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Here are some links to sites
from past shows:
(Note: Links referred to on this page are not associated
in any way with WGN Radio. Thus, we cannot be responsible for the nature
or accuracy of the content found on the sites. Also note that all dates
on this page are Y2K compliant!)
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We
talked a bit about the Internet's first big, long-term
fund raising effort, "NetAid." The ultimate goal of the
concert and the site, according to their mission statement
is to: "...build a community of conscience dedicated to
providing basic needs: food, shelter, legal protection,
human rights and health care." The site had its big start
on Oct. 9 with simultaneous concerts in London, New York,
and Geneva that were broadcast by radio and television
stations all over the world and was, of course, carried
on the Internet at the event's web site: www.netaid.org.
To learn more about the site, the NetAid organization,
and to see Real Audio archives from the concert, check
out their site.
- Speaking
of multiple emails and how to manage all of them, do what
the Gigabyte "Godzilla does: use a broadband cable modem
and have your isp (internet service provider) provide you
with a "dotforward" (.forward) file. That last part is the
key: your isp must agree to build a dotforward file for
you. This will allow you to read all your various emails
from one account. There are web-based email account providers
that allow you to do this, try: www.yahoo.com,
www.juno.com, www.hotmail.com.
*Caveat: see the entry of 9/4/99 on web-based
email security issues.
- And
hey, speaking of cable modems, if you hunger for information
about these things (and who doesn't), there is a web site
just for you: www.cablemodems.com.
Sponsored by a company called "Digital Nation," this site
is very thorough in explaning all the in's and out's of
these speedy devices.
- You
can also check out www.tci.com,
www.ameritech.net
or www.mediaoneexpress.com
for the latest information on when digital cable modems
will be coming to your area from TCI, Ameritech and MediaOne.
9/18/1999
- Make
your life a whole lot easier by consolidating all those emails,
voicemails, and faxes. There is a free service that will do
all this for you: www.onebox.com.
Just by logging onto their site, you can retrieve and forward
messages from your private account. Probably the best thing
about this service, other than the price, (free) is that by
signing up, you get a local phone number where your friends
and relations can voicemail, email or fax you. (AND if you
prefer to have a Chicago number with a 312 area code OR one
with 773 or 847, you can make that choice when you sign up.)
9/4/1999
- Don informed
our listeners about a sercurity breach experienced by the free
Internet- based email provider, "Hotmail." The service, offered
by Microsoft, experienced a security breach where, via other
web sites, hackers were able to enter Hotmail accounts and send
mail out of them, bypassing the usual password login. To learn
more about the security problems from Don, tune your browser
to his Sun-Times column at: www.suntimes.com/output/crabb/crabb07.html
- Hark?
Do we hear another amazing revolution in personal computing
from the fine folks at Apple Computer? You betcha! And that
amazing revolution is *drum roll, please*..... the G4. (Just
on a personal note: I would seriously consider selling my spleen
for one of these boxes; a darn fine computer.) Just how fast
is this thing?! Well, first of all, it is a "super computer."
And what makes a super computer, er....well, super? The ability
to process at least one billion floating-point operations per
second. Otherwise known as a "gigaflop." In English: this machine
is the fastest thing ever sold to Mr. Joe Average Consumer.
Our heads are still spinning (pardon the pun). Check out this
wonder of modern life at: www.apple.com.
8/28/1999
- Geeks unite!
Neil, official Crabb on Computers intern and MacTeen, called in
to mention a site important to anyone interested in all this technology
stuff: www.techiesday.org.
The site announces October 5, 1999 as "National Techies Day."
The day is designed to be "the first annual celebration for technology
professionals to acknowledge their contributions to our world."
Sponsored by the folks at Cnet, the day is intended to honor technology
educators, professionals and organizations.
8/21/1999
- We talked
a bit with Kevin Sullivan of "It'sYourDomain.com" (found at www.itsyourdomain.com)
IYD is an isp (internet service provider), website hosting service
and they will even secure a url (uniform resource locator) or web
address for your site. So, if you've always dreamed of having a
site called www.putz.com, they can help you register that name,
design your site and will host it for you. Truly full-service! (And
by the by, www.putz.com is taken...sorry!)
8/14/1999
- Don welcomed
back digital camera gurus Jim Polaski and Bart Harris to the show,
as David Linsell, a representative of Olympus America introduced us
to the C-2000 megapixel camera (retail $999) and P330 photo printer
(retail $399). A really great camera, check it out at: www.olympusamerica.com/p.asp?s=12&p=16
- If you're looking
for a good, local place to get computer advice, buy some hardware
or just sit down and have a chat, try our buddy Shawn at Hyde Park
Computers of Evanston. They're located at: 1133 Emerson St, Evanston,
IL phone: (847) 475-9883 Shawn just happened to call in that night
and pointed out a hardware/software catalog site no Mac devotee should
be without: www.absolutemac.com
- And to even
things out, Don recommends two books to help you out with your Wintel
machine: "The Complete Reference" line of books can help you with
Office 97, 98 and 2000. Like just about every other book on the planet,
you can find these at www.amazon.com.
