Computer

I couldn't survive without Comp Squad Inc., a home computer repair company in Newport Beach. James Watkins, founder of Comp Squad, is incredibly patient and, unlike me, computer savvy. "Computers are just like automobiles and they need to be tuned regularly to perform at peak levels," Watkins said. "Computer companies want buyers to constantly upgrade to new machines to solve performance problems." Comp Squad can extend the life of your computer and end frustration.

Lolita Harper A hard drive is not commuting from here to Los Angeles at 3 p.m. on a Friday. Software has nothing to do with cotton. And a mouse is no longer a fury little animal. Instructors at the Costa Mesa Senior Center are redefining key terms to get the city's more mature residents up to speed with the Internet, e-mail and basic word processing programs that have become a way of life for most people. Reports show that adults older than 50 are still the "least wired" segment of the population.

Deepa Bharath This is the age of the personal computer. Not having one is a huge handicap in a time when any mail that's not e-mail is too slow and anyone who does not have access to the World Wide Web is cut off from an entire galaxy of information. Cynthia Cotteta and Annette Smith understand that more than anyone else. Both women collectively have more than 30 years of experience in the high-tech industry. And they both belong to a group called Assn.

The term “hacker” used to refer to a person who would illegally gain access to your computer system for nefarious purposes. No longer! Nowadays, the term is more often used to refer to someone who pushes his or her computer to higher than normal performance levels or utilizes his or her PC for strange and unique purposes. A hacker has a strong do-it-yourself personality. If you fall into this category, or simply want to find out what new and exciting things people are doing with computers, you will find some interesting books at the Newport Beach Public Library, and online at www.newportbeachlibrary.

-- Deepa Bharath COSTA MESA -- Costa Mesa police officers arrested two people early Tuesday on suspicion of breaking in to the Gateway Country store on the 200 block of East 17th Street and stealing computer equipment worth $4,000. Officers arrested Eric Fernandez, 29, and Yvonne Becerra, 25, both of Pico Rivera, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. John FitzPatrick. The two alleged burglars, driving a white Chevy Blazer, were stopped at 2 a.m. Tuesday when officers responding to the store's alarm saw the vehicle speeding away from the scene, FitzPatrick said.

Cindy Trane Christeson 'God is not in need of anything, but all things are in need of him.' -- Marcianus Aristides I don't know a great deal about computers, but I know I use my computer a great deal. In fact, I use my computer almost every day. I use it to e-mail my daughters, other family members and friends. I use my computer to write reports and papers. I use my computer to write this weekly column. I use my computer every weekday for a service I provide of sending brief e-mails of encouragement.

“Eagle Eye” shamelessly borrows elements from many successful action movies. “Mission Impossible,” “The Bourne Identity,” and “Indiana Jones” are just a few. But its driving character is a government super computer that develops a mind of its own and tries to take over Homeland Security operations. This computer-gone-bad plot is right out of Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking “2001.” The disturbed HAL 2000 computer of that movie has been replaced with a female-voiced machine in “Eagle Eye.” She can control all things electronic.

E van Ehrenberg, who attended Harbor View Elementary, is headed off to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full fellowship, where he will earn a doctorate in computational neuroscience. Here's the kicker: Evan is 16 years old, and it was just a couple of months ago that he graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor's of science in cognitive science with an emphasis in computational modeling. At age 11, Evan enrolled in Irvine Valley College, where he graduated with an associate's degree at 14. He was the youngest graduate in the history of the college.

"'Cause I ordered something from a catalog and it came in the mail today. It was my brother's birthday present." KATY MENDEZ, 10 Costa Mesa "I got a new game on the 64 Nintendo." ISAEL VILLAFONA, 12 Costa Mesa "Today we have a special computer class and we play games." FERNANDO VALDEZ, 10 Costa Mesa "Yesterday my dad bought me a new game for my computer, and when I get home, I can play it as long as I want." IRMA JIMENEZ, 10 Costa Mesa "I got two new video games and today we get out early."

?How to use a computer, how to format a letter and use e-mail. I will use it when I grow up and it will help with my job.? ? ?Writing letters helps later in life when writing to my boss. Computers help with my job. It is a really good experience at our age to be using these things.? ? ?I know how to use a computer. It helps me know what life is like later on. I will probably need to make invoices and write letters.? ? ? ?Best thing is having to do your job and to get paid for what we do.?

