Skype

Boyle County High School's Steve Goggin will teach in two places at once for one period a day this school year. Boyle County Board of Education unanimously approved an agreement Thursday for Goggin to teach a calculus course to Boyle and Mercer students simultaneously via Skype. “Our kids are losing nothing, and their kids are gaining something, and we're all in the kid business,” Boyle County Superintendent Mike LaFavers told the board. “So I think, if we can help a neighboring district, we should approve it.” Skype, a computer video phone, accomplishes the seemingly miraculous feat by projecting Goggin onto a screen at Mercer County Senior High School, where students can watch, listen and interact with him while Boyle students do the same in person, Mercer County Interim Superintendent Dennis Davis said previously.

Rather than give Saturday's game ball to a player, Kentucky coach Joker Phillips elected to present it someone he felt was much more deserving for his performance one day before the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. Phillips said the wife of a U.S. Army soldier (Marcos Alaniz) stationed in Iraq came to the Kentucky¿football office to present him with a UK¿flag and plaque. He said the inscription, “This flag was flown in the enemy's face,” was something he really liked. “I had a chance to get on Skype, something (assistant coach)

April 1 came and went without too much fanfare. The significance of that date is its association with the Conflicker worm. The hype leading up to April 1 came from the worm supposedly receiving instructions. The anticipation of the payload sent many into a frenzy. As of press time, nothing major has happened. The Conflicker worm is not new. It has many aliases such as Downadup, Downup and Kido. Its characteristics are similar to other worms but is set apart by how it feeds off Windows' AutoRun feature.

This week, we take a peek into the mailbag. A reader wrote in asking about how to get content removed from a search engine.  A.G. writes: “Information, at the request of an individual, has been removed from a website I am associated with. However, when the information is searched for on Google - it shows up. How can it be removed completely from the Internet? It is of some urgency - family-type info.” My initial response: Anytime anything is posted online, search engines such as Google have copies, as do many other sites.

The Speed Art Museum of Louisville has launched the Kentucky Online Arts Resource. KOAR is a "free image database devoted to documenting the state's decorative arts, fine arts, folk arts, and design. " The KOAR database includes works from both private and public collections. It features images of people and items made or used by Kentuckians, including furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, textiles, paintings, sculptures and others. The database is searchable by keywords, artists' names and by an object's type and place of origin.

This week, I will be answering a couple questions from the mailbag. . Wendy E. writes in regard to the Craig wireless tablet at CVS: “Could you please tell me if this is what I want? All I am looking for is a way to electronically store my recipes so they are easy to find.” Answer: Well, it’s hard to determine. I doubt that you would want to type up a recipe using an onscreen keyboard. If you have the recipes already in digital format and just want to view them on something portable, the tablet may work for you. Basically, you would put the files on a microSD card and insert the media card into the tablet then view the recipes on the tablet.

A reader recently contacted me wanting advice about their nearly 3-year-old Compaq Presario model SR1103WM. Lately their computer has become extremely slow in performance. They wondered if I would recommend they purchase a brand new computer because of it. The reader uses the computer for e-mail, Web surfing, desktop publishing and for storage of photos and items from Web sites. After checking out the specs on their system on HP's Web site here, my recommendation was to upgrade their current system.

Hispanic Heritage Month is designated as Sept. 15-Oct. 15 to celebrate the culture and traditions of those who come from the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The celebration begins mid-month because Sept. 15 marks the independence of five Spanish-speaking countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Furthermore, two other Spanish-speaking countries - namely Mexico and Chile - also celebrate their independence within that same week.

The United Way of the Bluegrass pushed forward a program last week that it hopes will unify Central Kentucky and recognize the individuals who make their communities tick. And the United Way is seeking help from the people of nine counties in the area, including Jessamine, to find these “connectors” in the Bluegrass Community Connector project. The counties involved in the project include Anderson, Scott, Woodford, Fayette, Bourbon, Madison, Clark, Montgomery and Jessamine.

Five weeks into his first professional season in Macedonia playing for KK¿Lirija, Spencer Perrin could not be happier with life on or off the basketball court. The Boyle County graduate and former Eastern Kentucky University player is averaging just over 16 points per game, has already been invited to participate in the dunk competition at the upcoming all-star game and expects to also be named to the all-star team. “Basketball is way different than America,” said Perrin, who has been playing about five weeks in the Macedonia Superleague.

