Mike Wendland

Friday, October 8, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: From your tech columnist's e-mail
From a tech columnist's mailbag: We had a gentleman contact us from Nigeria looking to purchase some of our product, but he will only do so if we purchase three cell phones and send them. Is this a scam? The gentleman is persistently e-mailing me trying to get this done. Mark D., Stoney Creek, Ontario

MIKE WENDLAND: Michigan parks, rest stop latest in the wireless world
Truck drivers, whose big 18-wheelers bristle with all sorts of personal technology, are going to love this: The southbound I-75 rest area at Clarkston has gone wireless. A new Wi-Fi Internet system is now up and running, allowing truckers and anyone else to access the Internet from a laptop or a handheld to check e-mail or surf the Web.

Tuesday, October 5, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Stunning iMac G5 is a marvel on the inside, too
I'm a little late with this review of the new G5 iMac from Apple. It's been out nearly a month now, and I've dragged my feet in writing this. That's because the evaluation unit I've been testing has to be returned when the review is printed. Sigh. This new iMac is so elegant, so efficient and so enjoyable to use that I've wanted to hold on to it for as long as possible.

Monday, October 4, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Web site shows old skills moving mountain of rock
In 35 years as a carpenter, Wally Wallington had solved just about every construction problem that ever came his way. But when he retired in 1999, the Lapeer County father of nine and grandfather of 27 had one more building mystery that he was determined to solve.

Friday, October 1, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Microchips keep track of vital supplies
One of technology's hottest applications is radio frequency identification. Known as RFID in geek-speak shorthand, it's a logistics control system that uses tiny radio transmitters embedded in microchips to identify parts and inventory, from soap boxes to washers and dryers to automobile parts.

Monday, September 27, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Safe surfing starts with user, MSU experts say
When it comes to protecting Internet users from worms, viruses and those so-called "phishers" who try to trick you into sending them personal data so they can steal your identity, a group of Michigan State University researchers thinks we may have gotten it all backwards.

Friday, September 24, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Web pumps more money into annual Heart Walk
A Web-based tool that allows metro Detroit participants in the American Heart Association's annual Heart Walk to collect pledges online has been so effective that it's now been rolled out for every chapter in the country.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: These blogs have serious buzz
WOM has shown me that I have failed to point out some schmobvs Detroit-area Web blogs that have serious buzz.

Monday, September 20, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Free computers a godsend to churches
In a tiny storefront church on John R called the Harp of God late last month, one of the pastors wrote down a simple prayer request and put it on the altar. "Please God, we need some computers and the Internet so we can train and connect our people," senior pastor Connie Foster recalled.

Friday, September 17, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: From your tech columnist's e-mail
From your tech columnist's mailbag...

MIKE WENDLAND: Radio operator helps track hurricane
An Oakland County man helped keep the National Hurricane Center informed about the effects of Hurricane Ivan as it moved through the Caribbean and into Alabama and Florida this week -- and he did so all from his Independence Township home.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Meet the Michibloggers ó the people behind the keyboards at the state's best Internet journals
Michiganders have gone bonkers over blogging. Personal Web logs -- "blogs," as they're popularly known -- have become huge, with so many of them online worldwide that it's impossible to guess at the total, except to say that it's in the millions.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Messaging update is mostly good news
After years of being deluged with ever-increasing loads of spam, Internet users are starting to turn to instant-messaging applications instead of e-mail. About 53 million Americans now use instant messaging regularly, and about a quarter of them now tell the surveyors from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that they use IM more than e-mail.

Monday, September 13, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Tech tour will prod Detroit ventures
The SWIFT Tour is coming to Detroit. And if you're getting tired of the charges and countercharges about Swift boats and military service in this year's presidential campaign, don't worry: This tour isn't what you think.

Friday, September 10, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Communications lessons of 9/11 largely unheeded
Three years after the 9/11 terror attacks, most local, state and federal police and fire operations still can't communicate with each other. That was one of the key findings of the 9/11 commission, and it's soon to be elevated into public view as a full-fledged technological crisis.

