We have been working hard over at http://geekscheaper.com on using PNG image technology to make 3D effects that are, well, out of this world. We haven't written up any content yet as to our own experiments (that's soon to come!), but here is one simple guide to one way to get started with using 3D effects in photoshop to achieve web design gold. :) Happy reading!
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/designing-tutorials/creating-a-cool-3d-web-design-effect/
Friday, June 22, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Every Bit counts: the Advent of Digital Democracy
Original Article in Full Here: http://geekscheaper.com/index.php/democracy/25-digitaldemocracy.
Digital democracy is on the rise - or at least beginning to have a more substantial effect on "real" democracy. At a time when the internet is more accessible than ever thanks to advanced mobile technology, individual people, funneled through well-oiled organizations, are becoming a force to contend with on the political and corporate scene. In the new American democracy, every bit counts. Democracy has stepped outside the ballot box, the chamber meetings, CSPAN and the front of your local grocery store, and it's made a successful home in your pocket or on your desktop. You have but to access it this very moment to get involved in some of the most amazing developments in "people power" that history has ever witnessed!
At a time of incredible emerging technology that makes us more connected than ever, offers the speediest connections between people over our businesses and social networks, there isn't any logical reason that government should continue to function without the informed consent of the people. Digital democracy through these and other means is beginning to affect how Washington, and how America, does business and politics, and is bringing us one step closer to direct democracy in action on a national level. Some of these emerging concepts may sound like Utopian dreams but many were not practically possible... until now...
Each of these use a combination of means to achieve their objectives, whether it be petitions, phone call, email and snail mail drives, or public commentary openings, each is on the ball and serves a clear purpose in making the general public both aware and active in the evolving political and corporate discourse.
MoveOn.org is a grassroots organization that uses a combination of robust mailing lists, highly interactive social media buttons, and massive user donations, to coordinate electronic and physical democratic efforts across the country. They have contributed or been largely responsible for some major recent efforts regarding issues like protecting reproductive rights and access to health care, to maintaining corporate accountability, to the internet blackout in protest of SOPA, to President Obama's recent announcement that he will launch a formal investigation into the activities of Wall St. prior to the 2008 credit collapse. MoveOn is also organizing and sponsoring a massive coordinated effort to train hundreds of thousands of non-violent activists to stand up for human rights while staying respectable and respectful to the law.
SignOn.org is a sister site to MoveOn.org where users can create their own internet petitions in support of or against corporate and political actions. The difference between it and its predecessor is that the user has the power to create their own petitions and broadcast them to the world. Successful and popular petitions will be promoted to the mailing lists and to MoveOn official actions.
CREDO Action is a group that also focuses on social media interactions and robust mailing lists in order to focus on direct actions to protect consumers from the abuses of power and technology. This particular group takes it one step further and has responded to the aggressive, anti-consumer actions of one of the nation's premier wireless carriers, AT&T, by creating a not-for-profit mobile services company offering Sprint and all the newest smartphones to regular consumers for very competitive prices. As if it wasn't good enough that your bill is going to finance democratic actions, a portion of the same bill is donated to a charity of your choice.
SumOfUs is a signer site that focuses on corporate actions. Keep in mind that none of these sites are necessarily anti-corporate or anti-capitalist, they are against the abuses of corporate power with a real human cost for purely capital gain. SumOfUs has been leading campaigns spotlighting abuse in worker treatment by Apple and FoxConn, as well as promoting safe working conditions and minimum wage elevation for workers at corporate employers such as Wal Mart. SumOfUs started last November but has very quickly accumulated millions of users.
There are many other considerations for this list and the "super signer sites" as I have dubbed them are a growing phenomenon. Given their growing effectiveness I don't have any reason to believe they will be going away any time soon - quite the opposite, for the time being I have only reason to believe they will continue to grow with more people becoming involved and getting online.
Here's the best part about it - involvement begets success - those of you who will turn away from this page without clicking any of these links will have both a self-fulfilling prophecy and a missing experience, and meanwhile the power of mobilized group action is increasing. I suggest getting on the bandwagon!
A couple more honorable mentions for the road - The League of Conservation Voters focuses mostly on environmental issues, while LeftAction focuses mainly on support of progressive political and consumer actions.
