This news makes it even harder to hate Google; with these tools the average joe can keep an eye on his ISP and make sure its not trying to sneak anything by him, and will help to keep those sneaky ISPs honest. Google may be the most massive company in the universe, but they sure are helpful.

This comes at the perfect time for men, because I’m beginning to suspect that our ISP is throttling us.

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Post tags: blog, Design Stuff, google, internet, isp, measurement labs, throttling

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RS: First off, WHAT is ShopTab?
JF: ShopTab is a Facebook App that allows business owners to sell more products by creating a shop tab on their Facebook fan page, showcasing products from their existing online store. Easily. Quickly. Inexpensively.

RS: When did ShopTab launch
JF: ShopTab launched in October 2009

RS: What made you decide to create ShopTab?
JF: Over the past 8 years I have been working with small to large clients with their online marketing and social media strategy. One of my biggest passions is helping small to medium size business owners understand and leverage the internet to connect with their customers. Many of my smaller ecommerce clients have been requesting my help on how they can monetize their efforts on Facebook.

My wife owns an online baby product business http://www.littlebutterflykiss.com. She, as with many of my smaller ecommerce clients, don™t have large budgets to afford website development of a custom Facebook shop tab nor large marketing budgets. I decided to help and after 3 months of development we recently launched ShopTab to complement any ecommerce tool. It has some built in social shopping features such as Share to Facebook Wall to get the word out about their Shop Tab products.

RS: What sets ShopTab apart from other similar applications?
JF: There are a few shop type applications on Facebook but ShopTab specifically:

1. Was designed and developed from the business owner perspective. We focused heavily on the needs of the business owner when developing the application and spent the extra time and money to ensure the tool did not require any technical knowledge. We require no additional programming code or html.
2. Works with every ecommerce tool.
3. Allows a shop owner to export their products from their current ecommerce tool and upload through our easy to use admin tool. A few of our recent customers told me they set up their 500+ product store within 10 minutes.
4. Ds not charge an upfront fee for the shop tab application, nor take a percentage of each sale. Our customers pay a flat small monthly fee starting at $10/mo for up to 500 products. We also offer a 7 day free trial and they can cancel whenever they want — no long term contracts
5. Ds not require they use any specific platform to handle payments, sales tax, shipping, security, etc. We send their prospective customer to their website to handle the transaction.
6. Sends customers directly to an existing shopping site, increasing traffic and enabling a shopping experience unfettered by any limitations within Facebook. For instance, upselling, cross-selling, recurring purchases and so forth can still be handles as they always have.

RS: Why Facebook?
JF: With over 350 million fans and growing everyday and the strong desire for business owners to find a way to monetize their Facebook presence “ Facebook was the right choice for our intial launch.

RS: If I were looking at setting something like this up, what would I need to do to get started?
JF: Simply visit http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=189977524185 and click on Go To Application. From there a business owner would create their account, log into the admin, and either use our product feed upload tool or add products individually.

RS: What features are you looking at adding in the near future?
JF: For this we are relying on our customers to tell us what else they need. Just last week customers asked us for a way to share a product to their wall. That feature was added yesterday. We are going to rely on what features make the most sense for our business owners but do not require an increase in monthly cost to the ShopTab business owner. There are a few features such as horizontal vs. vertical layout that we have in the works but again if another feature comes up that is more important to our ShopTab business owner customer it will take higher priority over our feature roll out schedule.

Check it out: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=189977524185

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, Design Stuff, development, internet, program, tech, Web Stuff

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RS: First off, WHAT is upillar.com?

TM: upillar.com is a free nationwide online classified website. Items are listed both locally and nationally allowing buyers and sellers to reach the broadest possible audience absolutely free! upillar.com never takes a portion of the sale. We provide our services 100% to the public. Whether you are buying or selling; Motorized vehicles, Clothing, Electronics, Real Estate, or looking for your next job, upillar.com’s free online classifieds are the place to go.

RS: What made you decide to develop upillar.com?

TM: I was going to college trying to make college payments by buying and selling stuff. Nothing was available at the time. The only free services were very cumbersome and difficult to use. I decided the public deserved a place to go where everything was free, and actually easy to use.

RS: Why the name upillar?
TM: The letter “u” signifies “you” or “yourself” , the word “pillar” gives reference to a sign of strength. So you are what makes our free marketplace strong.

 

RS: What is your background? Did you work at an internet company previously?

TM:No internet background whatsver. I ran with this as a dream, and was able to put together the entire site from scratch during 4 1/2 years of development with a whole team of programmers.

