Computers are great, but the health problems that can arise as a result of over-excessive computer use isn’t.

Here’s a few of the most common symptoms you might come across, and some tips and tricks regarding how to avoid or, at the very least, mitigate them.

Back Pain: 

Think about how you’re sitting at your desk. Do you have to hunch over your system? Are you sitting straight-backed, or sitting in any way other than straight-backed? How comfortable is your chair? How well is it suited for you?

All of these need to be taken into consideration. You need to sit in a position that’s comfortable for you, while at the same time doesn’t put too much strain on your lower back. Spending all day cross-legged or hunched down are surefire paths to a bad back.

You can check out this post about standing desks that PCMech’s founder, David Risley, wrote over on his personal blog.

Neck Pain:

Keep your head straight and don’t look around too much. Think about the height of your screen – same as with back problems. If you have to spend the day looking down or up, this could end up causing a great deal of tension, ultimately damaging your muscles and you don’t want that.  And for the love of god, don’t try to talk on the phone by holding it on your shoulder.

Wrist and Hand Pain: 

Again, the height of your chair is key here, as is your posture. Don’t rest your hands on your keyboard – they should be raised just slightly as you type. Make sure your shoulder, elbow, and wrist form an “L” when you type. And don’t be afraid to take a break every now and then. If your wrist/fingers start to feel strange, step back from the computer for a few moments and take a break.

Eye Strain: 

Look at the lighting in the room and look at your screen. What’s the resolution? Do you have to squint or focus overmuch to see everything on the screen? If you do, change it.

Is there glare on your screen? Find the source and eliminate it if possible.

How close are you to the screen? If your face is buried in your monitor, you have a problem.

If all else fails, you may well need glasses or an updated prescription. Look into it.

Headaches/Fatigue: 

I suffer from this quite a bit though they usually don’t manifest until after I’ve finished writing something. Don’t forget to eat, and keep yourself well-hydrated.

Don’t be me – take regular breaks while on your machine. If you start to feel ‘fuzzy’ or ‘faint,’ no one’s going to fault you if you go grab a drink or a snack. After all, it’s better if you take five minutes to get yourself back on track than it is for you to waste thirty minutes in a half-aware funk.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How To Keep Healthy While Wired

Originally, any system that required a user ID asked you what you wanted for a screen name. Simple systems only allowed letters and/or numbers. Advanced ones allowed letters, numbers, dashes (-) and underscores (_). People were OK with this and it worked well. The email address you used to sign up for the account was separate from the username, meaning an email address change did not affect your username.

Then someone got the not-so bright idea of having the email address itself as the username, and this is where things started to go wrong. Very wrong.

1. Confusion

An email address and a username are two completely separate things, yet it’s easy to confuse them as the same thing on certain websites.

Let’s say one day you want to change the primary email address for your account. You do, but the username, which is now your old email address, remains the same. Why? Because most systems don’t allow username changes. Then your friends see that username and just assume that’s your email address when in fact you don’t use it anymore. You’re using the account, but not the email address that is the username for said account.

Confused yet? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were.

Some systems do in fact change your username to reflect an email address change at the time you make it, but there are still plenty of systems that don’t do that.

2. Any privacy concerns are thrown right out the window

On most (if not all) systems I’ve seen that use your email address as not only your username but also your "profile", they make it publicly searchable by default. This means that if someone searches that sites for your email address, you show up. And maybe you didn’t even want to.

It also doesn’t help that the option to turn this off is usually buried in most sites that use public profiles.

3. Nobody ever wanted to use their email address as a username in the first place

The ID-as-email-address thing fixed a problem that never existed. Someone thought, "Hey! Wouldn’t it be great if the user ID was the email address of the user? I think that would be really convenient!"

No, no.. wrong. So wrong.

Now instead of username "bob" it’s "bob@example.isp". A lengthening of the username for basically no reason? Yes.

A public profile created when you never wanted one in the first place? Yes.

Increased risk of getting mountains of spam because of this crapola? Most definitely.

