Gunner Optiks: Digital * Performance * Eyewear / Enhanced * Computer * Vision



I am writing this article using my new glasses (non-prescription) specifically designed for computer use. The moment I put them on, the text looked clearer, the images brighter, more crisp, and the screen looked magnified and much easier on the eyes. A local San Diego company has come out with these revolutionary computer glasses that were recently written about in the San Diego Union Tribune.

Here are some quotes from the article:
"An estimated 125 million Americans suffer from what is now commonly referred to as digital eye fatigue or computer vision syndrome, according to the American Optometric Association."
"The eye focuses on the hard edge of an image, but digital images don't have a clean edge, Anschel said. As a result, the focus drifts forward and back, causing eye fatigue."
"They had a yellow-tinted lens, which makes images appear clearer. Yellow makes images sharper by filtering out blue light, Anschel said. The lens is also shaped to pre-focus the light into the eyes, so the eyes don't have to do all the work. There's also a purplish iridescence on the lens, which is an anti-glare filter that allows light from the computer in but keeps out distracting reflected light from other sources. The lenses are also designed to be fitted close to the face, creating what the company called a “microclimate” that keeps away wind."

Check out this video from a local news source, Channel 8:

Plaster Blaster: Rockets in San Diego

Once a year in October a bunch of people head out to the deserts of San Diego where they launch rockets way up in the sky, up to 25,000 feet! Find out more about this years event on October 2-5th at the official site.

OpenDNS

OpenDNS is a free service that allows you to filter web content such as specific sites, specific content and adult website filtering. This is a handy application to prevent your business or kids from visiting undesirable web content. Read on...

(Thanx to ibannieb blog for this article)

MozyHome: Backup your files automatically for only $4.95 per month!


For personal computers, either a Mac or PC, losing your files can be a DISASTER! You need to have a backup plan! MozyHome is an automatic online backup system that backs up your files securely to a server on the Internet every day. This has saved many businesses that we have worked with from closing up shop when there computer died. Click the link above to get started.

For Business Users that would like to backup there server, MozyPro is the enterprise software that is capable of doing that. Beanstalk Computing is a reseller of MozyPro and can help you with this as well. Email info@beanstalkcomputing.com for more info.

AntiVirusXP2008 Malware

AntiVirusXP 2008, with its variants such as AntiVirusXP 2009, or Antivirus 2009, is a piece of Malware (Malicious Software) that can be installed on your computer without you knowing it. It is a misleading application that may give exaggerated reports of threats on your computer. You will notice a Red X on your task bar which looks something like this:










You will need to get ride of this immediately, but AntiVirus software can not completely remove this malware! This software slows down your computer and annoyingly pops up this message every five minutes. Here is what you need to do:

1. You will need to install AntiMalware software. Please click here to download MalwareBytes.org AntiMalware, a free download.
2. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
3. The software will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan.
4. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Antivirus XP 2008 related files.
5. The software will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan.
6. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown. Now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. The software will now delete all of the files and registry keys associated with the Malware! You are now clean!

Pandora and Rhapsody - The two music services you will EVER need
For those of you not fully introduced to Pandora and Rhapsody, these are the two music services you will EVER need. You never need to buy music again, and they are both legal! Let me explain each.
1. Pandora "is a music discovery service designed to help you enjoy music you already know, and to help you discover new music you'll love." And the best part is, its completely FREE! It is advertising driven, so no money needed from you. Simply enter an artist or song that you like, and you will create your own personalized radio station based on what you type. Pandora will play artists and songs similar to what you have typed allowing you to experience and discover new music that you will like! (It even works on the iPhone!)
2. Rhapsody For everything else, there is Rhapsody. Unlike iTunes, where you HAVE to buy a song in order to listen to it, Rhapsody uses a subscription model. For about $15 a month, you have access to their entire collection and can stream or even download unlimited songs for free! Note that the downloaded music can only be played if your subscription is active or you choose to actually buy the MP3 version of the Sony for about 1 buck a track which I NEVER do myself. With Rhapsody to Go, you can bring your music or even radio stations they have with you everywhere you go (This does not work with apple products, but with many others here.

Stream Music to Every Room in Your House.....For Free!

Ok, So My goal was to figure out a way to be able to walk through every room in my house and hear the same music playing. In my bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, wherever I was. I was going originally get a Sonos Music System but this would have cost me thousands of dollars!

My brother in law recently got a competitors to Sonos's system from Logitech, the Squeezebox Duet. For $399 you get a nifty remote control that can control the system. Then you can setup the one interface box included into your main stereo and stream your MP3 music collection from your computer/server/NAS or even if your computer is off, Internet radio stations and Internet music services such as Pandora or Rhapsody from your device. (Also check out the nifty product tour on the Squeezebox homepage)

But you don't even need the hardware, assuming you have computers in every room already hooked up to your stereos (Which I do, of course) You see, Logitech recently purchased Slim Devices, the maker of the software that powers their hardware. This software has always been free and can be downloaded here for PC, Mac, Linux, or even a NetGear ReadyNAS. Here is how it works

1. Download and install the Squeezecenter server to your server or, if you dont have one, pick a desktop on your network to install it to. Remember, that computer has to be on for others to access the music. You will be asked where your local music collection is. If it is not on the same computer that you are installing the SqueezeCenter onto, you have to use the UNC path of the shared folder the music is on (ie \\musicserver\mymusic) and not a mapped drive.
2. Sign up for a free account with Logitech.
3. To CONTROL the music, simply go to the website of your server at port 9000. So if you install the software on a computer named MusicServer point your web browser to http://musicserver:9000 which is the SqueezeCenter
4. To LISTEN to music on the computer or stereo hooked up to the computer, you could use a hardware based squeezebox we talked about above, but that costs money. Instead, you can use the free SoftSqueeze player (Requires Java) which you can install from the Extras-SoftSqueeze menu on your SqueezeCenter. Do this on all computers in your house
5. In the top right hand corner of your SqueezeCenter, you can choose which player you want to control. From one central location, you can choose to play different music in every room in your house.
6. If you want to play the same music in every room in your house, click Synchronize under the Choose Player menu in the top right.

Note: The ONLY feature I found that will not work without the hardware based squeezebox is Rhapsody.
Note 2: You can even stream your music on the internet! You will have to open up port 9000 on your router and point it to your squeezecenter server.