The holiday season is upon us!!!  And with Christmas and New Years undeviatingly around the corner, we often tend to blur the true reason why we celebrate this time of year.  Instead of goodwill and chear, our minds detour to packed shopping malls, credit card bills, and family we're forced to visit.

Granted, these are not my favorite Christmas list items either, but despite the chaos of the season I do my best not to take for granted that which I'm most thankful for.

I'm thankful for my family and friends; in my opinion the greatest family and friends a guy could ever hope to have in a thousand lifetimes.  I'm thankful because they're healthy and happy.  And that makes me happy in return.  I pray for those families who have lost or are experiencing tragedy.

I'm thankful that I'm gainfully employed and can provide for my family.  Unfortunately, many families will struggle through this holiday season. 

I'm thankful that I live in the most prosperous, charitable, and free country in the world. I don't believe the critics of the United States of America.  The United States is under attack for our actions in Iraq and Afganistan, yet millions of people in these countries now enjoy rights they once never had.  We're a safer nation as a result.  It's the United States that answers the call for help first - no matter the corner of the world.  And it's the United States that preaches freedom and democracy...and then does something about it!! 

The next time you see a member of our armed services, appreciate the sacrifices they've made, the sacrifices they're willing to make, and the ultimate sacrifice many have already given.  The true heroes of our day are the men and women of the armed forces, the men and women of law enforcement and fire services, and everyone who willingly serves to better our country and local communities.  They empower the freedoms that we often selfishly take for granted.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all!!!

Back to technology in my next post =)

Okay, first off, let me apologize for not posting in quite some time.  Personal obligations, travel, and work have all had their toll.

Let's make up for lost time. 

What's a Twitter?
Chances are you've already heard about Twitter.  Maybe you're already tweeting (the name given to short messages posted in real time on Twitter.com).  So what exactly is this global Twitter phenomenon?  Twitter is social networking platform that allows just about anyone to post small, quick, frequent messages that attempt to answer one simple question.  What are you doing?  Maybe you just landed in LAX and want to share that trivial piece of information to anyone willing subscribe to your Tweets.  Twitter provides the medium, you provide the tid bits of information.   Twitter isn't for everyone, but it's gained such acclaim, that celebrities, athletes, fashion tycoons, and grandmas all over the world are joining the party.  Check it out at www.twitter.com

Which flat-panel TV is right for you?
Plasmas generally offer slightly better contrast and black level performance than LCDs, along with noticeably wider viewing angles. People often describe plasma's picture quality as "filmlike," so it's a great choice for a home theater.

Plasmas can deliver a smooth, "filmlike" picture with impressive black levels. (Samsung PN58B860 pictured)

A plasma TV might be for you if:

• You like rich, warm colors and deep black levels.
• You'll be sitting off-axis when you watch TV or movies.
• You don't watch many TV shows or play video games with static images on the screen for more than a few hours at a time. The possibility of screen burn-in still exists for plasma TVs, though it's unlikely to happen with current models.
• You're able to control the amount of light in your viewing room — plasma screens are more likely to reflect room lights, which can be distracting.

If you need a screen smaller than 42", LCD is your only flat-panel TV option. LCD displays are very bright (brighter even than plasmas), and most LCD screens have a "matte" finish which is very resistant to glare from sunlight or room lights. LCDs perform great in a kitchen or any other room with bright lighting. LCD is also one of the most rugged display types. Its total immunity to screen burn-in makes LCD an ideal choice if your viewing includes playing lots of video games or using your TV as a computer monitor. And if you often leave your TV on for hours at a time tuned to a news or sports channel with a scrolling "ticker," LCD would be a safer choice.

Today's LCDs are often quite energy efficient. (Sony's XBR9 pictured)

An LCD TV might be for you if:

• You watch a lot of TV shows or play lots of video games with static images on the screen for extended periods of time, multiple days a week.
• You do a lot of daytime viewing in a room with windows lacking blinds, curtains or drapes — most LCD screens resist glare, although some high-performance models have screens that are nearly as reflective as plasmas.
• Low power consumption is a priority — LCD TVs are usually more energy efficient than plasma models with the same screen size.

Before purchasing any flat-panel TV, do your homework, know what you're buying, and know the reasons why.  I'm a guy, so the bigger the better.  Plasma rules!

More coming soon... 

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tech Talk! 

