Download For Christmas upgrade yourself

The Altamont Enterprise - Thursday, Decenber 13, 2001
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Pega
Sein-Bytes
For Christmas
upgrade yourself
By Michael S e i n b e r g
Every y e a r about this t i m e I
usually write a column on w h a t
to buy for the computer-user in
your life. I always go into upgrades, new toys, software, and
whatever gadget is hot. T h i s
year, I decided to do something
different. My advice this y e a r
is to upgrade yourself, not your
computer. Not m a k i n g sense?
Bear with me and 111 explain.
and understand t h e games you
like. Read web sites devoted to
•the games. L e a m new strategies
and techniques from other players.
Many of t h e more complex
games have the capability to upgrade, enhance, or build y o u r
own worlds or levels. Try it. I
know someone who really likes
flight simulation software. H e
and some online friends have ac-
The computer that was used to develop
the first atom b o m b . . . didn't even have
the computational power of a modern
pocket calculator.
According to some scientists,
human beings only use about 10
percent of their available brain
capacity. They think if we could
fully use our b r a i n s we could
probably solve m o s t of t h e
world's problems before lunch.
As a computer professional, I
can tell you t h a t most people
probably only use about 5 percent of the available capacity of
their computers. I know very
few people (aside from some serious professionals) who t r u l y
use their computers to the fullest.
That's a shame, too, because we
live in a time when we now have
an almost limitless supply of
computing power available.
Imagine owning a $250,000
Ferrari and never getting it past
30 miles per hour. That's w h a t
we have with modern home
computers. Most people a r e n ' t
aware of it, but t h e computer
that was used to help develop
the first atom bomb by some of
the brightest folks on the planet
didn't even h a v e the computational power of a modern pocket
calculator.
Now, compare that calculator
to a G4 Mac or a Pentium 4 PC
and you can see what I'm getting at. So w h a t to do about it
this holiday season?
Instead of buying a bigger
hard drive, try to find a way to
use what you have. Take a general class t h a t will help you to
understand your computer better. There are many community
and professional
programs
available at our area colleges,
training companies, a n d computer stores. If there's a specific
program t h a t is very important
to you take a class on that.
Don't like classes? Try reading
the manual or, if you feel t h e
need to buy s o m e t h i n g g e t a
book on the program in question
so that you can use it better.
Most c u r r e n t computer programs are very powerful. Take
Microsoft Word as an example.
J u s t the m a n u a l t h a t Microsoft
supplies is a few hundred pages
long. And then, if you take a ride
over to Borders, you can probably find a couple of shelves of
books on u s i n g a n d learning
Word — say a few t h o u s a n d
more pages on j u s t how to use
this one program. W h a t if you
use Word a t y o u r office every
day and you could suddenly use
all the features the program offers? Imagine how much more
productive you could be.
If games a r e your passion,
then take the time to really learn
tually built new missions, new
planes, and so on for the game.
They t h e n posted t h e m online
for other people to try.
If your big love is the Internet,
then the possibilities are limitless.
You can literally spend t h e rest
of your life going from site to site
and never reach t h e end. If you
have a specific interest or hobby
(besides computers), you can use
t h e net to enhance your knowledge of that hobby by communicating with others of similar interest.
If you are interested in furthering your general education,
t h e r e a r e many colleges a n d
u n i v e r s i t i e s t h a t now offer
classes and even whole degree
p r o g r a m s via t h e I n t e r n e t or
private distance-learning networks. Imagine finishing your
degree or getting a new one
without having to be on campus
full time.
If you have artistic aspirations, imagine putting your great
American novel t o g e t h e r on
your computer and then marketing it via Amazon.com. Or
maybe you're the next Spielberg
and you feel like editing your
own movie. Well, step up to a G4
and have at it using iMovie.
Want to have a top-10 hit? You
can record and mix it and then
release it all from the comfort of
your home system.
Want to paint on the screen?
Go for it. You can now do a
complete watercolor painting
electronically down to controlling t h e absorption- of t h e
"paper." After you're done, you
can e-mail your masterpiece to
anyone in the world for feedback. I had an online art gallery
display a number of my paintings and I've had my writing on
the web for more t h a n a few
years; it cost me nothing in both
cases.
T h e bottom line is t h a t t h e
modern computer is a tremendously powerful and empowering tool. But, like m a n y powerful
tools, it takes time and effort to
master and properly use it. This
year, take t h a t time and p u t in
t h a t energy and allow yourself
to imagine the possibilities. By
this time next year, we may be
reading about you in the paper.
Happy holidays!
Editor's note: Michael
Seinberg is President of Seinberg &
Son Macintosh Consultants. Ltd.
of Altamont. He can be reached
via e-mail at
[email protected].
Jj
*
The Enterprise — Joe Higgiris
held a grand re-opening and 26th anniversary
celebration
On hand for the ribbon cutting, from left, are: Jane Schramm
Dan Pezze, personal lines manager at Pega; Frank Pezze, a
Kenneth Bunion; and Kevin Pezze, commercial lines man-
New corporate offices: Pega Insurance
Dec. 7 at 2021 Western Ave. in Guilderland.
of the Guilderland Chamber of Commerce;
founder of Pega; Guilderland Supervisor
ager at Pega.
Regional Family
Expo 2002
GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland Chamber of Commerce
will hold t h e n i n t h a n n u a l
Regional Family Expo 2002 at
Crossgates Mall on the weekend
of March 23 and 24, 2002. Earlyb i r d r a t e s a r e a v a i l a b l e to
registrants who sign up by J a n .
19.
A wide variety of vendors will
showcase their businesses at this
family-oriented t r a d e show.
S a t u r d a y will be Family Day,
f e a t u r i n g professional puppet
shows, magicians, a ventriloq u i s t , a children's circus and
more. S u n d a y will be Dance
Demo Day, featuring performances by Farrell's School of
D a n c e , T y n a n ' s C e n t e r for
Dance & Wellness, the Guilderland Ballet, Eleanor's School of
Dance.
Both b u s i n e s s e s and nonprofit/service groups a r e encouraged to participate. Vendors
who sign up by J a n . 19 will be
included in both newspaper advertisements and special publicity.
Information and registration
materials can be obtained from
t h e Guilderland C h a m b e r of
Commerce by calling 456-6611.
MDA seeks
volunteers
T h e Muscular Dystrophy
Association is accepting applications from people willing to volunteer to serve as counselors a t
t h e MDA s u m m e r camp to be
held J u n e 22 to 28 at Rotary
Sunshine Campus in Rochester.
Counselors serve as companions to campers affected by neuromuscular diseases who r a n g e
in age from six to 21 yeavs of
age. Counselors assist campers
with activities of daiiy living
such as feeding, bathing, and
dressing, and they help t h e m
enjoy activities such as arts and
crafts, swimming, canoeing, and
horseback riding.
Those selected as counselors
must be at least 16 and able to lift
a child.
For more information, or to
volunteer, call the local MDA office in Albany at 489-5495 or the
MDA national headquarters a t
800-572-1717. Information about
MDA research advances, prog r a m s , a n d o t h e r services is
available a t MDA's web site,
www.mdausa.org.
52 *
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The Business Corner
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