Microsoft XP Retirement

The writing definitely on the wall for Windows XP ...
April 8, 2014 is current target date to cease all support for Windows XP and Office 2003.
Microsoft starts XP retirement countdown: Microsoft yesterday kicked off what it called a "two-year countdown" to the death of Windows XP and Office 2003.

Text to Speech Software

An alternative to reading ...
A friend of Sandra Self asked if she knew of any available software that would turn screen based text into speech. After some research, I found numerous software vendors and it was a case of which one would I buy for this purpose. After trialling both, I think the best two are TextAloud from Nextup.com and NaturalReader from NaturalSoft. Have a look at the links below for more comparative information. Both offer free trials of the software but have only the robotic voices included in the trial software. These voices would drive you mad very quickly! I consider it essential that you buy at least two natural voices which are a huge improvement. TextAloud with two natural voices costs about AU$55 and offers a "Whole House Licence" (multiple PCs) for an extra AU$10. The NaturalReader software offers one licence with two natural voices for US$49.50. I think the NaturalReader may be a simpler interface but the TextAloud seems to offer more functionality and seems to have a higher reputation! I would buy Text Aloud but you can try both!
http://www.honestas.ca/?page_id=195
http://www.pacer.org/stc/pubs/ComparingTexttoSpeechtools.pdf

CCleaner Install & Update

Use CCleaner to minimise rubbish on your PC ...
This is a great free utility for keeping your PC as rubbish free as possible. Unfortunately, many people of have trouble finding the program on the Internet when they want to install it or later, update it. Updating CCleaner just overwrites the old version with the latest version so the process is actually identical.


Watch the YouTube video below:

The link used in the video to download CCleaner is:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner

Google Reality Glasses

What next, you may ask ...

Google tests augmented-reality glasses: After months of leaks, Google has finally acknowledged that it's testing a prototype set of eyeglasses that can stream data to the wearer's eyes in real time.

Phablets??

Cross between a phone and a tablet ... 

Kindly sent to me by Terri Weston

Jenneth Orantia from Sydney Morning Herald

Never heard of phablets before? They are – quite literally – the next big thing in mobility. Slightly larger than a smartphone and a fair bit smaller than a tablet (especially the iPad-sized ones), the idea is that they occupy a happy middle ground for power users that want a single device that does everything.

The only thing that irks me is the name. Phablet. There's a special place in hell for whoever coined this word. It's on the same level of stupidity as hybrid celebrity names like “Brangelina” or “Bennifer”. I'm taking a stand: from now on, I'm calling them tablet-phones.

Whatever you want to call them (and please make it “tablet-phone”), the latest sales figures indicate there's definitely a demand. Recently, Samsung announced that it had sold five million of the new Galaxy Note tablet-phones worldwide in the first five months of its release. Not bad for an as-yet unproven form factor, especially since it wasn't available in the United States until February and only just launched in Australia this month.

Androids Reviewed

A few good Androids ...

The Club is getting the ASUS Transformer Prime and the Toshiba AT200, not the AT100 reviewed here.

The best (and worst) Android tablets: For better or worse, there are now over a dozen Android tablets available to buy in Australia. We take you through our favourites, and those that have failed to impress.

Home Computing Evolves

In the beginning... 
After the hobbyists had finished building their computers and the emergence of several versions of desktop computing, the IBM Personal Computer (PC) came along and provided a standard platform for what we know today as the Desktop Computer. Microsoft soon got into the act and sold us a standard Operating System – first DOS then our beloved Windows! We then happily bought packaged software like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop etc. For our Internet connection we originally thought that Dial-Up was fantastic for email but then found that browsing the World Wide Web on Dial-Up was akin to watching the grass grow!

DNSChanger Trojan

Potential loss of Internet connectivity ...

Kevin Johnson sent me this SMH article that is quite disturbing! To check if you have been infected by the DNSChanger Trojan virus you should go to dns-ok.gov.au. A message at the top of that page will let you know if your PC or home network has been infected.

Ten thousand Australians face web blackout

PayPal Payments

Better way to shop online ...

Many people want to shop online but are hesitant to give their credit card details. The way around this is to open a PayPal Australia account and let them pay any merchants you deal with. Yes, you have to give your credit card or bank account details to PayPal but only PayPal. If there are any payments made that you did not originate then you know who to blame and who to contact. More and more merchants are accepting PayPal so have a look at the PayPal  Australia website at the link below. There is a great video introduction to PayPal and the necessary Sign Up links if you want to proceed.

http://www.paypal.com.au

Electronic Paper Display (EPD)

What next ...

Another gem from Terri Weston. I wonder where and to what this will lead!

LG unveils flexible e-paper display