Tech Talk Topic

Today's topic will cover the extraordinary technology of lithium-ion batteries.  Lithium-ion batteries can be seen in just about everything from consumer electronics to airplanes and military vehicles.

What is a lithium-ion battery?

Lithium-ion batteries are a type of rechargeable battery in which a lithium ion moves between the anode and cathode.  Okay, hold up!  What the heck is an ion and what the frick is an anode and cathode? 

An ion is simply an atom.  You know, the building blocks of matter that have electrons(-), protons(+), and neutrons(neutral). We all learned about atoms in junior high physical science but somehow managed to forget about them 1 day after class ended.  Atoms that have an odd number of electrons and protons are called ions.  The odd number of electrons vs. protons gives the atom its positive or negative charge.  

Now that we're clear on what an ion is, what is an anode and cathode?  When it comes to rechargeable batteries, think of the anode as the (+) positive terminal of the battery and think of the cathode as the (-) negative terminal of the battery.  Easy, right?

Why lithium?

First and foremost, the electrochemical properties of lithium are awesome!  Lithium's properties as a electrochemical substance were first discovered in 1980, but early pioneers had some challenges to overcome.

Lithium is a highly dangerous element that reacts severely to water moisture.  So rather than having an anode and cathode comprised soley of lithium, inventors of the lithium-ion battery favored  a material encapsulating the lithium-ions. 

Advantages of lithium-ion

Lithium-ion batteries can be formed into a variety of shapes and sizes, they are extremely light-weight compared to their counterparts, they have a low discharge rate of approx. 5% per month, and they suffer no memory effect.  Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries have a very high voltage rate vs. lead acid, nickel hydride and nickel cadmium batteries.  All of which are popular in consumer electronics.

Popular applications

Lithium-ion batteries are wide spread in the consumer electronics industry and are even gaining fame in some aerospace and military applications.  One of the more noticeable applications of lithium-ion batteries is in cellular phones.  Today's cellular phones are more than just phones.  They are portable media devices with wide varieties of applications and uses.  The more feature packed these devices become, the more need they have for long-standing battery power. 

Like all batteries, lithium-ion batteries do have a shelf life and should be replaced according to your device's manufacturer specifications.  For reference, two excellent sources for cell phone lithium-ion batteries are www.cellbatterystore.com and www.newegg.com.  Both are reputable online retailers that carry OEM replacement batteries.

Until next time!

Jason

Hello everyone and welcome back!  Today's subject discusses the difference between two highly popular optical disc storage media formats.  We know them better as CD (Compact Disc) and DVD (Digital Video Disc).

Background Information 

CD (Compact Disc)
CDs have been commercially available since 1982 - a spinoff of LaserDisc technology that was developer a few years earlier.  They remain the standard storage media for commercial audio recordings despite much better options.  A standard CD has a diameter of 120 mm and a thickness of 1.2 mm. CDs are made of almost pure polycarbonate plastic and weighh approximately 16 grams.  A typical CD can hold nearly 80 minutes of music or 700 GB worth of data. Today there are many formats of CD.  Some of the most commonly used are CD-ROM (Read Only Memory), write-once audio and data storage CD-R, rewritable media CD-RW, Super Audio CD (SACD), Video Compact Discs (VCD), Super Video Compact Discs (SVCD), PhotoCD, PictureCD, CD-i, and Enhanced CD.

DVD (Digital Video Discc)
DVDs are primarily used for video and data storage.  Most DVDs have the same dimensions as CDs, but store more than 6 times as much data. Like CDs, DVDs come in a variety of formats.  DVD-ROM (Read Only Memory) can only be read, while DVD-R and DVD+R can be written to only once.  DVD-RW (Rewrittable), DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM can all record and erase data multiple times.  Other DVD formats include DVD-Audio (high definition audio) and HD-DVD or BlueRay.

Differences

There are relatively few differences between the CD and DVD structurally.  Both are made of a polycarbonate plastic and have roughly the same physical dimensions.  Despite their similarities, DVDs (depending on format) are capable of more than 6 times the storage capacity of their CD counterpart.  Both CDs and DVDs use a series of "pits" created and read by a laser.  These pits represent the binary data of what's being stored on the CD or DVD.  Maybe it's your favorite Top 40 song or your kid's overdue homework assignment. You get the idea.  The more pits you can create on a disc, the greater amount of information that can be stored on the disc.  DVD accomplishes its dominance over CD by allowing several times the number of pits to be jam packed on the disc.  DVDs also allow for multi-layering.  Multi-layering is like sandwiching two discs together; thereby, giving you more surface area to lay down pits.