8/7/1999
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Callers
asked that Don talk more in-depth about a product he mentioned in
a Sun-Times article: iPhone 2050, by a company called, "Big Planet."
(www.bigplanet.com/products/iphone/).
Basically, iPhone is a combination telephone and Internet terminal,
that works like a phone, but can also surf the Internet, receive and
send e-mail and even connect to a printer. It goes for about $400.
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Another
option for those of you who want access to email, but would rather
not buy a whole computer is Mailbug. Produced by Landel Telecom. Inc.,
this device provides, and we quote,
"Email without the Computer." If you have a phone line,
you can get email by subscribing to their online service for $9.95/month
and retrieve it with the Mailbug terminal, which runs $165.95.
- Finally, for those
of you listening that night, you know that this show marked one of the
more important (and dare we say, surreal) installments of Crabb on Computers.
After a year of heavy-duty courting, Janet, Don's main squeeze, finally
caved into the Gigabyte Godzilla's repeated requests to marry him.
- Here for your
surfing pleasure are a few sites for anyone involved in upcoming nuptials:
www.bridalgift.net/ Complete
with a "Wedding Planner" and links to "Wedding Resources" like florists
and bakers. (And pessimists take note: insurance links are also offered!).
www.ibride.com This site offers
planning assistance, the opportunity to share information with other
brides-to-be and "Wedding Poetry." We'll let you just think about that
last part... www.learn2.com Offers
advice for those of us rope....er, lucky enough to be invited to one
of these blissful events; specifically, the site offers advice on how
to serve as a best man or maid of honor.
- Hey! A lot of
these sites seemed to be geared toward women! While we scratch our collective
heads and wonder about why, exactly marriage (and the ceremony itself)
is only of concern to women, you can surf on over to: www.fridgedoor.com/fridgedoor/grooms.html
This handy site, which offers a groomsman magnet, claimes to be "the
web's biggest magnet store." So, take heart boys....somebody out there
is thinking about your plight....er, bliss. Whatever.
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If
you've been searching for a way to make that PC-only printer work
with your Mac, try: www.infowave.com/print/welcome_to_imaging.htm
This site has all the drivers you could ever want that will enable
your Macintosh to work with a PC-only printer.
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MacWorld
Expo 1999 in New York, was the focus of our show. Unless you had your
head buried in the sand, you probably know that the three big announcements
at the expo were:
1 - iBook--Apple's portable version of the wildly popular iMac.
2 - QuickTime TV--a number of channels that will produce internet-only
programming.
3 - AirPort--the next big jump for the internet: wireless communications.
In case you missed the webcast of Apple's 'interim CEO' Steve Jobs'
keynote speech, you can still catch it on the web:
www.apple.com (To make sure you're ready for the next one in San
Francisco, check out www.macworldexpo.com/mwsf2000/index.html)
7/10/1999
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www.mp3.com
was the focus for this show,
as Chicago's own La Junta was
our in-studio guest. Check out
their song "La Who?" on MP3
and register for a free ("!")
CD: "103 of the Best Songs You've
Never Heard". Click on (no www
with this address) chooser.mp3.com/cgi-bin/promo/103songs-reg.cgi
to register for your cd, which
includes, by the way, a track
from La Junta.
- Friend
to the show, Bob Young called in to ask
what seemed like a completely logical
question to us: how does an old fart go
from making music in a totally analog
setting, to a digital one? (Bob Young
is the guy who wrote and sings the "Call
Don Crabb" and "Online" songs we play
each week...besides being a very nice
guy, Bob is one of the most talented people
we know.) Don suggested Bob get a computer
(a-ha!) and load it with a professional
audio editing software package from Digidesign
called Pro Tools. Try: www.digidesign.com/prod/
(And to check out a self-proclaimed 'old
fart' who is just one cool guy: www.bobyoung.com).
- How
about a $100 color printer? Impossible?
Nope. Ask the folks at Lexmark: www.lexmark.com/printers/inkjet/1100.
Their 1100 home model is for Windows systems
3.x, 95 and 98 (only). At 600x600 dpi
and printing speeds of 3.5 black and white
pages per minute and 1.5 color pages per
minute, this is a great printer at a great
price.