Happy Hunting!
Introducing a Different kind of Phone Company – Wireless without the Garbage with Credo Mobile
Original Article found here: http://geekscheaper.com/index.php/mobileservice/29-credomobile
What are the political affiliations of your mobile service provider? Do you know? Most people don't, and could care less. But the more money we give to these all-too-necessary often-too-evil companies, the more power they gather, and many of them pass this power along to legislators who make decisions with corporations and giant banks, not consumers, in mind. These giant service companies as a result have very little incentive to improve pricing or services for the majority of their customers... and indeed, too many Americans have become familiar with the "run around", doublespeak, confusion and - let's face it - hell - of a customer service environment that these companies create. You practically have to have a degree in IT, Law, and Economics in order to address grievances on your bill with any of these companies.
I'm pleased to announce that there is a new arrival on the scene that not only recognizes these disturbing trends in the most popular providers - they aim to reverse it. While AT&T, as one example, gives millions in donations to campaigns to limit peoples' (and increase companies') bargaining power, Credo dedicates a portion of your monthly bill to a slew of progressive campaigns for the environment, humanities, consumer rights, democratic rights, and other pertinent issues. I can also happily report that every time - that's EVERY time - I have called this company, it has taken less than 2 digits input to get to a real life human in the United States of America - and they have helped me every time.
Credo is a re-seller of Sprint, which has one of the clearest, most reliable all-digital networks in the country; also, being one of the first into the wireless game, they don't have many of the service issues that other popular providers have. To this date I have not had a dropped call, and the only service interruptions have been verified to have involved the other person's line and carrier.
Unlike my own previous providers, Credo is flexible on billing, providing you up to 75 days to pay off a given bill in full before they will consider shutting down your account - a far cry from the majority of providers, some of whom shut you down within a week and charge expensive activation fees to get your service back online.
When I signed up, this amazing new company had a promotional that involved a brand new free Google Nexus - an offer, of course, that has expired, since these went like hotcakes up until the point that Google literally has no more to offer. The existing selection of smart and "dumb" phones, however, is still robust.
Most importantly, for those of you still wrapped up in your old provider, Credo offers a "Contract Buyout" credit of 350 dollars which is applied to the contract cancellation of your old company - and, for the first year, you receive 40% off your voice and text services. Picture messaging requires a data plan or you can use the very cheap pay-per-MB plan.
If any of this sounds intriguing to you, if you're sick of your old company, or for your own moral or political reasons you don't want to be involved with "traditional" phone companies anymore, please check out Credo Mobile today and receive the 40% discount by using this link: http://credomobile.com/40percent
Yes, I have a financial reason to be blogging about this - on top of spreading a service I have myself found great value in to my followers, if you put in my name - Brendan McNamara - and my phone number - (360)809-0072 - as your referrer - I get a $50 check in the mail. The same applies to you after you sign up! This may seem like multi-level marketing, but it strikes this geek as a profitable and very smart way to get a new product out there!
So what are you waiting for? Start taking back the airwaves for democracy - and you - today!
Being a Pro at Organized Chaos - The Fun of Fractal Generation
This article has been copied in its entirety from the original source here: http://geekscheaper.com/index.php/coolstuff/27-fractals
Many people have become familiar in recent years with the fractal, or at least have heard the term in speech. A fractal in the most common sense is a visual graph made by a computer based on the results of an algorhythm that generates random numbers. Combine these algorhythms with a color map and a set of X-Y or even X-Y-Z coordinates and behold, you have an object or picture that represents one of these many unique equations.
There are many places online where you can find amazing fractals in the form of wallpapers, freely available for download and use on your 'puters, pads and phones. If you want to be one of those who unlocks the power of the fractal yourself, to create incredible works of art using the power of your computer, you need to download a fractal generation program such as ChaosPro and begin to teach yourself a few things.
ChaosPro comes pre-loaded with a number of color pattern and fractal presets, both 3D and 2D - and it gives you the ability to overlap some with amazing spacey effects.
Careful - you may find yourself lost in the infinitely-detailed chaotic order of the cosmos which is a fractal generation and get lost for hours if not days in the infinite - I wish I was kidding. Anyway, geek away by all means, but geek safely. Don't upset any family members too much - and remember, you should probably report in every 24 hours to make sure they know you're still alive.
