Rick's Daily Tips

$667 Apple 1 computer sells at auction for $365,000

Posted on December 15, 2014

apple-1-auction Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer Corporation on a shoestring back in the 1970’s with Wozniak hand-building approximately 200 Apple 1 computers, which Jobs then sold for a then-hefty $667 each.

According to the Apple 1 Registry, only 63 of those hand-built Apple 1’s are known to still be in existence. One of them just sold at auction for a whopping $365,000!

This particular machine is the last one known to be hand-built by Wozniak and then sold by Jobs. It’s amazing what a little nostalgia and rarity can do to an item’s price tag.

Lenovo recalls power cords for half a million laptops. Is yours one of them?

Posted on December 14, 2014

If you own a Lenovo laptop you should check ASAP to see if its power cord has been recalled.

The company has just announced a giant recall of approximately 500,000 Lenovo laptop power cords because they could possibly over-heat and catch fire. [Read more…]

3 fast and easy ways to switch user accounts in Windows 8.1

Posted on December 12, 2014

windows-8-1 If more than one person uses your PC, you probably each have your own user account. If not, you really should! If you do, you might be wondering how to switch from one user account to another without having to reboot the computer every time.

It’s actually quite fast and easy to switch user accounts in Windows 8.1. Here are three ways to do it, depending on which screen you happen to be on at the time: [Read more…]

Do you hate dealing with passwords? Before long you might not have to.

Posted on December 10, 2014

Passwords have been the primary means of authenticating the identities of computer users for decades, but that might not be the case for too much longer.

A consortium known as The FIDO Alliance (aka Fast IDentity Online) has just released specifications for alternate methods of verifying a user’s identity using biometric sensors and physical identity tokens. [Read more…]

Check out this jacket that can charge your mobile devices. Yes, really.

Posted on December 9, 2014

I guess you could file this one under the “Now I’ve seen it all!” category.

Clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger is now selling a jacket that comes with detachable solar panels that produce electricity for charging the mobile devices that you carry around in your pockets.

Regular readers of this blog are well aware that I’m all about innovations in technology, but there are just some innovations that are perfectly welcome to pass me by. And a solar panel jacket is one of them.

Don’t get me wrong – I can see the benefits of having your clothing power your gadgets, but it just seems to me like there are tons of alternative options out there that are a lot less expensive and, quite frankly, a lot more attractive. [Read more…]