Guest post – Page 3 – Paul's Tech Talk

Electric Cars Deliver More Value for Money

PaulNovember 14, 2013

Electric cars are great for the environment but somewhat less friendly on the wallet. Because of their battery packs, electric cars tend to cost between $8,000 and $15,000 more than comparable gasoline-powered sedans before federal tax and state clean tax credits, as The Washington Post reports. Through researching new vehicles, you’ll find the price differential may finally be narrowing, if the current crop of electric vehicles is any indication. Here in no particular order are some of the best electric cars for your money:

2013 Ford Focus Electric: Value for Money

Photo by Mariordo via Wikimedia Commons

With a base price of $39,200, according to U.S. News and Rankings, the electric version of Ford’s popular sedan is not exactly inexpensive. But it does offer considerable value for the money. Perhaps not too surprisingly, a lot of the car’s affordability stems from its energy efficiency. According to Ford, the car delivers a substantial 110 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) in city driving conditions and 99 MPGe on the highway. The Focus EV comes equipped with a 6.6-kilowatt onboard charger that adds about 20 miles of additional driving capacity for each hour that the car is charged. Even though the Focus EV has an all-electric train, the car is no wimp. Its 107-kilowatt magnetic motor engine delivers a decent 143 horsepower of thrust and 184 foot-pounds of torque. The car has a top speed of 84 miles per hour and goes from zero to 60 in 9.2 seconds.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Deceptively Large

Photo by David Villarreal Fernandez via Wikimedia Commons

Mitsubishi’s all-electric, egg-shaped oddity has the distinction of being rated the most fuel-efficient car in the country by the Environmental Protection Agency. The 2012 model of the vehicle delivers 126 MPGe in city driving and 99 miles for highway driving, according to JD Power. It can go up to 62 miles on a full battery and can be charged in less than 7 hours with a 240-volt recharger. The i-MiEV’s rear-mounted 49-killowatt magnetic motor engine delivers a modest 48 horsepower of thrust, but that’s enough to push the car up to a maximum speed of 81 miles per hour. The i-MiEV, which stands for Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle, looks almost cartoonishly small from the outside but has a surprisingly large interior capable of seating four adults comfortably. With a starting price tag of less than $30K, the i-MiEV is one of the least expensive electric vehicles currently available.

2013 Chevy Volt: Hybrid Design

Photo by Mariordo via Wikimedia Commons

The Chevy Volt is not strictly an all-electric vehicle but rather a hybrid that runs on both gasoline and electricity. With a suggested retail price of more than $39,000, the Volt is in the same price class as the Ford Focus EV, but that’s where most of the comparisons end. As a hybrid vehicle, the Volt travels a lot longer on a full-charge than all-electric options do. The Volt can go 300 miles on a full battery and a full tank of gas, which is well more than double the distance offered by other electric vehicles like the Focus EV. The Volt takes about 10 hours to charge using an ordinary household outlet and qualifies for all federal and state tax credits for green vehicles.

Nissan Leaf: Popular Choice

Photo by Tennen-Gas via Wikimedia Commons

No lineup of affordable electric vehicles is complete without the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf was the first truly affordable zero-emissions electric vehicle. It continues to be a popular choice among those making the switch to green technology. The car has a driving range of between 60 miles to 95 miles on a fully-charged battery and takes about 10 hours to charge at a standard residential power outlet. The car’s 24-kilowatt lithium ion battery pack delivers 107 horsepower and 187 foot-pounds of torque, according to Nissan’s website, making it fairly zippy for an electric vehicle. The car goes from zero to 60 in about 9 seconds and has a respectable maximum speed of 90 miles per hour. Pricing for the Leaf starts at just over $36,000, putting it on par with most other electric vehicles.

Stacy Simpson

Stacy is working toward her masters in urban sustainability. When grad school isn’t ruling her life, she likes to blog about local green initiatives.

Protect Your Consoles From Hacks and Phishing

PaulOctober 12, 2013

Only a few years ago, the largest threat to a gamer involved having to blow the dust out of their cartridges. Today, Hacking NetFlix reports that three out of four current-generation console owners utilize an Internet connection for gaming and streaming, making them vulnerable to identity thieves who prey on gamers. Today’s consoles provide an all-in-one entertainment device, but this makes them vulnerable to all the safety hazards of online play and communication. How can you protect yourself when playing online?

