TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

A new feature in Adobe Lightroom that I mentioned last week is every bit as exciting as I thought it might be. Words and pictures follow. Network attached storage is coming to homes and offices, and a new NAS box from Synology comes with impressive specifications. In Short Circuits: Seagate is looking at a class action lawsuit resulting from a high percentage of failed 3 terabyte drives, Microsoft wants you to have Windows 10 for free and doesn't want to take NO for an answer, and Internet data privacy gets a score card with a low grade. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Slow crooks down and you might be able to keep them out of your computer and IBM plans to acquire Columbus-based Resource/Ammirati.

Vacation time is just around the corner and, if you're thinking of upgrading your photo gear for summer fun, I have some ideas. In Short Circuits: Adobe updated Lightroom this week and there's a really cool feature that I'm looking forward to trying. Facebook hints that it may develop a video-only service. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Chrome may be one of the safest browsers imaginable, but that doesn't mean you can forget about rogue software. And the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team is warning about a threat called "Dorkbot".

An in-depth look at Microsoft's Edge browser is first, followed by a consideration of Bing as a better search engine than Google. In Short Circuits: AOL considers a name change, a new kind of answer site that's more interested in questions, and an application intended to keep your cats from forgetting their medical appointments. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft's latest Fast Ring version of Windows 10 is out with few visible changes, but with stability improvements that will allow new features in upcoming builds. Leica has a new $3000 camera you can throw into the lake. And a code of ethics for software engineers from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Society and the Association for Computing Machinery.

The latest version of Adobe's Creative Cloud adds so many new improvements, tweaks, and features that just trying to list them all is impossible, but I have some information about some of them. In Short Circuits: Microsoft support for most versions of Internet Explorer other than version 11 ends, along with support for Windows 8, if the system hasn't been updated to version 8.1. We'll look at security threats to watch for in 2016. Adoption of Windows 10 is running ahead of expectations and more than 200 million Windows 10 computers have been activated. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A system is being developed to allow self-driving automobiles to help each other. AT&T says it will help the Federal Communications Commission modernize it's "business". If you want a dog, but you really don't want a dog, you're now able to buy a robot dog.

If you connect to the Internet using a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you're exposing yourself to a significant risk. While trying to find a way to reduce the risk, I found a way to make Wi-Fi connections secure. In Short Circuits, we'll take a look at malware that can shut down electric generating plants, consider talking to your Volvo automobile, and compare the Oculus Rift to Microsoft's HoloLens. Spare Parts (only on the website) It's January, so the Consumer Electronics Show is running in Las Vegas.

If you're still looking for a worthwhile resolution, how about improving your computer backup system? And if you don't yet have a backup system in place, how about establishing one? Fraudsters are getting better every day. Millions of e-mail messages containing links to malware are sent out every day and so are legitimate-looking requests that can give a thief enough information to steal your money or your entire identity. In Short Circuits: Apple will pay Italy $350 million to settle tax evasion charges. Although I spent a lot of time talking about Windows 10 in 2015, it's been a busy year for other platforms, too. Android in particular. Let's take a look at Android's big deals for 2015. Sometimes the first program of the year reveals lots of new features on the TechByter Wordwide website. Sometimes it's big changes in formatting. And sometimes the changes are relatively minor. This year, they're all but non-existent, but I'll tell you want to look for. Spare Parts (only on the website): WatchGuard Technologies has released a list of the top 10 threats they expect to make life miserable for some of us in 2016. SanDisk Corporation and Quanta Cloud Technology have announced a plan to combine SanDisk's flash drive experience with QCT's datac enter expertise. The goal is to provide massively scalable solid-state storage for data centers.

Batteries have finite life spans and a utility that's available in Windows 8 and Windows 10 can help you identify when it's time to replace the battery. Even security applications that are intended to protect your computer can sometimes be used maliciously. The European Union moves forward to enable legislation that will enforce privacy laws with severe fines. In Short Circuits: A Chinese company says that its Privacy Eraser won't really erase your privacy and IBM has a plan to clean up air pollution in Beijing and elsewhere. Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft cooperates with the Linux community to provide certification for Linux on Azure and the battle to defeat cyber criminals continues.

