Stop Forgetting Passwords
Let me ask a question; Do you ever forget a password to a site, or use a password that is so easy it’s hardly worth the effort? If you are like most of us then the answer is YES to both.
Let me introduce you to LastPass. LastPass is the answer to your problem, even if you didn’t know you had one. With the growing popularity of social sites and putting up tons of personal information on the Internet, Security is no joke. Not to mention that just about any site you go to these days wants you to register for whatever reason. So what is LastPass? In short LastPass is one of the most well regarded services when it comes to protecting your usernames and passwords and giving you access to them anytime you are connected to the Net.
Categories: All, Security, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: Explorer, Firefox, firefox extension, Freeware, Internet Explorer, login credentials, mobile platforms, Security, usernames and passwords, web passwords, YES
Explain Computer to Non-Tech Types.
How Do You Explain Computer Concepts to Non-Tech Types? – Computers – Lifehacker
Over my years of experience I have found that in the technology industry, you usually run into 2 types of people.
- 1. People who are good with code and technology
- 2. People who are good with people
You vary rarely find a combination of the two, and this can be a real talent. I have talked to various employers and have been told that when they come across a person who knows their stuff when it comes to geek, but can also explain themselves in non-technical jargon, that those people are real find.
The above article is a really good start and has some great advice that many of us tech types need to keep in mind when speaking to the majority of the world.
Categories: All, Tips & Tricks, Training Tags: combination of the two, computer concepts, lifehacker, technical jargon, technology industry
1 Number To Rule Them All
Google Voice – One Killer Web App
Does Google have Skype on the menu? Voice Over IP (VoIP) is one of the hottest topics around. There has even been talk of late that the traditional P.O.T. network may be going to transition to VoIP in the future. I have written previously on this subject, but of late there has been some new additions to this service. Google Voice, or Grandcentral, it’s previous name is one of the most simple concepts when it comes to telephony. One Number for all of your other numbers.
The original concept of Grandcentral was to have one number that would ring all of your other numbers or certain numbers at a predetermined time. This in itself is a concept that is so simple it borders on brilliant. Read more…
Categories: All, Google, Tips & Tricks Tags: Gizmo5, google, Google Phone, Google Voice, open source project, Skype, voice over ip voip, voice transcription, voip market, voip service
SkyDrive Usable?
SkyDrive and its 25GB of storage is getting more usable thanks to ‘Skydrive Explorer’.
I came across this really impressive application the other day and it really gets Windows Live SkyDrive one step closer to becoming a great online tool. One of the problems with Skydrive in the past is there has been no easy way to incorporate it and easily get your files uploaded.
Skydrive Explorer (http://skydriveexplorer.com) has come up with a solution that is easy to install and use. Here is the review from their site:
SkyDrive Explorer is a free, easy-to-use, but very powerful extension for Windows Explorer. With SkyDrive Explorer you can make any every-day operations with your documents from Microsoft Live SkyDrive™ service using Windows Explorer, as if they were on your computer.
Moreover you don’t need to install and configure any additional programs or ActiveX components. SkyDrive Explorer will organize the interaction with the online storage itself.
Windows Explorer
In short when you install this application it will create a virtual folder in your Windows Explorer…
When you first set this up you will be required to provide your Windows Live username and password. After that you will be able to use this like any local drive with a few exceptions which I will cover shortly.
Follow are the listed features for the product:
- View the structure and contents of folders in SkyDrive™;
- View files information (type, size, creation date in GMT format);
- Create new root folders and subfolders;
- Copy files into the storage;
- Delete files and folders;
- Copy files from the storage to the computer;
- Copy folders and subfolders from the storage to the computer keeping their structure;
- Use Drag & Drop for files operations;
- Rename files and folders;
- Create links to SkyDrive™ folders on your computer.
So whats missing?
I sent the developers a note telling them what a great product I thought this was, and what I thought would be cool in their next release. The only thing that I think they have left out is the ability to use applications like Microsoft SyncToy to sync folders and files to your SkyDrive. Currently SyncToy does not recognize the virtual folder so you must drag and drop your files. If this one functionality could be incorporated this would be a really smoking tool.