RS: What is your vision for the future of upillar.com?

TM:We hope that upillar.com becomes THE place to buy and sell goods for free. With major releases soon coming, upillar.com will offer sections that specifically cater to Real Estate & Jobs. Although you can find those categories in our current classified section, the new release will customize an entire section of our website dedicated to those categories giving some of the biggest names in the internet a run for their money.

RS: What were some of the major obstacles you encountered while starting this site?

TM: Some of our biggest problems were; Name, Trust, Organizing our website, flow(How users click through the website),and credibility. With our newest release coming the first week of December, we hope to improve many areas of our current system.

 

RS: What is on the immediate horizon for upillar?

TM: upillar.com has just signed a major national advertising campaign that will begin the first week of December. We would be happy to tell you more about it once the official releases go out! We anticipate millions of listings in our first quarter of next year.

RS: What sets upillar apart from ebay and Craig’s list?

TM: upillar.com is often referred to as a hybrid of craigslist and ebay at first glance.

upillar.com’s services are completely free like Craigslist.org, but has some major functionality differences between the two. First; when you list an item for sale, the item is placed into a category instead of a city. This enables users to list an item once, and it immediately becomes searchable both on a local level and a national level. Second; You can place up to 20 photos for free on each listing. upillar.com also gives buyers easy access to the seller by providing a safe way to communicate with the seller without giving up personal information.

upillar.com also offers a very powerful keyword search technology that enables users to find what they are looking for in under 30 seconds. This is accomplished by “category narrowization” . Ebay has a great platform where this technology has proven to be valuable. Since upillar.com is a classified website, sellers dont have to worry about monitoring their listings to make sure minimum dollar amounts are met. Just list your item and let it be until someone emails you or calls you.

 

RS: What was the first item sold on upillar?

TM: First item sold on upillar.com was my own personal Sony camera. First public item sold was a purebred Labrador puppy.

RS: Technologically speaking, what was the biggest issue you’ve had thus far?

TM: Biggest problem so far has been our patent pending technology of displaying book values on all our motorized vehicles. Teaming up with NADA guides, upillar.com was able to create the first ever website that shows what each car,boat, motorcyle, or ATV is worth without ever leaving that listing. Need to know if what you are buying is a good deal? You’ll never have to worry about it again on www.upillar.com. We have since figured the technology out and by January first the values will be displayed in each motorized listing. (Values are currently available on upillar.com, but can be somewhat confusing to some users. The fix will come January 1, 2010 for that specific technology.

Check out the site at http://www.upillar.com

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Post tags: app, development, internet, program, sony, tech, Web Stuff

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1. Qooq (pronounced Cok) http://www.qooq.com/ Approx $520: Qooq is a device meant for the kitchen that connects to your home network by Ethernet or WiFi to look up recipes. You can even subscribe to a monthly update that includes tips and recipes. This device also has a meal planner, so you can put your entire 4 day Thanksgiving meal spread in there and look up a new way to prepare cranberries. The Qooq can also be used to get weather updates so you will know why some of your guests are late, internet radio can bring in some holiday music, and it can also be used a s a digital picture frame.

The Qooq comes with 500 preloaded recipes and features a touch screen so you don’t have to mess with a mouse or keyboard.

2. Sharper Image Rechargable Wine Opener http://www.sharperimage.com $39.99: After that 5^th bottle of wine, the traditional method of poping the cork might be asking a little too much. Sharper Image to the rescue! The Rechargable Wine Opener removes the cork with just a push of the button.

3. Digital Measuring Cup http://www.comforthouse.com/taylor3890measuringcupscale.html (Taylor Model 3890) $30: If the rechargeable wine opener has been in use, maybe a digital measureing cup will be necessary this Thanksgiving! Taylor’s digital measuring cup will handle all your measuring needs for the big day. Dry goods or liquids, this measuring cup will do it all. The cup is one liter in size and will automatically calculate volume from weight. The digital measuring cup will measure in pounds, grams, fluid ounces, cups and millimeters

4. LED Fridge Magnet http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/new-arrivals/digital-video-memo/index.html about $50: The screen is 1.5 inches and has a built-in camera to record images or video. It can store up to 30 seconds of video and can be plugged into your USB port on your computer. Maybe capture some of the family memories in the kitchen and keep it on the fridge until at least the next holiday. Although this gadget won’t help you prepare the meal, it entertain those that seem to congregate around the food.

