I recently went back to work, this time for a very large company with an IT staff dedicated to keeping things on total lock-down so we (the employees) can’t waste time or share corporate secrets via the internet or installed programs.  What this meant for me was a return to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as my one and only browser choice.  My first thought was “how bad could it be?”

Fast forward 6 working days and find me strongly considering the purchase of an iPad, just to use at work for surfing the internet and keeping up with my Facebook and Twitter updates and follows.  Just as I was about to justify the purchase cost to my significant other, we discovered something miraculous…. we could install Firefox!!!  Whether it was allowed via an error on IT’s part or simply the granting of my third wish, I couldn’t be happier.  Why, because now I was in control.

As soon as Firefox was finished installing, I jumped to the Mozilla Add-Ons web site.  From there, I can choose from thousands of add-ons, which let you add new features and change the way your browser or application works.  Think of them as little programs that run from within your browser and not your operating system.  Add-ons start when you open Firefox and can do anything from change the color of your navigation buttons to notify you when your friends are on their XBOX.  If there is a special need for anything internet related (in some cases even that doesn’t matter) add-ons are the resource you need.

The Yoono Sidebar

Yoono

Once within the add-ons web site, I stumbled around a bit until I found Yoono!  What a discovery that was.  Yoono allows you to get all your updates, update your status and share across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube & more – all at once! As it turns out, that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Look at this list of features:

• Update your status across all your social networks at once!
• Chat while surfing the web via AIM, Google Talk, etc., right there in the browser!
• Discover “cool stuff” while surfing, all related to what you are currently viewing.
• Easily share links, images and video with all your social networks.
• Drag and drop links, images and video into your IM conversations.

The best part is, this is all done from within the browser, so if you can install Firefox, you can get Yoono.

Don’t Stop There

Yoono is a wonderful tool, but one of only thousands of add-ons available from Mozilla.  Visit the add-on web site now and see what is possible in Firefox.  Also, if you are interested in getting regular updates on new add-ons and updates, follow Mozilla (also known as mozamo or AMO) via one of these methods:

Add-ons Blog

Add-ons Newsletter

mozamo on Twitter

Related Articles

We’ve written about Add-Ons before.  Want to know more?  Check out these articles:

Take Back Your Browser with JumpstartMyFirefox

Firefox Add-on BarTap – How Did I Live Without It?

Over the last few weeks, I have written several articles on my switch from DirecTV to a TiVo Premiere setup.  Yesterday, I received a series of questions from one of my readers (thanks Dave) and thought that the answers to his questions would make a great article.  This way, everyone would benefit from the responses and maybe begin asking some questions of their own.  His questions and my responses are outlined below.

Before We Start

Full Disclosure: I was not paid to write any of this about TiVo, DirecTV, Amazon, Blockbuster, YouTube or the shows/movies in question.  I am simply writing about my personal experience and have not been compensated (in any way) by any of the companies listed.  On this site (JumpstartMyPC.com) I do have advertising from several companies, including Google Ads, Amazon and TiVo.  The Amazon and TiVo advertisements are pay-per-click programs that I signed up for to help with the cost of running the site, but in no way influenced my comments or suggestions within this or any other article posted within the JumpstartMyPC blog.

Q&A

Question 1: You must comment on how the Premiere combines (or doesn’t) OTA recordings with available streams. In other words, is there a single Now Playing list that shows you everything you could watch? (Like you had with DirecTivo.) Or do you have a Now Playing list that shows the things Tivo has grabbed from the antenna, but some OTHER kind of list to show you what episodes are available on Amazon iTunes or whatever. And if it’s two (or more) different lists, isn’t that a pain?

• There is one list of recorded programs under the “My Shows” area.  Any OTA recordings and Amazon Video on Demand downloads that I have purchases appear there.
• Netflix movies and TV shows must be accessed from the Netflix menu (separate area).
• I have not tested the Blockbuster feature personally, so I cannot speak to where those recordings show.
• It’s really not a pain at all.  It would be nice to have the two lists combined, but I am sure there is a reason for the separation and it doesn’t cause me any frustration.

