A quick 30 second tip. When you are away from home or office, you can check any of your email accounts from any computer, WAP enabled phone or PDA. From any PC just open up a web browser and go to www.mail2web.com. Easy, simple and secure. From a WAP enabled device goto http://mail2web.com/wap.

"If you're part of the baby boom generation, there are probably days when you find yourself wondering what's gone wrong with your personal computer. Suddenly, text on the screen is harder to read, email alerts and other sounds are harder to hear, and the keyboard seems to have taken on a life of its own - making all sorts of mistakes.
If you're over age 40, there's a good chance your computer isn't the problem. Instead, you may be entering the "awkward age of computing" when age-related changes in vision, hearing, and dexterity require most of us to make a few adjustments to our PCs."

The above is Microsoft's introduction to it's Ageing Workforce and Accessible Technology campaign. I am currently battling with right mix of contact lenses and bifocal glasses for my average day on the computer and around the house. My current solution is a pair of dedicated computer glasses. Microsoft's site is an excellent online source of tips for this awkard age. Don't tell anyone I sent you there!

CNET News.com recently interviewed John Levine about the cost of spam, spam-related security issues and how to control the spammers among us. John is the author of the multi-million selling "The Internet for Dummies" and is also co-chair of the Internet Research Task Force's Anti-Spam Research Group. Lots of interesting views in this piece such as:

"What are some of the weaknesses and some of the strengths of current antispam techniques?"
I tell people that dealing with spam is like curing cancer. For example, cancer isn't one disease; it's 100 diseases, and you will need to come up with a 100 cures for it. Another way spam is like cancer is that when you try to cure cancer, you need to come up with something that will kill the cancer without killing the patient. If you kill the patient, it is easy to get rid of the cancer."

The full article is here on CNET News.com.
Take care and if you are a Microsoft Outlook user then I recommend Cloudmark's Spamnet as a very effective spam filter.

I have ripped all my CDs into mp3s and I am listening to so much more music now that almost all of my collection is with me wherever I am. My player is the still just cool first generation iPod. Its sound through my in-ear phones is great and I use it in the car by connecting it by a cable to the auxiliary inputs of the car's tuner/CDplayer. I also have a neat FM transmitter that plugs in to the earphone socket and transmits your tunes over the air to an FM radio within 10m reach - good for hotel rooms, other folks cars etc.

This week's big technology launch is Apple's third generation iPod, the iPod mini; very small, very cool. Check out Mike Welland's report on the mini and watch his QuickTime video review.

So my faithful iPod is looking a little clunky nowadays, but the iPod mini is only 4Gb or 1000 songs and I can't even fit my whole music collection on my 20Gb iPod! So maybe the iPod mini is not for me at this time. However, I could upgrade to a 40Gb second generation model - smaller and more functional than my current one. Decisions, decisions for me. For you? My technology tip of the week is to go and get an iPod mini now!

If you've talked to me this week you will know that I am a big fan of using blogs in business. In this week's Guardian Online, Jack Schofield looks at Blogs in the corporate world.

He writes of four obvious reasons why businesses have not adopted blogging. First, most larger organisations have already adopted expensive knowledge management tools, such as Lotus Notes, and don't need to consider cheap alternatives. Second, most organisations are blogging away like crazy behind their firewalls, but keeping it secret. Third, people are suffering either from ignorance or a terrible failure of imagination. Fourth, everyone loves the idea but nobody ever finds the time.

This is where your Technology Coach can help by finding the time to take a look at where you could use blog technology to meet business objectives as well as evaluating the various blog products out there. For more info on Blogs in business check out Dave Pollard's amazing How to Save The World blog - a collection of his environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.

Even though I am based in the UK's 'Silicon Valley' I am not able to get broadband where I live. My local exchange is broadband enabled by BT, but ADSL broadband can only travel around 5.5km from the exchange and we just happen to be 6km away. My solution has been one-way satellite broadband for which I obtained a 100% non-refundable government grant. This does work very well for me and I am getting super-fast downloads and web browsing. The catch is that uploads are at normal dial-up speeds. However, we are moving house in April and yes! I will be able to get ADSL broadband.

