The University of Minnesota open-sourced its Gopher implementation in 2000 and has since shut down its Gopher server. But Gopher is not dead! Enthusiasts keep its spirit alive, claiming it provides a much cleaner and more efficient way of presenting text information than that unruly WWW thing.
Here's how to take a trip down the Gopher hole.
First you need a Gopher Client. Firefox will do. It never eliminated Gopher from its legacy Netscape code, though it could do with some updating. Serious Gopher users add the Overbite project plug-in for a more robust experience.
Then start off by perusing Floodgap.com's index of Gopher servers at gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/world You can link from there to Veronica-2, the successor of the original Veronica search engine of days gone by.
Further in, among the Python code and Gopher log entries you'll find a Twitter browser at gopher.floodgap.com/1/fun/twitpher? Put a username after the question mark to see the Twitter stream of just one user.
If you still rail against Mosaic and the graphical Web that ruined the Internet, take a peaceful walk down the safe image-free streets of Gopher. It's kind of like those working pioneer-villages that suck in tourists. It's a trip back in time, but don't forget people actually live there.
I want to thank everybody who watched Holiday Help Desk (hours one and two) either live or on demand. A few times during the show, I mentioned that I'd put links to things on our blog, so here they are.
Here are the instructions for downloading and running Chrome OS off a USB drive.
Here is our list of Best iPod speakers.
And if you'd like to replace the firmware on your router with something more functional, here's DD-WRT.
Also, here are Jeff Bakalar's really good arguments for why you shouldn't buy an Xbox 360 Arcade.
And, of course, there is a lame prize as usual. So watch the show, then come back here and post your trivia question answer below. We'll choose one of the the first 10 correct posters to win the Star Wars Episode 1 Electronic CommTech Reader.
The answer to the lame prize question from last week's tech turkeys countdown was: Meet Me Tour.
It's Thanksgiving time in the U.S., which means we all sit down to a meal of turkey and a bunch of fattening side dishes and then pretend to watch football while we nap. At least that's the stereotype. However much truth it holds doesn't concern me, however. All I care about is that I have an excuse to play on the word turkey and do a top 5 about some of the worst tech of the year.
So watch the show, bask in the turkeyness of some of this year's tech, then come back here and enter a comment either complaining how I bashed your favorite product, or answering the lame prize question.
Answer to last week's question: Beyerdynamic DT 48
Tom and Brian name the tech they think was a turkey in 2009 and get a few turkeys from listners of the show as well.
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It's not MUCH security, I admit, but some folks like it as one more speed bump. Essentially, it makes sure the secure log-in page is up so you're not accidentally revealing your username and password to malicious software.
Here's how to put it back into action in Windows 7.
Go to the old Start button, now just a Windows logo. In the search box, type netplwiz and press enter or click on the result.
A pane called user accounts will appear.
Click on the Advanced tab.
At the bottom of the screen, under secure log-on, check "require users to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete"
Now when you log-in to your computer, you'll have a rather boring pane asking for Ctrl-Alt-Del, which you'll have to press before you can get to the log-in page.
Hope that makes you feel just a little bit more secure.
No, no, no. This isn't some Dan Brown-inspired homage to products attributed to Lucifer or some such crazy thing. We mean autumn. You know, when the leaves change. We went through all the reviews we did over the past three months and ordered them by rating. So these are the best products we've reviewed so far this fall.
And as usual there's a prize. A lame prize. And you can win it by watching the video, then coming back to this blog post and answering the question in the comments below. Be one of the first 10 to answer correctly, and you could be randomly chosen to win.
Last week's answer: HTC Dream T-Mobile G1
Should you buy that extended warranty? Tom Merritt says no. Rafe Needleman says sometimes. We'll give you some guidance on how to decide if it's worth the money.
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First, make sure your virtual machine is powered off, not suspended.
Then, find your virtual machine's folder, most likely in Documents. Right- or control-click on the virtual machine file you want to rename and select "Show Package Contents."
Find the VMX file, right- or control-click it and open it with Text Edit or your favorite text editor.
Find the line called displayName and change it to the name you want. In my case, "Windows 7." Then save the file.
Now go launch VMware Fusion. In the library, select the wrongly named machine and delete it, but choose "Keep File."
Go back into the finder to your virtual machine's folder and rename the virtual machine file name to the correct name.
Now go back to the VMware Library. Choose File, then Open.
Browse to the newly renamed virtual machine. Select it. When it asks if the VM is moved, select "I copied it."
Voila! Your VM has a new name.
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