Bing is yet another search engine, i.e. Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves, MSN, AOL, etc.  This is Microsoft’s new search that is supposed to rule the search engine world.  Will it really?

Bing cames out at the end of May 2009 as the replacement for Live Search.  It’s notable features are:

• Search suggestions in real-time while typing in your search
• Related search offerings on the left-side of the screen
• Ability to save and share search histories
• Daily background image changes of high resolution worldly places
• Video thumbnails play in preview just by hovering over video with cursor
• Instant answers to questions - sports score, stock quote, plane departure time
• Local info is displayed like Google Maps

Overall, Bing has it all.  Lots of functionality.  And the background displays are really quite a site, pun and misspelling intended.  It’s worth giving it a shot and your technical support brain will not need to navigate far in being able to get the info you need.

Copying over files to a new computer is pretty easy with an external hard drive as the medium; however, copying over Outlook e-mail takes a few more steps.  Outlook contains a database file called .pst which includes your e-mails, contacts, and calendar.  By bringing over your main .pst files and secondary .pst’s (i.e. archives), you’ll be bringing over all of your e-mails, folders and subfolders.

Here’s how to perform the Outlook transfer:

1. Search for any Outlook folders by going to Start->Search and type: *.pst
2. Then, copy all .pst folders to an external hard drive, thumb drive, DVD, network drive, or other medium.
3. Connect your external drive or other medium to your new computer.
4. Copy and paste your .pst folders to your Documents (or My Documents for Windows XP) folder.
5. Open up Outlook and click: File->Import and Export>Import from another program or file->Personal Folder File (.pst). 
6. Browse to your your copied over .pst in your Documents folder (or My Documents for Windows XP) and select it. 
7. Finally, keep selecting the defaults until completed.

This process will import your existing .pst from your computer onto your new computer.  The best part about the import process is that if any corruptions existed in your previous Outlook folders or subfolders, they are usually resolved by taking on the fresh Outlook folder.

It’s nice to know how many calories you burn while you work out.  Or to know how many miles you run.  Yes, you can calculate this on the treadmill or stairmaster, but now you can calculate lots of workout numbers while working on multiple machines and activities.

The Nike + iPod Sport Kit turns your iPod, iPod Touch, or iPhone into your personal fitness trainer.  This kit hooks up a wireless sensor under your Nike sneaker sole and your iPod or iPhone acts as the receiver or brains.  Then, you can track your fitness performance real-time during your workout. 

The Nike Sport Kit tracks the following:

1. calories
2. distance
3. time
4. pace
5. milestones achieved

The cool factor arises after the workout when you can sync all of your real-time data to your Mac or PC.  As you get deeper into your workouts, you’ll be able to measure how your results fared against your goals.

The tech support difficulty is nill, and best of all, for only $29, you truly have technology working for your own personal health goals.

The new iPhone showcases what is probably the most in-depth video of any phone.  Not only does it take crystal-clear video, but it can also edit photos on the fly.

If you’d rather set your photo in a classic look, don’t worry - change the color pic to a black and white one.  If you want to give a posterized look, no prob - go for it.  This edit on the fly ability allows for not only quick, impromtu photos, but quick edits for sharing without requiring a computer.  This advanced editing mode truly allows the iPhone user to be fully functional with e-mailing polished pic.

The video is extremely clear and may hold as much as he iPhone’s memory can handle, typically up to 1 hour of video.   Your current iPhone may be updated to utilize the cool photo features.  However, only the new iPhone 3GS will provide the new video feature.  And you don’t have to be a mac genius to work the video!

In 2005, a trojan was e-mailed around with the subject: “Suicide attempt.”  The body of the e-mail started “Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicide attempt.”  How ironic is this eerie warning since the King of Pop has now mysteriously died at the young age of 50?

This trojan was sent out during Michael’s molestation case in the hopes e-mail users would open up the e-mail to read more info, and voila…instant virus infection!  Unfortunately, this suicide might have been the cause of Michael’s heart attack, and, in turn, sad turn of events.

We learned of this saddening news hours before the US news broadcasted it.  How?  Our multi-cultural staff often checks out international news sites, and we learned from Ynet, an Israeli site, hours before the US news sites caught onto the story.  Ynet said that Michael Jackson died from a heart attack.  As Ynet discussed the end result, the US sites only reported that Jackson was rushed to the hospital. 

