Jan 28, 2008 | Amazon, Apple, audio, business, software
There have been a lot of changes in digital music recently, many of them favorable for consumers. People are recognizing the value of the MP3 format, free of any licensing restrictions. If you are ripping your CDs, make sure you use the MP3 format at a high enough bit...
Jan 25, 2008 | Microsoft, software, Vista
The hostility toward Vista is almost palpable now. Support representatives sigh deeply when customers say they’re running Vista. Computer magazines and tech web sites proudly trash it as the worst product of the year. The word of mouth that I overhear is...
Jan 21, 2008 | business, computers, hardware, printers, shopping, software
Sonoma County has a serious shortage of places to buy technology. It was a little upsetting when CompUSA announced it was closing, since it had a better inventory of network equipment than anywhere else nearby for those days when things have to be bought on short...
Dec 20, 2007 | audio, DRM, hardware, mobile, phone, software
Microsoft has a name problem. I used to think that Microsoft had learned a lesson from the years of confusion and frustration caused by the similar names for “Outlook” and “Outlook Express,” two programs that were not even remotely related. The...
Dec 17, 2007 | Microsoft, Office, Outlook, software
By now you’ve installed the updates and patches released last Tuesday on Microsoft’s regularly-scheduled “Patch Tuesday.” Some of you with new computers might have also found Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1, an unexpected addition to the...
Dec 13, 2007 | Microsoft, OneCare, security, software
The upgrade to Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is being rolled out this week to many OneCare users. A few of them have reported confusion or problems with the upgrade. Here are some of the situations I’ve run into recently. WHAT TO DO IF THE UPGRADE FAILS A few people...