5. Cook your Turkey with Lasers! From a competition by Electrolux, invented by French student, Ludovic Peperstraete http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_details.asp?individual_id=200276 : Still a prototype, but maybe for next Thanksgiving. This oven uses three lasers to ZAP your food. The cooking dsn’t come from the lasers individually but from the lasers criss-crossing each other to make heat. Hopefully you won’t blow the turkey up!

6. USB Microwave-Beanzawave- $160: Lastly, maybe you have to work at your tech support job on Thanksgiving. Heinz brings us Beansawave, a USB powered microwave. You can nuke some Thanksgiving beans right there in your cubicle while fixing a network adapter in Newark. This little gadget uses mobile phone frequencies to cook the meal in less than a minute. Being advertised as the smallest microwave, the Beanzawave (horrible name) is less than 8 inches tall and is currently not available to the public, but it should be available in the very near future.

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Post tags: app, gadgets, internet, tech, video

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Since a hard drive typically lasts for 5 years before the chances of failure start dramatically increasing, you may find yourself at some point with a drive that either fails partially or completely. First, calm down and don’t panic by throwing the drive from your 5th story apartment window only to land on someone’s cherry red Toyota Carolla. Instead, check out SpinRite.

What sets SpinRite apart from the dozens of other hard drive repair utilities is that SpinRite isn’t an installed application. Instead you boot to a SpinRite CD so the entire hard drive can be analyzed. SpinRite then works directly with the harddrive without having to work through different layers like operating systems and such. This means, no matter what kind of machine you have, Mac, Windows, or Linux, SpinRite will work the same. This also means that SpinRite can repair the drive at the lowest level for the greatest possibility of recovery¢Â¦..next to sending the drive off to the clean-room-bunny-suit people to recover your data for $500+.

SpinRite has 5 levels of recovery and data analysis.

1. Examine the Surfaces : which means it verifies and examines the physical surface of the drive for errors.

2. Recover Unreadable Data : this will look at the entire disk and then rewrite it to correct for any errors and recover data.

3. Refresh the Surfaces¢â€ this will read and write all of the data on the disk bit for bit not once, but twice.

4. Locate Surface Errors : this reads all the data on the drive and repairs any areas marked for repair.

5. Restore Good Sectors : this function will read and rewrite all the data bit for bit. The benefit of this feature will restore unusable areas of the drive that may have been inaccessible previously.

Keep in mind that recovery and repair of this level takes time, so don’t think that the drive will be repaired in 5 minutes. It will typically take hours to completely repair a disk depending on the option you choose. I highly recommend SpinRite and it’s worth every penny!

BONUS APPLICATION: Shields Up! https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Also by Gibson Research Corporation, Shields Up! A free online application to help identify internet security vulnerabilities on your computer. Shields Up! probes your computer for any possibility open spots you may ne be aware of. Once the probing is complete, you are shown a full report on the results including steps on how to correct any areas of vulnerability.

I personally use Shields Up! on every computer I set up to ensure I haven’t missed any settings plus it is a verification that the computer is secured as much as possible. Plus it’s free.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, internet, linux, mac

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This article will take three lifestreams and compare them, bring out their pros and cons, and then let you decide which one may be right for you.

1. Chi.mp. (http://www.chi.mp) A slick web site that allows you to amalgamate Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and RSS feeds. The interface is clean and setup is fairly easy. The one stand out feature is the ability to select a custom domain name, for free, to point to this new collection of your internet life. Chu.mp or Pi.mp could be your chosen domains, or the simple BillSmith.mp can make that address much easier to remember. The downfall of the site for me was the use of the site. Once I set it up, I never went back. For my use, Chi.mp had no traction for me. No big payoff.

2. Storytlr.(http://www.storytlr.com) . I am growing more and more fond of this site. Storytlr has access to your accounts on Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Vimeo, Youtube, and many others. Besides the broader reach of Storytlr, it also brings sidebar widgets similar to Wordpress, comments, and pre-made themes to skin your site. Antoher feature that I find useful is the ability to crosspost, so if you post onto Facebook, you can have it update your Twitter account and link to that post.

3. FriendFeed .(http://www.friendfeed.com) . FriendFeed taps into delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Gmail/Google Talk, Twitter, Amazon, and RSS feeds. There are 58 services in total at the time of this writing that they support, and I see just about everything I need. It also has premade themes to transform the look of the site. FriendFeed also added the ability to friend people within FriendFeed, adding another layer to the site complete with direct messaging that can cross over to Twitter. Lastly, and I think possibly one of the most valuable features is the live updates. No site refresh needed, so I can set up FriendFeed and let it spin all day and I can always catch new updates. Of the three sites, FriendFeed is by far the most likely to grow and catch on. If you don’t have a FriendFeed account, go get one now.

