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Top 10 Most Techno-Savvy US Presidents

Kyle — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:41:23 +0000

Every year on February 20th, the people of the United States celebrate the birthday of our first president, George Washington, by shutting down vital parts of our national infrastructure such as banks, the DMV and the Post Office (and that’s about the extent of the festivities). In order to honor the progress that our country has made since the days of the founding fathers (including dentures that aren’t made of wood… or ivory, if you prefer historical accuracy), we have put together a list of the Top 10 Most Techno-Savvy US Presidents.

10. Millard Fillmore

Not exactly one of the most famous presidents, Fillmore’s only memorable actions as president were the establishment of the White House Library, and postponing the Civil War by about 11 years by giving in to the South’s demands (see: Compromise of 1850). Millard Fillmore was, however, the first president to have running water and a stove in the White House.

9. Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson is best known for dying in a one-on-one pistol duel with Aaron Burr. A less well-known fact is that Jackson was the first President to ride on a train while in office. In 1833, Andrew Jackson went for a 12-mile ride on the B & O railroad (we assume he then passed GO, and collected $200).

8. Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the United States and (in addition to being the president who looks most like Obi-Wan Kenobi) was partly responsible for passage of the Sherman AntiTrust Act, which was the first piece of legislation that attempted to limit the power of monopolies. Harrison was also -apparently- fond of being able to see at night, because he was the first president to have electric lights installed in the White House.

7. Rutherford B. Hayes

Even more obscure than Millard Fillmore is Rutherford B. Hayes, who is only really known for his attempted (and failed, we might add) veto of the Bland-Allison Act, which would return the country to a bimetallic (both silver and gold) money standard. Little do people know that Hayes was the first president to have a telephone, and his phone number was… wait for it… 1.

We are not making this up.

6. Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt, in addition to speaking softly and carrying a big stick, is famous for quite a number of things. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906, signed the Pure Food and Drug Act into law, created the National Parks system and had a smile bigger than Gary Busey. In addition to all of these contributions, Teddy Roosevelt was also involved in a lot of techno-presidential firsts: the first to ride in an airplane, first to be submerged in a submarine, first to own a car, and the first to have a telephone in his home.

5. Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding is a more well-known president than some of the others on our list, as his term marked the end of World War I, the creation of the League of Nations (which Harding adamantly opposed) and the Teapot Dome scandal which, before Watergate, was considered to be the greatest public scandal that the country had ever seen. Harding was also the first President to make an official statement over the radio airwaves, and the first to ride to his presidential inauguration in a car.

4. Harry S. Truman

The presidency of Harry S. Truman is one marred by the darker side of technology. During his term, the world saw the end of World War II, the creation of Israel, the birth of the United Nations, the NATO Treaty, the Nuremburg Trials and the first (and hopefully only) military use of nuclear weapons. The consequences of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still being felt to this day.

Also interesting to note, Truman was the first US President to lie to the American people about government knowledge of extraterrestrial life (see: Roswell Crash, Majestic 12). Just kidding… or are we?

3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

FDR was the only president to serve 4 terms in office, and his presidency saw the beginning of World War II, the repeal of prohibition (hooray!!) and the passage of the Social Security Act. FDR was also the first president to appear on that newfangled moving-picture-box called television.

2. Dwight D. Eisenhower

The thirty-fourth US president, affectionately known as “Ike”, was instrumental in the slow march toward the end of racial segregation in the south during the 1950s, deploying federal troops to Arkansas to enforce the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. Technologically speaking, Eisenhower helped to pave the way for humankind’s exploration of the “final frontier” by authorizing the creation of NASA.

Speaking of space travel, that brings us to…

1. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

When talking about JFK, most people focus on his assassination (which we won’t get into for the sake of time, and not wanting to shatter your fragile reality with conspiracy theories), but the technological accomplishments that occurred during (and because of) Kennedy’s presidency are among the most groundbreaking and awe-inspiring events of the 20th century.

On May 5th, 1961, Captain Alan Shepherd Jr. blasted off in the module Freedom 7, rocketing his way into history as the first American in space. 20 days later, President John F. Kennedy stood in front of Congress and the world, promising that by 1970, Man would walk on the moon. Right on schedule, guess what… we freaking did.

