Securing your computer...

Sometimes, you just learn stuff the hard way.

Case in point: my house was broken into last week. In a stunning display of targeted thievery, the perpetrator(s) pried open a door and took my computer. Not the laptop I'm writing this on, but my desktop computer.

Otherwise known as the one that I do all my musical work on, all my photography with, and generally has most of my life on it.

They also took the hard drives out of two other "project" computers that were inoperative. Strange stuff, I know.

A lot of my data was backed up, but not all of it. In their infinite wisdom, the burglars left the external hard drive with my photo archive on it dating back about five years. That's good. If I'd lost that, I'd have cried. A lot.

Didn't touch any of the expensive musical or photo equipment, left all my other stuff untouched (save for some beer in the fridge that they removed, but didn't even drink).

Anyway, I've learned a couple of important lessons. First, back up EVERYTHING. Second, I'm now securing all my computers so that if they're stolen folks not only can't get to my data, but also will get tracked.

Here's how to do it. There's a free program out there called The Laptop Lock. It's wonderful. It's free, and sets you up with an online account that gives you all kinds of goodies. If your computer is stolen (name notwithstanding, it works on desktop computers, too), you simply log in and tag your computer as stolen.

The next time the purloined system connects to the Internet, it not only broadcasts an IP address which can help police track down your computer, but also will automatically do a number of things of your choosing. These can range from deleting certain files to encrypting some of them (like bank data), flashing warnings on the screen that the computer is stolen, or even running another program of your choosing.

I've got mine set to encrypt some personal stuff, then to run a particularly insidious little program called Perfect Keylogger. This one isn't free, but it's also useful. Should my laptop get stolen, and should I trigger The Laptop Lock, then the keylogger starts running.

What it does is capture every key typed on the computer and e-mail it to me. Not only that, but it also takes pictures of the computer's screen every few seconds and e-mails those, too.

I feel a lot more secure now about my computers. Now if I could only feel safe in my own home...

First post!

Here's what this blog's about - in the course of my job and daily life (musician, photographer, alt-weekly editor) - I have to learn stuff.

Namely, I sometimes need to know how to do something, and end up searching the Internet for a while to find out what to do. I'm creating this blog to try and make the process easier for anyone else who needs to figure out how to do whatever I've had to figure out to do that particular day.

Did that make sense? Let's go with tonight's lesson.

I'm playing a wedding gig this weekend with my brother. He's a fine guitar player, but a little sketchy on his singing. He's got the pipes, he's got the know-how, but he doesn't have the confidence. Twenty minutes later, I had him sounding pretty good. For you aspiring vocalists out here, I've got Jake's tips. They might help.

1. Keep in mind that the way you sound inside your head is completely different from how other people hear you. Your voice isn't your voice. The pitch you hear yourself singing is right (the note you're singing), but the timbre of your voice (how that note sounds) isn't what others hear.
2. Unless you're a professional Elvis impersonator, sing like you. Don't try to sound like someone else until you have a good handle on what your own voice is supposed to sound like.
3. Practice makes perfect. Having trouble with low notes? Work on 'em. Same with the high notes. Accept, however, that unless you're Mariah Carey your voice has a limited range. If you can't sing it, just transpose it.
4. Take a deep breath and draw it deep into your belly. Feel that? Yeah, that's where you should be singing from. Put some power and support under your pipes, and you'll have the real magic happen. Trapping your voice in your throat is just plain bad technique, and makes you sound all pinched and forced.