Will these sites revolutionize how we use the internet? Probably not, but they will make our daily lives a little easier and maybe they could spark innovations in how we communicate with friends, family and colleagues.

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Post tags: blog, internet, theme, Web Stuff, wordpress

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The first is eHow (http://www.eHow.com).  A great multi purpose site, eHow, covers topics like Careers, electronics and even legal and Parenting.  For instance, are you wondering what constitutes Reasonable Suspicion for a police officer to stop you?  There’s an article on that.  Are you wondering how to pierce an ear like a professional?  Or maybe how to best choose a tattoo design?  eHow has a mountain of user-submitted articles covering all these topics and more.  The downside to this site is that many of the instructions are of a very basic nature.  Over all, eHow has provided me with a few tips and tricks valuable enough that I will go back.

Next is Tutorialized (http://www.tutorialized.com).  Focusing on the more technical side of tutorials, Tutorialized does a really good job of providing articles on Photoshop, Gimp, and even AutCAD.  With over 12,000 tutorials on Photoshop alone, this is a great resource for any graphic designer or photographer.  They have some great articles on simple enhancements all the way to very specific tips and tricks, like How to Create Glossy Lips and Change Hair Color.  Each tutorial has stats like the number of views, votes and a simple rating system so you can quickly evaluate which tutorials seem to be better. 

Not commonly thought of as a tutorial site, but Mahalo (http://www.mahalo.com) has some pretty decent tutorials covering a wide range of topics.  Just check out the How To section of the site (http://www.mahalo.com/category/how-tos) to find some great articles like How to make Pumpkin Pie or How to Make Money off of Facebook.  The articles are well done and rival just about any tutorial I’ve seen on the internet.  Don’t under estimate Mahalo the next time you are looking for directions on how to do something. 

Lastly,  MonkeySee (http://www.monkeysee.com).  An aptly named site, these tutorials are all video-based and range in topics from automotive repair to pet care.  One of the more interesting articles is, How to Play Air Guitar and How to Read Tarot Cards.  I thought I knew how to play air guitar, but watching a video from the world champion air guitarist, I guess everyone has something to learn. 

So, the next time you find yourself wondering how to accomplish a task on your Honey Do List, don’t worry, because you can look it up on the internet.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Design Stuff, graphic design, internet, photoshop, tech, video, Web Stuff

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Live Sync is a wonderful tool if you need to share files with someone or if you want a hands off backup of important files.  Live Sync allows you to synchronize foldersbetween two computers (Windows XP and later and Mac OSX up to 10.5).  The computers can be on a local network or just connected to the internet.  This is a great way to share photos with relatives or files with other people.  I personally use it to synchronize a folder full of Keepers on my desktop with a folder on my backup server so if my computer ever crashed after I added the document but before the nightly backup could run, I still wouldn’t lose the files.

Security essentials:  http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Microsoft has realized the necessity of antivirus software on windows PCs and has stepped up with the free Security Essentials.  Security Essentials provides protection against viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.    This is a huge step in the right direction by providing this service free of charge.  Keep in mind, that like all anti-viruses, they are typically only effective in telling you AFTER you’ve been infected, so practice safe surfing habits like not downloading from questionable sites, don’t open e-mail attachments, and make sure you are running as a limited user on your computer and not running as administrator. 

PowerToys http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Microsoft has a history of releasing non-supported PowerTools and Power Toys that their developers create because there is a need.  These are not publicized formally nor are they supported by Microsoft, but there are some gems.

Color Control Panel Applet:  Being an amateur photographer, being able to control how the computer displays colors and be able to control it from the screen all the way to the printer is very important.  This powertoy does just that in one centralized area.

SyncToy: If you have multiple copies of files or need a simple way to compare files, Sync Toy was built to help copy, move and synchronize various files like photos, docuemtns, etc.

RAW Image Thumbnailer Viewer:  As a photographer, I like to shoot my DSLR to capture RAW images.  The issue with RAW images is that many softwares can’t display the RAW files natively. This is where the RAW Image Thumbnailer Viewer comes in.  it allows you to see thumbnails, previews, EXIF data and even print RAW images you may not otherwise be able to see.