7/3/1999
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Having
trouble seeing your jpeg images in a 'thumbnail'
(or smaller icon view) with your Windows
machine? Try a program called PhotoVue
from ImageDisk: www.imagedisk.com
- As
one of our listeners said, "you can be a geek in
anything." After hearing about these super-duper
computerized sewing machines by Janome, www.janome.com,
we might just stay at home one Saturday night to
try out the Scan 'n Sew PC model that can interface
with a box running Windows 95. Apparently, you can
import and manipulate images on your computer and
with the Scan 'n Sew installed, embroider the image
you've made. (Any bets on how long it would take
to embroider Bill Gates' face on the back of a satin
jacket?)
- Speaking
of the wonderful Mr. Gates: Are you annoyed with
Windows? Fed up? Sick and tired? Perturbed? Just
really, really ticked off? If your answer to any
of the above was yes, a shrug to the affirmative
or merely a grunt, try these two links: www.annoyances.org/win98
and www.annoyances.org/win95.
Take two asprin and call the Dr. Saturday night
at 10pm.
6/26/1999
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Our
favorite 'Mac Teen', Neil Sroka, joined us in-studio to tell
us about the additions to his MacTeens website. Check out
the new chat area and new columnists at: www.macteens.com.
- A caller wanted
to know Don's favorite data recovery application: Retrospect. By taking
a 'snapshot' of your hard drive every time you back up, you can go back
to the most recent configuration of your system in the event of a crash
or terrorists or ....if you've, inexplicably, spilled that mocha-frosty
beverage into the keyboard.... It's by a company called Dantz Development.
You can find them at: www.dantz.com.
- Like the idea
of a pager on your system, which AOL's Instant Messanger provides, but
don't want the hassle of using AOL? Well, you can have it both ways.
Try: www.aol.com/aim/.
- Listener
Ed mentioned the 'Free Swan' version of the Linux operating
system. This particular 'flavor' of Linux offers both encryption
(basically scrambles the data being transported, so that other,
unauthorized sources can't 'read' your data) and authentication.
(the system won't accept data coming from an unauthorized or
unknown source) If you want to dabble in the wide, wild world
of Linux, give this flavor a try: www.xs4all.nl/~freeswan/
If you think Linux sounds like a cross between Linus from the
'Peanuts' and 'Kleenex' you're sort of correct....Not! Linux
is an upstart operating system, based on the Unix model, developed
by a young man from Finland named Linus Torvalds. The system
is notable primarily because the source code (the very guts
of the program) was, from its inception, made available to the
world public for folks to use, distribute and make additions
to. This 'open code' system has been a huge revolution in the
computing industry. To read more about the Linux story, try:
www.linux.org
One of the more popular flavors of the Linux system is made
by a company called 'Red Hat'. You can find them at: www.redhat.com
- If you've
been listening to our humble show for any length of time, you'll
know that Don has some pretty strong opinions on 'good' technology
vs. 'bad' technology. Divix, a pay-per-play version of DVD (digital
video discs), fell, most decidedly into that bad category...
For the full story on DVD vs. (the now most sincerely dead)
DIVX, tune your browser to ZDNet: www.zdnet.com
- Gates.
Jobs. Gates. Jobs. Even if you don't know much about computers,
these two names are probably familiar to you. So much so, think
the programming folks at Turner Network Television, that they
produced a movie, "The Pirates of Silicon Valley" about the
lives and times of the richest man in the world and Apple computer's
'employee number one'. tnt.turner.com/movies/tntoriginals/pirates/
6/12/1999
- How much
hard drive storage space is enough? 1GB, 4GB....how about 30?!
Alright, so you've probably got a server that you want to back
up; with allllll that space, that would probably be the best use
for it. Check out a company called OnStream: www.onstream.com
They offer the aforementioned 30GB tape back-up drive and, for
you really ambitious types, the 50GB! (Does anybody else remember
when 64K seemed like a lot of memory?!)
6/5/1999
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We
learned about computer classes for senior citizens at DuPage Community
College from one of our friendly and helpful listeners. The school
offers classes on computer basics, Macintosh and using the internet
through their 'Older Adult Institute'. For course schedules and
costs, check out DuPage's site at: www.cod.edu/ComConEd/Olderad.htm
5/29/1999
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Jim
Polaski, our resident expert on all things in the world of digital
photography, and Bart Harris, a professional graphic artist and
photographer, joined the show to share with us the latest innovations
in the digital realm. Overall, the best digital cameras now make
use of 'mega-pixel' technology. "Wha?!" A mega-pixel is 1,000 pixels.
A pixel is the smallest part of a digital image. (a shorthand way
of saying, 'picture element') The more pixels in an image, the better
the resolution or 'detail' of the image. More pixels=better images.
Got it? Good!
- Here are the
websites for some of the models mentioned on the show: www.kodak.com,
www.canon.com, www.fujifilm.com.