In the Newport Beach Police Department's call center Tuesday, dispatcher Spring Case checked on the license plate number of a driver who'd been pulled over for an expired tag. A small, red flag appeared on one of Case's half-dozen monitors. It told her this driver had a history with the NBPD. "He was actually pulled over on [March] 10th and cited for the same thing," she said. A month ago, the dispatcher would have had to call the Police Department's records office if she wanted to access such tidbits.

Prosecutors on Friday added a child pornography charge against a Newport Beach pool maintenance man already accused of sexually abusing seven boys over more than a decade. Christopher Bryan McKenzie, 50, has been behind bars since December 2012, when Newport Beach police arrested him on suspicion of molesting two children. Since then, the Orange County district attorney's office has added accusations from other victims, including boys McKenzie allegedly met while he was a child care volunteer at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa.

Students at Corona del Mar High School hacked into the school's computer system to change grades and access tests, according to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Newport Beach police are investigating the incident, and the students could face criminal charges on top of disciplinary action from the school, the district said in a statement Wednesday evening. "We are shocked and disappointed by the unethical and irresponsible behavior exhibited by the involved students," spokeswoman Laura Boss wrote.

Orange Coast College broke ground on its $35 million interdisciplinary complex this week, kicking off one of many major construction projects in the works at the campus. The building, adjacent to the Adams Avenue parking lot, will open in fall 2015. It will house facilities for computer science, math and business. The building, funded by Measure M, a $698-million bond measure passed by Orange County voters in 2012, will be part of a larger complex that will probably include literature, language and social science classes in the future, said Rich Pagel, vice president of administrative services at OCC. "There's a lot that will unfold in the next 10 years," he said.

The Costa Mesa City Council is not scheduled to address any new or old business during its Tuesday meeting, but its consent calendar includes an Eastside traffic project and buying more than $400,000 worth of employee computers. The traffic project for East 19th Street, between Newport Boulevard and Irvine Avenue, is intended to "address speeding concerns by narrowing the street and enhancing its residential nature," according to city documents. It will include "chokers" containing landscaping like the ones installed on Broadway last year, as well as two entry signs.

Orange Coast College will donate 760 surplus computers to about half a dozen nearby school districts and campuses including Newport-Mesa Unified, Huntington Beach City School District, Huntington Beach Union High School District and Fountain Valley High School. At its meeting Wednesday, the Coast Community College District board of trustees — OCC's governing body — approved giving away the equipment. In doing so, trustees acknowledged that the computers were too old to be useful at the campus and not valuable enough to arrange to sell, according to board documents.

The Costa Mesa Technology Branch Library reopened Tuesday in a new location that administrators hope will better accommodate users. The branch is now in Fairview Court shopping center, 2263 Fairview Road, near Wilson Street. The Technology Branch spent 11 years at 3303 Bristol St. before closing there April 13. The new location, in the College Park neighborhood, is similar to its predecessor in most respects, though it is slightly larger at 2,200 square feet. It has about 25 public computers, two printers and a laptop station with outlet plug-ins.

After a power failure that crippled Orange Coast College's computer system over the winter break, the college is upgrading years-old technology using millions of dollars in bond money. OCC will spend slightly less than $1 million on classroom technology and infrastructure to replace equipment that administrators say is 7 to 8 years old, with $420,000 of that designated for servers and software. The campus will also buy more than 1,000 computers for an additional $1.5 million.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is exploring the idea of creating two flagship programs where students can focus on a specific interest, such as art or technology, in each high school zone, starting with Estancia. The district is asking for the community's opinions on creating signature academic and arts programs at each of the eight schools in the Estancia zone. The district will also hold bilingual community input meetings in the Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar zones.

The chairman and chief executive of a Santa Ana-based computer technology company faces charges of insider trading stemming from the sale of 9 million shares of stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Corona del Mar resident Manouchehr Moshayedi of STEC and his brother each made about $134 million from selling stock in the company after the stock soared 800% between January and August 2009. STEC's rapid growth resulted from increased reported revenue and sales of its "flagship" product, the ZeusIOPS, a solid-state drive, the SEC asserts in its July 19 filing . But in August 2009, Moshayedi allegedly learned two key pieces of information not available to the public that showed the true demand for the ZeusIOPS was lower than anticipated, the complaint says.