Question 2: What about searching (“Wish Lists”)? Can you set up an actor (say) wish list and have all the available Amazon or Netflix streams featuring that actor show up? Or would you see only the shows in the online schedule for your OTA stations that happened to have that actor? If the latter, isn’t that a bit of a loss of function?

I wasn’t sure about this one, so I set up a test.  As it turns out, with groups enabled (folder view), actor wish-list recordings do show up under the actor/actress name instead of the program name.  Within the folder, the program name does appear.  These programs (Lucy Liu example below) are from the OTA signal only.  Any Netflix or Amazon programs would have to be found via a manual search.

Actor Wish-List Recordings Example

Question 3: Does the new Tivo still voluntarily record “suggestions” and are they only from the antenna? Or can it snag “suggestions” from other sources?

Suggestions are still part of the TiVo experience, but seem to be from the cable/OTA source only.  I honestly don’t look in the TiVo suggestions area very often.  What I do like about the new interface is that the suggestions are in their own folder and not mixed with the other programs.  If that was a part of the older versions of the software, I don’t remember.  On my HR10-250 (DirecTV/TiVo DVR) I turned that off long ago.

Question 4: You mention Youtube, but what about other internet streaming sites, esp. Vimeo and Mevio (which are typically of higher quality than Youtube). Can you use Hulu for broadcast episodes?

There are currently no other options for these types of internet streaming sites.  You can choose to pull down video podcasts from a predetermined list of options, but that is the only option other than YouTube.

Question 5: What kind of data connection do you have that can handle 1080p streams from Netflix, which are of higher quality than DirecTv’s MPEG4 streams? Can you watch such a stream live, or do you have to let it buffer-up ahead to avoid stuttering?

Using a high-speed internet connection from Comcast, D-Link 802.11n router and CAT6 cabling, I am getting some super-fast feeds to my TiVo Premiere units.  Without fail, I get the maximum number of bars and HD icon in the “quality bar” area.  With the ability to fast-forward and rewind (via lower resolution images) and locate Watch Instantly movies and television shows via the TiVo Seach feature, the Premiere experience far surpasses the experience of watching Netflix via an XBOX 360 or PS3 (I have tried both).

I have only experienced the “stuttering” a few times while watching Netflix programming via the TiVo Premiere.  Honestly, out of the hundred hours (give or take a few) of TV shows and movies that we have watched, I think we may have experienced this less than 5 times and even then, it was only for a second or two.

Netflix Streaming in Full HD

Additional Info

Dave (our reader who submitted the questions) asked some fantastic, specific questions but did not hit on a few topics that seem to grace every other review of the TiVo Premiere DVR.  I thought I would take a quick moment to comment on my experience with these “issues.”

Issue 1: The new interface is slow

Yes, there are times when I click a button and have to wait for a few seconds before the unit responds.  Is this frustrating?  Maybe to some people, but I am willing to wait a few seconds here and there.  From what I have read, the hardware within the Premiere unit is not being utilized fully yet.  Maybe these speed issues will become a thing of the past as new updates are released.  The thing that matters to me is the viewing of my programs.  I have not had any problems there.  They play back perfectly and the fast-forward, rewind and 30-second skip functionality is as smooth as silk.

Issue 2: The New/Old Experience

Many have criticized TiVo for mixing their new menu system with the old menu system.  For example, if you select the menu option to view the programs recorded on another TiVo unit, there is a pause and then you are taken to a screen that looks like it was from a TiVo Series II or HD.  The words are still there.  The options are still fully functional.  I can still see my programs and choose to copy them over to the unit I am on.  In other words, there is no loss in functionality, just some cosmetic issues with the flow of the menus.  Personally, I don’t think it is a big deal.  Sure, it would have been nice if all of the menu options were in the new interface, but how long would we have waited for this hardware to be released.  I am not complaining.

