I had a chance today to speak with Fox 8’s Morning Show team again today as part of their “Tech Know” segment. This time I explained how to cut down on power use by your computer and its accessories.

I recently came across the Quick and Dirty Tips family of podcasts and wanted to recommend them to anyone looking for a few short, but helpful series to add to their daily podcast listening.

Just a sample of their titles:

• Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
• Get-It-Done-Guy Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More
• Legal Lad Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life
• Modern Manners Guy Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Polite Life
• Small Biz Tech Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Growing Your Business with Digital Tools

The episodes are usually under ten minutes in length, but extremely helpful. Check them out!

It’s no secret that many computer users around the world refuse to even consider an upgrade from Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista, but one has to wonder how many of those decisions have been made after careful research, or just snap judgments based on word of mouth.

According to Cnet News, Microsoft recently tried an experiment in which they brought together a number of loyal Windows XP users who refused to make the switch and asked them to take a look at a brand new upcoming operating system they called “Mojave”.

The reviews of the “upcoming” operating system were surprising, at least to everyone other than Microsoft, with 90% of the users leaving positive feedback. However, Microsoft had another surprise, when they informed those users that “Mojave” was actually Windows Vista.

The rest of the article talks about how Microsoft, now a year and a half after the original release of Vista, is finally starting to take serious action in marketing and advertising to correct the somewhat out of control “anti-hype” that surrounds Windows Vista.

This entry was made from the road thanks to the new WordPress for iPhone app available now on the iTunes app store.

It’s July 11th, which means thousands of AT&T and Apple stores around the US are working their way through the first day of sales for the new 3G iPhone.

I showed up at the local AT&T store at 7:15am and faced a line that wrapped around 3 sides of the relatively small building. I’d guess there were about 60 people ahead of me, most of which came after 5am according to the guys at the front.

16GB black phones ran out pretty quickly about 1/3rd of the line through, then the white ones went by the time they got to about 8 people in front of me.

The processing slowed to a crawl about halfway through, as the iTunes activation fell over and exploded about half-way through the line. When I finally got in, they were moving faster by doing all the AT&T paperwork in-store, then sending people home to do the iTunes activation, which is probably where most of the real hold-up is.

Because the 16GBs were gone, I settled with the 8GB, which I’ll use to see if that’s enough for day to day use. If not, I checked with the store that I can exchange it within 30 days for the 10% restocking fee plus $100 difference once the 16GBs come back in.

I got out of the store around 11:15.

When I got home, iTunes was down, which in light of having survived numerous other technology launch days, doesn’t really surprise me.

I’m currently typing away on my MacBook, connected to the Internet via a mobile EVDO connection that’s allowing me to surf the web at 65 miles per hour on the I-75 highway through Kentucky.

It’s kind of surreal to think about just how much has changed from the road trips of my youth, where our time spent in the family station wagon consisted of coloring books and games of calling out the states of license plates. I recall fondly trying to re-fold state highway maps before you miss your exit.

Now, however, I’m able to amuse myself by watching streamed television courtesy of Hulu, while the GPS automatically calls out directions to attactions, hotels and fuel stations.

I don’t even have to wait until I get home to have the film from my camera developed, as now I can take snapshots of interesting things I see along the way, then upload them to a photo hosting site like flickr or even just email them to friends and family directly.

Times have certainly changed, and I for one am enjoying it one digitally mobile mile at a time.