Here are some of the handful of fractals I generated within the first 24 hours of installing this amazing program! Click each for a hi-res image which you can download and use for desktop and/or fixed website wallpaper (set to "tile" or "center" - not stretch).
Of course there will be more to come soon. Check back frequently for more awesome designs! For now please enjoy responsibly and respectfully! And Please, please, be nice to your significant others! Don't just completely drop off the face of the planet into fractal awesomeness. Thanks for reading.
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A small handful of powerful, free anti-malware tools
Original post found in its entirety here: http://geekscheaper.com/index.php/security/24-goodav
What makes for a good free anti-virus? How do you decide? Did you even know there was such a thing as a solid free anti-virus? There are so many paid and free options out there on the market today that deciding on a reliable antivirus for your PC should be easier, but the case seems to be just the opposite. Combine the number of "free"ware promotional AV's with the number of "rogue" antiviruses (digital "wolves in sheep's clothing") and the high numbers of people coming online that are relatively clueless about PC security, and you have a recipe for disaster. Thankfully there are a number of reliable solutions that, alone or combined, can keep your computer very secure and stable.
One enormous barrier to the new computer purchaser to getting antivirus protection is the cost - typically, "trial" antiviruses are installed on factory model PC's that are bought from the store, and in order to continue using them the user must pull out their credit card and fork out $40-75 on average in order to continue securing their computer after a month or two. Some paid AV solutions are worth the money, but many of the most popular, namely McAfee, Norton and Webroot, suffer from their own popularity and routinely are targeted by potent virus infestations and fail. In other words, that slick antivirus the guys at Geek Squad sold you ain't worth the plastic it was burnt on.
There are a number of free and reliable malware security solutions that cover the needs of most internet users today. I will list and review the most prominent in my own use as follows:
_________________
AVG Antivirus Free 2012 
AVG is a powerful antivirus and anti-spyware tool provided at no cost for home use. AVG strongly believes that everybody has a right to good antimalware coverage, so they provide their free version with the same powerful antimalware engine as the paid version. AVG is set to automatically update every day and scan once a week, and other than that the only times you may see notices from it are when it actually discovers a prospective invader, or when it needs to restart the computer because an update for the program has finished. Once a year, AVG comes out with the new edition of their antivirus program - at which point they always emphasize an offer of their Pro (paid) version. In my experience, the professional version is no better than the free version, for most intents and purposes. AVG Free offers a number of handy features to keep internet browsers safe online, such as LinkScanner and even their own google search portal add-on for firefox. Most importantly it works very well as a "set-it-and-forget-it" antivirus and once it's installed and configured properly (not much effort involved there) it does its job and leaves you in peace unless something really important comes up.
_________________
Immunet Protect
Immunet Protect's name belies its nature - basically, it is a gigantic net of immunity that is cast around all its users. Immunet is a powerful cloud-based supplemental antivirus and antispyware solution. It's based on a multi-platform network called the "Cloud" that maintains an ongoing comprehensive database of all known malware definitions. In other words, it knows better than most antimalware programs "what to look for," because in stead of one "daily digest" that it downloads like clockwork from central command and you're just "out of luck" if you get a virus that's not "on the list", your computer is instantly updated as is everyone else's on the network the second a threat is verified.
Immunet plays well with others! Most of the time it's not a good idea to have two antimalware programs running on the same computer - they get in each other's way and usually end up slowing the computer down. Immunet, however, is specifically designed as a complementary scanner and protector - designed to run next to another antivirus such as AVG, Avira, or Malwarebytes.
_________________
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
A must-have in every Windows PC Tech's arsenal. This beautiful, simple and powerful application has stormed the antivirus market and reliably kept malware at bay for several years now. The free version of MBAM won't run in the background on your PC, so it can't be used to protect your computer from threats as they emerge, but it contains a powerful database of virus and other malware definitions and a powerful scanning engine. Definitely, if you find yourself in a position where you need to remove a large number of viruses fast, install Malwarebytes, update it, and then run a full scan on your hard drive in Safe Mode to yield startling results! I keep Malwarebytes installed on my computer at all times and run it when there is any doubt about the integrity of my running antiviruses.
