Category: Technology

FreeRip Software Review

FreeRip is CD Ripper software that will take raw digital audio from a Compact Disc and save it as standard computer audio like an MP3. I have listed all the conversions possible at the bottom of this post. Like all rippers it will try to find your disc information on the web but if it cannot, or the previous person did a bad job with the file names

and information, you can edit them yourself, even add the Album Artwork if you wish. The program is free and I have tested it for years and it works great. They have a super deal, at the tome of this post, for $4.99 Pro version which lets you “take advantage of the multi core architecture of newer PCs,

spawning as many parallel file conversion tasks as the available CPUs. This means that converting, let’s say, 20 FLAC files to MP3 on dual core machine would take roughly half the time it would be needed on a single core machine with the same clock speed”. This was a mouthful from their website but it works. It will use your multiple processor cores to greatly speed up your downloading time which is extremely helpful if you have stacks of CD’s to process. This is not a paid review by any means, I just love this program!

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Boardwatch Magazine

Boardwatch Magazine, known as just Boardwatch, was for the people running Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Founded in Lakewood , Colorado by Jack Rickard in 1987 would transform into a trade magazine for Internet Service Providers (ISP) by the late 1990’s. It was a great resource with editorials and article on BBS and also (along with Computer Shopper Magazine) was a incredible resource to know what equipment and software was available .

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Atlanta Area Codes

It was back in 1947 when the North American Numbering plan (NANP) went into effect. Each telephone is assigned a seven-digit telephone number unique only within its respective plan area. The telephone number consists of a three-digit central office code and a four-digit station number. The combination of an area code and the telephone number serves

as a destination routing address in the public switched telephone network. In November of 1951 NANP was implemented by AT&T and Georgia had the area code of 404. My home phone was 404-475-7411 but we never dialed the area code to call any other 404 number. you didn’t even have to dial the whole number, if you were calling me you just had to dial 5-7411. In July of 1954 they split the Georgia area code into two, 404 for the north and 912 for the southern part. In May of 1992 they split 404 into two again,

404 serving the Atlanta area and 706 for the rest of the northern state. I believe this is when we had to start dialing the whole number, like 404-475-7411. In August of 1995 , just three years later, 404 is split again. 404 is now for inside the I-285 perimeter and 770 is added to serve the outskirts of Atlanta.

My phone number changed to 770-475-7411. I also got another phone line to support my modem and that number was 770-664-6250. Three more years passed and then in January of 1998 the boundaries of the 404/770 were erased and 678 area code was added. Things were changing, rapidly adding people, modems and now cell phones caused these fluctuations. In August of 2000 912 was split into thirds, 229 serving southwestern Georgia, 912 for Southeastern Georgia and 478 serving 19 counties in central Georgia. In September of 2001 470 was added to the 404/678 metro Atlanta area codes. In September 2005 they overlaid 762 with area code 706. When I got my cell phone I was given a choice of 404, 770 or 678 and I chose the latter, just to be different.

Clipboard Copiers

In Apple’s IOS14 users are notified when an application accesses the clipboard. That is when everyone realized that these companies have the ability to read whatever information you have stored like; passwords two-factor auth codes, photos and more.

This is not only Apple apps but Android too. Are these companies using your data for nefarious reasons? Most likely not, but if you are concerned clearing the clipboard or simple copying mundane data afterwards will stop any would be thieves. When tested, it turned out that Tik Tok was reading the clipboard every one to three keystrokes. Many companies have been called out and many have already turned off this feature and/or are working on resolutions. Below I’ll list a few companies if your interested and the video below does a good job explaining the issue.

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Tor

Tor is open-source software for enabling communications visiting websites, online posts, instant messages, etc anonymously.

While this free software protects you from network surveillance or traffic analysis, your network provider will still know you are using Tor. The acronym Tor stands for The Onion Network, the software’s original project name.

[From Wikipedia] In an onion network, messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to layers of an onion. The encrypted data is transmitted through a series of network nodes called onion routers, each of which “peels” away a single layer, uncovering the data’s next destination. When the final layer is decrypted, the message arrives at its destination. The sender remains anonymous because each intermediary knows only the location of the immediately preceding and following nodes.

Onion routing was first developed in the mid 90’s by the United States Naval Research Laboratory employees, mathematician Paul Syverson, computer scientists Michael G. Reed and David Goldschlag.

Motorola Digital Personal Communicator

This Motorola Digital Personal Communicator was my first cellular phone. I had Bellsouth Mobility, headquartered in Atlanta, as my provider. The phone was introduced in 1989 and replaced in 1991 by the Motorola MicroTac. I enjoyed using the phone and had pretty good success with connections, sometimes having to walk around to find a better signal or driving through a dead zone (GA 400 between Abernathy and North Springs).