March 15 marks the date that Microsoft will begin transitioning its Live Messenger service users to Skype. This move will be for all Messenger users except those who live in China. The initial announcement for this merge of services was mentioned in mid-November 2012 on a Skype blog post at http://blogs.skype.com/en/2012/11/skypewlm.html. Microsoft confirmed the actual March 15 date in a mass email sent to its Messenger users last week. In other Skype related news, a new client for Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit)

This week, we take a peek into the mailbag. A reader wrote in asking about how to get content removed from a search engine.  A.G. writes: “Information, at the request of an individual, has been removed from a website I am associated with. However, when the information is searched for on Google - it shows up. How can it be removed completely from the Internet? It is of some urgency - family-type info.” My initial response: Anytime anything is posted online, search engines such as Google have copies, as do many other sites.

Changes are pending for Mozilla browser users, as support and security updates for the Firefox 3.6 browsers end on April 24, according to a Mozilla blog post. Firefox 3.6.28 will be the last release in the 3.6 release series. Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 users are urged to upgrade their operating systems prior to the release of Firefox 13, which is due to be released in June. Read more at http://bit.ly/H9Bctu . April 24 also will mark the date set for the launch of Mozilla's upcoming Firefox 12 browser release.

Five weeks into his first professional season in Macedonia playing for KK¿Lirija, Spencer Perrin could not be happier with life on or off the basketball court. The Boyle County graduate and former Eastern Kentucky University player is averaging just over 16 points per game, has already been invited to participate in the dunk competition at the upcoming all-star game and expects to also be named to the all-star team. “Basketball is way different than America,” said Perrin, who has been playing about five weeks in the Macedonia Superleague.

Rather than give Saturday's game ball to a player, Kentucky coach Joker Phillips elected to present it someone he felt was much more deserving for his performance one day before the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. Phillips said the wife of a U.S. Army soldier (Marcos Alaniz) stationed in Iraq came to the Kentucky¿football office to present him with a UK¿flag and plaque. He said the inscription, “This flag was flown in the enemy's face,” was something he really liked. “I had a chance to get on Skype, something (assistant coach)

The United Way of the Bluegrass pushed forward a program last week that it hopes will unify Central Kentucky and recognize the individuals who make their communities tick. And the United Way is seeking help from the people of nine counties in the area, including Jessamine, to find these “connectors” in the Bluegrass Community Connector project. The counties involved in the project include Anderson, Scott, Woodford, Fayette, Bourbon, Madison, Clark, Montgomery and Jessamine.

Boyle County High School's Steve Goggin will teach in two places at once for one period a day this school year. Boyle County Board of Education unanimously approved an agreement Thursday for Goggin to teach a calculus course to Boyle and Mercer students simultaneously via Skype. “Our kids are losing nothing, and their kids are gaining something, and we're all in the kid business,” Boyle County Superintendent Mike LaFavers told the board. “So I think, if we can help a neighboring district, we should approve it.” Skype, a computer video phone, accomplishes the seemingly miraculous feat by projecting Goggin onto a screen at Mercer County Senior High School, where students can watch, listen and interact with him while Boyle students do the same in person, Mercer County Interim Superintendent Dennis Davis said previously.

This week, I will be answering a couple questions from the mailbag. . Wendy E. writes in regard to the Craig wireless tablet at CVS: “Could you please tell me if this is what I want? All I am looking for is a way to electronically store my recipes so they are easy to find.” Answer: Well, it’s hard to determine. I doubt that you would want to type up a recipe using an onscreen keyboard. If you have the recipes already in digital format and just want to view them on something portable, the tablet may work for you. Basically, you would put the files on a microSD card and insert the media card into the tablet then view the recipes on the tablet.

April 1 came and went without too much fanfare. The significance of that date is its association with the Conflicker worm. The hype leading up to April 1 came from the worm supposedly receiving instructions. The anticipation of the payload sent many into a frenzy. As of press time, nothing major has happened. The Conflicker worm is not new. It has many aliases such as Downadup, Downup and Kido. Its characteristics are similar to other worms but is set apart by how it feeds off Windows' AutoRun feature.

A reader recently contacted me wanting advice about their nearly 3-year-old Compaq Presario model SR1103WM. Lately their computer has become extremely slow in performance. They wondered if I would recommend they purchase a brand new computer because of it. The reader uses the computer for e-mail, Web surfing, desktop publishing and for storage of photos and items from Web sites. After checking out the specs on their system on HP's Web site here, my recommendation was to upgrade their current system.