AutoCAD 2012 LT New Features

Kyle — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:35:42 +0000

In March, Autodesk released its 2012 product line, including AutoCAD 2012 LT. We understand that some people are hesitant to immediately upgrade to a new version of a software product before they really get a chance to see some of the new features, improvements and upgrades that have been made to the program. So, we have put together a little video overview of some of the cool new features in AutoCAD 2012 LT. We think you’ll be as amazed about the advancements made to this version as we were!

Right now, you can buy AutoCAD LT 2012 at mega-low prices and qualify for a $300 mail in rebate!

For all of the latest software tutorials, free software guides, licensing overviews and product tours, check out our YouTube page! Our subscribers have access to all of our news and videos, plus exclusive promo codes, discounts and free software giveaways!

Tether It Up on AT&T with iPhone OS 4.0 Beta

Lansia — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:50:44 +0000

Not too long ago, iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 was released! I’m not sure if this is old news — I admit, I’m a bit out of the loop…

But tethering! That has to be somewhat fresh news… iPhone OS 4.0 beta has a tethering option! iPhone user? Not excited? Yeah, I wasn’t very excited either when I read about it on Engadget, Boy Genius Report and Gizmodo. Why? I had no idea what tethering was until just a few minutes ago. What was all this hype over tethering!

Contrary to what I initially thought (it’s nowhere near a virtual game of iPhone tetherball), “tethering” is the use of a mobile device as a makeshift modem to connect another device to the internet. The connection is usually made through Bluetooth or a (USB, perhaps) cable. About.com gave the best breakdown I came across in my ADD-limited timespan spent looking up the term. Tethering is particularly useful when you have no other means to connect to the internet. It also may save a bit of dough if you already have an unlimited data plan — no need for a broadband or wireless access card when you can tether off your unlimited data plan. And it may also be more secure than surfing from a public wi-fi hotspot. When I think of tethering, I think of a cell phone… and a wireless card… meshed together. If that confuses you more, I apologize… Anyway, apparently, tethering is highly anticipated.

Now, that I know what tethering is… I’d say I’m more excited… uh… well, for those iPhone users (which I am not — I oddly live in the stone age when it comes to upgrading my tech; I blame this on lack of funds).

To set up tethering — navigate over to your settings to see the new option. A pop-up will ask if you want to set up tethering on this account, just go to the website and follow the directions. There’s a quick video of someone doing this below, for those… more visual learners.

If you aren’t seeing the option to set up tethering, just reset your network settings. Once you’ve got it set up, feel free to share your experiences, frustrations, likes, dislikes, and all that jazz.

Gizmodo iPhone Scoop Leads to iPhone Raid

Lansia — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:55:10 +0000

Everyone is excited for the new generation of iPhones. Maybe a bit too excited?

Gizmodo recently posted a huge scoop with photos and video for the next iPhone. But the police are questioning how editor Jason Chen acquired the iPhone prototype for his written review.

Last Friday night, California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team raided Chen’s home (while he was away, but with a search warrant) and confiscated four computers and two servers. There’s a lot of information regarding the situation and questions of legality are being thrown to both sides of the action.

According to TechCrunch, Gizmodo admits to paying $5000 for the alleged iPhone 4g prototype, but “contended the device was found at a bar, not stolen.” Gizmodo also contests, “the search warrant to remove these computers was invalid under section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code.” This code, sometimes referenced in part of the Shield Laws, states “no warrant shall issue for any items described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code.” Basically, it protects journalists from having to reveal their source(s) and includes any unpublished information. Does that apply to online blogs, such as Gizmodo? Well, the DA has currently halted the police investigation as they thoroughly mull over Gizmodo’s defense statements.

Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch asked Stephen Wagstaffe, Chief Deputy at San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, if it was “typical for the DA to evaluate the relevance of these shield laws after removing evidence.” Yep, “Wagstaffe did concede that it was unusual.”

The Business Insider says Chen may face up to one year in prison if “convicted of a felony for receiving stolen property or aiding a thief.” SND Readers, what do you think? Was Chen in the wrong? Were the police too quick to raid?

typical for the DA to evaluate the relevance of these shield laws after removing evidence

iPhone OS 4 Announced Today, Download It In SDK Now

Lansia — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:20:03 +0000

It’s not any sort of secret that Apple unveiled the new 4th generation iPhone operating system today. This will be the new OS powering iPhones, iPods and the recently released iPad. Of course, like all things Apple, this is just the tease… the developer preview as some call it… iPhone OS 4 won’t ship out until at least this summer and not until fall for the iPad.

