Over the Summer I’ll be making some directional changes for TechTraction (again).  Therefore, for the time being, I’ve disabled further comments on all posts.  I apologize for any inconvenience this change might cause.  I’d also like to thank all TechTraction visitors for your support.  Whether you simply read a post or read something and added to the conversation with a comment, I thank you.  When TechTraction returns to regular publishing in the Fall, it’ll focus completely on tech tips and how to articles.  I’m shooting for one new site entry per week and if I succeed at stock piling those articles this Summer, then I should meet this goal.

Thanks again for your patronage of TechTraction, and please start checking back in September for new weekly content.

Bret

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Lately I’ve been diving deeper into Adobe Flex Builder 3 for developing Adobe AIR applications. It’s a great development environment especially if you have any experience with Eclipse (Flex Builder 3 runs as a plug-in for Eclipse). Despite my positive experience, I have encountered a few “oddities” with Flex Builder 3 such as how to preserve the aspect ratio when resizing images.

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It’s happened again — teenager armed with cell phone records two teens engaged in intimate behavior and sends the video to friends. The unsuspecting girl in the incident alerts the police, an investigation begins, and now charges of statutory rape could be in someone’s future.

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It seemed laughable when Bill Gates first said that the Windows platform was more secure because it was under constant attack from hackers and therefore needed constant security updating (I’m paraphrasing of course). Over time, however, “tech authorities” have legitimized Gates’ statement by saying that hackers spend more time attacking Windows because it’s the most popular computer operating system. Basically why bother trying to exploit the Macintosh when it accounts for less than 10% of the computer population?

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Most of us have heard that heat can kill a computer. Just browse any online computer store and you’ll find countless computer cooling products. And while keeping components cool makes perfect sense, is there such a thing as “too cool?” Is is possible that my computer is similar to my car and needs a little time to “warm up?” Normally I’d said no to those questions but my current computer problem is starting to make me think otherwise.

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How to clone a SIM chip has been a hot topic here on TechTraction since early 2008. It all got started on January 28 when I posted an article detailing why cloning a SIM chip was impossible. Then, on October 1, 2008 I followed up with another article offering one possible cloning solution based on a reader’s comments. Both articles have generated a long list of comments and now I’m back with yet another follow up article based on another readers comments explaining why it is still IMPOSSIBLE to clone a SIM chip.

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Ever come across a web site or image that used an amazing color and wanted the hex code so you could use the same color elsewhere? I know I have but always had to use Photoshop to determine the hex code. Well, not everyone has Photoshop and those that do, like me, don’t want to load the program just to figure out a hex code. Fortunately, there is an answer and it’s free: ColorPix.

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Yep, I haven’t written much the past few weeks. Why is that? Well, like everyone else I’m working hard at my day job to make sure I don’t become another statistic of a bad economy. That hard work has overflowed into my free time previously set aside for TechTraction. And while I am NOT giving up on TechTraction, I am taking a break for the remained of 2008. My sincere apologizes to all my readers. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please check back in early 2009 when I promise to be back at posting new useful tech articles.

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Everyone loves free stuff and free online education is no exception. If you’re wondering what the “Great Big Internet” has to offer in the way of free education, check out a nice compilation of resources that Ace Online Schools has put together. The list is short, sweet, and very useful.

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Ever wanted to create your own cell phone ringtone but didn’t know how to get started? If so, check out this ringtone creation tutorial from SimpleHelp.net. The tutorial is well written and easy to follow. Unfortunately, if your phone doesn’t support MP3 or simple WAV style ringtones, then this tutorial won’t help you much.

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