Issue 3: Room-to-Room Copy vs Streaming

Want to view a program in your bedroom but it was recorded in the living room.  You can do that if you own 2 Premiere units.  Some have complained that this is done via a copy of the original program and not a stream of the content from the other device.  Personally, I don’t think it is a big problem.  It might be if you had a slow connection between the two units and your router, but I opted for CAT6 cabling between all of my devices.  For me, I click once to begin the copy and once more to begin watching the show (as it copies).  That is as good as streaming to me.  You might just want to avoid the wireless option if this is something that might bother you.

Related Articles

• Cancel Your Cable/Satellite and Save Money While Adding Functionality
• Buh-Bye DirecTV, Hello TiVo – How I Ditched Cable
• Buh-Bye DirecTV, Hello TiVo – How I Ditched Cable – Part II

Online Gaming – What is it?

By the next day, I had purchased an XBOX for myself and was online playing against people all over the world.  Team games like “capture the flag” and “team deathmatch” allowed 4-8 players on each team to work together against another team.  The competitive nature in me took hold and I found myself playing for hours on end.  Two key elements of this “online experience” made these types of games better than any I had ever played.

• XBOX Live -the system that allows all of these gamers to come together to play against and/or with one another.
• The headset -  This clumsy, plastic, funny-looking headset connected to the controller allows me to communicate with teammates during the game.  I could hear them speak (in real-time) and I could talk back to them.  Honestly, I am still a bit amazed that this works.

My passion for video games has only grown since that day and many games have come and gone during that time.  The one constant has been XBOX Live.  No matter what game I play, I can join in with friends or randomly team up with others around the world.  Because of this, I never have to play alone and the experience changes for every match.  Playing against other, real people makes the games so much more exciting because people learn, adapt and get better every time they play.  Apparently, I’m not the only one that enjoys the opportunity to play online, against others.  On February 5, 2010, Microsoft announced that XBOX Live had reached 23 million members.

The Problems Begin

YouTube Video of Teen on XBOX Live

Unfortunately, as XBOX Live has grown so have the problems.  The problems aren’t with the hardware or functionality of connecting these gamers, but the gamers themselves.  On any given day, I can join a game on XBOX Live and be greeted with an onslaught of bad language, racial slurs, harassment and all-around hostility.  It is virtually impossible to find a game where this does not happen.  I have heard people from ages 5 to 40 use every cuss word known to man.  I’ve been attacked by individuals who have decided to simply work their way through the list of gamers until they find one that responds.  I have had people threaten to find and hurt me.  XBOX Live is still a game changer, but I have almost decided to retire the headset and play without the voices of these angry, troubled individuals who are ruining the game.  Thankfully, I am an adult and I know how to handle this.  What I am concerned about is the children that are exposed to these same situations.

I have planned this article for months and early-on thought I would present the you (the readers) with recordings from actual games, but quickly changed my mind.  After recording some of my own games and reviewing several that are already posted on YouTube, I decided that the content was too vulgar.  Instead, I urge parents to seek out this information on your own and experience it for yourself.

*** Before I go any further, I want you all to know that I am not telling anyone how to parent.  I am simply trying to educate you on the dangers of online gaming.

Hear it For Yourself

XBOX Live is not the issue here, but merely an example of an online gaming provider.  The Playstation3 also has an online gaming community.  I do not use it, but I feel quite certain that those gamers are no different.  Both companies have done a great job of providing these services and are not the reason for this behavior.

For parents interested in learning more about this situation, it will only take a minute.  Next time your son or daughter is playing a game online, ask them to unplug the headset from the controller.  Doing so will allow the voices of the other players to come through the speakers on the television.  During the game, it can be bad, but between games it gets much worse.  This is down time, while the next game is chosen, and definitely provides for the most “material.”

YouTube can also provide a number of examples.  Just type in “XBOX Live Cuss” and see what you find.  I did this yesterday and found a clip where a 16 year old (just guessing there) spent 4 minutes cussing, yelling and berating another player who could have only been 6 or 7 years old.  The worst part is, the younger player was participating and using some of the same foul language in return.