MIKE WENDLAND: From your tech columnist's e-mail
My column Thursday on going back to pen and paper to keep my calendar drew lots of reaction from readers. Say it ain't so! There are so many reasons why you really should stay electronic. A paper planner isn't easily searchable. ... Does your paper planner beep and buzz and tell you to get to an appointment? I could go on and on.

Thursday, September 9, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Some technology isn't worth the trouble
There are times when technology really helps. Yet there are also times when it creates frustration and adds extra work. That's what I've been experiencing lately. I'm a huge believer in multitasking. But to juggle lots of projects and activities at the same time requires good scheduling and careful organization.

Friday, September 3, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Park's snakes tracked, but still attack
My column Monday talked about how researchers are using technology to help track Michigan's massasauga rattlesnake sure struck a nerve for a visitor to the Orion Oaks park in Oakland County. That's because one of the snakes bit a dog there the other day. After spending $1,300 in vet bills to nurse her pet back to health, the dog's owner is echoing a warning raised in my column.

Thursday, September 2, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Spammers launch new assault: Calls
An underhanded trick called address-spoofing worked so well for e-mail spammers that now telephone solicitors are trying to copy their success.

Monday, August 30, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Transmitters track snakes' every move
Technology is helping Michigan's small but hardy population of the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake thrive. Now, I'm not sure whether this is good news or bad news. I'm not a big fan of snakes.

Friday, August 27, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Instant-messaging trend spreads among adults
Instant messaging has become a key way in which Americans communicate. And Detroit-area residents are right up there with IMers anywhere, with 58 percent of all Internet users in southeastern Michigan using IM regularly. In fact, according to a survey released this week by America Online, one of five Detroiters say they use instant messaging more than e-mail.

Thursday, August 26, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Toy for trendsetters has mass appeal
I've found a new Sidekick. And it just may be the best all-in-one communications device yet. What the $500 BlackBerry has done for deep-pocketed corporate types who need to be always connected to e-mail, the new T-Mobile Sidekick II does for the rest of us, for $299.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Now, cell phones can be used as tiny TV screens
This is the summer of the photo phone. They're selling at the rate of about one out of every four phones sold this year, with the InfoTrends Research Group predicting that 150 million will be in use worldwide by the end of the year. And they're getting better, too, with much improved imaging, flash features for better lighting and, now, video.

Monday, August 23, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Web site helps to keep black leaders' legacy alive
Thanks to a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a new Web site will preserve and make instantly available interviews with African-American leaders and personalities who've visited Detroit over the last 35 years.

Friday, August 20, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Teachers, take note: Net can help reach parents
How smart is this? Nearly nine of 10 Michigan parents have computers with Internet access, and three of every four say they're familiar with technology and comfortable with e-mail and the Internet. But only 43 percent say the schools their children attend provide homework help and access to teachers and administrators through the Internet.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Windows security: A bit late, shy of perfect
Microsoft's much-awaited security fix for the Windows XP operating system is better late than never. But I sure had hoped for more. That's my take on Service Pack 2, the long-promised and long-delayed update to Windows XP that's supposed to shore up the shameful security holes in the world's most popular control program for personal computers.

Monday, August 16, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Law firms try to meet demand for tech experts
There are IT geeks, and then there are IT geeks with law degrees. Scrambling to keep up with new legal challenges and opportunities, metro Detroit's major law firms are adding more and more specialists in information technology, e-commerce and IP. That's IP as in intellectual property -- the legal rights to a program or Internet application.

Friday, August 13, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Oak Park home's TV makeover a gizmo-fest
The reality TV show crew that spent the last week transforming an Oak Park family's home did so not just with the usual bricks and mortar but with some very cool new technology.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Not in a Wi-Fi hotspot? 3 options let you connect
As great as it is, Wi-Fi isn't the only game in town for connecting to the Web while on the road. Don't get me wrong: I'm a huge fan of Wi-Fi, the wireless method of connecting computers to each other and the Net via radio signals that travel up to around 150 feet.

