even screamed “LIGHT!†as one of the three most important things you had to know about the new Curve. Should that be a reason to buy that phone? Probably not – all phones are light. Should megapixels be a reason to buy a camera? Again, probably not. Read more »
What follows is more of an opinion piece than a useful cocktail party geek – sorry. Â It was late.
An avatar? Â A gravatar? Â A buddy icon? Â Perhaps
you’ve heard these terms before? Â I could quote Wikipedia about 2d representations of online personality yada yada but I have a word for you – panache! Â Your avatar/gravatar/buddy icon says something about you and the effort you make to converse with others on this wide web of ours.
Take Gmail as an example: Â Did you know you can change your buddy icon on Google to show up whenever someone puts their mouse on your name? Â Do you know how many people still have that silly asexual silhouette? Â Your picture is like a firm but not overbearing handshake – it matters.
Want more examples? Read more »
Now for the second part on shortcuts… The last post was about shortcuts that lead you somewhere, but this one is going to be about the kind of shortcuts that save you time, also known as Keyboard Shortcuts.
This is a two parter – mainly because there are two useful types of shortcuts available to the world. The first, and the topic of this article, is the kind of shortcut you find on your desktop.
These thingies seem to appear everywhere… but have you ever wondered what a PDF really is?? Â According to Wikipedia:
PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system.
Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout 2D document (and, with Acrobat 3D, embedded 3D documents) that includes the text, fonts, images, and 2D vector graphics which compose the documents
Translation: A PDF is a document where everything (the spacing between characters, the font, the font size, the paragraph format) will look the same on every computer, provided that you use their software.
As PDFs are everywhere, maybe it’s worth going a little bit deeper… Read more »
So you’ve finally decided that your words are worth spreading around, but you’re unsure of how to get started in the blogosphere? Fear not, we can help!
What you need to know
At first I was tempted to leave this part empty with just a list of blog  providers, but I suppose that some explanation is required.  It’s quite simple: if you’re just starting out, go to WordPress.com and signup for a blog.  Read more »
See this thing in the picture? It’s a hard drive. That circular thing? It’s called the “platter” and it’s where all your information gets written by the “head” (the tip of that arm). The way it works is pretty simple but you’re going to have to bear with me on an analogy that will span about a paragraph :) Read more »
This is a direct response to a question I received recently from Catherine (THANKS CATHERINE!). Anyone can post questions to posts@justanasterisk.com and I’ll do my darnedest to get a response out.
There are two parts to every file on your computer. There’s the stuff you put there (for example, your treatise on the application of gossip girl’s lessons in the middle eastern conflict) and the stuff the computer put there (a bunch of code). This division even exists in the titles, the name of the file is divided (by a little period) between your title and a little extension (EXE, DOC, JPG, GIF, AZK etc). Read more »
What are these things and why are they in every device I have???
Actually, they are not in everything. Â Plenty of your stuff has a good old-fashioned harddrive in it. Â However, your MP3 player (not ipods), your digital camera, and even your cell phone might be remembering for you on flash memory. Â So why not learn a snippet or two about flash memory and SD cards? Â Read more »