So what’s the biggest new feature that OS 4 has and none of the others have? Multi-tasking. “We’re not the first to this party, but we’re gonna be the best. Just like cut and paste,” says Steve Jobs. Yeah, what does that mean, exactly? I wondered the same thing when I tried to get the scoop from a friend (unfortunately, I was unable to check out the event as it occurred).

Multi-tasking, cut to the skinny of it, brings in better capabilities to run multiple programs. The iPhone OS 4 utilizes a dock for applications that are running. This makes it easy to jump from program to program… multi-task. Jobs speaks of an example:

I’m gonna launch mail, this has a URL — so I jump to safari — so I want to go back to mail… I double click the home button and a window raises that shows me all the apps that are running. Now I want to go to ebay — I go right to where I left off in the apps, now I want to play a game — now I want to play a game, Tap Tap Revenge, it keeps me where I was. Again, the game stops, let me go back and look at mail. And again, I can go home anytime I want. Boom I’m home. Make sense? Really simple UI, puts all the apps at the bottom that are running…

Other capabilities in regards to multi-tasking include:

running Pandora in the background (music won’t stop when you switch apps)
VoIP for Skype-ing (stay logged on, even while using other apps)
Push notifications now will be “Local notifications” (no longer need to use Apple servers)
Task completion (continue a task, such as uploading photos to Flickr, in the background while doing other things)
Fast app switching (save the current state you are at with one app, switch to another, return to the same state for previous app)

Moving on… so what other cool features were mentioned in the preview today? Here are a couple of my picks…

Folders
Rather than flipping through page onto page for an individual application you are looking to launch… consolidate a logically grouped bunch of applications into a folder — less flipping through pages. Will, say, 2,000 apps be enough? OS 4 allows you to have over 2,000 apps on your iPhone now…

Unified Inbox
All your mail in one place, with the addition of multiple Exchange accounts. ‘Nuff said (sorry to sound thug-like, but the occasion called for it…)!

If you are interested in reading more, Engadget has a live blog from the events held earlier today; they also have a video preview. The Business Insider has a quick and simple slide show explaining the seven features highlighted by Apple. Or if you are just looking to recap every single moment of today’s iPhone OS 4 developer preview, watch the entire event at Apple.

Oh, yes, developers can download the SDK (software developer kit) version of iPhone OS 4 already. Check that out here: iPhone Dev Center.

190,000 Responses and Counting for Google’s Super-Speedy Fiber Network Internet

Lansia — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:14:35 +0000

Have you been itching to ride the experimental Google Fiber network? Dustin and I have been rooting for Google to build in our Salt Lake suburb. Bigger, stronger, faster!! Internet!!!!!!

In this day and age where many of us can’t get through the day without going online (and checking Facebook), Google decided to venture into the world of fiber-optic-speed Internet service. Must I reiterate my theory on how Google will eventually dominate the world? Let’s see… there’s the phone business (Nexus One), office software (Google Docs), politics, map services, Internet browser (Chrome), computer platform (Chrome OS), energy — am I missing anything?

Well, today Google posted a blog stating over 600 communities and 190,000 individual responses have all been rooting for Google to build a fiber network in their backyard — not literally, of course, just figuratively. Dustin and I have come to accept the fact that we just may not be competing hard enough. Topeka, Kansas was one of the first reasons we came across that proved the fiber fight would be a tough one. I mean, the mayor changed the name of their city to Google! And if that’s not enough, the Duluth, Minnesota “mayor” declared all firstborn males be named “Google Fiber.” If it’s a first born female? Well, “Googlette Fiber” of course.

Today is the last day before Google takes down their Request for Information. A more definitive number of responses will be posted on their blog later today. Then, “over the coming months, we’ll be reviewing the responses to determine where to build,” says Google product manager, James Kelly. Google plans on thoroughly reviewing each response and thoroughly researching each possible site before making any final decisions.

Google will be announcing their “target community or communities by the end of the year.” Kelly also tells us, “our plan is to reach a total of at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people with this experiment.”

HEY GOOGLE — does this article help our cause for Salt Lake?! C’mon Salt Lake City!!

Adobe Sets CS5 Launch Date Set for April 12th!

