1-800-GOOG-411

yep. keep in mind that 411 is somewhere around a seven billion dollar a year business. it costs something like $1.25 (may be wrong, that's just a guess) to use this service depending on who your service provider is. now, google is offering this service completely free of charge, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411. that's really got to make those phone service providers angry! i think they are still working out some rough spots, but defiantely give the service a try, and know that you can now dial 411 (or, rather, an equivalence) without having to worry about how much the phone service is screwing you. :)

EDIT: i did look it up and see that 411 charges start at $1.49.

xm and sirius merge

yep, for anyone who has not already heard, the two satelite radio companies are merging. this does not really effect me because i do not subscribe to either of these services, but this has got to be horrible news for anyone who does. i generally frawn upon this simply because competition is the number one thing that drives quality of any service.

Link to Story

Open Your Favorite Instant Messanger Via a Web App : meebo

Want to access your IM service from a computer that does not have it installed? jump over to meebo! there is support for aim, yahoo, google, and msn. have fun! and thank me for the great link! :)
meebo.com

oh and just a tip regarding IMs
tired of msn messenger ALWAYS launching on start-up? i personally hate anything launching that is not needed, and msn messenger drove me nuts! here is how to stop that: open my computer. go to C:..Program Files. rename the folder "Messenger" to "MessengerOFF"

Youmail

youmail is a voicemail service that serves as an alternative to the service that your service provider provides you. i have not tried this out because my phone service is not supported. if you are a verison, cingular, or t-mobile customer, you might want to check it out, there are some cool features. one example is the ability to assign different voicemail messages for different numbers. and make it so some people cannot leave voicemail at all.

www.youmail.com

spoofcard

not really condoning the use of this seeing that it could be used very maliciously, but i personally like to know that services like this exist and like to share the knowledge with people. simply put, spoofcard is a service that allows for caller id spoofing.

www.spoofcard.com

Gmail

First, Gmail is now public. you can now go and make yourself a Gmail account, i have! enjoy! i believe that it is still in a somewhat beta stage, but you no longer have to be invited to use the service. they boast huge mailbox space and bunches of other useful stuff.

mail.google.com

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is not new, but i just wanted to share it with people that do not know what it is. This is a neat little Firefox extension that makes the internet somewhat "surfable." you can flip through websites just like channel surfing. it's really useful for finding new websites that you might not know about or that you might not have thought about looking for.

StumbleUpon

Strange Statues Around the World

this is actually definitely worth checking out. Here is a collection of unique statues found all over the world. there are a lot of them! enjoy! :)

link

Teacher Convicted with Exposing Students to Porn

i've been hearing a pretty good bit about this story because it is completely rediculous. a substitute teacher was hit with bad luck and a pop-up storm while in a classroom. this happened a couple years ago when pop-up storms where really at their worse. this woman is being sentence to 40 years in prison. 40 years! that's insane.

Link to Story

How Much Are You Paying For Ink?

I just heard a crazy fact. consumers are paying $5,000 a gallon for ink. that is, when we buy those tiny cartridges for $50 or so, that is what we are paying comparably. which brings me to a tip of mine on how to get the most out of your ink. the settings for your printer default to "normal" printing quality. if you are just printing text or word documents, change it to "fast draft" it will save you a ton of ink and it prints a hell of a lot faster.

The Quicklaunch Toolbar (XP)

XP Tip:
here's a very handy toolbar that some might not know about. it's the quick launch toolbar. this toolbar is not turned on by default, so you have to actually turn it on to make use of it.
right click someplace on the taskbar, then go to toolbars->quick launch and click. you can put shortcuts here so that they are very easy to access. my advise would be to keep the shortcuts here to a minimal, but you can put as many as you would like. i know some of you like to have 100 or so on the desktop, this practice could apply here.
remember you can make shortcuts to any file or folder, just right click the file or folder and choose create shortcut, then drag it to the quicklaunch toolbar.

i'll write a future blog on how to clean up all of the clutter off of the desktop! :)

enjoy!

Shortcut Key Any File or Folder

here's a very handy tip that not everyone knows.
you can create a shortcut key for any file or folder. then all you have to do is press CTRL ALT (assigned key) and the file or folder opens automatically.

you first have to create a shortcut for the item. then right click and go to properties. there is a spot for shortcut key; assign what you would like and hit OK (or apply). whalla! :) it's done.

i don't particularly like to clutter up my desktop with shortcuts so i put the shortcuts someplace on the start menu.

i have CTRL ALT N open up notepad, which i think is the most handy execution of this tip.
i also like CTRL ALT M for media player
and CTRL ALT D to open and play "whip it" by Devo

Tips for Secure Web Browsing

tips for secure web browsing

many people leave themselves completely vulnerable to the evils of the world wide web. i'm gonna guess that those people don't really know how to protect themselves, or don't really know that there is a problem. i'm mostly going to address malware and how to keep it off of your computer.

1. windows updates: first of all, you should always keep up with the latest windows updates and patches. this is the very first step and is completely crucial. you can actually set up windows to get the updates automatically! open up the control panel from the start menu. then open "system" and there should be a tab for automatic updates. turn it on! you are good to go.

2. anti-virus software: everyone should have antivirus software. it's a wonderful thing! it will actually watch for viruses for you. just make sure it is turned on and scan any files that are iffy. if you do not have anti-virus software, there is a free solution. AVG Anti-Virus by grisoft. the single edition is the free one. enjoy!

3. anti-ad/spyware software: clean up your system with one of the many programs available. if you don't want to dish out any money, there are free solutions here too. spybot s&d for one. do a search, i'm sure there are many more.

4. firefox: simply put, stop using IE.

5. don't mindlessly click stuff: it still amazes me that this is still an issue. it seems to me that it's been years that people have been advising not to open suspicious attachment in e-mails, and it's still being stressed because it is still an issue! common people! if you've followed my other advise up to this point, you should be good to virus-scan anything that looks iffy. if you get a message saying: "This is you bank. We need you to send us you password..." i know it's really tempting, but try to resist. also, if there are hyperlinks to websites in e-mails or messages that look funny, instead of just clicking the link, pull open firefox and actually type in the URL yourself so you are sure of where you are going.
myspace has gotten really bad about this. i know that everyone wants to fill out the latest survey, or see some viral video that is being chain-bullitoned, or even get a free ringtone :), but is it really that important?

6. NoScript (firefox extension): firefox has tons of great extension. follow this link and check some of them out: firefox addons. this particular extension is great because it blocks javascript, java, and other executable content. it only allows what you tell it to. after installing this extension you'll have to take the time to whitelist all of your favorite sites. but after that initial phase you'll be good to go! say goodbye to malware from here on out! i still occationally run my spybot and ad-aware just to make sure i'm good, and i have been completely malware free since installing this extension.
(note, NoScript isn't for everyone. It literally blocks everything!)
NoScript

i hope that at least somebody will get something from this. enjoy your new found knowledge, and safe surfing! :)

one last unrelated tip:
AdBlock firefox extension.
it's great, no more annoying adds.
AdBlock Filter.G Updater.
a great companion extension to AdBlock.