What's Up with Technology

New local web site covering technology in the Chippewa Valley. Come visit.

Originally posted on: http://www.TheToddToday.com

So I was talking to one of the Clearwire technicians that my company deals with and we discussed a variety of things from the future of internet connection to the future of the computer. One of the biggest things that the computers of the future will need is a non-stop connection to the internet. As the Clearwire technician stated this is the basic idea of what they are trying to do.

Here at the farm we've been being pelted with an astounding amount of spam backscatter for the last week or so - at levels I've never seent.  Now we know why.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/07/kraken_botnet_menace/ 

Original posted at: http://www.TheToddToday.com

On Fridays episode of WEAU’s Technology Sport is a segment of myself doing a custom computer build , check it out and let me know what you think in the comments: http://tinyurl.com/4akz2a

I've seen some discussion lately and have had some conversations with people revolving around the question - If this is the "tech corridor" of Wisconsin, why don't we have the kinds of web interactions and tech events that tech areas usually have?"

You'll ask yourself - what the heck does he mean by that?

I'm a web developer, and I build interactive web sites as a freelancer, mostly for nonprofits. This site is actually a pretty good example of what I do. Almost all of my clients are from outside of the area - in fact, one of the reasons I built this site was to try to have a local client - myself. I get clients on the coasts, clients in the Twin Cities, but in the Chippewa Valley, the general response I get is a blank stare. I'm beginning to believe that the Chippewa Valley isn't ready for Web 2.0.

This site is a good example. When I approach local businesses, they often think that this is a great idea, but they don't seem very much interested in participating, despite the fact that it's a great source of free publicity. Nonprofits that I approach in the area seem very wary of building a web presence that lets their constituents talk back to them. The idea that the Internet is inherently interactive seems to be lost on most people here, and I don't know why. I long for kindred tech geek spirits, and I'd love to meet you. I know you're out there.

We're on the lookout for web sites in the Chippewa Valley.  If you have a favorite site, or you publish a site, let us know.  If the site has an RSS feed and you'd like to see it aggregated in with our Local Blogs section, that's even better.

In general, if you know about anything interesting going on in the Chippewa  Valley, we want to know about it and spread the word.  So please fee free to send us anything of interest through the contact form, or just email us at sales [at] chippewaguide [dot] com

Keep in touch! 

Tags: ECLUG, Eau Claire Linux User Group, Ubuntu Linux, Cafe 420, Hulu.com, Microsoft, Netbeans, Gnome, Open source, technology

Attended my first ECLUG (Eau Claire Linux User Group) today and it was very enjoyable. ECLUG is a group for people in the Eau Claire area that are into Linux and open source. Check out the website for a little more information on the group.: http://eclug.homelinux.org/ There ended up being 9 people at the meeting tonight all snuggled together into the back room at the Cafe 420 down town Eau Claire. The room worked fine as it has a projector to hook a laptop up for easy display of items that are talked about.

We finally have our IPCOP box setup and running as our Firewall / Router. So far it has been working great as it allows us to have a true hardware firewall basically for free.

If your not sure what IPCOP is check out: http://ipcop.org/index.php?module=pnWikk...

We have also added Update Accelerator to the IPCOP box which allows us to cache Windows Updates locally for future windows updates. Check it out: http://www.advproxy.net/update-accelerat...

So far it has been working great accept for it having an issue with windows genuine advantage. Working on finding a fix for this so hopefully it will be working in the near future.

Tags: Windows Vista, Windows XP, Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS X

I am currently writing this blog on a Windows Vista computer because being a computer store we need to learn the new interface. After a few months of using it I can safely say stay away if you can, as the over all experience for us has not been good.

I just ran across this great new web site that I think might be helpful to a lot of people.  Ever have a PDF file that you need to change?  PDF Hammer is a web site that lets you edit PDF files online, right on the web.  No software to install, works on any computer with a web browser.  Check it out!