(The boys agree that the MX700 from Fuji is a great camera)
- For the perfect
printer to print your perfect picture, try these sites: www.agfa.com
(they also make high-end scanners, as well as cameras) www.epson.com
(Don likes the 1200 Photo XL model)
- A caller posed
what we all thought was a really good question: What brand of camera
works best for kids? Well, obviously, you'll want something that is
easy to use, durable and affordable. Bart (again) suggested the Fui
MX700 or MX2700. Both cameras have a rugged magnesium body that will
take a beating and are high quality cameras at a mid-level price.
- Don also likes
the Olympus C-2000 ZOOM "Filmless" camera. That's right...no need
for real, actual film when you deal in 0's and 1's folks! www.olympusamerica.com
is the place you'll find all you need to know about Olympus' products.
Another fav rave from the gigbyte godzilla is Kodak's DC260 and DC265
series.
5/22/1999
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We
talked to Kris Collins from Tripp Lite, the world’s leading surge
protector manufacturer. She had some very enlightening information
(get it...surge, enlightening...) on their products. If you’re in
the market for a surge protector for that new Gateway or iMac, surf
on over to their web site at: www.tripplite.com.
- The newest thing
to hit the music industry since CD’s also came up on this show: MP3.
MP3’s are highly compressed digital archives of music that can be downloaded
from the web (mostly for free) then burned onto CDRom disks. Pretty
neat! Check out this new innovation’s home at: www.mp3.com.
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Every
week, we usually get a couple of questions about recycling or
selling really, really old hardware...like that C-64 that's rotting
in the back of your closet.
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Here's
one option we've talked about: Computer Recycling Solutions in
Cicero, IL. They're
located at 1800 S. 54th Avenue in Cicero and you can contact them
by calling
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If you're
looking to buy/sell/trade a used laptop, here's a site that might
be useful: www.usedlaptops.com
3/20/1999
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After the Breitling
Balloon boys landed during the show, we took a look at their site:
www.breitling.com
(and be honest: we think the balloon looks like Jiffy Pop. You be
the judge.)
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We've been talking
quite a bit about the upcoming MacWorld convention, set to take
place in July. If you'd like to go and see "The Steve" in action,
check out the convention's site at: www.macworldexpo.com
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Maybe
you want some new toys to go with that new Blueberry or Lime iMac?
Try: www.powerr.com
(that's 2 r's) They specialize in video adapters and such.
3/13/1999
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Don welcomed the gang
from "The Big Fat Nude Hippo Show" to the studio. You can find more
info about the show and Chicago Cable Access Channel 19 at www.mbcnet.org/mbcnet/bfnh.htm
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If you're interested
in the future look of the web, try out www.hypercosm.com.
This is a 3D website that is mainly for web programmers, but has
some neat examples that show
the future look of the web.
2/27/1999
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If you're interested
in networking issues on the web or if you'd like to start an intranet
or internal FTP, try: www.vicomsoft.com
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One home
computer may just not be enough for you. How about taking
them all and putting them on one BIG NETWORK?! Just
think of the electronic hum! www.homepclan.com
is the place for you.
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Maybe you want to dabble
in the world of proxy servers. Try: www.sygate.com
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And then
there are those of us who just want to know if we're coming or going.
Here's a site to, at
the very least, assure you that you haven't expired without your
knowing it: www.dpsinfo.com
2/6/1999
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If you have
some really old disks, (those 5" ones that are only good to use for
coasters) and you want the information contained on them to be transferred
to regular 3 1/2" floppies, try a company called "Pivar". Several
callers said they'd used and liked their service. Located in Buffalo
Grove, you can contact them by calling: 1-800-CONVERT. Or
try their site: www.pivar.com
2/13/1999
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Neil Sroka,
"The WGN Kid", made one of his many visits to the show. To learn
more about our favorite
"Teen Mozilla", try his site: www.macteens.com
1/9/1999
11/28/1998
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Macintosh
products seem to come up a lot on the show. But we do try to give
some time to our PC-based friends (hoping that they'll one day
see the light...) For
all the latest in PC computing, try this site: www.zdnet.com/pcmag
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If you're a Mac-head
(as all truly enlightened people are...) you'll want to check
out this site: www.maccentral.com
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If all this Mac/PC
nonsense makes you ask, "why can't well all just get along?!"
then maybe you'll want to consider donating all your money to
charity, dropping out of society and moving to....Des Moines...er,
something. To start by donating all your molah to charity, check
out this site: www.igive.com
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Just
in case you bring your computer to um...Des Moines...you just
might want to do some
web authoring. Try www.webdesigngroup.com
for a start. They can offer many simple
tips to make your site informative and visually appealing.
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Don wanted
to alert listeners to the differences between DVD and DVIX. Basically,
the idea
is that technologically and economically, DVD is a better value.
We even found a site
where you can purchase your DVD's online: www2.dvdexpress.com.
They offer 50% off every disk and same day shipping. Now you can
get that copy of I, Zombie you've been looking for!
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