Malwarebytes' paid antivirus version is one of the only that I can publicly reccommend as being worth the money.
_________________
Avira AntiVirus
Avira is another reliable one to have around and the free version is one of the best. I personally don't prefer to have it installed as one of my running anti-viruses because it is rather chatty and annoying with popups and advertisements. Avira's detection rates, however, are phenomenally high, especially for internet worms, java and other applet viruses, and things that other engines may miss. For this reason and others it's a valuable addition to your scanning repartoir. Everybody has their opinion, but generally this antivirus is best installed at the moment's need as part of a malware removal or routine sweep.
_________________
ClamWin AV
Clam started its life in open source, as a powerful scanner for linux. Since then it's morphed into a powerful scanner for windows with a unique view into the world of open source computing. I feel that this gives ClamWin an advantage that other "more prestigious" antiviruses may not have in that most internet servers out there are powered by Linux - so logically, many of the worms and other nightmares out there that can be "caught" from those servers do not fit the patterns that normal Windows baddies follow. ClamWin is also lightweight and stable and although I don't reccommend installing it to run in the background of your PC, I highly reccommend keeping it handy for those crunch-time malware removals.
_________________
Well, there you go. I may not have given you every free anti-malware program under the sun, but enough to get you started. Those of you reading this material that can grasp enough of it that it does you some good, if you are able to secure your computer and fix your problems, then the purpose for writing this article has been fulfilled. This did take me time to learn, and to write, and these are programs I would use myself for paid services - so if you find yourself in benefit of this information and have the ability or desire to give back, please consider donating. If for some reason you find yourself confused, please don't hesitate to contact me. If you suspect your computer is infected with malware and you are unable for whatever reason to fix it yourself, please consult a professional.
AVG is a powerful antivirus and anti-spyware tool provided at no cost for home use. AVG strongly believes that everybody has a right to good antimalware coverage, so they provide their free version with the same powerful antimalware engine as the paid version. AVG is set to automatically update every day and scan once a week, and other than that the only times you may see notices from it are when it actually discovers a prospective invader, or when it needs to restart the computer because an update for the program has finished. Once a year, AVG comes out with the new edition of their antivirus program - at which point they always emphasize an offer of their Pro (paid) version. In my experience, the professional version is no better than the free version, for most intents and purposes. AVG Free offers a number of handy features to keep internet browsers safe online, such as LinkScanner and even their own google search portal add-on for firefox. Most importantly it works very well as a "set-it-and-forget-it" antivirus and once it's installed and configured properly (not much effort involved there) it does its job and leaves you in peace unless something really important comes up.
_________________
Immunet Protect
Immunet Protect's name belies its nature - basically, it is a gigantic net of immunity that is cast around all its users. Immunet is a powerful cloud-based supplemental antivirus and antispyware solution. It's based on a multi-platform network called the "Cloud" that maintains an ongoing comprehensive database of all known malware definitions. In other words, it knows better than most antimalware programs "what to look for," because in stead of one "daily digest" that it downloads like clockwork from central command and you're just "out of luck" if you get a virus that's not "on the list", your computer is instantly updated as is everyone else's on the network the second a threat is verified.
Immunet plays well with others! Most of the time it's not a good idea to have two antimalware programs running on the same computer - they get in each other's way and usually end up slowing the computer down. Immunet, however, is specifically designed as a complementary scanner and protector - designed to run next to another antivirus such as AVG, Avira, or Malwarebytes.
_________________
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
A must-have in every Windows PC Tech's arsenal. This beautiful, simple and powerful application has stormed the antivirus market and reliably kept malware at bay for several years now. The free version of MBAM won't run in the background on your PC, so it can't be used to protect your computer from threats as they emerge, but it contains a powerful database of virus and other malware definitions and a powerful scanning engine. Definitely, if you find yourself in a position where you need to remove a large number of viruses fast, install Malwarebytes, update it, and then run a full scan on your hard drive in Safe Mode to yield startling results! I keep Malwarebytes installed on my computer at all times and run it when there is any doubt about the integrity of my running antiviruses.
Malwarebytes' paid antivirus version is one of the only that I can publicly reccommend as being worth the money.
