From the category archives:

Technology Tips

Health Care and Being Insured – The True Demons Behind High Medical Costs

by Guest Writer July 17, 2009

Submitted by:  “Jeremy”
We’re all up in arms about the high cost of health care. And we should be. The last time I went to the doctor for a sniffle, I had to wait 45 minutes in a waiting room, told the doctor what I had and what medication I thought I should receive, [...]

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Politics, What Flavor Are You?

by untwisted March 27, 2009

Some of the current topics, and responses on this blog have put me in a reflective, if not judgmental mood.  There’s a common thread that loops it’s way here and it awakens a part of me that I’ve had a difficult time putting my finger on.  I think I’ve finally labeled it, but only through [...]

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Yellowstone Supervolcano – Whats the risk?

by Joe Eagle January 12, 2009

Many major news outlets have reported on a swarm of recent earthquake activity in Yellowstone National Park.  fears over earthquake ’swarms’ at yellowstone national park
It’s obvious that Yellowstone is volcanic in nature. That’s what creates the awesome geysers and boiling mud-pots throughout the park. But for a long time, scientists could not [...]

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Internet Scams Hit Even Idaho Falls

by Joe Eagle June 19, 2008

Internet scams have been around for a long time. I remember a news report I saw on one of the major networks about two or three years ago that exposed how one internet scam was run. Recently I am receiving more and more emails that appear to be people fishing for gullible soles [...]

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How You Can Write and Publish Articles for Idaho Falls and Southeast Idaho

by geekery April 30, 2008

Writing articles at IdahoFallz.com is free, easy, and pleasantly surprising how your ideas can kick start asynchronous interactive discussions among local people you’ve never met. I encourage anyone and everyone to write and publish their own articles that you feel relate to Idaho Falls and southeast Idaho.
Why write anything at all here? I said long [...]

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Local News Station KPVI Stole My Work

by Joe Vandal April 2, 2008

This morning I discovered that our local NBC news affiliate KPVI published a news story on their website, and the graphic they used was stolen from my website, the IdahoFallz.com blog. You can see clearly from the attached images that they used my “IFPD” picture taken of an IFPD truck, originally published on IdahoFallz.com as [...]

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Is Citizen Journalism Useful or Important?

by Joe Vandal March 30, 2008

I see news stories and tidbit phenomena almost daily about citizen journalism (a.k.a. participatory media and many other titles). Normal, everyday people who have no journalistic base have been technologically and psychologically enabled by the Internet to become citizen journalists. What has it meant so far, and where do you think it could go from [...]

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How to not be stupid when dealing with technology

by Joe Vandal March 27, 2008

I hope to generate a meta-level discussion about wisdom and strategies when using technology. What I mean is we should discuss what technology means to us, how we need to adapt and re-orient our old frames-of-mind to the new digital world. Some things are radically different in technology, some things are the same. How to [...]

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Charles Manson’s Helter Skelter Revisited

by Joon March 17, 2008

A lot happened in 1969 – we (allegedly, at least) landed on the moon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, boxer Rocky Marciano, Judy Garland, Jack Kerouac, and Boris Karloff all died, the US population hit 200 million, the Saturday Evening Post published for the last time, the Boeing 747 made its first commercial flight, at least 28 [...]

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Tracking the 2008 Idaho Legislature

by Joe Vandal January 13, 2008

I hope this article and discussion can serve as a local resource for keeping track of what our legislature is doing this year. I also hope we can somewhat keep score of how southeast Idaho is doing in the legislature, and how our local Idaho Falls representatives and senators are working for us.
Unfortunately, paying attention [...]

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How to Improve Southeast Idaho News Environment

by Joe Vandal December 17, 2007

I got notice that my online subscription to the Post Register expires this Wednesday. I do not think I will pay for a renewal, for a few reasons.
First, I really think I deserve a free subscription, given the huge amounts of free advertising I do for the PR on IFz. I must mention an article [...]

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City-Wide Webcam Network Needed for Security

by Joe Vandal October 22, 2007

I got so mad about our not-yet-completed Equal Access Playground recently being vandalized. This is the playground with special features that enable handicapped kids to play more easily than they would at typical playgrounds. The folks involved with it spent many months raising money and driving the project forward. Some hooligans took just a short [...]