Despite the appeal of on-line music streaming services, there's still a valid reason to have an MP3 player application on your computer. If you're thinking of learning a new language or refreshing your knowledge of a language, the free Duolingo service would be a good place to start. In Short Circuits: Some people are trying to avoid having their computers updated to Windows 10. If you're in that group, I have some tips that may help. The 2016 version of Acronis True Image backup comes with several new features. In Spare Parts (only on the website): There's an increasing demand for video conferencing, but the technology still faces some significant challenges and Microsoft has released information about this year's top searches on Bing.

Undoubtedly you have an antivirus application on your computer, but that's no longer enough protection. UltraEdit Studio, my preferred text editor, is now available in a 64-bit version that works faster than the 32-bit version. In Short Circuits, Adobe's November 30th Creative Cloud update may not be revolutionary, but it brings several new and welcome features to the applications; if it seems too good to be true (you fill in the rest); and if you're not in an area with a telephone area code overlay, you probably soon will be. I'll take a look at what's happening in my own back yard. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Underwriters Labs warns about counterfeit USB power supplies for Apple devices and car sharing providers are quickly moving to mobile applications.

TechByter Worldwide is taking its annual Thanksgiving break.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 is an impressive piece of hardware with some significant flaws. Windows 10 Build 10586 may already be on your computer. If not, it soon will be and the first major update to Windows 10 adds useful features. In Short Circuits: Let's consider why this week's program might look and sound a bit different and November 22nd is a day of both sadness and joy. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The Toronto Star and the Scripps News Service investigated how encryption that you may be using to keep information private on your smart phone sometimes hampers law enforcement agencies and Microsoft and Red Hat have announced a partnership that they say will help customers embrace hybrid cloud computing.

We'll take a look at the latest iteration of On1's set of tools for photographers and examine how they can improve photographs of people. Following up from last week's recommendations for secure browsing, I'll describe the process I use to stay safe on the Web. In Short Circuits: How to enable the built-in Administrator account in Windows and although Microsoft is reducing on-line storage for Office 365 users, it's still substantial. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A new Microsoft data center will open soon for users in Europe and Fujitsu examines the future of computing over the next 5 to 10 years.

The Cyber Threat Alliance says that it has cracked the code on CryptoWall, malware that's associated with $325 million in payments to crooks, but there's bad news, too. A single image created by today's digital cameras, shooting in raw mode, wouldn't even fit on the original PC hard drives. And that's just one crazy thing about today's technology. In Short Circuits: The end is approaching for Windows 7, a first glance at On1's Photo 10, and Firefox seems to be fading away. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Traditional camera manufacturers are being overrun by electronics manufacturers, the launch of Halo 5 was the biggest ever for the franchise, and there's a utility that claims to eliminate dead links on websites and in documents.

One of the more helpful sites for Windows users is The Windows Club, but be careful with downloads from the site. We'll take a couple of looks at security: On-line reviews may not always be as trustworthy as they appear and watch out for "free" offers on Facebook and elsewhere. In Short Circuits, Western Digital plans to acquire SanDisk and a new approach to stifling on-line bullies. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft finally opens its flagship store in New York City and it's very close to Apple's flagship store and the rush to move software as a service applications to the cloud is accelerating.

If you're looking for an application that edits photographs, creates logos, designs websites, and publishes documents, you should take a look at Xara Designer Pro. Is TechByter Worldwide a safe website? SiteLock helps me to ensure that it is. In Short Circuits: How many federal agencies are keeping track of information about you? Comodo and Acronis have combined to offer some useful capabilities. And GoDaddy says that it wants to level the playing field for women. In Spare Parts (only on the website): If you're a fan of FileMaker Pro, you can buy the latest version and get an extra copy for free and we'll take a look a computer you can throw out the window (but I recommend that you don't.)