AVG Anti-Virus

My personal philosophy when it comes to anti-viruses is, so long as you follow a few simple rules they shouldn't be necessary. Most of the big name commercial anti-virus packages are what I call "bloat-ware". They slow down even the newest computers and in my experience either lull people into a false sense of security or bombard their owners with too many "false positives". As a result I actually don't load them on my personal computers as a general rule.

#FollowFriday - @IndianaJim: Author of forthcoming WARS novella from Grail Quest Books, Host of The Adventures of Indiana Jim podcast, SF/F Geek

There are geeks and then there are geeks like @IndianaJim. I would feel safe in calling him a geek's geek or perhaps a geek among geeks. I mean come on, his Twitter handle is a tribute to the iconic Harrison Ford character and he produced a fantastic full cast Star Wars audio drama. I don't know that he's particularly a techie geek, but we've hardly let that stop us before.

#FollowFriday - @VG_Ford: Writer, Fencer, Podcaster and Pirate Captain

There is just something about a woman with her sword in her hand, especially when she knows how to use it. That certain air of danger that lends an extra allure. Enter @VG_Ford, fencer, writer, and scourge of the high seas! Oh, and she writes, too! Val has published two books with Dragon Moon Press: Not your Father's Horseman, and Dark Moon Seasons. She also writes a variety of short fiction for different venues, and podcasts. You can get some idea of what she does on her blog, http://vg-ford.com/.

Can Apple survive Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs' latest medical leave of absence has once again triggered speculation on Apple's ability to survive without Jobs' hand firmly on the helm. Media pundits are harking back to the long slow decline of Apple since Jobs was ousted in the mid '80's, and wondering if it is likely to happen again if for whatever reason Jobs is unable to return to work. They seem to believe that Apple's success since Jobs' return in 1997 is solely due to Jobs' influence and business acumen. Are they right? Is Jobs' personality the only thing that is keeping Apple going?

Craptech: The Apple iPad Dock

Normally, here at The Nifty Tech Blog, we try to bring you examples of the best and most useful technology available. If it doesn't measure up to that yardstick, we just don't mention it. Or we wait and watch it to see if it manages to rise above the pack and ask for our notice. But sometimes we run into a product that just utterly fails to provide any kind of utility. For those products, we created the category of Craptech. These are the products that are full of so much fail that everyone had best be warned not to waste their money on them. And the first one of these products that we are going to talk about is the Apple iPad Dock.

#FollowFriday - @RhodesTer: Funny Man, Satirist, and Alien Implant Survivor

I blog occasionally in my spare time (explains the infrequency) and so I know how hard it is to put out a blog post that's timely or funny or interesting on some kind of regular basis. Today I want to introduce you to a blogger that manages to do all of the above, or at least enough of the above to earn a passing grade. @RhodesTer, aka Dave, is a San Francisco based writer who is even now writing about what life's like as a resident of that fair city. Knowing him there will be enough snark/sass/smartassery mixed in with the commentary to set it apart from other Bay blogs. You can find that blog here.

#FollowFriday - @NLowell: The Chuck Norris of Writing and Podcasting.

This Friday I am paying my respects to @NLowell, a writer, podcaster, and the creator of stories so good, they can only be referred to as podcasting crack. Nathan Lowell is a man who has become a legend in his own time. His prowess at completing projects draws the awe and envy of the podcasting community, and accounts of his exploits continue to grow in the retelling. He once won NaNoWriMo in 15 days, with a goal of 100,000 words. His name has even become a unit of measure to which writers aspire: the Lowell. Instead of uploading a new episode every couple weeks, he uploads them every couple of days, in four and 5 episode chunks. Which is fair, as listeners easily devour at least four chapters a day. He has raised the bar of the straight read to a new standard. And that is just the true stuff! For the latest news on his work, head over to http://solarclipper.com/.

Scrambled Bits - Part Three: TrueCrypt

In parts one and two of this series I talked to you about the encryption software native to the newer versions of Windows. Contrary to what some would like to believe there are a lot of older versions of Windows still running around out there. There are also a number of operating systems other than those put out by Microsoft that people are fond of. And that's not counting people that aren't fond of Vista or Windows 7. So what if you find yourself in this group?