Agent: Certainly, sir. There are keyboard shortcuts for many of those commands. For example, suppose you want to trigger the Select All command…

Caller: Yes, I use that one all the time! How do I do it?

Agent: Well, you just press Control-A.

Caller (after a pause): Well, that’s not working for me.

Agent: Do you have a text document open in front of you?

Caller: Yes, I sure do.

Agent: OK, now press Control-A.

Caller: I am, but nothing happens.

Agent: The text isn’t highlighted?

Caller: No, there’s no change at all.

Agent: That’s odd. If you press Control-A, the whole document should be highlighted. Try it again. Press Control-A. Tell me exactly what’s happening.

Caller (nearing his Canadian breaking point): Listen. I’m pressing Control, eh? And nothing’s happening, eh?

I bought an Apple Airport Extreme.

Plugged it in, configured wireless security, and my mixed network of two Macs and one PC were surfing away.

BTW, wireless security NEVER worked on the Linksys.  Again, long searches on arcane combinations of setting the security.  Nope, Not gonna do it, said the Linksys.

I did configure it to allow only the three computers I specified to access the network, but I always wanted security to be in place.

Tonight, I get to see if my iPod Touch can connect to the Airport.  I have a strong hunch it will.  The iPod Touch and the linksys?   You know the answer.

Time has passed, and the early beginnings of the text-based Internet has evolved into the what you might have heard of recently as Web 2.0.  Geeks and techie types always number things - Version 1.0 being the first version, and newer versions having higher numbers).  So Web 2.0 it is - but just what qualifies as “Web 2.0?”

Blogging, online social networks, and online gaming all fall under the umbrella of Web 2.0  They are easy to easy access and use, in contrast to the early days of the Internet.  In 1989, for instance, you needed a fairly extensive knowledge of the underlying code used to make a web page (called HTML or XML - acronyms for Hyper Text Markup Language, and eXtended Markup Language).  You also had to know how to use FTP to upload the files needed for the web site.   

These technical capabilities, while still useful for creating advanced web sites, has been replaced by such things as Blogging, (derived from WeB-Logging) where a few clicks can put your message on the web for anyone to see.  Blogging, and the ‘bloggers” have taken the world of the online community by storm.

More popular bloggers have been granted press credentials, and are now considered a legitimate part of the media coverage of almost any news event, politics, or entertainment.

Many of these bloggers have also turned their blogging hobby into real income, as businesses will pay to have their commercials placed on the popular web sites.

Now, with a free account on Blogger (owned by Google), anyone can create a free web log that will be available instantly around the world.  Of course, not all bloggers fall into this elite group of paid bloggers.  Unless you have interesting ideas, now known as “content,” you will probably not make much money from your blog.  Most bloggers use their blog as a convenient way to share photos with family and friends, or write about hobbies, trips they’ve taken, or almost any topic under the sun.

The other biggest use of Web 2.0 is online communities, the most popular of which is Facebook.  While initially restricted to only college students, Facebook is now open to all age groups.  This part of Web 2.0 has unfortunately been used by unscrupulous persons to contact trusting minors, and parents who have children must be aware of any online community and monitor their use carefully.

Children must be taught never to give personal and contact information to anyone online, no matter how “friendly” the other person seems.  

A better alternative for concerned parents are “private” online communities, which restrict communication to only families, specific groups of friends, or clubs.  One such site is http://Multiply.com/.

From the web site - “Multiply gives you an easy way to share all kinds of digital media, including photos, blogs, videos, music and more, all in one convenient place: your own personal web site. With Multiply, you can share and discuss your stuff with everyone in your “social network,” and also be alerted whenever they have something new.”

Lastly, I cannot leave out the world of online gaming, which lets players with a paid monthly subscription join a fantasy world and play to gain powers and prestige in a virtual world.  One of the most popular of the MMORPG’s (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) is World of Warcraft.  You may have seen television commercials advertising this game.  You will need a high-speed cable connection, plus a fairly up-to-date computer to play these games.

As Always, Happy Surfing! 

So I have got the site back up, but the posts are in limbo land.  I’m not sure if I can recover them without more “issues” cropping up, but, sometimes, a fresh start is a good thing.

 I had about three years of posts, but, let’s face it - Hemingway I’m not.  I might try to re-create some of the posts, but this will be a slow process.