Question: Annette has a question about Vista. When I turn on my Windows Vista computer, it says "Hibernating" and that’s all it does. What do I do?
Answer: Great question. What I'd suggest is to turn your computer off by pressing the power button and holding it in until the computer goes off. Then turn it back on and press the F8 key repeatedly until you get a black screen with a menu on it. From that menu, choose 'Last Known Good Configuration' and see if that allows the system to come up. If so, go to the show notes for this show and I'll have a link to Microsoft's instructions how to turn Hibernation on and off. Turn hibernation off, then back on to reset it and see if it restarts, hibernates and resumes OK.
Cool Site: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101: I couldn't tell you how many times I've heard someone say, "I'm not computer literate", which reminds me that we'll have classes at the Jacksonville Public Library starting up again soon. But I've found a website that you can use to get yourself up to speed at your own pace. It's called Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101. Here, you'll find lesson topics covering things like kinds of computers, types of storage, lessons on Windows, Word, Excel, the Web, Powerpoint, and Access. There's quite a bit there and it appears to cover everything we cover in the classes and then some. For Microsoft Office, the site uses the 2003 version of each program. This is not the version you'll get if you buy it now, but it's the version many businesses and offices have. We'll have a link to this site as well as a Microsoft site of free classes that will let you take the knowledge gained from this site and translate it to Office 2007 in the show notes.
Cool Gadget: Wowwee Paper Jamz: Wow wee this thing's cool. This week, we have the Wowwee Paper Jamz series of musical instruments. Capitalizing on the popularity of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the Wowwee company has developed for a Summer release, paper... yes paper... musical instruments that look and play like the real thing. The guitar will sell for $24.99. There will also be a drum kit, and a cardboard amp to round out the band. You've got to see the video! They use capacitive touch technology to let you play chords like a real guitar, you strum the strings like a real guitar, just no sore fingers. Couple this with online lessons (I'm sure you can find them somewhere) and for less than $50 you can learn to play guitar. It's just awesome what they can do with paper these days.
It's All "Geek" To Me: E-Reader: From the Cranky Geeks Video Podcast comes E-Reader. This is a handheld device specialized for reading electronic books. An example would be the Amazon Kindle, or Apple's new iPad.