Alt-Tab Replacement:  If you multitask and have many files open at once, you may use the Alt-Tab key combination to cycle through the open windows.  The Alt-Tab Replacement PowerToy beefs up this ability and included page previews and the application icon.

Tweak UI:  By far, my favorite of the PowerToys.  TweakUI has been around for years allowing people to manipulate the user interface of Windows to better suit your needs.  Tweak UI is a must have for me when I set up a new computer. 

Image Resizer:  Why open up Photoshop or some other powerful image editing tool if all you need is to resize the image to e0mail or post somewhere?  With a right-click, you can resize one or many images.

Webcam Timershot:  This PowerToy allows you to set up a time lapse photo using your webcam.  Maybe you want to capture traffic or the weather moving in.  The Timershot tool is a simple way to take snapshots at specified intervals.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, apple, internet, mac, microsoft, pc, photoshop, software, Web Stuff

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Windows Home Server http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

I have a small network at home with 8 computers attached to each other.  I had various shared external harddrives across the network, but finding things became cumbersome and unwieldy.  I wanted something like a server that I have used for many years at my place of employment, but I didn’t want a full server.  I wanted something that was easy to set up and manage and provide a central location for videos, music, and other files.  My search began and I quickly found Windows Home Server.  HP quickly began selling their MediaSmart server for far more than I wanted to spend; I purchased a copy of Windows Home Server and used one of the PCs I already owned to set it up.  The minimum specs for WHS are 1GHz Pentium III CPU, 512MB of RAM, 80GB of hard drive space, DVD-ROM drive, and a wired Ethernet adapter.  No problem.  In fact the most difficult part of the entire setup was buying the software.  WHS is not offered in retail stores.  Thankfully you should be able to find a copy on Amazon, NewEgg.com or TigerDirect for around $120.  What you will get is the server install disk which is installed on your server.  You will also get a disk with the connector software on it.  This is installed on the other PCs on your network so that they can be automatically backed up to the server.  Lastly, you will receive a recovery disk that you can boot into to recover the backed up data from the server. 

Installation of the server software and connector is pretty straightforward.  Once you install he connector software, you can then modify the user privileges in case you don’t want your teenage son to have access to the software directory where you keep all the installers for a few hundred necessary applications.    Plus you can then manage the individual PC backups and see what has been successfully backed up and what hasn’t.  You can even kick off the backup from the server console. 

Sharing audio and video from the WHS server is pretty trivial.  Once you have all the media on the server, it can be accessed by anyone with access on the network. 

One of the nice features WHS provides is the ability to add multiple hard drives, either internal or external, into a storage pool.    So now my collection of 100GB, 250GB, 500GB and 1 TB drives can be placed into a giant storage pool on the server and utilized as multiple terabytes of storage.  This was a nice addition to the features since now I can increase the storage size by just plugging in a new hard drive and selecting to add it to the storage pool from the server console.

Lastly, the server software allows me to connect to my home network from any internet connection.  I can access my data, configure my server or even stream media like music or video.  Very handy for those long nights in hotels after conferences or training sessions.  Just log in and stream some music or a movie.  Very handy.

All in all, WHS has impressed me and is now a required part of my home network infrastructure.  I imagine this might work equally well in a small business environment where the employees need access to a central bank of files and be able to automate the scheduled backups.  Microsoft has done an excellent job scaling down a full server into something fit for a home or small office environment!

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, internet, microsoft, pc, software, video

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I always have the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari installed on my development machine, but depending on the client, you may need to ensure other browsers. 

Thankfully there are applications out there devoted to this.

My favorite is Browser Shots (http://browsershots.org/) because it is the Swiss Army Knife of browser emulation.  In one submission, you can verify you site in dozens of Linux, Windows and Mac browsers including some of the lesser-known browsers like Shiretoko and K-Meleon.  You can specify screen size, color depth, and whether or not to include Javascript, Java, or Flash.  Browser testing has never been so easy.    Browser Shots is perfect as that high-level test to ensure the code is rendering as you are expecting. 

BrowserCam (http://www.browsercam.com) is another valuable service for web development.  BroswerCam allows you to test your site similarly to Browser Shots, but BrowserCam is not free.  You can sign up for a free trial that will let you see the screen captures from the various browsers for only 24 hours and you can only do that 200 times before having to pay.  The interface isn’t as streamlined as Browser Shots, but BrowserCam allows you to choose the Operating System specifically along with the browser.  So for instance, if a customer is having issues running Firefox 1.5.0 on a Windows 2000 machine without Adobe Flash installed, you can emulate that exactly on BrowserCam.  You can also denote the screen shot format (JPG, PNG, or BMP), the screen resolution, and even if the capture will be just the browser or the entire desktop.  This service is incredibly useful while troubleshooting specific situations and issues without having to build a system on which to test.. 

