Installing WordPress in 2½ minutes

The following screencast demonstrates how easy it is to install WordPress, a free and open source blogging platform, in no more than 2½ minutes. The developers are proud of their 5-minute easy installation process, but I’m proud to demonstrate that it can be done in less.

A follow-up screencast that shows how to configure a new WordPress blog is in the works.

(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Ubuntu 8.04

A few days ago, Canonical released a new version of their leading Linux products: 8.04. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long Term Service) has been released, improving the desktop experience and targeting Mac and Windows users by adding enhanced multimedia solutions for pictures, music, videos, and more.

You can find out more about Ubuntu 8.04 from their official page.

I do want to point out a related project, called Kubuntu (essentially Ubuntu but with a KDE desktop). Kubuntu 8.04 was also released recently with updated components, such as KDE 4 with support for 3D effects, new simplified codec installation for Kaffeine, and Read/Write support for NTFS!

Personally, though, my preferred Linux distribution is still OpenSuSE. Maybe that will change, but likely not if I can get KDE4 on SuSE.

(4 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

 Loading ...

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

I just thought that I should recommend this product to fellow tech enthusiasts.

Although I am affiliated with Symantec and Trend Micro, the only product that I feel is truly worth recommending is ESET NOD32.

This is an award-winning antivirus program known for its reliability, performance, and security.

Reliability

A lot of business use NOD32 as part of their defence against viruses and malware. The York Region District School Board, for instance, has it installed on most imaged systems. It provides a trustworthy line of defence, and is suitable for use in the business or education environment.

A “home edition” without the server OS support and remote administration is available for a lesser price.

Performance

There’s a great reason that ESET NOD32 is frequently used by businesses. It’s amazingly fast and lightweight. On typical installations (eg. Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP), ESET NOD32 takes up about 30 MB memory, less than half of which is actually in the physical RAM. Compared to the 50-60 MB used by products like Norton Internet Security, NOD32 offers a significant advantage to people running older hardware or older operating systems.

But don’t be fooled. NOD32 isn’t just for old computers. It’s for new computers, too.

On a Windows Vista Business Edition (32-bit) computer, ESET NOD32 scans programs and applications at 43.17 MB/s, as compared to 14.54 MB/s by Symantec and 12.12 MB/s for Kaspersky.

Security

NOD32 provides amazing security for a computer. Very few viruses or malware get through its real-time protection or filesystem scanning, all while maintaining the lowest memory footprint of all the consumer antivirus programs. It is also able to identify potential (previously unknown) threats through its ThreatSense and Early Warning features.

The real-time protection protects you from downloading viruses before you even access them, protects you from opening or saving files containing malware, and will also protect you from spyware. Excellent daily (often several times per day) updates keep your protection at its peak.

Even better, NOD32 was recognized with multiple awards for NO FALSE POSITIVES. In the most recent test of its kind by AV Comparatives, ESET NOD32 Antivirus had its real-time protection put to the test, among other competitors such as Kaspersky, Symantec, and McAfee products. NOD32 did not mistakenly detect any legitimate applications as harmful programs, and was also noted as “fast”. It defeated Kaspersky’s AV program on two regards: Kaspersky had “few” but some false positives and was considered “slow”.

Conclusion

Given these factors, I highly recommend that you take a look at ESET’s award-winning NOD32 Antivirus for your home, home office, small business, or even large-scale enterprise. The flexible options let you pick the best antivirus on the market, at competitive prices.

Don’t settle for less. Download NOD32 Home Edition and Save Up to 25% now!

(4 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

VeCommerce Speech Technologies

VeCommerce has come out with some incredible speech recognition software. In the modern day and age, we are seeing a change in user-computer interactions that moves away from the traditional keyboard & mouse model, and further towards touch and voice.

VeCommerce’s voice recognition software is targeted to businesses that offer telephone customer service, such as banking, order-out restaurants (like Pizza Hut). Their IVR (interactive voice response) solutions are great for every day applications, whether it’s accessing a bank account over the telephone, ordering pizza, or getting insurance quotes.

Complex IVR’s like those offered by VeCommerce can adapt easily and effectively to many different types of voices; a good speech recognition system should be able to adjust to and understand any customer. Additionally, the caller should be able to understand it; instead of offering long menu listings like “press 1 to order a Hawaiian, press 2 to customize your own toppings, press 3 to listen to our special offers…” these excellent solutions (particularly VeConnect) are great for building a brand, inspiring customer loyalty, and simply allowing them to feel comfortable interacting with a computer over the phone.

If your business is looking for these sorts of speech technologies, VeCommerce is the place to go. This Australian firm has been providing speech recognition software since 1997, and is a trustworthy company you can rely on for your business.

Brought to you from our friends at VeCommerce.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Best download manager for Mac

Having tested various download managers and accelerators including DAP, I feel that the absolute best download manager that exists is… Speed Download, by Yazsoft.

With great acceleration features, integration with Safari and iTunes, not to mention the file sharing capabilities, I definitely think this is a piece of software you should try if you’re running Mac OS X 10.4 or above (especially if you’re on Leopard - it works great! ). Visit Yazsoft now to try this incredible piece of software. Nothing else for Macs is quite like it.

Additionally, get your friend to buy it and you can get a registration for free! (Almost like two for-the-price-of one.)

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Google Earth vs NASA World Wind

Surely this is not a new topic. I’ve been asked this many times: which is better, Google Earth or NASA World Wind? (A more accurate question is, which do you prefer, Google Earth or NASA World Wind?)

This post doesn’t talk about my opinion at all. It does, however, show you some cool things about each of them. The “more” link is below the video(s).

(more…)

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...