This is Useful

Recover Accidentally Deleted or Changed Files – Free Utility!

Mark — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:23:57 GMT

Have you ever accidentally saved over a file you were working on? Accidental file deletion or modification is a common cause of data loss. Windows Vista includes a useful innovation to help you protect your data: Shadow Copy. This feature automatically creates point-in-time copies of files as you work, so you can quickly and easily retrieve versions of a document you may have accidentally deleted.

Shadow copy is automatically turned on in Windows Vista and creates copies on a scheduled basis of files that have changed. Since only incremental changes are saved, minimal disk space is used for shadow copies. On my PC, Vista Home Premium is currently keeping about 10 days worth of shadow copies (screenshot).

Up until now, this feature has only been available in the Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista.

With today’s “This Is Useful” tool, access to shadow copies is now available to Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium users.

Shadow Explorer is a free utility that unlocks this feature for home users. Shadow Explorer enables you to go back in time and access your files and folders as they were on previous dates. IT works on single files as well as whole folders.

Learn more and download it free from shadowexplorer

Juiced Earnings, Fanciful Figures and the Case for an "L" Shaped Recession

Mark — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:19:50 GMT

Knowledge of an impending storm provides the opportunity to seek shelter. In Juiced Earnings and Fanciful Earnings, Seeking Alpha asserts that we are headed into a recession "far worse than the wimpy recession of 2001."

The story points out a recent article from "Financial Week" that suggests corporate pension plans invest more heavily in liability-driven investments. What? Why worry?

As if racing for the exit at the smell of smoke, the Case for an L Shaped Recession (referenced in the article above) comes speeding onto my computer screen next, right on the heels of "Juiced Earnings".

An "L" shaped recession? This is one that does not come back up... doesn't bode well, does it?

Prognostication has value only if the prognosticators are correct and the reader takes action in response to the forecast. The primary course of action, at least in macro-economic terms, is to create fewer non-productive financial instruments and create additional quantities of tradable goods (i.e., manufacturing).

In the 10 minutes or so you would spend clicking on the links and reading these 2 articles you will read comments from the likes of Warren Buffet, Paul Morgan, Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs; you will read a little about the difference between corporate spending (10% of GDP) and consumer spending (70% of GDP), global wage arbitrage, a little history on the 10 year Japanese recession of the 1990's, and about the possible bankruptcy of Jefferson County, Alabama which would be the largest municipal bond bankruptcy in U.S. history, Seems like a useful way to spend 10 minutes...

The challenge of making this useful is to determine what action you can take to find shelter from the storm considering your unique opportunities. [There now, how was that for ending on a positive note?]

Classic Literature for Busy People

Mark — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:17:29 GMT

Many of us spend hours per day on email but don't have time to read classic literature. DailyLit is a service that allows users to read entire books in installments via email or rss.

You start by Browsing DailyLit's offerings by title, author, and genre. Once you've selected a title, you can then choose to receive an e-mail every day, only on weekdays, or three times a week, as well as the time at which they should be e-mailed during each prescribed day.

The titles are then e-mailed in small installments (approximately a thousand words) that most readers will be able to finish in under five minutes. Each installment begins and ends in a logical spot in the text.

Books range in size from 2 installments (Gift of the Magi, by O'Henry) to 679 parts (Les Miserables by Victor Hugo).

Visit www.dailylit.com today and get started reading a classic piece of literature in bite-sized pieces. For an easy way to get started, browse the "Classics" category, sort the titles by length and select a title with just a few installments. Soon, you will begin to look forward to getting your piece of Daily Lit.

Useful & Attractive -- Internet Speed Test

Mark — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:54 GMT

Visited daily by millions all over the world, Speedtest.net is the definitive place to monitor the world's bandwidth.

If you have ever wondered how fast your Internet connection is, a visit to www.speedtest.net is the best place to check your connection... in just moments.

Test results are published down to the city level for most Internet Service Providers. Check the results page for your city to see who offers the fastest Internet service... and maybe find out how to speed up your Internet experience significantly.