SkyDrive Explorer is still in Beta and I have great hopes for it in the months to come. It is by far one of the best tools I have come across. If you decide to use it, please consider making a donation as we need this kind on innovation in our lives.
Categories: All, Articles, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: computer copy, copy folders, Explorer, impressive application, microsoft, root folders, skydrive, Skydrive Explorer, Use Drag Drop, virtual folder, Windows, Windows Explorer
reCaptcha and Google
[ad#GA2]
As you may of heard, Google has purchased reCaptcha. So what is it anyway?
A CAPTCHA is a program that can tell whether its user is a human or a computer. You’ve probably seen them — colorful images with distorted text at the bottom of Web registration forms. CAPTCHAs are used by many websites to prevent abuse from “bots,” or automated programs usually written to generate spam. No computer program can read distorted text as well as humans can, so bots cannot navigate sites protected by CAPTCHAs.
So why and how is Google using this technology? This is all part of Google’s Book project, to scan and make all of the worlds written knowledge searchable. Quite a lofty goal to say the least. If you haven’t visited ‘Google Books’ you should give it a try. I was quite impressed when I saw that they had scanned all 1900 issues of Life Magazine. Quite a time capsule.
So how does this help with the Google Books project? It Google words this is how it works:
To archive human knowledge and to make information more accessible to the world, multiple projects are currently digitizing physical books that were written before the computer age. The book pages are being photographically scanned, and then transformed into text using “Optical Character Recognition” (OCR). The transformation into text is useful because scanning a book produces images, which are difficult to store on small devices, expensive to download, and cannot be searched. The problem is that OCR is not perfect.
reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. More specifically, each word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is placed on an image and used as a CAPTCHA. This is possible because most OCR programs alert you when a word cannot be read correctly.
Categories: All, Security, Tips & Tricks Tags: Book Project, colorful images, ga2, google, Google Books, OCR, ocr programs, optical character recognition, physical books, Software
Syncing Gmail and Outlook
This is question that I have seen asked time and time again. Infact it was again asked of me on Mahalo.com which Im a member of; so I decided to do some research.
Q. Outlook and Google Contacts: I have about 1000 contacts between these two products. About 500 of them are duplicates.
A. I assume you want to clean this up so the contacts in outlook and google are the same? There is no free automated way to do this in Outlook 2003, Im not sure on 2007. The following article is a pretty good way to accomplish this:
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2700/outlook_how_to_delete_duplicated_contacts/
Categories: All, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: Benefits Removes, Features Synchronizes, gmail, google, Google Contacts, microsoft, Microsoft Outlook, nz products, open source tool, opensource project, sync options
Work Arounds For Windows 7
Work Arounds For Home Premium
Windows 7 Home Premium will for most cases be the right choice!
I was listening to the Windows Weekly podcast with Paul Thourrott, which I highly recommend for anyone interested in Windows and dry humor. Considering the topic, a really good combination. Check the podcast at: http://twit.tv/ww . Also check out Paul’s site: http://www.winsupersite.com/
Anyway Paul commented on that Home Premium of Windows 7 seems to have the biggest bang for the buck. Home Premium does limit some of the features that you may want but not pay the extra dough for. Mr. Thourrott has put up a very good graph of the different versions and what is included with each, you can see this at: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_skus_compare.asp
Categories: All, Articles, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: backup storage, dry humor, Home Premium, Microsoft Backup, storage folder, thumb drives, Windows, Windows Weekly
Cell Phone and Google
Cell Phone Tips and Google Voice.
Here are a few methods to maximize your cell phone minutes. They are not illegal just a little sneaky. I am currently working with Alltel and on a Blackberry Curve. Two of these methods require a smartphone and the third should work on any phone with Alltel My Circle.
My Circle is an alltel specific program that allows you to specifi a number and then any calls to or from that number will not count against your plan min.
Read more…
Categories: All, Android, Tips & Tricks Tags: Blackberry Curve, exchange number, google, Google Voice, ISKOOT, Skype