The true reason why the ID-as-email-address was put into motion is because an email address is unique to the individual who uses it. Your email address is used by nobody but you, and in order to use it as an ID, the system would have you validate that you actually own the address. I understand why this is convenient, but only for the website admin. From a user perspective it’s just completely wrong because it’s decidedly inconvenient.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Screen Names vs. Email Addresses As User IDs

Here’s an example of retro in a modern game:

With the non-gaming stuff we do with computers, as much as the industry tries to get us to use everything with a totally modernized look, time and time again people will revert back to super-simple means of using a computer interface.

For example, there are many (hundreds of?) thousands of users who will go into their Windows settings and purposely turn OFF all menu animations and fading because it’s simply not necessary. The fading in particular can get annoying quickly because it adds in needless time to display something that should be instant, such as a "Save Document? [Y]es, [N]o, [C]ancel" dialog box.

For those wondering if you can do that in Windows 7, yes you can. In fact you can make the whole Win7 UI look almost exactly like Win2000 if you wanted to.

A "computery" interface can also lend itself to fonts as well. Some people absolutely can’t stand anti-aliased fonts in any form, so when they see an anti-aliased font like this:

…they’ll purposely turn that off to show this instead:

I do have to admit that there are times when the aliased look, as jagged and "ugly" as it may appear, is easier to read at times simply for the fact that computery-looking fonts feel more comfortable on view; I can’t explain it any better than that.

As a small side note: Linux is the only environment that has desktop UIs that do fonts right, because you can set which size fonts go from aliased to anti-aliased.

Using a small Windows font as an example, Tahoma in 8pt size is easier to read aliased compared to anti-aliased.

Anti-aliased:

Aliased:

On a Linux desktop, you could for example instruct the desktop UI (in settings) to "only show aliased fonts at any point size below 9", and it will do it. Windows doesn’t do that, and to the best of my knowledge, Mac doesn’t either although I could be wrong there.

Given the all-or-nothing choice for aliasing in Windows, there are many who opt just to turn all the anti-aliasing off.

Do you like your fonts and menus computery? Or do you like the modern smooth and anti-aliased look?

Personally, I ride the fence on this one and really can’t answer with a definitive yes or no. When the fonts and menus bug me with the smoothness in Win7, I just open up a VMWare session of Windows 2000 to get my retro fix.

What about you?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Retro Friday: Generally Speaking, People Like Their Computers "Computery"

Everyone was excited about it. Tech geeks touted it as “The Facebook Killer.” The blogosphere was abuzz about a better chat system, a better interface, and Google Hangouts.

Now, it’s all but forgotten in the minds of many. Though one hundred million may have Google + accounts…how many of them are actually active? When’s the last time any of you +1′d something? Can you even remember the last Hangout you attended?

I can’t.

More and more, it’s starting to become clear. Google + is fast becoming the Virb to Facebook’s Myspace. Also, making reference to obscure, forgotten social networks to enhance the narrative is entertaining. Still- there’s something in that analogy. For a few weeks – perhaps even months – after its launch, everybody was joining. It was like Myspace, but it wasn’t Myspace. Everyone touted it as the Myspace killer, everyone went on and on about how much better it was…

Then something happened. They just kind of forgot it, and went back to Myspace, until Facebook showed up and completely cleaned its clock. It looks like the same thing’s happening with Google +. Everyone’s registering, everyone wants to check it out, then after a short time, it’s just… forgotten. There are a few reasons for this, and they have nothing to do with the features of the sites:

1. Facebook’s Position of Power, and the Difficulty of moving

The problem with Facebook is that it’s been top dog for so long that everyone’s firmly entrenched on it. They have so much information – so many photos, videos, and posts – that none of them really want to bother trying to move it all over to another website. What’s more, Facebook isn’t exactly doing a whole lot to facilitate an easy transition.

Sure, you can download your information…but you can’t really transfer all of it into Google + without a hassle that most people aren’t willing to subject themselves to. Furthermore, most tools designed for the easy transfer of information between the sites…are against Facebook’s terms of use. They’re pretty much secure in the fact that moving to a different social network is so difficult that most people won’t bother.