The speed test and the Global Stats are truly useful.

I checked the providers for my little town of 5,000 and discovered that there are faster alternatives that I need to look into.

1 800 GOOG-411

Mark — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:18:43 GMT

You don't need a computer, an Internet connection, or even the keypad on your phone or mobile device. GOOG-411 is voice-activated, so you can access it from any phone (mobile or land line), in any location, at any time. For free.

Search for businesses by name or category. Can't stand typing? GOOG-411 will understand your voice and find the business you're looking for. Search by name ("Giovanni's pizza") or category ("Pizza").
Connect to the business directly, free of charge. No need to write down a note or memorize long phone numbers. GOOG-411 connects you, free of charge.
Get more details by SMS — Simply say "text message" and GOOG-411 will send you a text message with more information and a link to a map of the business you've selected, free.
Dial 1 800 GOOG-411. For fastest access, simple add GOOG-411 to your contact list: 1 800 466-4411

I have used this free service from Google a number of times with great success. The voice recognition has been perfect in my experience. You start by giving the name of the town you are located in, then the name of the business or a business category. They return with up to 8 listings and you have the option to get the address, the telephone number, or you can simply be connected right away. Use the comments area below to let us know how it works for you. Try it!

Testing Remote Entry

Mark — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:06:30 GMT

This is a quick test of remote entry posting using 3rd party software. If this works as easily as I hope, I will begin posting to this blog again.

Update -- Improved Live TV on Google Personalized Homepage

Mark — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 02:21:00 GMT

The live tv widget for the Google home page that I wrote about here a couple of weeks ago is no longer working so it is time for an updated link to a new and improved live-tv widget for the Google personalized page.

Unlike the previously featured widget, today's widget can be customized with channels of your choice. To add the widget to your home page, get it from Google here.

The widget looks like an old fashioned tv with 7 buttons, 5 channel buttons, a power button and a settings button. To customize your channel selection, click on the settings button and select your 5 preset channels from the list which can be filtered by country. There are lots of great international channels available. I have my pre-set channels set to CNN, Fox News, C-Span, Sky News and BBC Headlines.

(Thanks to the commenter in the previous entry for alerting me to the need for an updated live tv widget.)

Get a Grip: The War on Terror

Mark — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 14:42:00 GMT

Understanding the war on terror, from Afghanistan to Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon and elsewhere is made easier today because of the Internet, but some effort is required.

Internet publishing has had only a minor impact on the mainstream media's grip on the national consciousness. The impact has been limited because; 1) reading is more difficult than watching or listening to broadcast media; and 2) finding the gold online can require hours of sifting through worthless ore.

Here are 2 resources that combine to provide a uniquely powerful view of the war.

Iraq the Model:
The first resource “Iraq the Model”, is published by 2 Iraqi civilians on the ground in Bagdad. Omar and Mohammed publish both the good and the bad about the war as seen on the ground from a civilian perspective. This very human view of the war portrays events and consequences as judged by those who we are supposedly trying to help.

A recent article, "Midnight Company", describes a search of the author's home conducted by American Soldiers in the middle of the night. The picture above was taken after the search ended.

The Fourth Rail; History, Politics and the War on Terror

The second resource "The Fourth Rail: History, Politics and the War on Terror" is published by Bill Roggio, a professional journalist who has written for the New York Post and other national publications. The Fourth Rail provides coverage of strategic and operational issues. Examples of topics include analysis and predictions of military operations in Iraq, the break between al-Qaeda and the insurgency, the development of the Iraqi Security Forces, the hunt for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the operations of Task Force 145, the rise of the Islamic Courts in Somalia, the rise of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and Israel's military operations and political inertia against Hezbollah. This broader coverage is unique in its scope and is made possible by reports from stringers “in country” across the globe.

One recent article, “The Baghdad Security Operation Order of Battle” provides a neighborhood by neighborhood view of the ramp up by Iraqi and Coalition troops to secure Baghdad. The map above is from the article. A larger version of the map is available at the site.