The Future

The replacement for CDs and DVDs may be something out of a Star Trek movie. Holographic storage overcomes the limitations of CDs and DVDs by recording information throughout the volume of the medium and is capable of recording multiple pieces of information in the same area using different angles and colors of light.  Stay tuned for more information on halographic storage!

Please forward any questions or suggestions for upcoming Tech Talks to techtalkinfo@gmail.com

So what's the deal with MP3 and MP4?  I probably wouldn't being going out on a limb by saying I'm sure many of you have already heard of them.  Maybe you have an iPod or one of the many other available MP3/MP4 players on the market.  It's quite possible that even your mobile phone has the ability to play MP3 and/or MP4. 

Let's begin with MP3.  MP3 is merely a digital audio format.  It stands for MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) -1 Layer 3.  Sounds more complicated than it really is.  The MP3 format was primarily developed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to faithfully represent an original uncompressed audio recording.  To be more specific, MP3 is roughly 1/10th the size of the original recording.  It accomplishes this reduction in size by removing the pieces of audio that are deemed outside of the auditory resolution ability of most people.  Yet despite it's reduction in size, MP3 suprisingly accomplishes an accurate rendition of the original piece, making MP3 the logic audio format for portable multi-media devices.  Because the size of a single MP3 is approximately 1/10th the size of the same CD file, multi-media devices can store many more times the amount of MP3 files than their CD equivalents.

And last but certainly not least, MP4. Unlike MP3, MP4 is more than just a digital audio format. MP4, or MPEG - 4 Part 14 as it's referred to by engineers and geeks, is used to store both digital audio and digital video. Not only can MP4 be used to store audio and video, it may also be used to store subtitle information and still images.  Furthermore, MP4 may be streamed over the Internet, which makes it a popular format for presenting video on websites.

So the next time you're at American TV or Best Buy in search of a portable media device, pay close attention to the audio and video formats it supports. Most MP4 players support both .mp4 and .mp3 files formats, while most MP3 players only support .mp3. Be an informed consumer and do your research before purchasing any portable multi-media device.

Like always, if you have any additional questions on today's topic our would like to suggest an upcoming article, please email me at techtalkinfo@gmail.com

Today's topic is a suggestion from one of our readers in Oak Creek.

As many as 10 million American's a year are victims of identity theft.  And according to the FCC, it's only getting worse.  To fully understand how online identity theft works, we need to define a few terms

Virus - Ahh yes, the imfamous virus.  Chances are your computer has been infected or is infected with a virus right now.  So what is it?  A virus is a small computer program that attaches itself to other programs or files.  Virus are spread from computer to computer and their affects can range from the annoying to the downright catastrophic.  Most viruses are unknowingly transmitted via emails and email attachments, since viruses require human action to take affect.  What do you mean by human interaction?  Well, clicking on an email from an unknown sender for example. Or opening an email attachement you thought was a picture of your dog when in fact it was a virus mascarading itself as an image.

Worm - A worm is a sub-class of a virus.  However, unlike a virus, worms don't require human interaction to infect your computer. The biggest danger of a worm is its ability to replicate itself many times over.  For example, a worm could infect your system and comprimise your email contact list.  Each email you send is also infected by the worm.  The worm would reach each of your friends and infect their contact list as well.  The chain continues causing devastating effects.

Trojan Horse -  Trojans are the tricksters of the bunch.  They mascarade themselves as harmless software programs, like virus protection software.  Most people wouldn't think twice about using free virus protection software, right?  Trojans can be tricky to remove, since they hide themselves within your system as common elements.  Trojans do not reproduce nor do they self-replicate.

Spyware - Software that's installed unknowingly.  It's purpose is to track user activity, such as keyboard clicks or mouse clicks.  Personal information like credit cards numbers, passwords, and social security numbers are susceptible to spyware.

Adware - Software that's usually installed unknowingly.  Purpose is to feed you pop-up advertisements, change system configurations, and take you to websites that you normally wouldn't be interested in.

