TechPost

Today I was at my grandparents house and my grandpa was telling me how relieved he was that he was going to be able to switch from Earthlink to Comcast as his ISP(internet service provider.) It seems like a simple task to me but the problem wasn’t simply changing ISP’s, it was the fact that they had been using the same Earthlink email address for 15 years. They were finally able to make the change due to Earthlink allowing my grandparents to keep their email addresses for $3/month. How nice of Earthlink.

Many of you probably know/used to be/are AOL users that were in the same boat. I personally believe that you should NEVER use an email address that has been issued by your ISP. Using an ISP’s email address will either keep you locked into using them for service or force you to get a new address when you leave.

Okay, so what should you do? My personal email is handled by Gmail. Gmail is a great free service that is ad supported. Yahoo and Hotmail are also good services that I use. These are all large companies that will most likely continue to support email for years to come. The downside to using these services is the loss of privacy. To varying degrees these companies are keeping tabs on not only who you correspond with but what is in each email you send and receive. I have no problem with this, in Gmail it allows me to see ads that I may actually have an interest in rather than random advertising being displayed.

Solution Number Two: Get your own domain name and email hosting. This sounds expensive but you can do it for less than $20 a year. This option guarantees that no matter what happens, you are in charge of your email and your privacy.

If you are thinking about getting a free web based email account my favorite service is Google followed by Yahoo and then Hotmail. For a custom domain, you should take a look at GoDaddy. If you want to throw in a website with that domain name I recommend Hostgator.

I have several friends living in foreign countries and even though I have an engineering degree I still can’t wrap my mind around what time it is or even what day it is in those countries. Luckily, Windows has a useful option tucked away in the date and time settings menu.

To get started “left click” on the clock in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. Then select “Change date and time settings…”

Next go to the “Additional Clocks” tab. Click on “Show this clock” and then set the time zone. You can also apply a custom name to this clock. Click “Apply” and then “Ok.”

You should now have a secondary clock/date when you hover over the time.

At our previous apartment we were forced to use one power provider and that company enjoyed billing us at about 17.1 cents per kWh which made for some very expensive electricity bills. Recently though, we moved into our first home and we were able to shop around and find a much lower rate. Currently we are paying 10.2 cents per kWh and that is a significant reduction from what our previous provider was charging. In order to find the lowest rate you could pull out the phone book and start calling the different providers or you can head over to a site like http://www.powertochoose.org and instantly see a list of providers in your area and what they are currently charging.

Most states have a website such as the one above, be careful though, there are several sites operating as middle men for companies and they tack on a fee to provide you with a list. Take ten minutes and do a google/bing/yahoo search and see what you come up with.

The much anticapated new search engine powered by miscrosoft has gone live at http://www.bing.com.  I will be checking it out over the next few days and will give an updated report.

What year did NASA start using the shuttle? Not sure? Why dont you bing it!

I binged my professor and the results were interesting!

Are you confused or wondering what I am rambling on about? Well, I am just replacing terms we would normally use such as googled or google with binged and bing. Why would I do such a thing?  Bing is a new search engine that Microsoft is working on and it looks very interesting. Yes, MS actually has a product other than Windows 7 that appears to be something to get excited about.

The Bing service is not active yet but this video will give you an idea of what is in store for us.

The following is an email that MS CEO Steve Ballmer sent out to employees yesterday morning.

Today, at the D Conference in Carlsbad, CA, I’m announcing the release of Bing, our new search engine. This is an important milestone for Microsoft as search is a critical business for us and Bing is a significant step forward in redefining search and expanding our share of the online advertising market. But Bing is just the start. We know this is a journey that will require a long-term commitment to hard work and investment in innovation in order to be successful.

We have always believed that search offers huge opportunities for innovation. Currently, only one in four searches succeeds on the first try. And while search is pretty good for navigating the Web, it’s not good at helping people use the Web to accomplish more complicated decision-based tasks.

With Bing, our goal is to do more than just make it easier for people to find information. Today, we’re delivering a powerful set of tools that will enable people to make faster, more informed decisions.

In short, Bing is a decision engine that goes beyond what people have come to think of as search—and what our competitors offer today.

A new search product requires a name that clearly signals the arrival of something unique. We chose Bing because it’s short, memorable, and symbolic of the moment when information and opportunity come together and a simple search becomes an engine for taking action.

Today, we’ll begin launching Bing internally so Microsoft employees can have an exclusive preview. You’ll find improvements that showcase innovative engineering work, including tools that automatically organize, refine, and anticipate searches. We’re also delivering strong innovation in shopping, local search, travel, and health—the areas where people want to use the Web to help them make decisions that are important to their lives.

Next week, Bing will go live outside Microsoft at bing.com. I urge you to let your friends and family know that we have created a powerful new search engine that brings fresh innovation to their Web experience.

When Bing goes live you can find it on the web at http://www.bing.com