They’ll complain, of course. They’ll lament the “evils of Facebook,” and how they hate the latest interface change…but they’ll never leave for greener pastures.

Speaking of being firmly entrenched…

2. “All my Friends are on Facebook” 

This is one of the primary reasons Google + hasn’t done as well as everyone hoped. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users, all happily camped out with all their friends- many of whom haven’t tried Google +, and, for reasons which are different for each person, have no desire to.

Google + is a strange new locale, and many aren’t sure they’re willing to go there. After all, leaving Facebook runs the risk of alienating them from all their Facebook friends.

As we all know, Facebook friends are serious business.

3. Social Gaming: Plus vs. Facebook

Believe it or not, social gaming plays a pretty considerable role in whether or not many switch from Facebook to Google +.  Though Google + has a pretty good selection, Facebook’s already got a several-year head-start on Google’s platform. Couple that with the number of people addicted to games like Farmville and Cityville, and, well….

Do you expect them to leave their town/crops behind?

4. Too Many Social Networks

Let’s face it: the market is inundated. There are too many social networks around, and it’s very easy to get burned out.  Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn…Google + is just one more added to the pile, and it’s likely that there are many people who simply can’t be bothered with it. After all, they already get enough online interaction elsewhere, right?

5. Completely Public Versus Publicly Private

Facebook at least gives the illusion of privacy (even though they sell data to marketing firms and political analysts. Google + more or less says “You’re on the internet. If you don’t want people to know something, don’t share it with the world.” That’s all well and good, and keeps with Google’s “openness” policy, but…some people like their privacy. Facebook allows people to block folks from their profile, and set it to friends only. Google + allows troublesome users to be blocked, but…

There’s no way to set your profile to be completely private, and impossible to find in search. At the very least, people will only be able to see your “About” page. It’s a minor detail, to be sure, but a few of the more private users might end up turned away from Google + because of it.

Google + was a promising competitor, but…at this point, I don’t think it’ll ever unseat Facebook. The network’s just too entrenched, too much a part of everybody’s day to day lives. Maybe someday, something new will come across that everyone will want to be a part of, and Facebook will go the way of Myspace. But today…I don’t think it’s that day. As it is, Google + just fills one more niche in the social networking hierarchy.

Image Credits: Wendy Cockroft Web Design, Business Beyond, Jon Loomer, On the Web with Kim Vallee, Image Shack, Face Blogger

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Is Google Plus Dying?

Here are 3 ways to avoid getting stuck in a corner from temporary technology failures.

1. Having your cable company’s phone number in your cell phone’s contact list

You: "Oh, drat.. the internet is out. And my cable TV is out too. Guess I’ll ring up customer support to let them know. Oh, wait.. my digital phone is connected via cable, and I don’t know what the customer support number is to ring them on my cell phone. Uh-oh.."

If you have all your TV, internet and phone connectivity connected via your cable service (as many people do in the US with a "combo" package deal), in the instances where the service goes out, you can’t even call to report the problem…

…unless you do it from your cell phone, and this is why you should have your cable company’s customer service number in your cell phone contact list. The cell phone obviously operates completely independent of the cable’s network, so if everything connected via cable for connectivity busts all at once (which it usually does), you’ll have to grab your cell phone to report it. But you can’t do that if you don’t know the support number.

2. Having your wireless carrier’s customer service number written down somewhere, and/or knowing where the nearest cell phone store is for your carrier

This is the exact opposite problem of #1 above for the unlikely instance where the carrier for your cell phone has a problem. The phone itself is OK, but there’s a network issue and you have to report it. Well, if the network is not working, how do you do it? The answer is you have to either ring up support from another line (most likely your landline), or drive on down to your local wireless store for your carrier to resolve the problem.

Having your wireless carrier’s support number written down somewhere and knowing where your local wireless store is for network-specific issues is pretty much mandatory, so have that info at-the-ready just in case you ever need it.

