I have no clue what that means...

I was talking with someone who just got a new "smart phone"... you know, one of those phones that is really a computer. She said "I hate that it's called a smart phone- it makes me feel dumb!"

Here is a helpful vocabulary list you can use to learn some of the terminology. If you like it, you might want to sign up for the free emails from Worldstart.com.

http://www.worldstart.com/smartphone-tech-explained-simply/

Can your upgrade to Windows 8?

Worldstart Computers offers some easier to understand advice at:

http://www.worldstart.com/how-can-you-tell-if-your-pc-supports-windows-8/print/

There are links to articles and a list of requirements for your machine.

Better Passwords

How to create passwords that annoy the heck out of hackers...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/technology/personaltech/how-to-devise-passwords-that-drive-hackers-away.html?src=me&ref=general

Wikipedia is great, but...

You probably know about Wikipedia (you can find the English version at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, or multiple languages at www.wikipedia.org)

Wikipedia is a reference website, edited by volunteers from around the world.  Many of the volunteers are experts in their field.

If you like using Wikipedia, you might also like being able to compile a bunch of articles of your choice into a booklet that can be read on Kindle, Nook, your computer when it is offline, or even your smart phone. Here's a link that explains this process. It's quite easy!

http://lifehacker.com/5944128/create-ebooks-from-wikipedia-articles-for-on-the-go-reading-anywhere

Ways to Increase Online Privacy

Here's a huge list of tools to increase privacy while you're online. Some recommendations are easy; others are a bit more "techie". Remember, though, in truth, you can never ever be totally private or anonymous. There's a record "out there".

http://epic.org/privacy/tools.html