Articles
Turn Your Computer into a Telephone System with Skype
If your only exposure to Skype is Oprah’s long-distance interviews and “Where the Skype Are You?” segments, then you may not realize the extent of Skype features available to noobies and techies alike. What is Skype? Skype combines video conferencing (like you see on Oprah) with voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) and an instant message chat program. Combine all three and you’ve got a multimedia-rich conversation. Use VoIP by itself to make more “traditional” telephone calls or use the instant messaging platform as a useful, less intrusive way to access friends, families and colleagues. Skype services are either free or extremely affordable,… Continue reading...
Ask me Anything at Formspring.me
Social media opportunities are growing quickly as people look for new ways to connect and engage. Noobie.com visitors have already learned about Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, and now there is a new player in the social media space: FormSpring.me. This new site helps people interact by asking and answering questions about absolutely anything. If FormSpring sounds familiar, you may remember it from a Noobie article covering their core product. FormSpring’s core product provides smart and easy ways to collect and manage data using easy-to-build forms. The company observed that many of its users were creating simple, Q&A-type forms, and they… Continue reading...
Read, Write, ROM: Choosing CD and DVD Discs
Not all of those little round shiny discs are created equal. Just because a disc fits in your computer’s disc drive doesn’t mean it will stand up to the task at hand. So, look closely before you buy a spindle-full of CDs or DVDs. Disc vs. Disk For starters, CDs and DVDs are optical media formats, so they should be referred to as “discs.” Disk, on the other hand, refers to magnetic media, such as old-school floppy disks, your computer’s hard drive and external hard drives. Do a Google search to learn more about the entymology of the words, but… Continue reading...
Is your head in the cloud about passwords?
The Internet is becoming so ubiquitous that it’s more important than ever to choose secure passwords and more smartly manage them. Online shopping is on the rise and web-based applications are expanding. Plus, the Internet is no longer something we only use on home- or work-based computers. It is, or may soon become, part of e-readers, mobile devices, vehicles, kiosks, phones and more. A few months ago, an article about KeePass encouraged noobies to create and store impossible-to-guess passwords. KeePass is a great, free service that can help protect your private information, but one downside for some people is that… Continue reading...