Xbox Live

Due to the necessity of using a credit card to access Xbox Live, Microsoft’s gaming console has proven a prime target for hackers. BehindTheGames reported in May of this year that a particularly effective hacking protocol left nearly fifty million users exposed to identity theft. Turning off Xbox Live will prevent digital identity theft, but makes you unable to enjoy your games online. Instead of cutting yourself off, you can get a Hard Drive Transfer Kit (this comes standard on new 120 GB Xbox 360 units) that transfers information from one hard drive to another, so that your information remains backed up and you can swap out the sensitive data when you want to play online.

Playstation Network

Since Playstation offers its online services for free, fewer hackers try to break into the console digitally. Keep in mind, “fewer” does not mean “none”, and Sony made headlines in 2011 when their online breach put millions of customers at risk. Ars Technica reported that they were fined just under half a million dollars for the security fault. The good news is that all of your information on a Playstation can be protected by simply placing all data onto one of the removable ports, loading it onto a USB drive, and taking the drive out. While your information remains digitally stored, hackers have a very long way to go before they find out how to remotely hack an unconnected USB drive.

Wii

With only about fifty percent of Wii users logging onto the Internet to play, Nintendo has avoided the data breach scandals of its competitors. In fact, their biggest brush with hacking comes from the pirates who try to “crack” or “brick” units to play modified games. Nintendo Life reports that the company has tested its new Wii-U against external hacks and found it to be “uncompromised”. What’s more, their data protection service is easier than any other. Simply go into the Wii shop channel and choose “remove account” in settings and features. This wipes your credit card and identity information, which you can simply re-enter whenever you want to make an online purchase.

Online Accounts

Credit card fraud and identity theft becomes common when a person fails to wipe their console of information, but console hacking can be prevented rather than retroactively dealt with. You can protect yourself by using LifeLock services against all-purpose identity theft, whether it stems from bogus emails or hackers. Lifelock advice applies to consoles, as well, according to its website. It’s recommended to use pre-paid credit cards for online purchases, so that a hacker who does get hold of a credit card number has stolen only chump change.

Julius Ballard

Julius is a blogger skilled in speaking technobabble to describe his two loves: gadgets and computers. LifeLock is a Sponsor to my webpage and anything you buy with that link will give me a commission so feel free to support my site!

4 Gadgets Every Techie Should Have

PaulSeptember 23, 2013

If you consider yourself a techie, you need the right tools in your arsenal to keep up to date in today’s rapidly changing world. It’s easy to confuse yourself with what seems to be the next greatest product. That said, every techie should focus on getting these four essentials before they branch out to what would be considered extra.

A Smartphone

For starters, every techie needs a smartphone, which will keep you up to date on everything going on in the tech world. There is always going to be the debate about whether you should purchase an iPhone or other model. The choice is completely up to you, since every techie has their reasoning for which they chose. Be prepared to defend your decision against other techies, because there will never be consensus. Be wise in your smartphone choice because your smartphone will become your right hand man.

A Tablet

The next best thing for a techie would be a tablet. The benefits of the tablet seem to be endless. Most people see a tablet as just a larger version of a smartphone, but there is so much more to a tablet than meets the eye. A tablet is really a smaller, more portable computer. In fact, today’s tablets have become so powerful that they have the capability of running faster than a lot of computers. Tablets give you certain application functions and internet browsing speeds that you would otherwise miss out on if you were using a smartphone. Tablets are big enough to give you access to a full keyboard, just as you would on a computer.

A Computers

As obvious as this next one might sound, in today’s world, people are tending to skip out on purchasing a computer. However, computers will always have the most capability when it comes to internet browsing. It likely won’t ever be beaten in software capability. A computer provides access to useful programs such as Photoshop and Microsoft Office that you just can’t duplicate on a Smartphone or Tablet. Computers nowadays are seen as kind of clunky, but they aren’t ‘big’ for no reason – they have much more memory and overall storage ability. For at least the next decade, there will be certain things that can only be done on a computer.

That Watch

Finally, every techie needs their very own techie watch. They’ve advanced, bu it can get a bit pricey. After all, nobody said being a true techie would be cheap. For the right price, you can purchase a watch that displays the weather, your heart rate, bits of news, and of course the time and date. Some techies prefer the even higher-tech bracelets, such as Nike fuel bands that track physical movements and distance covered, but they come at a pretty penny.

Vanessa Alvarez writes all about technology. Her recent work is on the Top Online Software Engineering Programs.

4 Essential Elements for Your Parents’ IT Care Package

PaulSeptember 14, 2013

Your parents know how to turn on the computer and are getting better at sending texts. But let’s face it, they are basically clueless when it comes to technology. Have you ever once seen your mom pick up that iPad you and your brother chipped in to get her for Christmas? Probably not unless she’s reading a book. She doesn’t know how to use it. Now that you’re away at college and the other kids are already out of the house, your parents are floating around in technological darkness.