I have coached several clients on the best broadband solution for them and have come across a number of great resources. In the UK an excellent starting space is ADSLGuide.org.uk. Firstly, they have a beginner's guide and a how it works section. But can you get it? Over 80% of UK households are now connected to an ADSL enabled exchange, but what about the remainder of comparatively rural areas? Will broadband ever be delivered? Keep track of the status of your local exchange with ADSLGuide's automatically updated list from the BT ADSL Demand Tracking website.

Finally, ADSL broadband is a contended service. This means that you are sharing the available bandwidth with typically 50 other houses/businesses and if everyone is online at the same time individual performance will suffer. You can check out the actual performance you are getting at ADSLGuide's Speed Test site and compare different ISPs in terms of speed, reliability and customer service.

Many folks claim that Football's (Soccer's) offside rule is hard to understand and too technical. Well with the aid of Flash technology, Guardian Online explains this technical rule in a Flash.
Macromedia now claim that Macromedia Flash Player is installed on more than 97% of the Internet-enabled desktops. If you are one of the 3%, I highly recommend you Get Flash Here.

audio post powered by audblog

I discovered today that AudBlog has some simple technology for publishing audio clips into a blog. If you haven't done so already, click the red AudBlog icon above. All I had to do to publish this clip was dial a phone number, talk and hang up. So now I can even send you technology tips on my mobile phone from the beach in Devon......if I wanted to......

The Mydoom virus has apparently already cost industry 20 billion dollars to date and yesterday a new version, The Doomjuice, or Mydoom.C, worm was first detected. According to researchers at F-Secure Antivirus, a Finnish software company, it has already spread to "tens of thousands" of computers. The virus is not spread by email, but targets Windows machines already infected with the original 'Mydoom.A' virus. It works by scanning random internet addresses until it identifies computers containing a special programme, known as a backdoor, installed by Mydoom.A.

Guardian Online's Computer Security page is updated daily with relevant computer security news. There is an easy introduction to Viruses and Worms and they also provide a good set of useful virus and security links. One of my off-the-wall favourites is Vmyths where you can learn about com­puter virus myths, hoaxes and urban legends - not quite so dangerous as viruses but quite a nuisance anyway.

Nowadays it is essential that everyone has up-to-date virus protection, the latest operating system security updates and a firewall. Call me if you need any computer security coaching.

I must have given over a thousand PowerPoint presentations and love making an impact. Although content should be king, along with great presentation skills, I always enjoy incorporating a certain amount of gimmickry.

In the '80s this was B&W clipart and laser pens, in the '90s we played with colour, sound and video. We also saw the evolution of the LCD projector from a noisy, bulky and very expensive breeze-block to a quiet high resolution (but still expensive) paperback.

Now, how's this for a cool piece of software; Salling Clicker runs on your Apple Mac and communicates over Bluetooth with your PDA or Ericsson phone. You use the phone's buttons and pointer to control the Mac. So now you can swan around the meeting room and advance slides with a click of your latest mini-mobile! Slide notes can even be displayed in sync on the phone's screen.

You can also control other applications such as iTunes etc. from the comfort of you slouching couch.

I want one!

Guardian Online - The Guardian Newspaper's technology section updated weekly on Thursdays. Great for keeping up with technology news and views.

Happy Birthday Technology Tips. I have started to put together my new site this morning and couldn't resist integrating a blog early on. I have decided to go with Blogger for the moment. I had a good look at Moveable Type and this has one interesting additional feature - categories - that would be cool. However, I would need to install MT on my Unix server which is not where I will be hosting this site. Anyway I am pretty pleased with the way things are looking for now and will be recommending an integrated Blog to several of my web design and build clients. I believe a Blog can often make a site more 'sticky' (visitors keep coming back) and thus helps you build a relationship with potential clients. Blogs are easy to set up and manage. For more info and links to loads of interesting blogs visit www.blogger.com.