The Solution

I don’t know that there is a single answer to this ongoing problem.  Parents can set up the gaming system to limit who their children can hear (XBOX 360 instructions here), but I imagine these gamers will quickly figure out a way around this hurdle.  XBOX Live does allow users to “report” or “file complaints” against other users for in-game behavior, but I have done this repeatedly over the years and I am not sure what good it is doing.  I think the only way to help this growing situation is a 2-part plan:

1) Parents who are concerned about what their children hear could monitor the gaming at home.  Maybe move the TV and game system into a room where they can listen in on the “conversations.”

2) Microsoft/Sony or a third party should have moderators (actual people) playing the games and issuing “banhammers” to players who don’t abide by the rules of communicating with one another.  “Banhammer” is a term often used to describe how users accounts are shut down or terminated for not following the rules.

I was lucky enough to be part of a volunteer task force, created to implement a viral campaign for MS Awareness Week, and I found it both interesting and enlightening that the focus was on using social media to spread the word.  Our discussions and meetings were filled with terms like social media, networking, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  The very things that the average computer user spends doing every day.  For anyone interested in helping to find a cure for MS (or any other cause for that matter), these tools provide a valuable way of spreading information in a fun, engaging way.

Eventually, our task force decided on a video contest for this special event.  We saw how popular YouTube videos could become and how easy it was to spread the video, the content and the message.  Many great videos were submitted and are now displayed on our MS3Things.org web site.  During this part of the process, we used many traditional means to meet, share, distribute information and collect submissions.  Email, phone conferencing, simple web pages, online forms, of course YouTube and even Google Wave all played part in creating the MS3Things.org site.

Visit the MS3Things.org Site to Vote

What Next

The next step is voting and that is where the use of social media/networking will truly come into play.  So, the question now becomes “how do we get people involved and spread the word?”  How do we get people to visit the web site and vote on the video that best promotes awareness for MS?  Here is what we have so far:

Facebook

Using Facebook was a given.  People spend more time on Facebook than any other web site in the world.  The trick here was to catch people’s attention.  How do compete against funny pictures, updates about a Farmville barn raising and Mafia wars?

• Profile Picture: I started by changing my standard profile picture.  Using the MS logo (bright orange) makes my posts stand out and I guarantee people are looking, if at least for a second.
• Status Updates: This week I changed my focus and will be posting mostly about the MS Awareness week event.
• Photos: I haven’t done it yet, but I will be posting some photos from the MS Society web site to catch the eye.
• Videos: I could post some of the actual contest videos, but that would keep people from visiting the voting site.  Maybe a screen shot of the videos will do the trick.
  

Using Facebook to Spread Awareness

Twitter

Twitter will be a little more tricky.  Frequency is the only real key I can think of.  I can also change my profile picture there for the week.  As far as message content, here were a few suggestions that we used when trying to get video submissions.  I can change them up slightly for the voting portion.

• Musketeers, wise men and tenors: Good things come in threes.  Check out www.MS3Things.org for your chance to raise awareness and win (and that’s a good thing).
• It takes just three little things to be the next video sensation.  Have you got what it takes?  Check out www.MS3Things.org and show us what you’ve got.

Blog

Of course, this blog will serve as a bit of advertising for our cause and the event.  I plan on posting it on several blogging sites and asking for feedback and ideas.

Your Help

Have you got any ideas?  We need to spread the word and you might have a unique idea that we didn’t think of.  Of course, we don’t have unlimited resources or time, so we need quick and easy ways to promote MS Awareness week.  Please comment below if you have any ideas at all.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Today, we will look at a few of the most addictive games I have played in the last year.  These are very basic, easily accessible games that you can play in just a few minutes, if you can walk away after you’ve started.

