Neat Net Tricks

FACT 1:  PhraseExpress is an application that stores commonly used phrases in a data file to save repetitious typing, and these stored phrases can then be pasted into nearly any application.

FACT 2:  One of the more, shall we say, entertaining software reviews can be found here .

It’s an interesting phenomenon. Most software developers appreciate the effort the NNT Software Review Panel goes to in pointing out the  bad with any product so they can improve. Some developers ignore our efforts. Some become nearly hostile in defending their program.

I guess it’s sort of like a parent protecting their unruly child?

OK, it’s official. Microsoft says that the next version of Windows Live Essentials will not run on XP. That’s the free program that provides photo and video organizing and editing with Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. But if you’re staying with XP, forget the Live Essentials upgrade.

Forget Internet Explorer 9 too. Of course, if you’re like me (and countless others) you couldn’t get IE 8 to work either. I’m told that this is because I haven’t installed the hundreds of updates Microsoft has been force feeding us for years. I’m just an old fuddy duddy who has long been out of the mainstream.

So, I don’t get it. Why isn’t everyone running down to the corner store for the latest and greatest Microsoft innovations? It’s for your own good!

A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals some not-so-startlingly observations: 75% of teens from 12 to 17 own their own cell phones, girls send out 80 texts per day, boys send 30 texts per day, girls use more punctuation in their texts than boys, and 87% of teens sleep close to their phones and text throughout the night.

So, what part of all this did you not already know?

Google has done it again and it’s enough to cause some sleepless nights — if you’re a tweeter and said some embarrassing things. You can now find everything said on Twitter back to February 2010 and soon view all the twits, errrr, tweets back to March 21, 2006.

Which begs the question: Why would you?

In Neat Net Tricks we often comment about the absurdity of software license statements.  A prime example is the sale of GameStation in the UK, where one retailer now claims to own the souls of thousands of customers.  You can read more here and this just goes to prove once again that most of us don’t even bother with all that legal gobbledygook.

Quick question: If you lived in India, would you more likely have a cell phone or a toilet? The report says there are 545 million cell phones and only 366 million have access to a toilet.

I read where cartoonist Mark Fiore just won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial animations in SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site. He can take pride in that accomplishment, since he is now the first online-only journalist to win the coveted award.

Strangely, though, Apple doesn’t seem to regard his work and banned his iPhone app, NewsToons, because the satire ridicules public figures.  That, Apple says, is a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement. That Agreement lets Apple banish anything on iPhone if it’s considered, in their “reasonable” judgment as objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.

I have an iPhone and love its features. What I don’t love is the really crappy signal – often nonexistent – from it’s cell provider, AT&T. I’ll dump them as soon as my contract expires, even if I have to toss the iPhone with it. In talking with many other iPhone users, I find they share my sentiments.

I have a suggestion for Apple: while you’re pulling “objectionable” content, include AT&T with it. They’ve had lots of time to improve their act and they certainly aren’t in contention for a Pulitzer.

That Microsoft mouse you’re holding in your hand. Could it have been produced in a Chinese sweatshop staffed by a 16-year-old working 15-hour shifts seven days a week for 65 cents an hour? It could indeed. See for yourself .

This article suggests that passwords are a waste of time. I tend to agree, particularly at those moments when I can’t remember one I’ve set and I realize I’m no longer the sharpest tack in the drawer. I particularly hate certain sites that force us to change our password every 30 days, giving the impression that accessing their information is about equal to gaining entry at Fort Knox.