Who knows what’s going to come to pass in the next year, what will hit or what will miss? With all the changes we’ve seen in technology over the last few years, it’s hard to say where we’ll be by the end of the year with our desktop computers, mobile devices, social networking, TVs and other tech and electronic devices. Only time will tell!

In late 2010, popular blogs Gawker and Gizmodo were hacked and their databases were posted online. In 2011 there was another security breach that affected millions of users.

When news broke of the Gawker attack, I searched the actual database that was posted online, and sure enough, there was my email and my favorite password at the time, listed in plain text for the entire Internet to see.

I did some common password searches, just out of curiosity. You’d be surprised at the number of people who use “password”, or even “ABCDE” or “1234” as their password. It was staggering, to say the least. Now, I know, these were probably mostly throwaway passwords, right? I really hope so.

Next, I set about changing my own passwords at every site I could think of. Before long I had set a new password for my accounts after a lot of crossed fingers that I still had access to my email account, but I was still using the same basic passwords almost everywhere because I wanted to remember them. I knew I wasn’t supposed to, but I did it anyway, because I was lazy--there, I said it!

In late 2010, popular blogs Gawker and Gizmodo were hacked and their databases were posted online. In 2011 there was another security breach that affected millions of users.

When news broke of the Gawker attack, I searched the actual database that was posted online, and sure enough, there was my email and my favorite password at the time, listed in plain text for the entire Internet to see.

I did some common password searches, just out of curiosity. You’d be surprised at the number of people who use “password”, or even “ABCDE” or “1234” as their password. It was staggering, to say the least. Now, I know, these were probably mostly throwaway passwords, right? I really hope so.

Next, I set about changing my own passwords at every site I could think of. Before long I had set a new password for my accounts after a lot of crossed fingers that I still had access to my email account, but I was still using the same basic passwords almost everywhere because I wanted to remember them. I knew I wasn’t supposed to, but I did it anyway, because I was lazy--there, I said it!

I will try to clarify (but some are self explanatory!).

Yes, the following are true stories and I have encountered many of these myself!

1) When people refer to new televisions as “flat screen TV” or “flat screen monitor”
• Flat-screen means the screen is flat; there are still plenty of bulky CRT monitors and TVs in existence that are flat screen – the accurate term is “flat-panel” because the TV/monitor’s chassis [or panel] is flat
2) People can’t stand to watch TV shows or a movie on a computer screen but squinting on a 3-4” smartphone’s screen to watch YouTube/Netflix is popular.
• This is one of the aforementioned “self explanatory’ trends.
3) Some people think a computer processor’s clock speed is the arbitrary deciding factor of its capabilities.
I’ve been told a 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 is more powerful than a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
When someone asks “how much RAM do you have? ” and the response is “500GB” or “1 Terabyte”
When someone asks “how big is your hard drive? ” and the response is “4 GB”.
• RAM and Hard Drive size are not the same thing

In this Tech Tip we are going to look at five reasons why OLED will be the next big thing in TVs.

Reason 1 - they are so darn thin and light!
In Ray Bradbury’s science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, one of the featured items in people’s homes was the Parlor TV. Thanks to OLED technology, one day in the near future we may well see real examples of the Parlor TV. For example, when the OLED 55-inch TV (the LG 55EM9600) goes on sale later this year, it promises to be a flat screen unlike the flat screens that we’ve been use to for the last few years. Coming in at just 4 millimeters thick and weighing in at around 16 pounds, it could be a real winner for the folks looking to go for a thin and light set.

In this TechTip, I’m covering the Top Five Highlights of CES 2012.

4K TVs:
Some would have you believe that the latest trend in HDTV at CES this year was OLED display technology. The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) offers a thinner display option for HDTVs by eliminating the requirement for a backlight, something that today’s common LED displays require. This is all well and good; a thin TV looks cool, but I’m betting the next HDTV technology that takes off either this year or next, is the 4K display.

People have always come up with clever ways to accomplish a financial goal. During the Depression, there would be what were called “rent parties”. You’d break out the punch bowl, put together some cheap hors d’ oeuvres and invite people over with an admission charge at the door. That’s how you would pay your rent that month.

Fast forward to the 21st Century and thanks to the Internet, raising needed monies is a whole lot easier. Now, more than ever, there are ways to be the next Steve Jobs or Steven Spielberg. If you have that book you want to publish, a documentary you’d like to produce, a CD…

In January of 2011, we checked out the new product and tech announcements at the International Consumer Electronics Show (“CES”) in Las Vegas where, as expected, all things “mobile” stole the show. We also examined Quick Response (QR) Codes – barcodes that can take you quickly and easily from a print ad or point-of-sale display in a store to a company’s website on your smartphone. In January of 2012 it seems ridiculously obvious to say that “tablets are back”, but in January of 2011, Tech Tip writer Ryan Morse examined the resurgence of computing devices in this form factor.

The Basics
First, if you just want to catch your favorite TV show(s) on your computer and save a little money by cancelling your television cable (not Internet cable), you can usually find your favorites on their respective

No crowds to fight; no mad stampede when the store opens; no fighting hand to hand retail combat over a Barbie™ - just a day of “on the computer” shopping bliss.