Since you’re not at their beck and call for tech support anymore, give them a helping hand. They’ve sent you plenty of care packages of the comforts of home since you’ve been at school. Why not do the same for them with an IT care package? Include items allowing your parents to handle their Internet and tablet needs on their own (or by you, remotely).

Spyware Protection

Most parents don’t have a clue how to protect their computers from spyware. They may not even know how important it is to do that or how easy it is for someone to hack into their computer. Fortunately, you do know and you can help them. Teach them how to avoid spyware by sending them your favorite anti-spyware program with instructions for how to install and use it. Include the tech support number for their Internet service provider if they have any trouble removing existing spyware from their computer. They’ll love you for it once they realize how important this is to computer security.

Skype

It’s inevitable. Your parents will need personal help from you every now and then until you get them independent enough to handle computer issues on their own. Send them to Skype and instruct them to download it. If they have a real problem that only you can solve, they can have a face to face conversation with you and you can walk them through it until they get it right. Just make sure they know that Skype is like the Batphone as far as you’re concerned — they should only use it to contact you in a computer-based emergency. You’re not a one-person tech support department who is always on call and this is something your parents have to learn.

Remote Assistance

Sometimes, even an in-person conversation isn’t enough to help parents solve their tech problems. You’ve simply got to do it yourself. In the past, this might have been a problem if you were across the country at school. Now, you can take charge of your parents’ computer wherever you are with Remote Assistance for Windows. This will only work if they have a PC, but most parents aren’t Mac-savvy (as you discovered with the iPad incident).

Remote access can be installed on both your computer and theirs. You can use it to simply get into their computer and fix the problem for them. Remind them that this option is to be used even less frequently than Skype. Ask them to consider Remote Assistance the 9-1-1 call of tech support for you. There may be financial penalties for misusing it, just like in the real world, such as having to send you extra gas or grocery money this month.

Google

This is probably the simplest solution to any computer problem. It’s also the one your parents are most likely to overlook. Send them a big sticky note with the word Google.com written on it in their IT care package. Remind them that any tech question they have can often be answered by Googling it and then following the instructions found on a website Google provides. This should save a lot of unnecessary phone, Skype and Remote Assistance sessions with you, so you can finally untie those tech support apron strings and start to enjoy the college life at last, knowing your parents are on their way to becoming IT independent.

If You Cherish Your Identity, Start Paying Attention…

PaulJune 27, 2013

Identity theft is a growing concern for many consumers, especially we increasingly conduct business online and share our personal information on social media. Pittsburgh’s WPXI reports that identity theft occurs at the whopping rate of once per every three seconds. Even for people who keep much of their personal information as private as possible, recent security breaches at several major organizations show that no individual is safe from a loss of personal data, regardless of their personal habits.

For example, a security breach at the national payroll company ADP recently exposed the names and social security numbers of nearly 5,000 Houston government employees, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently settled a case in which the names, social security numbers and dates of birth of 26.5 million veterans and their families were stolen. Situations such as these are, unfortunately, out of consumers’ hands.

However, there are ways people can protect themselves and their family members from identity theft, even if their personal data is somehow compromised. Several companies are rolling out additional identity theft protection services every day.

Banking Trends

One industry implementing its own identity theft precautions is banking. Most banks offer customizable account alerts, but many consumers may never look into the advanced area of their control panels. Consumers who do want to take advantage of account alerts may be surprised to see what they can control. Account holders can get texts, emails or even calls in the event of suspicious activity or low account balances. Many banks can also alert clients if there are transactions larger than specific amounts on their accounts.

Credit Reports

The three major credit reporting bureaus all offer credit score and credit report monitoring services. These agencies can alert you to any inquiries to your credit reports or any adverse actions noted on their credit reports. Consumers can also freeze their reports in events they believe their personal information has already been compromised. Credit reports should be requested on an annual basis from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, to make sure there is no suspicious activity.

Options for High-Risk Consumers

Certain consumers may be at higher risks of identity theft. These consumers include those who do a lot of transactions online or otherwise have high levels of exposure. If this is you, consider using an identity theft protection service such as LifeLock for added security. This protection service detects any threats on an individual’s identity and sends alerts if anything suspicious occurs. It also helps consumers track their credit scores and allows them to view their reports at any time.

Do you use any identity theft protection yourself? Tell us your preferred services in the comments.

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Heidi Diamond

Heidi is a grad student working on a Ph.D in linguistics and communication. When she’s not studying and blogging, you can find her jogging on the beach with her beloved golden retrievers.