Digi-Tales
Secrets from the Edge of the web
TIME SAVING WEBSITES:
online auctions
The Internet is rife with deals, but the most
dependable ones are between ordinary people.
Out of this simple concept was born
the online auction.
Online auctions are between users like
you and me, but adjudicated by an unbiased
third-party, the auction website. People
often call this consumer to consumer (C2C)
eCommerce.
http://www.ebay.com
The most popular of these is EBay. Lately
they have been really spending a lot of
advertising budget on television ads, and
as you might imagine, everything that has
ever darkened the inside of garage storage
is represented; from the figurative white
elephant to prized antique, it's all there.
EBay also has lately purchased another
web company: Half.com.
http://www.half.com
This website is for the buying and selling
of books and tapes that you may want to sell.
They take the ISBN off the product and
automatically load all the product information
for you and then you can set your price
based on the condition of the item.
My favorite auction related website though,
is called eSnipe. http://www.esnipe.com
During any auction, you can imagine that
two determined bidders could bid up the price
beyond a reasonable level. To prevent that
from happening eSnipe allows you to program
their website to bid for you within moments
of the end of the auction. The electronic
bidder from eSnipe logs into EBay on your
behalf and very often wins for you. Best
of all using eSnipe takes the emotional
impulse to outbid your competitor.
The result? A great auction value.
If you would like assistance setting up
an auction, please feel free to call.
I can do digital photography for your
auction and help you navigate EBay
to find the right price for your product.
May all your bids win cheaply!
NEW FAQs:
When should I upgrade my computer?
Just like your car, your computer is a machine
that when properly maintained can for last quite
some time. The trick is to know the timing
for maintenance and the schedule to take
it into the shop.
I can't predict your system's needs without
some custom analysis, but I do have a few
rules of thumb that I use to make recommendations.
Please accept these with a critical eye, but
if you would like us to help you apply them
please call or email us.
When should you upgrade to a new new
computer? I usually recommend every
three years to either upgrade the hard drive
or the computer. This basically depends
on the manner in which you are using
your computer. If you are happy with
your computer's performance, just upgrade
your hard drive.
The three year clock is basically to put
your computer usage on a new hard drive
every three years, as this is just short
of the typical life expectancy of the
average hard drive.
This is because your hard drive is the
hardest working part of the system, and
is almost the only moving part for the
largest part of the time.
The challenge in both options is the
moving of your original information
from the old hard drive to a new one
or to the new computer.
The experts and I also recommend a
good maintenance cleaning and memory
diagnostics each year to keep the
system tuned up and ready for whatever
new computer challenge may be invented.
This is one of our most common types
of service calls and we would be glad to
help if you require this sort of service.
We're wishing a long and useful life
for your computer.
BUZZ WORDS:
search engine
What a strange name for a reference librarian!
Somehow this is the label that came to
stand for the research tools that help make
sense of all the volumes of information that
make up the Internet.
These strange beasts are the indices that
can be used to find the answer to your query.
http://www.google.com
http://www.yahoo.com
Two search engines that often I recommend are
Google.com and Yahoo.com. These are very
different websites, but offer the bulk of
responses that you could find anywhere else on
the Internet. If you are looking to find
anything on the Internet this is the first
place I suggest you look.
Happy hunting!
HOME NETWORKING:
firewall reprise
I received some technical corrections to my
last home networking article. Please bear
with me if you aren't the technical type.
In short, the firewall and NAT features
of a firewall/router/switch will
well protect your network. However...
I was mistaken about the randomness of DHCP.
Unless your ISP intentionally enforces this
your IP may not release and renew in a timely
manner.
The other advice I received was that a firewall,
generally is best at protecting other computers
connected to it. This reinforces the value
of a firewall/router/switch for networks
that require the highest level of security.
Firewall software installed on a personal
computer would be less dependable.
If this reads like confusing techie talk,
please email me and correct me or ask questions
and I would be glad to take some time
to discuss it.
I can't say enough good things about this website!
Cooking your first turkey and want a recipe?
Would you like some desert ideas for the holiday?
Songs? Activities? History? Holiday Reading?
You have got to check it out.
Happy Thanksgiving!
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
15 so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault in a crooked
and depraved generation, in which you shine
like stars in the universe
16 as you hold out the word of life--in order
that I may boast on the day of Christ that
I did not run or labor for nothing.
-- Philippians 2:14-16 (NIV)
