Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I just read an interesting article about a survey done by the anti-virus company Avira.

They said that their survey shows that 25% of users disable their anti virus software because they felt that the programs were making their computers run slowly.

They also found that 3 out of 5 computer users have tried multiple security products within the last year, further showing their dissatisfaction with the product they had been using.

Their conclusion is that anti virus security programs should be written to have minimal impact on the computers performance or else users won’t use them. I certainly agree and don’t dispute that conclusion, but let’s look at some reasons why users might abandon their current anti-virus program and go looking for another. Continue Reading…

Imagine if every computer manufacturer designed their own operating system. If you used a HP computer, you’d have to learn everything all over if you bought a Dell. It would be chaos. And it’s why Windows still is the OS of choice for the majority of personal computers. They made the OS a separate product from the hardware and enabled manufacturers to sell the hardware but with an OS that had a familiar human interface.

I’ve had my new Android phone for less than two weeks now, but I can see where the same thing is happening in the cell phone world. Of course, cell phones are more than just phones now and are approaching the point where they can do nearly anything a PC can, so it is just in time. Continue Reading…

The last photo I took on my old phone was this shot of the leaves along the Erie Canal in Lockport.

I decided it was time to move to the current state-of-the-art in phones and get a smartphone. I ended up playing it safe and getting a HTC Incredible. Why is that safe? Because my son, Bryan, got one almost the minute they came out. He ordered one before they were in stock and waited for it to ship. Continue Reading…

I finally got the trike out for an overnight trip. I heard about a thing called the Niagara Velomobile Happening and found out that there was free camping for those attending. Seemed like something interesting and a good way to do a shakedown cruise with the gear on the Trike.

I’m usually the ‘cycle that gets the comments and stares whenever I go out for a ride, but with this group, I was the conservative one. In case you haven’t heard the term velomobile before, it refers to a vehicle that is usually based on some form of human-powered vehicle and often has a full body, or at least some windscreen.

These enthusiasts took that to heart and many velos there were fully enclosed and electric motors to assist pedaling were very common as well. Some were home made, some were commercial products. They were pretty much all very interesting.

Like going to a robotics event, the same concept often resulted in a wide variety of solutions, some odd at first, some elegant, but all original and very cool. In this crew, my basic trike was boring… Continue Reading…