3. Having a "simple" backup email address

You: "I sent you an email a few hours ago, did you receive it?"
Recipient: "No."
You: "Is it in your spam folder?"
Recipient: "No."
You: "I’ll try sending it again."
(15 minutes pass..)
You: "Did you get the mail from my second attempt?"
Recipient: "No."

There are times when some email just absolutely will not get to the intended destination. You’ve sent it 2 or 3 times, received no bounce-back failure notices and the intended recipient has confirmed the mail is not in their spam folder. The mail is just somewhere out there in cyberspace. Where exactly? Nobody knows. But you know it’s not getting to where it’s supposed to go.

In instances like these you need a "simple" backup address to get the mail out, and what I mean by simple is "mail not from a major webmail provider". For a simple backup account, you have three options:

1. An ISP-based email account

This would be example@your.isp. You visit your ISP’s web site, login with your account credentials and create an account. As far as I’m aware, as long as you’re a subscriber to the ISP, the email account never expires and you can use it in the instances where some mail simply won’t send.

2. A HushMail email account

Ordinarily, people use HushMail for security purposes, but the added bonus is that it’s a very simple email service that has very fast and reliable email delivery. Free HushMail accounts have a 25MB limit and you have to login once every 3 weeks to keep one active, but even with those limitations, it’s good to have one.

3. A FastMail email account

FastMail lives up to its name as it’s very fast and reliable like HushMail is, and has the added perks of IMAP connectivity. Free personal accounts have a 25MB limit and you have to login once every 120 days (4 months), but this is also an excellent backup email account solution. Use this one if you prefer to use an email client over the browser when you use email.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

3 Ways To Avoid Being “Stuck In A Corner” From Temporary Technology Failures

However if I asked you, the audience, what version of browser you’re using currently, a whole bunch of you will probably say you’re not running the latest version.

But is this bad?

Well, that depends on what browser you’re using and whose computer you’re using it on.

When using a computer box at work, yes I’m fully aware many of you are forced to use an older browser and you have no choice in the matter, so that’s not your fault.

On your home PC however, this is a quick rundown of how old you can go with a browser before you start encountering problems.

Internet Explorer

The absolute oldest you can go here is Internet Explorer 7, because if you go any older, you run into major security issues and no native tab support. While true you could use an add-on utility to make IE6 have tabs, that’s still not the same as having it in-built to the browser.

In IE8 and 9, when you click the "compatibility" button (the icon looks like a tiny broken piece of paper), the IE browser reverts to rendering pages as if it were IE7, so that’s the minimum spec.

Firefox

Currently, most sites will work with Firefox starting at version 3.6. When you use 3.5 or earlier, you’ll encounter site compatibility issues and many add-ons/plugins simply won’t work with something that old.

It also should be noted that we’re quickly approaching the point where some sites will require Firefox 4 or greater just to work. Should you run into that, I’d suggest just skipping 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 outright and going right to the current version 10. Why? Because 10 is the first version that implements standard add-on/plugin compatibility from previous versions (meaning the likelihood of an add-on/plugin breaking in the next version is extremely slim).

Opera

This browser is currently at version 11.61 (with 12 in the alpha stage), but for those insisting on running an older version, the oldest you can go here before encountering problems is 9.64, which was the last release of version 9.

The main reason you can’t go older than 9 is because of the way Opera handles web forms. Anything earlier than 9 will result in "wacky" rendering of certain web pages that will make some web sites simply unusable.

Safari

Even though this browser is available for both Windows and Mac, you probably only use this browser when on a Mac. The most current version is 5.1.3 for Mac OS X 10.7 (released very recently on 1 Feb 2012), but if you’re going to go old, "safe" territory is Safari 4.1.3. Anything older than that and you’ll encounter buggy issues with Flash, web form incompatibilities, slow JavaScript execution and other stuff that will make the browser suck.

Chrome

This browser on its own auto-updates itself in the background silently. On the Windows platform, on a look into the registry editor you’ll see the Google Updater run at Windows startup, and on a look in your Task Manager, you probably have GoogleUpdate.exe running right now if using the Chrome browser.