Lastly, if you would rather have 307 different browsers on your system, the Browser Archive is there for you (http://browsers.evolt.org/).  The Browser archive is a collection of every browser and version you have heard of and many you haven’t.  If you are looking for an old version of Netscape Navigator or the kid-friendly browser Surf Monkey, then this site has the installer for you.  Download the installer and install the browser and get ready to take a trip back in time! 

Whichever you prefer, it’s always best to test your sites across multiple platforms and browsers prior to the launch and with the help of these sites, hopefully that process just got a bit simpler!

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adobe, app, development, internet, linux, mac, Web Stuff

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1.  I talked to them about proper online safety.  Things like : Don’t talk to strangers, don’t publish things like your last name, address, or phone number, don’t accept any files from anyone, and you must give me  a current password for any accounts you want to have.  Like any good EULA, I make them agree to all my demands before they get access to anything.  I also let them know that I will be tracking them.  What they say, who they talk to and where they go.  This is the most important step and involves no technology whatsoever. 
2. Open DNS.  Domain Name Servers are utilized as a sort of phone book for the internet.  You enter www.zmogo.com and your internet browser goes to the DNS server and looks up the IP address (ex:  10.1.1.1).  Open DNS is a free service that I can point my broadband router to that also allows me to control what sites they can and can’t get to.  Setting it up is simple.  Just go to http://www.opendns.com and follow their instructions.  It takes just a minute or so to do.  Then log in to the Open DNS account and begin to limit the sites your home network can get to.  It took us a bit of time to fine tune it to our needs.  I entered in some sites that were not adult, but just not where I wanted them to go, plus selected some categories to prevent large sections of adult material and such from being accessible to them.  This covers a majority of the items I didn’t want them getting into.
3. Real VNC.  (http://www.realvnc.com) Commonly used for remote administration of computers, I set up a Real VNC server on each of the computers so I can take a peak at what they are doing at any given time.  I made them all aware that I can do this and that they wouldn’t know I was there watching, so even if they were doing something to negate my other strategies, I could catch them red-handed and punishment would be revocation of Internet privileges.
4. Since our oldest is a fan of Instant Messaging, I required that all his conversations be saved to a server.  I did this in a setting that said something like Archive conversations and then you choose a location.  I can then track actual conversations he’s having with his friends and can ask questions about people he chats with online.  Sure, he can turn off the archiving on his computer, but if I stop receiving updated message logs on the server, I know he did it and can reprimand him, and turn it back on.  Every instant messenging system is different, so find out where this setting is on the tool your child uses.
5. Keeping the computer in an open space is always the best idea.  This makes it far less tempting to try to get around the controls that are in place is someone is watching.
6. Lastly, I install a keylogger, which captures all the keystrokes on that computer.  It is done silently behind the scenes and ensures I can see EVERYTHING that is going on on that computer.  I like keyloggers like Home Keylogger (http://www.kmint21.com/keylogger/) or  KGB Keylogger (http://www.sharewareconnection.com/free-kgb-key-logger.htm)

I am sure to let them know that I am tracking their keystrokes as well and using any software or hardware to avert it is in direct violation of the EULA we agreed about prior to accessing the internet. 

Yes, I may have gone a little overboard and utilizing all these avenues is not for everyone, but if using this to keep tabs on your kids who are hiding things from you can prevent big problems, then I am all for it.  Honestly, just showing them what I can do to track them is enough to keep them out of trouble because they know they can’t get away with anything.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hardware, internet, software, tech

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This week the Internet is abuzz with news from Finland about how they’ve decided that the right to broadband Internet is a something every citizen should have. They feel that it would improve quality of life in their most remote areas, and boost business and Internet banking. This is a huge step, and as the world relies on the Internet more and more, something other countries should look into.

Finland is small compared to the United States, but that’s no reason to avoid the issue. Providing access to the Internet, and at reasonable speeds, would go a long way towards boosting the quality of life in less connected parts of the nation. While many would still not be able to afford it on their own, there would be Internet cafes, and friends, and libraries that might not otherwise be able to supply it. Rather than these communities be cut off from the rest of the nation as we move on technologically, they’d be right there with us.