Doodle Jump
Available on: iPhone and iPod Touch via the app store
Price: $.99
Review: The Facebook Fan Page for this game reads “Meet the iPhone/iPod Touch version of crack! So addictive it should be banned from the USA as an illegal substance! Doodle Jump is an amazingly fun platform jumping game.”  They couldn’t be more accurate.  Average games only last a few minutes, but you’ll find yourself wrapped up for hours with this one. Jump on platforms to take you higher and higher.  Use the springs, trampolines, propeller hats and jet packs to help you avoid the aliens, black holes and nothingness.
Best Features: Share high scores via Facebook & Twitter to compete against friends.
We Wish They Would: Make this available on other platforms, like Facebook or the XBOX360.

Check out our first YouTube video:
a Review of Doodle Jump

Bejeweled Blitz
Available on:

Farkle
Available on:

Our Lineup of Potential Researchers

• Potential Employers – You might not be aware, but some employers use your Credit Report (the financial kind) as a tool to determine the type of person you are.  If you can’t handle your own finances, why would they let you handle theirs.  Why would social interactions be any different?  The way you promote your personal life and the decisions you make online (your SMCS) could in fact be a tool for potential employers.  An article from CBSNews.com from over 3 years ago uncovered this practice.  That was over 3 years ago!  Just imagine how many employers have adopted this practice since then.
• Family - Your first thought here is “oh, Mom and Dad might see what I write on Facebook or what I Tweet,” but you shouldn’t think NOW, you should be thinking FOREVER.  With the advancements in technology and storage capacities we have seen over the last few years, it is not out of the realm of possibility that EVERY single thing you post, share or comment on might become part of a permanent, searchable database.  What happens when your children decide to research Mom and Dad for that school project on their family tree?  Things might get really interesting.
  
• Friends - Your friends might not purposely research your SMCS, but they are taking in information about you constantly.  Your social media interactions could be seen by everyone.  Right now, Facebook posts are only shown to those you grant access, but will that always be the case?  Tweets and YouTube videos are no different.  Google has added Social Searches (in Beta now) to their standard search results.
• Federal Government - This is something that will blow your mind.  Uncle Sam has begun using social searches to track your finances.  “State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites, from relocation announcements to professional profiles to financial boasts. (taken from an article on msn.com from Sept. 2009)“  It seems that MySpace is one of their favorite sites to visit when hunting down a potential “client.”
  
• Credit Bureau/Agency – The “big brother” of your financial well-being already employs some interesting tactics for determining your financial Credit Score (see How Does My Driving Record Impact My Credit Score?) so it stands to reason that they might begin looking into your spending habits and lifestyle via another measurement tool, your Social Media Credit Score.
• Companies - If the credit agencies start reviewing your SMCS, then why wouldn’t potential lenders, like retail stores, banks or car dealerships?  They don’t want to risk a loan that will never be paid back, so they will turn to any public information that they can find to separate duds from studs.
  
• Thieves – Yeah, that is right, thieves!  Not just internet hackers and data miners, but honest-to-goodness “I’m gonna crawl in your window while you are vacation” thieves.  They have your address, they can find your phone number, then your email address, then your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace…. page and boom!  They have a monitoring system that will tell them when you will be gone on that family vacation for 2 weeks.  A simple search at search.twitter.com for “going on vacation” will give them the same information.

A Quick Search of "going on vacation" - Twitter

We will continue our look at the Social Media Credit Score tomorrow and through the rest of the week.  If you want to see more, add our blog (http://blog.jumpstartmypc.com) to your favorites or your favorite blog reader.  We’ll add new, FREE content every day that will help PC users get the most out of their computer.

Over the years, Google has added a multitude of services and I have tried many of them.  Their products are always clean, easy-to-use and almost always FREE (which I like a lot).  Because their products are FREE, I tried as many as I could find.  Gmail,  Google Reader,  Google Chat,  Google Calendar… The list goes on and on.  Over the last year, I actually had to start a folder of shortcuts for all of the different services that I was using.  I couldn’t remember how to get to half of them.  Enter Google Dashboard.