While writing this I went to the About screen from the wrench menu to check the version number, and even though I’m running Chrome 16.0.912.77 m, there was yet another update available:

…which updated the browser to Chrome 17.0.963.46 m:

…meaning the latest version of this browser at the time of this writing is Chrome 17.

Do you need to periodically visit the About screen to update this software? No, you don’t, as the browser will periodically silently update itself as mentioned above.

Because of this, there’s no real reason to run an older Chrome since the browser will auto-update itself to the latest version for your platform anyway.

If you wanted to run an older version using Chromium instead of Chrome without auto-updating, I honestly don’t know how old you could go before encountering stability, security and performance issues. Were I to take a raw guess, I’d say the oldest you could go is probably Chrome 9, but again, that’s a guess.

You’re better off in the long run just using the latest Chrome, as it integrates much better with the Chrome Web Store for extensions, add-ons and so on. Also, form compatibility is much, much better in new Chrome compared to old.

For those of you out there that just got completely freaked out that Google installed a background updater you didn’t know about that’s "phoning home" to update itself periodically, no, there is no option anywhere in the browser to turn it off. If you want that Google Updater gone, you have to stop using Chrome and use Chromium instead. You would also have to stop using other Google products like Google Earth as that uses the auto-updater as well. Then you have to dig into your registry to make sure any reference to GoogleUpdater is removed.

Yes, the Goog puts this updating stuff very deep into the Windows OS, and some of you are thinking, "Geez, that’s just as bad as the phone-home stuff that Microsoft does..", wrong. It’s worse because the Google Updater does it more often. But that’s the nature of how browsers update themselves these days – even for Firefox. The phone-home stuff is the price you pay for auto-updating convenience. But at least in Firefox you have the option of turning off all the auto-updating stuff 100%.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

When Is Old Too Old For A Web Browser?

What if you want to spread your tweets out over the course of the day, so as to avoid spamming your contacts? What if you’re at work and you know that Tweeting will get you in trouble, so you don’t want the post to go live right away? What if you simply won’t have access to a computer later, and you want to post before you forget about it?

There’s a few tools that can help you out with that – which one you use depends entirely on how much functionality you’re looking for.

Oh, and all the following tools are completely free.

Option 1: Twuffer 

This one’s for anyone who’s looking to put together a whole list of tweets, then schedule each of them for specific times and dates. Great for tweeting announcements, running contests, and giving everybody updates on an event your organization might be running. The interface is a little minimalistic, but hey- it works and that’s the important part, right?

Option 2: TweetsQueue

True to it’s name, TweetsQueue lets you set up a “queue of tweets.” Any tweets you enter into the application will be tweeted at an interval of your choosing. Want to throw out a tweet an hour? Set the interval to 60 minutes, and go nuts. While it doesn’t necessarily let you schedule your posts in the same way some of the other applications do, it’s pretty handy for spacing out your posts to Twitter if you don’t have the time to do it yourself. Plus, it includes a URL shortener.

Option 3: Future Tweets

Want to schedule a Tweet on a friend’s birthday? Looking to tweet an announcement about the end of a contest or the beginning of one event or the other? Want to tweet something at work, but can’t bear to be caught in a lie? Future Tweets can help. Using their simple online interface, you can schedule a Tweet to be sent days, weeks, months, or even years down the line. Pretty handy, eh?

Option 4: Auto Tweeter

If you want a means of scheduling posts, but don’t want to have to install any new applications to your Twitter account, Auto Tweeter’s the app for you. It’s a java API that installs directly to your desktop. Not only will people not know you used an auto-tweet scheduler, it provides exactly the same functionality as all the other items on this list.  This is the one that I myself use.

Option 5: Twaitter

Designed to be used by both businesses and consumers, Twaitter offers support for multiple accounts, connection to other social networks, a scheduling calendar, and the ability to create groups and view tweet statistics. It’s one of PC World’s top-ranked Twitter applications, so you really can’t go wrong if you choose this one – particularly if you’re an enterprise user.

Image Credits: Media Bistro, The Next Web, Mashable

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How to Schedule Your Posts on Twitter

But why should corporations do all the work? After all, Earth’s kind of our home, too. We should all do our part, as well.