Finland compared the right to broadband Internet to the right to have water and electricity. I’m not sure quite as important yet, but it gets closer and closer every day. The information it provides empowers people. It helps people keep in touch, educates people about things beyond their location, and provides a place for local information such as garbage pickup, school closings, and traffic. Especially in smaller areas, the Internet provides the ability to shop and purchase products for your home and business that aren’t available locally.

It would be quite expensive for the United States to undertake something like this, and it’s true that healthcare is at least as important, but we shouldn’t let money get in the way of progress. Whether it’s in promoting the Internet, other technologies, science and research, or anything else, what makes a country a superpower is the quality of life for it’s poorest citizens, not money, or weapons. Finland may be the first to mandate speed, but other countries have deemed Internet access to be a human right. The United Nations agrees. The United States may be one of the only industrialized nations that doesn’t, and that’s something that’s unacceptable.

The world is a changing place, with the Internet one of the contributing factors to a more inter-connected world. Providing access to the Internet, and at high speeds, is just the start of what will likely be a long process as the Internet’s role is redefined in society. It’s already one of the most useful tools available to us, and that alone is enough to justify it as a basic right.

© Ceetar for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: basic rights, broadband internet, ceetar, finland, internet, right to internet, style, tech, united nations, united states

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Stumbleupon.com

Stumbleupon is NOT a search engine.

Stumbleupon is NOT social media

Stumbleupon is NOT about productivity

Stumbleupon IS a recommendation engine

Stumbleupon is like having your own personal internet-addicted geek that knows you and recommends new site for you to check out.  Nay, the geek DARES you to check out the new sites.  Stumbleupon is like Google’s I Feel Lucky button on steroids. 

Simply choose your interests.  Travel?  Science and Technology?  Humor?  Internet? Books?  Bizarre/oddities, etc.  Then start stumbling.  Stumbleupon will then pull up a web site that it thinks you may like depending upon the boxes you have selected.  A toolbar will affix itself on the top of the web site.  If you like the site, click the toolbar button Like it.  You can also share this site via Facebook or Twitter.  Once you have enjoyed the site enough, click the magical Stumble button for your next site for your perusal. If you don’t like the site, just stumble onto the next one. 

Stumbleupon is a wonderful way to spend a few hours roaming the internet finding sites you would never find otherwise. 

 If you create a login for Stumbleupon, you can save all your favorite sites and Stumbleupon will remember the topics that you are interested in. 

For example, I selected the topics of Bizarre/Oddities and Internet.  I select Stumble and my browser closes its eyes, spins around and opens an article on The 50 most interesting posts on Wikipedia.  I rate it¢â‚¬â€Thumbs up or not¢â‚¬â€and stumble on to a list of the top ten most annoying alarm clocks.  On and on it goes. 

 If you are so inclined, you can also search your favorites, a friend’s favorites, or the entire site for a specific topic. 

 If you are a Firefox user, check out the Stumbleupon plugin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/138  which brings the Stumbleupon toolbar to your browsers so you can quickly stumble around the internet giving sites your thumbs up or thumbs down right from your browser.

 There is something intrinsically addictive about this site.  It’s simple to use and is guaranteed to take you to web sites you have never seen before.  I highly recommend this site if you have time to fill, or if you are always looking for new and interesting information.  You will not be disappointed.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, internet, plugin, tech, Web Stuff

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1.  Turn your monitor into a strobe light.  http://www.bobshowto.com/fun/strobe-light.htm
   Maybe it’s a laptop, or a big projector, get a great spooky effect in your house with just your monitor and this web site.  This would be perfect for a haunted data center for the co-workers to walk through!
2. Decorate your workstation for the spooky season with this USB powered decoration set. http://www.thisnext.com/item/C5EB1B00/BC37BE2A/USB-Halloween-Decoration-Kit
   Complete with seasonal mouse pad, lights to hang on the monitor or possibly your collection of action figures in your cubicle. 
3. Build your own talking skull. http://www.kickthefog.com/talking_skull.htm Everything you need to build your own creepy talking skull.  This is an involved build, but the result is one that will make all your geeky friends drool with jealousy. 
4. Create your own Jack o Lantern carving pattern. http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/other_crafts/digital_crafts_jack_o_lantern_templates.php  That’s right.  Want to carve Tux or maybe a portrait of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?  Follow these instructions and you will have a 100% original pumpkin on your porch this season! Here are a few of the geekier Jack-o-lanterns I’ve seen decorating the porches of probable geeks.