Lansia — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:22:45 +0000

Michael and Kevin hit me with a few links today that mention Adobe‘s April 12th launch of Creative Suite 5. I’ll admit, I’m stoked (my wallet may not be, but I am)!! I’m even more stoked after seeing sneak peek for the Content-Aware Fill tool in Photoshop CS5 — keep reading to see what I’m talking about…

It’s all been very exciting here at SoftwareMedia.com — some of us looking at it as a great marketing opportunity and others of us just projecting our Adobe Creative Suite nerd-self. However, before you start checking your bank statements to make sure you’ve got the cash to shell out for this new edition, CS5.org reminds us…

Before you get too excited, let’s get one thing straight: This is the unveiling, or basically an introduction to the public. Adobe is going so far as to call it a “launch” day but you will not be able to buy the software that day. Adobe has not announced a release day yet, but October 2010 makes sense to me (just a guess).

Never fear. Even before the April 12th launch, Adobe has an incredible… jaw-dropping… eye-popping… mind-blowing… earth-shattering…. uh okay, it’s just insane MAGIC before your eyes. Check out this video demonstration of the Content-Aware Fill tool in the soon-to-come Photoshop CS5:

What did I tell you? MAGIC! Make sure to head over to the launch site so you can join the launch event with Adobe in April.

Download and Preview Microsoft Internet Explorer 9

Lansia — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:55:26 +0000

Microsoft gave a “platform preview” for Internet Explorer 9 this morning at the Mix10 conference in Vegas, a tech conference for web designers and developers. There are still many stages to go before IE9 hits beta — the address bar is missing, browsing buttons and security features are not there yet either. Since “this build is simply a first look at the work Microsoft has done so far and is ready to share with its developer community,” Microsoft announced, it still “loads and renders Web pages using the Internet Explorer 9 platform.” Feel free to check it out for yourself at the test drive site or, to get you started, here are the highlights:

Heavy focus on HTML5 support — IE general manager Dean Hachmovitch says, “Done right, HTML5 apps will feel more like real apps than Web pages.”
New Javascript engine, “Chakra” — ZDNet tells us this new engine is “built to take advantage of two cores” due to the demands of heftier HTML5 apps
Accelerated HTML and graphics rendering
Support for Vista and higher — no Windows XP support…

IE9 appears to be promising. Molly Holzschlag, a web standards advocate, says it’s going to “kick butt.” If you are interested in a play by play from this morning’s presentation, Ina Fried at CNET’s Beyond Binary has a live blog of the event.

iPad Pre-Orders Started Today, Hit 50,000+ in the First 2 Hours?!

Lansia — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:49:27 +0000

Pre-orders for the iPad started this morning bright and early at 5:30 AM, Pacific time. This is just for the United States — for those across seas, iPad sales won’t begin until late April. Both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models are available now at the Apple store. Apple iPad accessories are also available for order — keyboard dock, dock, power adapter, case, headphones, etc…

After just two hours at sale, MacRumors tells us Victor Castroll from Fortune reported an estimated “51,000 orders in two hours.” Insane, but definitely not a shock. In 2007 when the iPhone first came out, Engadget says 270,000 units sold in the first 30 hours of sales. Could the iPad beat those numbers?

If you are still trying to weigh out the cons and pros of getting an iPad, I came upon two articles arguing each side. Dan Frommer at Business Insider “Just Ordered an iPad: Here’s Why.” And SmartMoney takes a hard look at whether or not you should pre-order an iPad. Note that Apple only allows a two per customer pre-order limit.

Google Reader Adds a Bit of Snap, Crackle and Pop

Lansia — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:48:24 +0000

Google Labs just released a snazzed up version of Google Reader, a web-based aggregator for reading Atom and RSS feeds. Appropriately named Google Reader Play, the web-app requires no initial set-up and still “adapts to your tastes.” Keep in mind, this new application does not replace Google Reader — it’s just a fun read.

Items are presented in a full-screen format, one at a time, with easy arrow buttons to move back and forth. There’s a “like” button and the option to choose categories to personalize your feed even more. Algorithms used in Google Reader for Recommended Items are also used in Reader Play to generate a custom feed. “It takes into account your past reading behavior and global signals,” according to the Reader Help section. Although Google Reader Play does not require a Google account for access, signing in will allow you to “star” items and provide better feed customization.

Only playing with Reader Play for a few minutes, it’s definitely more visually appealing than Reader, itself. The viewer presents items via slideshow (or not, you can turn this off) in “magic” mode or in their original layout. “Magic” mode gives the items more pop by filling the screen with the most eye-catching item (graphic or video — if it’s just text, it makes the text bigger, basically). Try it out for yourself and tell us what you think.