Author Archives: Adam West

About Adam West

Adam is avid computer and electronics hobbyist. He and his young family call central Texas home. His love of the application of multimedia and electronics has lead him to Families.com, where he writes for the Computers, Internet, and Electronics blog. He understands the importance of providing understandable, relevant information about computers and electronics to Familes.com readers.On another front, Adam holds a Master of Science in Social Work degree and researches reasons for commitment and commitment-related decisions in dating and romantic relationships. He and his colleagues have developed an online educational tool for educating individuals about commitment-related decisions.

Is HDTV already obsolete?

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Are you one of millions of people around the world who have bought a high definition television (HDTV) set? Are you thinking about buying a new television and are unsure if you should buy a HDTV capable set? You may be interested to know that a potential replacement for HDTV is already beginning to make the news rounds. “Ultra-high-definition” is poised to replace current HDTV standards, but not anytime soon. For a quick review of the various types of televisions currently on the market, including HDTV, check out a blog I wrote about digital television sets. Ultra-high-definition is still in … Continue reading →

Blue-ray vs. HD DVD

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Earlier, we discussed next generation DVDs that are ready to take the market by storm. Now, I want to give brief introductions to the two competing formats. I’ll save the technical discussion for another time and place, but want to give you just a few bits of information about both Blue-ray and HD DVDs. Blue-ray The Blue-ray format was first created and developed by the Blue-ray Disc Association, which includes the electronics giants, Sony and Phillips. Blue-ray discs (BD) can hold more data than HD DVDs, but also will probably cost a little bit more to buy. BD capacity is … Continue reading →

Next generation DVDs

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Have you amassed a large collection of DVDs? Well, I have (well over 300). I just love watching movies and old TV shows on DVD over and over again. And when I read in the newspapers that my DVD collection is going the way of cassette tapes, I get a little worried. I have had others ask me if they should stop buying DVDs in their current format and wait until the next generation of DVDs hit the market. That’s a tough question to answer, but so far I usually answer something along the lines of “it’s up to you,” … Continue reading →

Online National Sex Offender Public Registry

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Yesterday, I reported again on the ongoing series that Dateline NBC is doing about Internet predators (you can read my first report here). Today, I want to point out a Department of Justice Web site that you may want to check out. It is the National Sex Offender Public Registry. You may be surprised to find out who is or is not living near your neighborhood. National Sex Offender Public Registry www.nsopr.gov I know that this isn’t the most fun topic to talk about, but we need to keep raising awareness in others if we are going to help protect … Continue reading →

Child Predators exposed on national TV

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Dateline NBC is back again with it’s fourth installment of exposing online child predators. “To Catch a Predator IV” began its four-part run on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 on NBC. You can catch the rest of the series each of the next three Wednesdays, beginning on May 3, 2006 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Go to Dateline’s Web site for a re-cap on previous investigations. Two years ago, Dateline began a series of investigations they call, “To Catch a Predator.” With help from local law enforcement and Perverted-Justice.com, Chris Hansen leads the investigations to expose adults trolling the Internet looking for … Continue reading →

Know your computer components – Memory

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A few weeks ago we began discussing various computer components. We talked about the motherboard and processor as some of the main components of your computer. Today we’ll cover introduce memory. I’ll leave a technical discussion of memory for another time. There are various types of memory that are contained within your computer. The most commonly discussed memory is system memory. When someone asks, “How much memory do you have in your computer,” they are usually referring to system memory. System memory is part of what determines how many applications your computer can handle at one time. Among other things, … Continue reading →

Instant Messaging – The next security threat

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Instant messaging (IM) has become a very popular medium for communicating over the Internet. With so many available services like MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger, it is no wonder why so many people are flocking to use the free software. Don’t think that it’s just teenagers and their friends using IM services either. Hackers and other would-be computer intruders are now using IM as a way to put viruses, worms, spyware, and other types of malicious software on your computer. In fact, IM is catching up to e-mail as one of the main sources of malicious computer … Continue reading →

Screenshot software

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If you want a little more functionality with your screen captures, you may want to think about investing in a professional screen capture utility. Most software packages can be purchased for $30-$50 and are easily downloaded via the Internet. You can capture as well as edit screenshots with most packages that you can buy. If you are wondering what screenshots are all about, check out an introduction to screenshots. You can read about basic screen capturing that doesn’t require any special software (expect and operating system). Writer’s UA reviewed a number of screenshot utilities back in December 2005. Check out … Continue reading →

Creating screenshots without any special software

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Screenshots are digital pictures that you take of your computer screen. You don’t need a digital camera or any special equipment to do so. You can use special software, but it’s not required. Earlier, I introduced screenshots and some of their uses. Now, I want to give a quick guide to capturing screenshots and then later today introduce some of the more popular screenshot capture utilities. Capturing screenshots without any special software Both Microsoft Windows 2000 & XP, as well as Mac OS X can capture screen images. Microsoft Windows The Print Screen key (sometimes Prnt Scrn) will capture the … Continue reading →

Screenshots – Capture pictures of your computer screen

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Screenshots are very useful and easy to create. Today, I want to introduce screenshots, answering a few questions I have received from readers about them. What is a screenshot? Quite simply, it is a picture of all or part of what is being displayed on your computer monitor. Screenshots are also sometimes called screen captures or screen dumps. While most people tend to use the terms synonymously, others use each term to distinguish the type of screenshot being taken. For example, some will only use the term screen capture to describe capturing video of your screen over time. For general … Continue reading →