Neat Net Tricks

Got To Squeeze Their Homework In There Somewhere

Jack Teems — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:55:04 +0000

Statistics that don’t surprise: American kids send and receive about 2,800 texts month, or an average of about 93 per day, every 10 minutes they are awake. That’s according to a Neilsen study. But it’s the next age group, 18-24, who talk the most on cellphones, averaging 981 minutes per month. I guess all this just proves that you can’t talk when you’re busy texting.

The Cup’s Half Full….errr, Empty

Jack Teems — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:13:13 +0000

This article tells about the latest FCC Report confirming what we’ve suspected all along. When we’re told by our broadband carrier that we’ll get Internet speeds “up to” some speed, most of us are getting only half what’s offered.

It would be fitting to promise them “up to” our promised monthly payment, but send them only half. And maybe deduct for all the outages as well?

I’m fed “up to here” with their (lack of) service but their’s, alas, is the only game in town.

Your Teacher Is Not Your Friend ….

Jack Teems — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 23:49:24 +0000

… at least on Facebook. At least in Lee County, Florida. It’s just not cool. In fact, it’s downright inappropriate . Read the details here .

Next thing you know, they’re not going to allow apples as well.

Here’s An Idea You Might Sit On

Jack Teems — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:21:59 +0000

My community and no doubt many others are having a real problem in balancing the budget without raising taxes. Maybe we could take a tip and install pay-as-you-sit park benches. The Chinese have done it, or so this site claims.

It might work, but I think the pay toilets are all obsolete now.

Spying On Your Printer

Jack Teems — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:09:47 +0000

Now someone has figured out how to place a microphone next to a dot matrix printer and translate the sounds the printer is making so that you can see what is being printed. This sounds like something out of a James Bond flick, but you can read more here.

Now let’s see, if I can get close enough to place the microphone, could I just peek at the document? Nahhhh, not high tech enough.

Another Scam?

Jack Teems — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:49:22 +0000

If you’re using Firefox as your browser, you owe it to yourself to read about this latest scam.

It Would Take A Mighty Large Shelf

Jack Teems — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:24:49 +0000

There are 129,864,880 books in the entire world, according to this report. I wonder, did they count the one I forgot to return to the library?

Now I Know….

Jack Teems — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:59:50 +0000

… why nobody is posting replies on this blog. When you go online, 22.7 percent are doing the social networking thing on Facebook, Twitter, ad nauseum; 10.2 percent are playing games; and, 8.3 percent are emailing. At least that’s what Neilsen has to say in its “What Americans Do Online” report for 2010, just released.

You just don’t have the time to come over here, do you?

Of Course You Can Hear Me Now

Jack Teems — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:48:59 +0000

If you never thought about it, those cell phone conversations you have aren’t really private, are they? They really are just radio waves that could be overheard by, well, anyone with the right radio. And to add one more thing to worry about, now this hacker has developed a device to intercept and record cell phone calls. Details are here .

Well, that shouldn’t be of concern to those I encounter. They are talking loud enough that I can’t help but hear at least one side of their conversation. They might as well put the speaker phone on so I can hear it all, as if I’d want to.

What D’Ya Mean You Can’t Hear Me, I’ve Got 5 Bars!

Jack Teems — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:01:04 +0000

Another one of those “let me see if I got this straight” reports:

In the news today, we’re told that Apple has admitted a long-time flaw in the iPhone. It seems that those bars indicating signal strength have been exaggerated all along and we haven’t been getting as much signal as we thought. Apple promises to fix it so that the indicators will tell us the truth.

That’s so encouraging, but I’d much rather they fix the root of the problem, the lousy reception itself. I’d trade the little bar indicator for a good cell signal any day; but, of course, that’s not an Apple problem. It’s an AT&T issue instead and perhaps ATT is a good acronym for About Time to Terminate.