Question: Beth asks, "How do I 'clear my cache' and what does that mean, anyway?"
Answer: Well, Beth, that's a good question. For anyone who doesn't know, to "Clear the cache" means to delete your Temporary Internet Files. When the World Wide Web was invented back in 1993, almost no one had high-speed Internet. No, a 28.8Kbps modem was about all most folks had. See, you can't display a picture from the web without downloading it first. But since that took so long, you didn't want to do it any more than necessary. So if the person clicked their "Back" button, you didn't want them to have to re-download everything they'd just done. So one of the decisions Mozilla made with their first browser, called Mosaic, was to temporarily store copies on your computer of everything on a web page and web browsers ever since have done exactly that, even though it's largely unnecessary now. But; that's what the cache is and what it means. Now, how to clear it? In Internet Explorer, and other browsers are similar, click Tools, then Internet Options. Different versions of Internet Explorer use slightly different terms, but what you're looking for is a delete button on the General tab. If that's not there, look for one labeled Settings. You should find what you're looking for. We’ve got a link in the show notes to an article at WikiHow that shows you how to clear your cache for many different browsers.
Cool Site: Computer History Museum: My first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 that I got while I was in High School. I'm pretty sure that thing's a museum piece now. This week's cool site is a place you might get to see a Vic: the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. At computerhistory.org, you'll find information on how to visit them of course, but you can also find out about their exhibits. Not just the ones you'll see if you visit them, but they also have some online exhibits you can check out right from the website. In Visible Storage, you'll find out about printers to store output on paper, punch cards, processors and such. There's a "This Day in History" article. Today's is about Fairchild Semiconductor, the company the two founders of Intel came from. There's a lot more there than we can talk about, but overall, I plan to spend some more time at the site.
Cool Gadget: Wii Push Up Bar: Don't you just love the Wii? My daughter has one, and I hope she brings it with her for Spring Break. My pastor and his wife use Wii Fit to exercise, and today's gadget can help. I found this one on Ubergizmo, and it's called the Wii Push-up Bar. It's a pair of handles attached to a frame that fits on the Wii Fit balance board. The handles are adjustable, because the frame has two extra holes, giving you some variety in your grip for targeting different muscles.
It's All "Geek" To Me: Drop Down Menu: Today's term is "drop down menu". A drop down menu is a feature of a webpage or application where you have a horizontal list of menu items. When you click or point to one of those menu items, a list of other items drops down, hence the name. Most of the time, we leave off the "drop down" part, and just call it a menu.