_________________
Avira AntiVirus
Avira is another reliable one to have around and the free version is one of the best. I personally don't prefer to have it installed as one of my running anti-viruses because it is rather chatty and annoying with popups and advertisements. Avira's detection rates, however, are phenomenally high, especially for internet worms, java and other applet viruses, and things that other engines may miss. For this reason and others it's a valuable addition to your scanning repartoir. Everybody has their opinion, but generally this antivirus is best installed at the moment's need as part of a malware removal or routine sweep.
_________________
ClamWin AV
Clam started its life in open source, as a powerful scanner for linux. Since then it's morphed into a powerful scanner for windows with a unique view into the world of open source computing. I feel that this gives ClamWin an advantage that other "more prestigious" antiviruses may not have in that most internet servers out there are powered by Linux - so logically, many of the worms and other nightmares out there that can be "caught" from those servers do not fit the patterns that normal Windows baddies follow. ClamWin is also lightweight and stable and although I don't reccommend installing it to run in the background of your PC, I highly reccommend keeping it handy for those crunch-time malware removals.
_________________
Well, there you go. I may not have given you every free anti-malware program under the sun, but enough to get you started. Those of you reading this material that can grasp enough of it that it does you some good, if you are able to secure your computer and fix your problems, then the purpose for writing this article has been fulfilled. This did take me time to learn, and to write, and these are programs I would use myself for paid services - so if you find yourself in benefit of this information and have the ability or desire to give back, please consider donating. If for some reason you find yourself confused, please don't hesitate to contact me. If you suspect your computer is infected with malware and you are unable for whatever reason to fix it yourself, please consult a professional.
Our Mission as Geeks, Educators and Service Providers
Original Post: http://geekscheaper.com/index.php/mission
Dear Frustrated Computer User,
We live in a world that's abuzz with technology. Only a decade and a half ago, the internet first started to enter the popular mindset, and now it fills our lives down to every little interaction. That's not necessarily a bad thing - we love it - it helps us to connect with others in the world over vast distances and fill our lives with infinite brand new media. But in this new ocean swim a new breed of sharks - brand new perils and scams and unknowns that make our newfound online lives that much more hazardous. Viruses, worms, trojans and hackers can make an otherwise-normal life suddenly nightmarish. The more we integrate our lives with cyberspace the more vulnerable we are, the more we "have to lose" - our communications, bookkeeping, music, photo memories, even our identity, are now mostly-electronic - and most people don't know the first thing about protecting it. But on the other hand, those who originally give us the ability to explore this brave new world, the makers and sellers of the technology, aren't much help either. Where are our guardians, who is keeping us safe? If the responsibility is out of the hands of the people who actually sell us this stuff and throw us out there, what protection do we have?
The fact is, there is no one protecting you on the internet but you. The first and final defense is knowledge. There is no absolute way to stay safe, but we believe that if you can go out there with some basic knowledge of how things work, how the many predators think, and how you can be preyed upon, you can make the decisions necessary to swim safely out there. This is the most important thing we offer - knowledge - because I know that no single piece of technology or software can ever offer 100% protection, but if you have the knowledge to use what's at hand, you can grasp it better and find a greater amount of solution and peace. Knowledge will save you money, help keep you safe, and help you get more satisfaction from your time on the computer. (Having a rock-solid foundation helps too.)
IT Support in this country and around the world is in a very sad state, because the stores and manufacturers of the technology often offer ineffective and overpriced tech services and products, and they do not provide the consumer with certain valuable information about the products and services they're purchasing. This usually helps perpetuate a cycle in which the customer gets frustrated, buys a brand new computer or device, and starts the whole process again - when they could've been spared the entire nightmare from the get-go. The nationwide brand "Geek Squad" charges almost $200 to just talk to someone and practically the price of a brand new computer to visit your house and resolve your issues. We intend to directly reverse this trend by providing quality services and support for a price that can actually save you money and help you out rather than funnel you into the purchase of unnecessary brand new equipment.