It seems like an international website does not hold the same responsibility of news as would a domestic site.   Why should non-US sites not be held to same standard of diplomacy, allowing family and close friends attain the info first?  Or allowing family to have a buffer of time before the public pounces on them.  We were shocked and almost thought this early news was a joke, or deja vu of the suicide trojan hoax.  Unfortunately, the news is true and whether received before the US public or after, the greatest Pop Star of all time, Michael Jackson, will always have a special place in our hearts for his craft, talent, voice, dance, and pop icon that he was.

It is crucial to safeguard your data.  And the added incentive to do so with free software before it might cost you tons by performing data recovery.  Here are some free apps to try out:

• RichCopy - back up your files periodically.  Plus: your files will continue to copy if your computer loses its Internet connection.
• Mozy - back up your files online up to 2GB for free.
• ADRC Data Recovery Tools - use this recovery software to save your files from a failing hard drive.  Or recover your files that you accidentally deleted.

These free applications are great to keep in your tech toolchest for backing up files as well as recovering files if necessary.

E-mailing attachments larger than 2MB is not always an easy task.  Many email accounts, such as Gmail, MSN, Hotmail, or company e-mail servers do not allow e-mails larger than 2MB.  This restriction is due to preventing viruses or bogging up the e-mail server.

If you need to send lots of pictures or big files to clients or friends all the time, you should consider using an FTP site to send across your info.  This way, you can set up a specific website for you and your recipient in a professional manner.  Filezilla is a top free FTP website that offers a way to share files via a website.  It is compatible for Macs and PCs.

An alternative is to share your current website space for FTP storage.  This way, you can create a specific page off of an existing website.  You’ll probably want to consult with your network administrator on this.

Facebook is a highly used medium for social networks.  You don’t have to be a computer expert to work it and it’s great for staying in touch or networking with new folks.  How does it differ than Twitter? 

Facebook allows you share info with your friends via “The wall.”  You can log into Facebook with any Internet browser and post a message for all your buddies to check out.  With Twitter, in contrast, you don’t have to specify who can see your comments.  Instead, it is posted for public viewing and you may even text it.  So, if you are going about your normal daily routine and have something burning to share, you don’t have wait until getting back to a computer to post it.  You can text it, or SMS it, on the fly with your phone.

This texting mechanism in Twitter is a huge plus over Facebook.  It is easy to forget a thought if you have to wait until you reach a computer with a working Internet connection.  Rather than wait, you can relay your info right away by texting it.  The stream of consciousness is a way that Twitter members can really share segments of thoughts in real time.  Further, this way of sharing such thoughts makes the communication as close as talking on the phone as possible.  It almost gives the impression that you are in the same room as your Twitter friend due to the real-time thought process.

For this quick way of sharing info, Twitter is our favorite over Facebook.  Oh yeah - did we mention, that each Twit can be no more than 140 characters?  This allows you to get to the meat of the matter and not waste time. 

Microsoft Silverlight is a software that usually gets installed after its randomly advertised through another Microsoft product.  If you install the new Microsoft Office 2007 suite, chances are a pop-up will advertise also installing Microsoft Silverlight.

What is Microsoft Silverlight?  It’s a flash player.  Just like Adobe has the Adobe Flash Player, Silverlight is Microsoft’s competing software.  Is it a worthy software to install?  Heck, no!  the only time you are forced to install Silverlight is when using NetFlix for instant viewing of movies.  Other than that, stick with Adobe’s software - it’s quicker and seems to work fine.  Maybe Silverlight is slower because it has some security software package built into it.  Silverlight is not needed, but if you feel like exploring, go for it.

It’s a free software like Adobe’s Flash Player.  But, free doesn’t mean it’s good.  There’s not anything in particular we dislike about it except for Microsoft again playing second fiddle to a software that already worked perfectly fine before.

How can Microsoft be like Apple?  It can level the playing field by offering free anti-virus software to Windows users.  Most people think Macs don’t get viruses.  So, if Windows users don’t have to worry about viruses by having free anti-virus software, then the virus issue wouldn’t be an issue at all.

Morro will soon be released by Microsoft as a free anti-virus software.  It will not be bundled into the Windows software so that will allow third-party software, such as Norton and McAfee, to still make their money on security software.  Microsoft’s Live One Care did not do a good job as security software.  Why?  It was slow and weighed down the computer’s resources.  We have found many of our clients having computer problems due to the Live One Care taking over.  So, Morro will improve upon this by being a slimmed down software that doesn’t take a lot of processing power.

No actual release date has been mentioned.  But, the Microsoft team is currently testing the beta version and should have more info soon.  We think having Microsoft create its own anti-virus software is a great combination.  After all, now Microsoft will take responsibility in securing its own vulnerabilities.  And maybe, there will be less Windows updates to run after if Microsoft can update its anti-virus software efficiently.