Plus, in the long run, being greener tends to save money… so it’s kind of a win-win situation.

But how can you go about being greener?

1. Turn it off if you aren’t using it

This should be obvious, shouldn’t it?

Got any gadgets plugged into the wall that you aren’t using? Cut the power. Better yet, unplug them until you have occasion to use them again. Even electronics (particularly computers and peripherals) that are turned off draw a small amount of power. If you don’t need them at the moment, flip the switch. Yeah, it’s a bit inconvenient, but it’s better than wasting energy.

2. Tweak Your Power Settings

If you’re using Windows 7, go to the Control Panel and select “Power Options.” This’ll take you to a menu where you’ll be able to control what your computer does if you haven’t been using it for a while.

It’s pretty straightforward from there. Set it to sleep or hibernate after you haven’t been using it for an hour, and it’ll turn off while you aren’t using it. Of course, that might not be an option if you’re updating a program or running a torrent. In that case…

3. Disable Non-essential hardware and software

Believe it or not, your system actually does draw more power when it runs more programs. The hardware needs to work harder, and it needs more energy to do so.

If you can think of any programs you probably won’t be using when you turn in for the night, get rid of them. Don’t think your system will need its wireless card or display? Turn them off. Same goes for Bluetooth.

4. Recycle Your Old Hardware

If you’re upgrading your system, don’t just throw out the old one. Give it to a recycling program (there’s quite a few businesses that make their cash recycling old electronics), or sell it to someone. As a last ditch effort, donate it to a thrift store or something (though there’s a chance they might throw it out if it’s not up to their standards).

You could always do what I did, and set up a file hosting/game server.

Long story short, don’t just toss it, find a new use for it.

5. Install Green Computing Software

There’s actually quite a few decent programs out there that are designed to help you monitor and reduce energy use – both in your system and in your home. It might well be a good idea to try installing one of these applications. Mindtree’s a pretty decent choice.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

5 Ways to Be Greener (With Your Computer)

The place to search for Windows apps compatibility in WINE is from appdb.winehq.org. If you’re thinking about switching to Linux, that’s a site you should have in your bookmarks because you’ll probably be referring to it periodically.

The AppDB on the winehq.org web site is also the easiest way to participate in the Linux community without having to know how to program anything. All the reviews in there on whether certain Windows apps work or not are written by everyday users like you, so if you have some spare time and want to contribute in a meaningful way without writing a line of code, now you know how.

The video below shows an example of how to use the AppDB; it’s very easy. Even if you’re on a Windows or Mac box right now, you can still use it since it’s all web-based.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How To See Compatible Windows Apps In WINE (Linux)

The alternative is to simply post your video online instead, and everyone knows how to do this. If you’ve ever uploaded a video anywhere on the internet, you already know the process (as in take your video file, upload, add in text description, done).

At this point you’d like to simply upload your video and have people rent it out to make a few bucks – but how?

You have two options here. One involves a lot of red tape, and the other a lot less.

YouTube Rentals
Information: http://www.youtube.com/t/youtube_rentals

To be able to do this is not easy. You have to have a YouTube channel, but that’s the only easy part. You then have to post videos, over and over, gain a following and many subscribers, then after that apply to be a partner user. If (and that’s a big if) you’re approved, then you can rent videos through the YouTube system.

Amazon Video On Demand
Information: https://www.createspace.com/Products/VideoDownload/

This is the much-easier option. You can post your instructional video directly to Amazon, and have the option of listing it as pay-per-download or as a rental. The services allows it to stream just about anywhere (even on TiVo boxes), and the prerequisites are much less compared to YouTube.

Using either option above, you can completely skip the DVD-making process and just use what you already know how to work with. Everyone knows how to make videos, and if you can create an instructional video of at least 20 minutes in length, posting to Amazon is simple and easy. It’s most likely true you already have an Amazon account anyway, so you probably don’t even need to sign up for anything to give it a go.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

How To Rent Your Own Instructional Videos Online