Monday, August 9, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Video games aim to make learning fun
With a whole generation raised on computers and the Net, educators are finding that paper textbooks and one-way classroom lectures aren't nearly as effective as video games at getting students' attention.

Friday, August 6, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Search features zero in on localized information
One of the biggest problems about the Net is information overload. Too much comes back from too many places when you do a Web search. That's why this week, two of the Net's biggest information providers, Yahoo and Switchboard, launched their own local search features.

Thursday, August 5, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Web sites provide help in finding, training new pet
Back in January, bladder cancer claimed the life of Elkie, my 12-year-old Norwegian elkhound. I wrote then ( www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend5_20040205.htm) about how Web sites and e-mails from other pet owners helped my wife and me get through the loss.

Monday, August 2, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Verizon dials up power in case of a big blackout
From his workstation inside a sprawling, unmarked Southfield building, Jimmy Baldwin watches metro Detroit pick up the phone. When I visited him last week, the network he monitors for Verizon Wireless -- Michigan's largest cellular provider -- was processing about 400,000 cell phone calls an hour, a normal traffic flow during the afternoon rush.

Friday, July 30, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: From your tech columnist's e-mail
In my mailbag this week, a reader took exception to the sympathy I expressed last week for a reader who said he canceled his Internet connection because he was fed up with pornographic spam.

MIKE WENDLAND: Small resort town takes a big Wi-Fi network step
This week, the Lake Michigan resort community of Grand Haven became the first place in the United States to offer broadband Internet access via Wi-Fi citywide. Every part of the 6-square-mile city, plus 15 miles out into the big lake, is now covered by wireless Internet.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Apple's new tool extends reach of wireless music
Apple Computer has come up with another device destined to change the way we use computers, be they Macs or PCs.

Friday, July 23, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: From your tech columnist's e-mail
From a tech columnist's mailbag: I have just canceled my high-speed Internet with Comcast. I had no gripe against them specifically, but my complaint had to do with the continuous and increasingly gross pornography spam that keeps coming in.

MIKE WENDLAND: Michigan leads the pack with Web site, Net push
Teri Takai, director of Michigan's Department of Information Technology, is on a roll. After spearheading initiatives that contributed to Michigan's official state Web site being judged best in the nation by the California-based Center for Digital Government earlier this month, she's ready for what could be called the second generation of digital democracy.

Monday, July 19, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Oakland County a leader in e-government services
You still may not be able to fight City Hall, but dealing with the government is sure a lot easier when you can do it from home. Credit a growing trend toward e-government that's letting people transact business with local, county and state officials over the Internet.

Friday, July 16, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Computer whiz dentist's hobby is helping others
I want to tell you today about a guy in Northville who's doing some terrific things for people. First, though, you have to get past the irony of his name and his profession. He's a dentist, and his name is Dr. Payne. Now, by all accounts I've heard, Jim Payne is a terrific dentist. But what I want to share about him has nothing to do with his dental practice.

MIKE WENDLAND: From your tech columnist's e-mail
From a tech columnist's mailbag: It is hard to believe Michigan was determined to have the best Web site. In Virginia, you can not only go online for permits, car registration, etc., but . . . Virginia also provides webcams of heavily traveled freeways and intersections. . . David Aussicker

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Mich. government Web service lauded
When it comes to e-government, Michigan is tops in the nation. That's according to a new survey by the Center for Digital Government that compared how state governments across the country use technology to better serve their citizens.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: New video phones make photo sharing easy, fun
Remember how cool picture phones were the first time you saw them? You can now double that with video phones. I've been playing with one for the past couple of weeks, and I can't decide what's more enjoyable -- taking short videos of people and then watching them react when I show them a playback, or e-mailing the little video clips to friends and family.

Monday, July 12, 2004

MIKE WENDLAND: Campaigns use Web sites to connect to local voters
It isn't just the presidential campaigns that have taken to cyberspace in search of voters. It's local candidates, too. Having a Web page is now just as important as bumper stickers and yard signs. Case in point: the race for the 46th District judgeship, serving the Oakland County communities of Southfield, Lathrup Village, Franklin, Bingham Farms and Beverly Hills.