Conclusion:
"The Fourth Rail" from a professional journalist, combined with the view from civilians on the ground in "Iraq the Model" gives us a way to understand the War on Terror. The alternative to each citizen understanding the war on terror for themselves is to allow the broadcast media to exercise undue influence on our national consciousness and on history.

A Call to Action:
Citizen! Bookmark the links below and follow the war yourself.

Links:
The Fourth Rail: History, Politics and the War on Terror
www.billroggio.com

Iraq The Model
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/

Live TV on Google Personalized Homepage

Mark — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 03:38:00 GMT

Convergence
We've all heard about it for a long time...the holy grail of technology. Well, this isn't the be all, end all, but it is as good an example as any for the casual user; the convergence of the Internet and television on your computer.

If you are using the Google personalized homepage for your start page, you can now add a new widget to your personalized page that gives you access to live tv right in the page! To add the widget to your Google personalized home page ~~go here and get the widget~~ Update: the widget originally featured is longer working...a better one is now available.

~~While you can't~~ you can add channels to the new widget. To add channels click on the settings button at the bottom of the widget's tv screen and add your own channels to the widget, ~~the widget comes preloaded with a number of live channels in several categories; news, entertainment, kids, movies, educational, sports, music and financial.~~ Personally, I like the Sky hereNews Channel because the Great Britian coverage is a refreshing change from US-centric news coverage.

(Note)
If you are using Firefox, you may get an error message about missing plugins. This is due to some missing dll files that should be part of Windows Media Player, but often go missing. Head on over go to dlldump.com and download copies of npdsplay.dll and npwmsdrm.dll and place copies of those files in your c:\program files\mozilla firefox\plugins directory. That should make it work and should fix many other pages where you get the missing plugin error message for video.

Color Pallete Creation

Mark — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:54:00 GMT

This entry is a little off the beaten path as I do not plan on posting many items for web designers or technical pros, but this one, Kuler, is so useful that I simply could not resist. There are tons of color pallete generators on the web, but none so well done as this one from Adobe, the Photoshop people; go figure. This is useful for anyone doing design work for print or for the web, even for artwork or presentations.

An honorable mention in this category goes to color.org. It is a little bit harder to use, but you can upload a picture and a color scheme will be generated from the picture. Very useful if you already have a graphic element or photo from an existing design that will be part of a final product. Both of these tools are free to use...and if every designer used them we would live in a more beautiful world.

Add more tabs to Google

Mark — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 04:40:00 GMT

The personalized Google homepage limits you to 6 tabs. If you need more than six tabs, simply copy the following line of code into your address bar and hit enter to create an additional tab.

javascript:_renameTab(); _dlsetp('at=')

Larger image available here.

Get YOur Group Communicating Online -- Free!

Mark — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 01:28:00 GMT

OfficeZilla is a free Internet service that bills itself as an intranet/extranet service. That definition might work for technology consultants, but for the rest of the world, a better explanation might be a free group calendar and message boar website.

Public or Private: Private!
One person, acting as an administrator starts a site and then invites members to join, assigning them user names and passwords to keep the group private.

Ad Supported: No!
There are no advertisements on the site you create.

Limits on group size: No!
no limits on the size of the group and the site can be customized with the group's logo, etc.

Limited Features: No!
Your group site includes a complete set of features: Calendars, Contact Manager, Message Forums, Knowledge Base, Pop Email Reader, Link/URL Sharing, File Sharing, Chat Room, Bible Search Tool, Phone Message Pad and Task Manager.

Each feature can be turned on or off for the group by the adminstrator (creator) of the group.

Useful For:
Sunday Schools
Scout Troops
Civic Clubs
Virtual Office Teams
Group Collaboration Projects

In short, this free and full featured virtual office would be a great place to host any club, civic or church organization.

