2007 winners: HP and Apple

The numbers for 2007 are out. HP and Apple were the winners in terms of growth. HP's consumer market share grew to almost 30% in 2007 from 27% in 2006. And Apple's consumer market share grew to almost 10% from 7.6% in 2006. The big loser was Dell whose consumer market share shrank to almost 17% in 2007 from almost 26% in 2006.

After dominating the consumer market for years, Dell is shifting its sales strategy by going after consumers who buy computers from physical stores. A few months ago Dell computers started selling in Staples and a few weeks ago they announced that Best Buy will be carrying Dell computers as well. This strategy has clearly worked for HP and I noticed their laptops are the only ones prominenty displayed at the local Costco in Columbia. Although they also sell Dell computers through their website (costco.com), I didn't see Dell computers at their Columbia store the last time I was there ... maybe that will change soon.

Calling Young Howard County Film Makers

A festival for short-films is being sponsored by the Howard County Library. Students, ages 14-22 are welcome to join, so if you know someone who is into video editing, encourage them to submit their entry. Deadline for submission is February 6. Full details below:

Future Filmmakers: Original Film Festival

- Films must be directed, shot, and edited by students, ages 14-22, attending classes in Howard County.
- Each director may submit one film.
- Films may be on any topic, but must be limited to G or PG rated language and subject matter. (Visit www.mpaa.org for more information on these ratings.)

Films must:
- run no longer than 10 minutes
- include title pages and credits
- be in their finished state when submitted
- be submitted on DVD
- DVDs will not be returned.
- Films will be previewed for quality and content. Selected films will be screened at the Future Filmmakers Film Festival at Howard County Library’s Miller Branch on Tuesday, March 4 (high school student films) and Thursday, March 6 (college student films).

For further information call 410-313-1950 or e-mail futurefilmmakers@hclibrary.org

Submit your finished film to any Howard County Library location between January 2 and February 6, 2008 with the following information:

- Your Name
- Your Age
- Your Phone
- Your School
- Title of Your Film
- Length of Your Film
- Date of Completion
- Subject of Your Film
- Names of all filmmakers involved with the film

Bill Gates' last day at Microsoft

Watch Bill in this amusing spoof of his last day at Microsoft ... with an all star cast ... shown at his keynote speech (CES 2008).

Vista Tips: Lose the Blocked Startup Programs Message

If you've switched to Vista and have changed the startup programs via msconfig, you've probably seen this dialog box when you restart the computer.



To disable this message, right-click the blocked programs system tray icon, choose Run blocked program -> System Configuration Utility, and check the "Don't show this message..." checkbox. Next time you restart your computer, you won't see the dialog box anymore!

See the step-by-step instructions at How-to Geek.

Symantec (Norton): Why do you persist on shipping broken software?

For the nth time in the past couple weeks, I encountered a PC with Norton installed (this time as part of the Verizon/Yahoo apps) that slowed down the computer and failed to uninstall. The only remedy was to go to the Symantec website and download their Norton Removal Tool. Their normal uninstall process was running for an hour before I just decided to kill it. In the past couple weeks I've seen this same problem happen on Norton 2006, Norton 2007 and Norton 360. And I remember seeing this a few years ago on Norton 2003 and Norton 2004. So in the last 5 years, they still haven't fixed the problem.

Here's the link to their removal tool for those who may need it --- service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039.

My advice to anyone running Norton, remove it (if you can) and switch to AVG (free.grisoft.com). AVG doesn't slow down your computer and it uninstalls in about 2 minutes.

If you need anti-spyware, use Microsoft's Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx) and just stick with the Windows firewall (on XP and Vista) instead of installing 3rd party firewall that Norton and McAfee will try to sell you. If you have a wireless router, you're already protected by a hardware firewall in the first place, so between that and the Windows firewall, you're pretty well protected.

$40 to help your old TV on rabbit ears

We're about 13 months from the switch digital TV and if you're still using your old TV on rabbit ears, the government is giving away $40 coupons (up to 2 per household) to help offset the cost of the digital box converters. Beginning February 18, 2009 (note this is next year yet), anyone who does not own a digital set and still gets their TV programming via over-the-air antennas will no longer see a TV picture.

If you're on cable, fiber optic (e.g. FIOS) or satellite, you won't need the digital box converters.

Government offers TV Coupons

To request a coupon, you can apply online at www.dtv2009.gov. There's also a 24-hour hotline to take requests, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).

2008 Wish List

- Apple's iPhone will work on Verizon's network
- a $100 iPhone
- a $100 Blackberry
- Internet TV
- 50 Meg download speeds at home
- Emu releases non-beta drivers for Vista
- Facebook grows up
- A more open and less cluttered system challenges Facebook
- Norton, McAfee, Trendmicro (and all the other bloated PC security software) release a security software that doesn't slow down your computer otherwise we'll continue using AVG.
- Microsoft announces that their next version of Windows will be Unix-based and doesn't need 2 Gigs of RAM to work well.
- Apple announces that they're developing the iRadio for cars (and I can use my Rhapsody subscription on the road).
- a store similar to CompUSA opens in Columbia
- 100 Howard County bloggers on ezColumbia (we're almost 50 bloggers today)