Malware - Software that's installed unknowingly.  Purpose is 100% malicious in nature.  Malware's intent is to open back doors on your computer to make your system susceptible to hackers.  Hackers will attempt to steal or comprimise your identity by looking for stored  passwords, usernames, and social security numbers.

Phishing - Phishing is a scam by which spam and pop-ups attempt to lure you into providing personal and financial information.  These types of scams typically mascarade themselves as service providers like AOL, Paypal, eBay and other online resources.  You'll get an email you think is from one these services asking you to re-provide your account information.  When you re-type your account information, you're actually sending your personal data to the scammer!

Are you starting to get a feel for how your personal identity could be comprimised using any of the above techniques?  How many of you have had experiences with a computer that just stopped working or started to slow down after time?  Have you ever opened an email from a sender you didn't know?  Have you ever replied to an email from someone asking you to re-provide your account information?  If you said yes to any of these, chances are your identity has been comprimised in some degree. 

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to protect yourself from these threats.  This list is no where near complete, but it highlights a few of the most important steps you can take in protecting yourself from identity theft.

How to prevent identity theft  

1. Ensure you have the latest software updates.  Operating systems, browsers, firewalls, anti-virus software and anti-spyware software should be updated frequently according to their user manuals.  Updating software ensures you have the most up-to-date protection against the newest and most common threats.
2. Install anti-virus and anti-spyware and be sure to use a firewall.  There are a number of popular anti-virus packages available.  There are also a number of high quality FREE anti-spyware programs readily available online.  My favorite is Ad-Aware by Lavasoft.  It can be downloaded at http://www.download.com.  Run these programs religiously!!!
3. Never open emails or attachments from unknown senders.
4. Never reply to anyone asking for account information, such as credit cards number, account numbers, social security numbers, etc...
5. Never send personal or account information via email.
6. Shred all personal paper documents.  Identity thieves will rummage through your garbage and collect personal information that can be used against you online.
7. Review credit card and bank account statments as soon as you receive them.  Check for any unauthorized charges or inaccuracies.
8. Forward Phishing emails to spam@uce.gov - and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. You may also report phishing emails to reportphishing@antiphishing.org.
9. If you've been scammed, visit the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft website at http://ftc.gov/idtheft for further information.
    

Yes, you've heard correctly!  The terms Internet and World Wide Web (aka. the Web) are often used synonymously with one another, but the truth is, they're two very different technologies.  Yet despite they're differences, the Internet and the Web maintain a sort of symbiotic relationship with one another.

Think of the Internet as the hardware and network infrastructure that connects millions of computers together.  Information that travels over the Internet does so via a protocol.  A protocol is merely a set of instructions that define how data is transmitted over the Internet.  There are a number of protocols used on the Internet - some of the ones you may be familiar with include: HTTP and FTP.

Now for the Web.  Think of the Web as a way of accessing information over the Internet.  The Web acheives this feat using a browser.  A few popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.  The list goes on, but you get the point.  So what exactly is a browser?  A browser is simply a software application that interprets information on the Internet.  Browsers handle how text, images and other components are presented to you on Web pages.

Can you begin to see the symbiotic relationship?  Without the Internet, there would be no infrastructure to send information to millions of connected computers around the world and therefore no reason for the Web to exist.  Without the Web, information on the Internet would simply be arbitrary bits and bytes of 1's and 0's. 

Now that you know the difference between the two, will you still use the terms interchangeably?

 Have questions?  Feel free to email me at techtalkinfo@gmail.com.

Hello, and welcome to Tech Talk!   

First things first - introductions.  My name is Jason Baker.  I'm an Oak Creek High School Class of '96 graduate, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee alum and a current MBA student at Cardinal Stritch University. While I'm not attending school, I spend my days working as a professional software developer.  I have loved technology all my life and thought it prudent to share my knowledge and experience with those of you willing to read.

Now it's your turn!  If you would like to introduce yourself, ask questions, comment on articles, suggest a future topic, or even dispute topics or ideas covered in Tech Talk - I would love to hear from you.  Simply email me at techtalkinfo@gmail.com and let me know what's on your mind!

 So what is Tech Talk?  Tech Talk is for everyone.  It's an exploration into current and emerging technologies that have an impact on our lives.  We'll discuss everything from the Internet and World Wide Web to home electronics and beyond. 

 Are you ready?  Thanks for reading and enjoy!