Google Alerts

Mark — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:43:00 GMT

Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. The comprehensive alerts cover news stories, blog entries, and new google search results.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
    * monitoring a developing news story
    * keeping current on a competitor or industry
    * keeping tabs on your company or website
    * keeping tabs on your own name
    * keeping tabs on someone else's name
    * tracking medical advances
    * getting the latest on a celebrity or event
    * keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Requirements:
No Google membership is required, any email address will do. You can
elect to recieve alerts once a day, once a week or as it happens.
I usually opt for the once a day comprehensive alerts.

How Do You Sign Up?
Simply visit the Google Alerts home page, enter your search, the type of alert you'd like (News, Web, comprehensive, etc.), how often you'd like us to receive alerts, and your email address. When you're done, click the 'Create Alert' button. Google will send you a confirmation email; clicking the link in this email will activate your Alert.

What Will the US Congress Do Next?

Mark — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:28:00 GMT

Documents produced by the private think-tank working for the United States Congress might help answer that question. Many of the reports produced by this private think tank can be accessed free online at the "Open CRS Network".

Revealing Future Trends:

These reports can reveal what Congress is thinking about months before the subject hits the news stands. Seeing these reports also helps explain why our elected representatives occassionally appear so well versed on current legislative topics.

From the Las Vegas Review Journal, Feb 20, 2007:

"Deep inside the Library of Congress labor the 500 researchers of the Congressional Research Service, established in 1914 as Congress' supplier of nonpartisan research and analysis. At an annual cost to taxpayers of about $100 million, those staffers generate some 6,000 reports per year at the request of members of Congress. Our elected delegates seek the research to aid them either in drafting or in deciding how to vote on pending legislation. And they can ask about virtually anything, from weapons systems to farm subsidies."

Recent Titles

Just viewing the titles of recent reports available at Open CRS is revealing, the actual reports themselves reveal even more of the future trends in the US Congress!

March 20, 2007
Congressional Redistricting:
The Constitutionality of Creating an At-Large District

March 20, 2007
Who Are the "Middle Class"?

March 19, 2007
Recent Changes to the Section 8
Voucher Renewal Funding Formula

March 19, 2007
Subprime Mortgages: Primer on Current
Lending and Foreclosure Issues

March 19, 2007
The Corporation for National and Community Service:
Overview of Programs and FY2008 Funding

March 16, 2007
An Overview of Recent U.S. Supreme
Court Jurisprudence in Patent Law

March 16, 2007
Ethanol and Biofuels: Agriculture,
Infrastructure, and Market Constraints
Related to Expanded Production

ThisIsUseful Features

Mark — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:19:00 GMT

ThisIsUseful will feature articles on the following topics: E-Learning, Offline World, Web Browsing, Desktop Tools, Windows and How To. I will probably come up with some more feature categories as I get into the swing of things here.

Anytime you get a hankering for more articles on a particular topic, use the comment field to let me know, or drop me line at mark [at] thisisuseful [dot] com.

Firefox

Mark — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:26:00 GMT

If you don't have firefox, go here and download it today.

I was prepared to write a detailed article about why you should be using Firefox when I came across an article on Microsoft's web site which helped me out a great deal. In an article on Tech Web, Microsoft identified Internet Explorer as "the number one Internet threat in 2007":

From the article...

"Threat #1: IE
Internet Explorer heads the list of top Internet security attack targets in the most recent joint report of the FBI and security organization SANS Institute."

and...

"Still, the best way to reduce your PC's vulnerability to ActiveX exploits is to download and install another browser, and set it as your default browser. Mozilla's Firefox is the most popular IE alternative."

Just in case Microsoft wakes up and take the article off of their site, here is a screen capture from the article taken today.

Why I Started This Site

Mark — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:04:00 GMT

I started this site for several reasons.

To create a central repository:
I regularly send emails to friends alerting them to useful things I discover. This site will provide a more permanent record of those things collected in one place.

To help others:
The things I find useful may help someone else. Many of the things I write about will help people get more out their computers, online and offline.

To build a technical support library:
I provide technical support services for a living. This site will become a repository of technical support documentation. I hope it grows into a useful library.