 5.  Use a voice changer.  http://www.screamingbee.com/product/download.aspx Sure there are great toy versions of this technology, but here’s a free piece of software that will morph your voice into something a little creepier! 

6.  Dress up like Master Chief from Halo.  http://halloweenaddict.com/2009/08/halo-master-chief-costume.html Who wouldn’t want to be master Chief from Halo?  Hop on your Warthog, although it does looks more like a Puma and go blast some enemies.  Afterwards, kick back and watch a little Red Vs. Blue.

7.  Dress up as Pixels.  Get a bunch of square boxes and spray paint them different colors.  Walk next to each other all night.  Try to look Jaggy.

8. Get answers from the Beyond on the internet.  http://www.witchboard.com/online-witchboard/Online Ouija-like board for your amusement and Halloween fun!  Ask questions like What is the next Apple Announcement and see what the digital spirits have to say.  Hopefully it won’t be a Null Pointer Exception.

9.  Online Trick or Treating?  http://doorlesschambers.com organizes online trick or treating for virtual Disney-themed goodies every year from October 25 through the 31^st.  It may not fill up your pillowcase, but it might be just what you need while you are stuck answering tech support phone calls on October 31^st.

10.  Make your own real Spiderman web slinger. http://www.instructables.com/id/Creepy_Cobweb_Shooter/?contestId=V9T8TI4FLROLS8R  Instructables does it again with a great video and set of instructions on creating a webslinger.  Sure you need an air compressor, but what Spiderman fan didn’t want their own web shooter? 

11.  EVERYTHING Halloween Online.  http://www.halloween-online.com/  Buy a prop coffin, check out some ghoulish recipes ( I like the Skull Jell-O mold), find some costume ideas, check out some Halloween games to play with your friends, and even Halloween party planning ideas and suggestions.  This site has everything you need for a fun and safe Halloween.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app, apple, internet, mac, sem, software, tech, theme, video, Web Stuff

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Workstations.  George Jetson is often pictured at his desk with multiple flat monitors around him while he twiddles away on a bank of buttons. 

Video Conferencing.  The computers often show video of his boss, Mr. Spacely as they talk back and forth, usually involving George getting fired.    I wonder if Web Ex knows about this footage?

Moving Sidewalks.  In many of the episodes, the characters don’t walk, but rather step on a moving sidewalk, much like what’s employed at many airports across the globe. 

Video Games.  Elroy played on an Envirosimulator much akin to today’s super realistic video games.  Even George played cards with a robot for fun. 

Robots doing work.  In almost every episode of the Jetsons, there was at least one robot accomplishing some task.  Sure we have industrial robots building cars and welding meta.  Even robots vacuuming our carpets, but none of them talk back with artificial intelligence.yet.

Fooderackacycle.  Sure we don’t have robots making our food yet, but we do have machines dispensing it¢â‚¬â€vending machines.  And not just the old vending machines where food drops to the bottom but ones where arms retrieve the requested snack and even heat it up automatically upon purchase.

Super fast mail.  In some of the episodes, they could mail something and have it delivered almost instantly.  Sure it was a physical envelope, but today’s e-mail is the next best thing.

Virtual Pets.  In several episodes, they have pets that aren’t animals at all, but interact like it.  We have those too, called Webkinz and other online pets for kids.  Sure it’s not a hologram of the pet, but it is indeed virtual.

What is even more exciting is looking at the technology that is still in the prototype stages.  The things that will become part of our lives in the next few years that is distinctly Jetsonian in nature.  For example, the ability to carry the communication devices with you.  Sure, the iPhone and Blackberry are no folding car that fits in your pocket, but they can call a taxi, and track your whereabouts. 

The Microsoft surface technology is another whiz-bang gizmo the Jetsons only wished they had.  Handling data not with buttons but with fingers on a shiny black surface.  This is our future.

Sure we don’t live in platforms high in the sky, parachute to our flying cars or use jetpacks to get to work, but we are getting closer and closer to the Jetsons every day.  With the evolution of the digital camera, MP3 players holding thousands of songs, and the internet allowing us to communicate in dramatically new ways ala Twitter, Facebook, Brightkite, etc. , the future is looking even better than it did when we were dreaming of robots getting us ready in the morning and reading us books.  Now if we could just figure out this flying car thing, I think we’d be set.

© redsneaker for zMogo Tech Stuff, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: internet, mac, microsoft, tech, video, Video Games, Web Stuff

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