Tech Answers

Adobe Reader, Chuck Gray, LibraryPoint Blog, PDF, software, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology

10/15/2012 - 8:45am

You wouldn’t know it by the state of things, but Adobe Reader isn’t the end-all, be-all of PDF. Standing for "Portable Document Format," PDF is a file format used to maintain the uniform appearance of a document no matter what type of hardware or software is being used to view it. You will see it used frequently for government documents such as IRS and court forms, job applications, ebooks and more since it looks the same everywhere. Adobe may have created the PDF format, but they made it a free-for-all file format in 2008, resulting in software for reading and creating PDFs that rival Adobe’s own.

You might be asking yourself ,“Why would I want to switch from Acrobat Reader?” Over the years Adobe Reader (once known as Acrobat Reader) has become a horribly bloated program that takes entirely too much space on your hard drive and, in my opinion, an unacceptable amount of RAM to use. It’s slow to load and slower to use. Furthermore, Adobe is constantly releasing updates for the program; it seems like every other time I turn on my Windows 7 computer there’s a notification for an Adobe Reader update, and I’m growing tired of it.

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OpenCulture.com

Caitlin Griggs, e-learning, language courses, LibraryPoint Blog, Web Site Reviews, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology, Self-Help and Instructional

10/09/2012 - 11:08am

Open Culture is one of the best free cultural and educational media sites on the Internet. The website was founded in 2006 by Dan Coleman, who is the Director and Associate Dean of Stanford University’s Continuing Education Program. Though Open Culture is not affiliated with Stanford, it seems to be well suited to providing intelligent, relevant information. In keeping with the theme of relevancy, Open Culture can be followed on Twitter, Facebook and you can subscribe to the site to receive regular updates through email as well.

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The Hidden Cost of Freemium

Chuck Gray, e-Business, Electronic Gaming, Free-to-Play, Freemium, John Gaines, LibraryPoint Blog, Mobile Computing, Social Networks, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Crafts and Hobbies, Science and Technology

10/04/2012 - 12:45pm

Free. Everybody likes free. I mean, what’s not to like about free? It’s free! Free, free, free - use the word often enough, however, and it begins to lose its meaning. “Free special offer (some rules and restrictions apply)!” “Free entree (with purchase of equal or greater value entree)!” “Free ski trip (after we badger you into investing in a timeshare over the course of an eight-hour 'seminar')!” Free just isn’t what it used to be, and nowhere is this more evident than the world of electronic games. Users are steeped in phrases like “free-to-play” and “freemium” to a degree that free really does start to sound like a four-letter-word. Free they say? Nonsense, we say. Let’s take a look.

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Welcome to the New Tech Answers!

blog, Chuck Gray, librarypoint, LibraryPoint Blog, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology

09/29/2012 - 9:25am

Technology can be frustrating, confusing, and downright irritating to some. For others, it’s the reason to get up in the morning. Whatever your stance, you can count on the Central Rappahannock Regional Library as one of the region’s prime sources of technology assistance. With our Training on Demand classes and our eBook help, you can get a lot of bang for your no-buck! We help with learning PC, Internet, Email, and other beginners topics including Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher, and even Access. We can explain to you the ups and downs of the different eReaders and their respective eBook stores, not to mention how to use those devices with our free eBooks! And now we’re gearing up to offer you even more technical content on Librarypoint with our revamped Tech Answers page!

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The New Apple iPhone 5 – To Buy or Not to Buy?

Angela Critics, Apple, Buying guides, iOS, iPhone, LibraryPoint Blog, Mobile Computing, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology

09/27/2012 - 9:44am

On September 12, 2012, Apple announced the release of the new iPhone 5. For some avid Apple technology fans, there is no doubt. They must immediately upgrade to the latest version. But if you’re like me, the decision is a bit more complicated. The more I learn about the features of the iPhone 5, the more my geeky side wants to play with the new toy. However my practical side says that in spite of the fact that my iPhone 4 is now technically two generations out of date, it is only two years old and still does everything I want it to do. Apple’s website has a handy chart that compares the features of the iPhone 5 with the iPhone 4 and 4S. But I find that lists of specifications don’t really convey the true impact of the changes. So I did some research to try to understand what the changes mean in real terms.

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Instructables

Caitlin Griggs, DIY, LibraryPoint Blog, Web Site Reviews, Crafts & Hobbies, Hobbies, Crafts & DIY, Teen Blog, Tech Answers

09/29/2012 - 4:55pm

As a long-time user of Instructables, I can attest to the certain charm that comes with being able to find a recipe for bacon-topped caramel cupcakes and directions to build a robot, all in the same place. Instructables is a website born from several creators in the MIT media lab. What started as a project focused purely on engineering prototypes has branched into a website featuring user-generated D.I.Y. projects in a near mind-boggling array of categories. There are projects that range from wood-fire heated hot tubs to a collection of recipes on “What to do with Day Old Bread.”

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