Latest from Twitter: Changed my avatar. It is actually me, well more lens than me. However I still think it is the first time I've used an avatar that is me.
 

Free Memory Upgrade Scam

<p>I hate captchas and think they should be kicked off the internet. </p>

<p><!– s9ymdb:52 –><img width=”290″ height=”60″ style=”float: left; border: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;” src=”http://zacgarrett.com/uploads/captcha.gif” alt=”" />To understand my hatred of these one will have to know the definition of a <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha”>captcha</a>. They are those little images that one has to type in to prove they are a human. Everyone knows them, but most do not have a name for them. </p> Continue Reading »

Site Updates

SPORK!I’ve been tweaking the site to add more features, but keep the simplicity of the design. I added a right navigation bar that is primarily used to provide additional resrouces people might find interesting. All of the main site navigation should is still in on the left.

An email updates option has been added to the left hand side. You can use this option to recieve email updates whenever the site is updated. The emails are powered by feedburner, so if you have any problems let me know. Continue Reading »

Building vs Buying a Desktop

In the world of technology today one may wonder if they should build a desktop or buy something from a large manufacturer. The answer to this question can be debated, but in my eyes it is determined by the user’s skill level. If the person is a complete computer novice, then by all means buy a prebuilt computer. It will better suit their needs and not cause a massive headache when it does not function properly. On the other hand, if the user is looking to get the best bang for the buck is building a computer the best option? Continue Reading »

Apple Keyboard Review

Recently I was in need for an external keyboard for my home system. I was looking at quite a few keyboards on the market, but the issue was almost all of them were for Windows. Being used to typing on a MacBook Pro I decided to go with the new wired keyboard from Apple. Continue Reading »

PHP Image from RSS

I recently had the urge to create an forum signature from my RSS feed. My first step was to find a open source RSS parser that is done in PHP. I found a little application called MagpieRSS. This little script parses any RSS feed and puts them into an array that you can use. Continue Reading »

Linux for End Users

Today I saw an article by Walt Mossberg, a well known tech journalist, on the subject of Linux for the average user; more specifically, the Dell computers with preinstalled Ubuntu. Mossberg covers many issues that are wrong with Linux today, from a touchy mouse to the volume program crashing. Continue Reading »

Word 2007 Quotation Marks

As a followup to yesterdays post on quotation marks in Pages.app I felt the need to find the same setting in Office 2007 to disable “smart quotes”.

As I now knew what I was looking for the answer was quite simple, a search for “Word 2007 smart quotes” brought up the online Office help.

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options.

2. Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.

3. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, do the following:

Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and under Replace as you type, select or clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box.

Click the AutoFormat tab, and under Replace, select or clear the “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes” check box.

Pages.app Quotation marks

I’ve been trying to use an actual word processor for writing posts for a while now. My problem has been a really simple one; quotation marks. In both MS Word and Pages.app the default setting is for “smart quotes”, these are quotation marks which open and close depending on their location in the document. This is just fine if you are writing a normal paper, but if you plan on publishing it to the web and are working with HTML it will break things. Continue Reading »

MySQL should no longer be used

Several years ago if you wanted to created a dynamic site with PHP the only logical choice one could make was to use MySQL as the database server. There were other database servers on the market, but they were either not free or there wasn’t enough support to warrant it. Continue Reading »

Analog TV Channels Going Dark, Now What?

In February 2009 TV broadcasters will be forced to disable analog TV broadcasting. Thus freeing up the spectrum for other uses. This is a huge deal seeing that these wireless frequencies are very powerful. Analog TV signals are capable of going great distances and they will penetrate walls very well. Now that we know that the spectrum is going to be freed up in early 2009 it is time to speculate on what it can be used for. Continue Reading »