We pride ourselves on many things, the three most important of which are knowledge, humanity and honesty. As our customer, we will be absolutely honest with you; we will do our best do describe problems clearly, tell you what you need, what can be done and what should be done. I will give you more and better tools, information, and service than the "Other Guys" and for half the price or less. We will teach you, give you ideas and solutions and options, so that when your problems are solved or your project is finished, you will not only have received a service, but also a lifetime of valuable information. In fact, after we've helped you, we strive to never hear from you again about the same issue; although we guarantee steadfast follow-up support on any work that we do.
After all is said and done, we hope to have completely changed your ideas about technology and tech services altogether, to have set a new standard for how you expect to be dealt with by salesmen and service people for years to come. We hope to give you a fresh perspective, a fighting chance, and a leg up on the technology companies and the internet's manifold schemes and predators. And last but not least, we hope to provide you excellent computer services, cheaper.
Sincerely,
- Brendan McNamara (the original Cheaper Geek.)
Please visit our official website at http://geekscheaper.com for more information!
Like our Facebook Page and
Follow our Twitter Profile, and
Follow us on Wordpress.com!
Dear Frustrated Computer User,
We live in a world that's abuzz with technology. Only a decade and a half ago, the internet first started to enter the popular mindset, and now it fills our lives down to every little interaction. That's not necessarily a bad thing - we love it - it helps us to connect with others in the world over vast distances and fill our lives with infinite brand new media. But in this new ocean swim a new breed of sharks - brand new perils and scams and unknowns that make our newfound online lives that much more hazardous. Viruses, worms, trojans and hackers can make an otherwise-normal life suddenly nightmarish. The more we integrate our lives with cyberspace the more vulnerable we are, the more we "have to lose" - our communications, bookkeeping, music, photo memories, even our identity, are now mostly-electronic - and most people don't know the first thing about protecting it. But on the other hand, those who originally give us the ability to explore this brave new world, the makers and sellers of the technology, aren't much help either. Where are our guardians, who is keeping us safe? If the responsibility is out of the hands of the people who actually sell us this stuff and throw us out there, what protection do we have?
The fact is, there is no one protecting you on the internet but you. The first and final defense is knowledge. There is no absolute way to stay safe, but we believe that if you can go out there with some basic knowledge of how things work, how the many predators think, and how you can be preyed upon, you can make the decisions necessary to swim safely out there. This is the most important thing we offer - knowledge - because I know that no single piece of technology or software can ever offer 100% protection, but if you have the knowledge to use what's at hand, you can grasp it better and find a greater amount of solution and peace. Knowledge will save you money, help keep you safe, and help you get more satisfaction from your time on the computer. (Having a rock-solid foundation helps too.)
IT Support in this country and around the world is in a very sad state, because the stores and manufacturers of the technology often offer ineffective and overpriced tech services and products, and they do not provide the consumer with certain valuable information about the products and services they're purchasing. This usually helps perpetuate a cycle in which the customer gets frustrated, buys a brand new computer or device, and starts the whole process again - when they could've been spared the entire nightmare from the get-go. The nationwide brand "Geek Squad" charges almost $200 to just talk to someone and practically the price of a brand new computer to visit your house and resolve your issues. We intend to directly reverse this trend by providing quality services and support for a price that can actually save you money and help you out rather than funnel you into the purchase of unnecessary brand new equipment.
We pride ourselves on many things, the three most important of which are knowledge, humanity and honesty. As our customer, we will be absolutely honest with you; we will do our best do describe problems clearly, tell you what you need, what can be done and what should be done. I will give you more and better tools, information, and service than the "Other Guys" and for half the price or less. We will teach you, give you ideas and solutions and options, so that when your problems are solved or your project is finished, you will not only have received a service, but also a lifetime of valuable information. In fact, after we've helped you, we strive to never hear from you again about the same issue; although we guarantee steadfast follow-up support on any work that we do.
After all is said and done, we hope to have completely changed your ideas about technology and tech services altogether, to have set a new standard for how you expect to be dealt with by salesmen and service people for years to come. We hope to give you a fresh perspective, a fighting chance, and a leg up on the technology companies and the internet's manifold schemes and predators. And last but not least, we hope to provide you excellent computer services, cheaper.
Sincerely,
- Brendan McNamara (the original Cheaper Geek.)
Please visit our official website at http://geekscheaper.com for more information!
Like our Facebook Page and Follow our Twitter Profile, andFollow us on Wordpress.com!
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