Google Dashboard is a new service from, you guessed it, Google.  It seems (according to some of the blogs and sites I have read) that this site was created as an answer to those who criticized Google for knowing “too much” about its users and their personal information.  Google Dashboard serves as a “main menu” for all of the Google services that an individual might be using.  It is a “one-stop-shop with all the information that Google knows about you and your online habits collected in one place.” (taken from Google Dashboard: Now You Know What Google Knows About You by Stan Schroeder).

I took a moment to log on to Google Dashboard and I am very pleased with the information provided.  I now have access to all of my Google toys in one place.  The layout of the page is very basic, for now, and I hope that future updates to the page will present this information in a smaller page view.  For now, I am just happy to have an overview of my tools and information.  If you have ever used any of the Google tools, I think you will find it as helpful as I did.

The folks at Google were kind enough to put together a little introductory video that really helps to explain it all.  This video is hosted on YouTube, which is one of the Google owned services that appears on your Dashboard.  See how it all comes around full-circle.

Note: In the video, they present you with a long, drawn out way to get to the Google Dashboard.  I prefer the simple, direct route, which is clicking on this link (or typing it into your browser):

http://www.google.com/dashboard

A friend of mine posted a YouTube video to Facebook.  I clicked on the link to find it was a commercial from Norton Antivirus, and it was pretty funny.  The content, writing and filming were all great but I was laughing for a different reason.  The makers of Norton Antivirus were hyping their Norton Internet Security software, with no mention of purchase price or subscriptions.  They were using this free advertising stream (Facebook) and the comedy of a quick, short video hosted on YouTube (also free) to market a product that will cost you, the user….

What is the cost?  I dug a little deeper and visited their web site.  WOW $69.99, but wait there’s more (said in a booming, Billy Mays voice).  Two years will only cost you $114.99.  Thousands of the people have probably already viewed the amusing YouTube video and I am sure a fair percentage of them will visit a local retailer to purchase a copy of this new product, but I have to ask why?  There are many other options out there and my guess is that most of the potential customers are just not informed.  PC security does not have to be this expensive.

EDUCATION
This is where JumpstartMyPC.com comes in.  No, not to sell you something, but to educate you.  We have a few rules and a few suggestions that go well beyond internet security, but also apply to this situation:

1) Always research before buying -  If you are “dead set” on purchasing any new product, at least Google the name and find out more.  Two words I like to search for (in addition to the product name) are REVIEW and ALTERNATIVE.

2) Look for coupons – Just like you might watch the ads before buying a new TV or Refrigerator, turn to Google and type in the product name + COUPON or DISCOUNT to see if there are any better deals out there.  Not only might you find a 50% off coupon, which does exist for this Norton product, but buying online might save you the tax as well.

FREE
That’s right FREE.  One of my very favorite words in the English language and something we strive for at JumpstartMyPC.com.  In many cases there are FREE alternatives to these pricey software packages.  These FREE options are typically quality products that do just as much, if not more, than their pricey alternatives.  These applications are made FREE through a number of ways, which we will touch on in future blog posts.  Just be careful.  In many cases these no-cost alternatives will come with ads or they are only FREE for a short time, before you have to get out your credit card to keep them running.

In this case, there is a FREE alternative and it is callesd Avast! Home Edition.  Avast is the antivirus software that I have been using on all of my computers for the last 2 years.  It is easy to use and does a wonderful job of keeping your computer protected against all kinds of potential invaders (spyware, rootkits, trojans, etc.).  Using Avast! in addition to a browser plugin, like WOT (Web of Trust) or LinkExtend will help you protect your PC without investing $60 a year.

We have provided a link to the FREE Avast! Home Edition on out Tools page, as well as a detailed How-To document that guides you through the installation step-by-step.  Follow this link to our Tools page now http://www.jumpstartmypc.com/Software-and-Tools.aspx.

If you liked this article, please share it with a friend.  You can use the ShareThis button, provided below.