As the Internet has grown into a vital service for Americans from coast to coast, a number of important issues have come up regarding the operation and management of the networks that comprise it. Chief among these issues is a concept called “net neutrality.” Generally speaking, net neutrality refers to the idea that all Internet service providers should treat all traffic equally, regardless of the content involved or its origin.
Instagram is a social network that has distinguished itself from others of its kind with its mobile-first, image-oriented style. Rather than writing text posts, Instagram is designed around uploading images and short videos to your profile. It may take some time to get used to its format, but with practice, it’s a great way to socialize with friends.
You’ve heard it before, that phrase, “the cloud.” People throw it around as a corporate buzzword, promote it as a selling point, and gild it like some sort of holy grail of computing, but what exactly is it? The answer isn’t always clear, but let’s go over some of the basic tenets to help better define “the cloud.”
In general terms, the cloud is the Internet. All that cyberspace between your coffee shop wifi and the servers that power Facebook, from Amazon to Bing to Pinterest, it’s all of those and the web of connections that ties them together. More importantly, it’s the infrastructure, and the idea behind it, that forms this mysterious cloud.
One of the main ideas behind the cloud is that everything is “out there” — stored on a server, or in all likelihood, multiple servers, on the Internet, rather than on the computer sitting on your lap. There’s little or no software to install, and in fact, most of the time you simply use the browser (i.e., Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) already on your device to access the cloud. That means since it’s “out there,” it’s accessible from nearly anywhere: the public computers at the library, your friend’s notebook PC, your iPad, your Android phone — you get the idea.
No, we’re not just talking your files and photos, though that’s a large part of it. Now, entire applications run in the cloud. The technical name is “software as a service,” and it runs right in the browser, too. Google Drive is a prime example — when you normally would have used Microsoft Word or Excel on your desktop computer, you can now use Google Docs for word processing, and Google Sheets for spreadsheets and there’s nothing to show for it on your hard drive. It exists in the cloud. Of course, you can download the files, if you so choose, but, typically, there’s no toting around a floppy disk or USB thumb drive; you simply log in to the cloud from wherever you may be.
In the very near past, your choice of operating system could limit which software you installed on your machine. Now, it’s all taken care of for you: if you have a browser, you have the ability to run the software. Granted, the experience may not always be the best, say, on your phone’s smaller screen, but the infrastructure and the idea are still there.
Remember the time you bought that accounting software at your local computer store, then turned around the next week and a shiny new version had just been released? That’s right, you bought version 10 when version 11 was just around the corner. Now you have to pony up some more cash — maybe the full retail price, maybe just an upgrade fee — if you want the latest features. With the cloud, that’s a thing of the past. Sure, there are regular updates and improvements, but they simply replace what was already there in the cloud. The catch is, unlike the one-time software license fees of old, you’re typically now subscribing to that software as a service with a monthly or annual fee, so it’s a bit of give and take.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of all this is if your computer crashes or your hard drive gets fried in a lightning storm, your files are safe out there in the cloud. Typically, data are distributed across multiple servers, perhaps multiple locations, and maybe even in multiple countries across the globe (which is also something to think about in terms of legal ramifications), so it would likely take quite the catastrophic event to wipe out your stuff.
So, now you don’t have to wonder what exactly you’re getting yourself into when you dabble in the cloud. There’s no real mystery involved: it’s simply businesses providing you services remotely from servers connected to the Internet.
Luckily, we at Patient Computer Help are here to help you navigate the cloud, should you have any questions.
If you are thinking about starting a YouTube channel and want to know how to make money from it then we at Patient Computer Help are here to give you the information you need. Anybody can start a YouTube channel, but you will need some technical information if you want to monetize your videos and start getting paid. Here is what you’ll need to do:
YouTube is a Google-owned website, and so the first thing you have to do to start making money on your channel is create a Google AdSense account. When you set up an account, Google places advertisements in the sidebar of your website as well as in the beginning of your videos. The advertisers pay Google to display these ads and in turn, Google pays you based on how much traffic comes to your channel. The longer people watch your videos with ads, the more money you will make. We at Patient Computer Help will gladly answer any technical questions you have about setting up an AdSense account.
Uploading a video to YouTube does not automatically mean it begins to make money. You will have to go into the settings of your video and choose to monetize it, either with sidebar advertisements, in-video advertisements, or both. Once you have selected this option, the video will begin making money based on view-time. We will help you navigate this option if you are having difficulty, and can help you setup your account settings so that each upload is automatically monetized.
YouTube has their own set of guidelines, and if you don’t follow them your video won’t remain monetized. The most common way for videos to break guidelines is by using copyrighted music. If a copyrighted song appears in your video then YouTube will leave it up on your channel, but the money it draws in from advertisements will go to the owner of the copyright instead of you. Avoid this by visiting YouTube’s Audio Library, which contains free music that you are able to include in your videos without worrying about copyright infringement.
Monetizing your videos doesn’t do you any good if nobody clicks on them. There are a few things you can do to attract traffic to your channel. The first impression that people get of your content is the video thumbnail. Hundreds of videos of the same subject matter pop up when somebody does a search on the YouTube homepage. Your thumbnail is your chance to stand out from the other videos and make people want to click on your content. Create engaging images that immediately let viewers know what the subject of your video will be. Additionally, make sure that your video is of good quality. With so many options on the internet, people won’t hesitate to find a new video after just a few seconds if your quality is no good. Put effort into your channel and drive traffic by promoting your videos on other social media sites.
