Archive for Internet
December 1, 2009 at 3:10 PM · Filed under Internet
If you’re shopping this holiday season, there’s a good chance you’re doing it online. However, there are a lot of scammers and cheating going on out there and it’s tough to tell an honest vendor from an unscrupulous one.
You can be safe shopping online. Follow the tips in this article
to quickly become an expert on the subject. Then make sure to pass it
onto your friends and family. If these ethically-challenged vendors
don’t get any bites or sales, then they won’t be around for very long.
via GfG
July 23, 2009 at 2:53 PM · Filed under Internet, Misc
I don’t know how I never discovered this service before now, but better late than never. Booksfree is a Netflix-like service for paperback books and audiobooks. For a flat monthly fee, you can get any of their titles shipped to you (free shipping). Whenever you’re done, ship it back.
At $11/mo for the paperback book plan, I think you would need to read 2-3 books per month for it to pay off. The audiobook plans are more pricey and the any format you want plan tops out at $30.49/mo.
As my reading sources have shifted to the Net, I probably wouldn’t break even – I think I’ll stick to the local library for now.
May 29, 2009 at 2:27 PM · Filed under Internet, Software, Tech
If you use Skype, then you should do yourself a huge favor and lock down your privacy settings asap. This will prevent you from receiving calls and notes/messages from spammers, phishers and malware vendors.
Just today I received a rather legitimate looking e-mail that could easily be misunderstood to be from Skype. If I had clicked on the embedded link, and installed any of the software I would have been in for a world of hurt. It was one of those malware writers that makes you believe you have a virus/malware and says you need their software to clean your computer. Their ’software’ in turn ends up being garbage that costs lots of money.
Here’s how to lock down your Skype settings:
- Go to the menu Skype-> Privacy
- Ensure that all of the “from” settings are from “people in my Contact List only“
Here’s a screenshot of what that dialog box looks like. Click for a larger version.
There is just one minor drawback. You will need to manually add new contacts before they are allowed to call/message you. A small price to pay for a lot more security.
January 30, 2009 at 10:42 PM · Filed under Internet, Misc, Uncategorized
So you’ve decided to buy a house, eh? Good for you! But now, the hard question is who to borrow that money from, which lender? Well not all lenders are created equally; they charge different amounts. Don’t pay attention only to the interest rate, otherwise you can miss out on $1000s in savings.
I’ve attached an Excel spreadsheet w/ formulae that I used to compare
mortgages. Just punch in the value of the house you want to buy, the downpayment you plan to make, and the various fees that your potential lender is going to charge you. You can adjust this to suit
you.
Read the rest of this entry »
January 20, 2009 at 1:12 PM · Filed under Internet
Google has apparently just started testing for bots against their search engine. Take a look at this screen shot of what I got when I searched for “wired brock pierce” from the search box in the upper right of Firefox 3. Wonder if my co-workers are searching for ‘bad’ things.
PS> Interesting article on Brock Pierce of IGE (which was a company that used low-paid workers to farm virtual gold and re-sold it at huge profits).
June 8, 2008 at 10:34 PM · Filed under Internet
One person dared to dream and put together a fake Google News page with their vision of what a page of ‘good news’ might look like. Scanning the page, I pretty much agree with everything that caught my eye.
Notable headlines: “China Withdraws from Tibet, with Apologies”, “President signs single-payer health care into law”, “Faster Way Seen to Reduce Atmospheric Carbon” and for you sci-fi fans, “Lucas authorizes fan reworkings of episodes 1-3″!
January 27, 2008 at 11:13 PM · Filed under Amusing, Internet
Here’s a funny bit from an old Friends episode, where Joey is lamenting getting old (a.k.a. 30+). I sympathize. It sucks. Ever wonder how come life doesn’t come with a manual?
Oh yeah, if you go to http://m.youtube.com on your cell/mobile, you can pull up YouTube videos. Make sure you have a good data plan, b/c those videos ain’t small compared to text-based web pages or SMS/text messages.
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