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Idaho Falls Technology Users Group Proposed

by Joe Vandal October 6, 2007

I was recently listening to Leo Laporte’s podcast of his weekly radio show “The Tech Guy”. One caller was a lady dipping her toes into computers. She enrolled in a Microsoft Office class, and wanted advice buying her first computer. Leo immediately observed her “newby-ness”, and suggested she should first spend some time with a [...]

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Open for User Access Again

by Joe Vandal September 11, 2007

My long online nightmare is over, IdahoFallz.com users can once again access the backend system for writing article drafts and modifying their profile information.
A security hole was identified many months ago that forced me to demote all users to where they could not even create article drafts. It involved a core problem with the [...]

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SiteMeter-SpecificClick Cookie Discovery Prompts Cancellations and Cleanups

by Joe Vandal August 2, 2007

While creating another unrelated website, I considered if I wanted to use the SiteMeter service for tracking visits and visitor statistics. I had not considered the question for a long time, and so I Googled “sitemeter sucks”, a strategy I use to find criticism of a product or service.
Apparently SiteMeter is now serving third-party [...]

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RFID “Spychips” Threaten Consumer Privacy

by Joe Vandal June 9, 2007

This article was submitted by user Mike. When the backend security code hole is fixed, I will switch author attribution to user Mike. In the meantime, you can still get your own articles published by emailing me at idahofallz( at) gmail(dot )com.

In the coming months as you walk into your favorite store(s) without your knowledge [...]

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Identity Theft: What’s behind it all?

by FeelinLucky May 14, 2007

Identity theft is a huge problem in the US these days. It’s strange, but most Americans don’t really understand how identities are usually stolen and who, for the most part is behind it all. In this article I will shed some light on this topic, and hopefully some people will find this to [...]

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Qwest Should Behave Like A Partner

by Joe Vandal April 3, 2007

I was surprised to see Qwest Idaho President Jim Schmit’s opinion (City should be a partner) in last Wednesday’s Post Register.
Jim made the points that Idaho Falls has built a “largely duplicative network” to what Qwest provides. He claimed Qwest has “invested more than $25 million in Idaho Falls” and “more than four in five [...]

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YOUR Unsecured Wireless Internet is the Dangerous Weak Link

by Joe Vandal March 27, 2007

What would you do if someone borrowed your phone to prank call innocent people, perhaps to some of your friends and family? Would you try to gain control of your phone again?
What would you do if someone borrowed your car to drive recklessly through neighborhoods and scare parents and kids, perhaps even your friends and [...]

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User Generated Online Content in Idaho Falls

by Joe Vandal January 8, 2007

This is the sixth installment of a series published every Monday called “IF Online”. Each article will examine an aspect of our Idaho Falls area that has an online presence. This week I will examine Idaho Falls’ user-generated websites (blogs, podcasts, vidcasts, and oh yes, local MySpace profiles), and this will be the final installment [...]

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Good Sense Technology and Privacy Tips to Kick Off 2007

by Joe Vandal January 5, 2007

This article is to remind and encourage you to take care of your personal and computer business early in 2007.

Consider changing your email address. I used idahofallz@yahoo.com, but it’s been so overwhelmed that spam is all over my main folder and legitimate emails often end up in the spam folder. I switched to [...]

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Worker Free Speech: Rights, Responsibilities, Sensibilities, and Getting Away With It

by Joe Vandal January 2, 2007

A subject has arisen that I think our community should discuss. The discussion may help guide local business owners and employees in how they behave online. The result could be increased and higher quality online participation by those parties.
I refer to the subject of discussing local businesses and organizations on IdahoFallz.com. Because IdahoFallz.com is focused [...]

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How to change your own IdahoFallz.com password

by Joe Vandal December 29, 2006

When you register at IdahoFallz.com or any site powered by WordPress, you are emailed a password the system generates. If you ever lose your password, it can also generate a new password for you.
These are not the prettiest passwords nor the easiest to remember. Here is how you can change your password in a simple [...]

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New Christmas Computer Tips

by Joe Vandal December 22, 2006

I have a few tips and downloads for anyone you know who is lucky enough to get a new computer for Christmas. These little things will help ensure they get started on the right foot and make their overall experience much better than without.
You can really help them out by downloading a few of these [...]

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Should Idaho Falls require disguised cell phone towers?

by Joe Vandal December 21, 2006

Here is a four-minute report about communities that require cell phone towers to be disguised as other structures. According to CBS’ report, the cost is about four times greater than “naked” cell towers. I do not think those costs can be passed onto customers in the local areas, though.

So some communities have required better aesthetic [...]

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