If you use a laptop, one of the things you need to be aware of is heat.  Since all of the components in a laptop are squeezed into a tight space, there tends to be more heat generated than with a desktop computer.  Of course, this heat is offset through the use of heat sinks and exhaust fans, so it is not usually a problem if the laptop is used correctly.

Here are a few ways you can make sure your laptop stays nice and cool:

1. Always use it on a hard, flat surface. This ensures that the air coming out of the exhaust fan has a place to go, and that the machine is well ventilated overall.  These are bad ideas for laptop usage:

2. Make sure the fan is working.  Sometimes these fans are very quiet, so you might have to listen closely.  In some cases you can look at it to see that it is spinning.

3. Keep track of the temperature inside.  You can do this with a little program called Speedfan (get it here free).  I have started installing Speedfan on all of the laptops that I sell.  The proper core temperature will vary from one machine to another, but it’s at least good to monitor in case you see a sudden increase.

If you notice your laptop getting warmer than you like, you might also consider using a laptop cooling pad.

If your laptop usually sits on a desk and works in a normal room temperature, you will usually be fine.  However, if you are in a hot room and doing some heat-generating tasks (like a game with lots of graphics, or playing a DVD movie), you might consider adding a small desk fan or using a cooling pad just to be safe.

This guy really wants to perfect his “Hey, baby” facial expression, so he practices for the camera.  The ladies must find him irresistible.

I have always enjoyed listening to police and fire/rescue calls on a scanner.   Having obtained my amateur radio license when I was 16, pulling signals out of the air has fascinated me for a long time.  However, a lot of police departments are using new technology (including “trunking”) which makes it difficult.  You have to keep up with the latest equipment, or you won’t hear anything.

As usual, a website has been created that solves this problem.  Check out www.RadioReference.com.

This site offers the ability to listen to police, fire, ambulance and other public service radio communication throughout the US.  It does not offer every service in every city.  When you go to the site, click on “Live Audio” and go to Live Audio Home to choose your state and your local area.  Here in my area I usually listen to the Clearwater Police.

The site has other features too, for people who are really into scanners and monitoring the public airwaves – there’s a forum to communicate with other users, a classified section for buying and selling equipment, and more.

For a while, I have been using Skype to make phone calls through my computer’s internet connection.  By using a headset with a microphone, it makes it easy to call any phone number and it leaves my hands free for the keyboard and mouse (great for remote access repairs and training).  Now Skype has some competition.

Until now, I have been paying $2.99 per month for unlimited outbound calls.  Now, Google is offering this service for free (www.gmail.com/call).

To use this service, you need a high speed internet connection, and Windows XP, Vista or 7.  It’s also a big help to have a headset and microphone, such as the one below.  Amazon has a lot of different headsets available but this is one of the least expensive ones.

First you need to make sure you are signed in to your Gmail account, then when you get to the site, click on the link that says “Install voice and video chat”:

Download the file and run it to install.  The installation takes just a few seconds, then you will see the notification that you need to restart your browser in order to start using the calling feature:

When your web browser starts up again, log in to your Gmail account and look at the column on the left side.  You will see a link that says “Call phone”:

When you click that, a window will appear asking you to agree to some terms:

Once you have accepted that, you will see a little window that looks resembles the touch tone buttons on a phone.  Enter the phone number want to dial, and click “Call”.  Or, you can start typing in a name from your Gmail Contacts list – if that Contact has a phone number as part of the record, you will be dialing their number.  It’s that easy!

If you are going to use Gmail for calling on any regular basis, it makes sense to update your Contacts list with information for anyone you may want to call.  I already have that done, since I use the G1 cell phone – it is always synchronized with my Gmail contacts.

When I tried this by calling my own cell phone, the number showed up as 760-705-8888 from Escondido, California.  I don’t know if it will display that same number on every call though.

If you try out the Google Calling feature, let us know how it goes by adding a comment below.

These unsuspecting customers in a coffee shop get quite a surprise from the waitress when one man complains about his coffee:

I’ve been using and recommending AVG antivirus (free for personal use) since 2004.  It does a great job, uses minimal system resources, and you don’t have to pay for it every year like you would for Norton or McAfee.

The most current version of AVG is version 9.  If you use AVG, and I know many of you do, this is the version that you should have.  You can tell what version you have by opening the AVG interface, and checking in the lower left corner.

On a few computers recently, I have seen a window pop up offering an AVG Recommended Product Upgrade.  It looks like this:

So you have the option of installing it, or clicking Exit and never seeing this offer again.  The message talks about LinkScanner, but the window does not tell you if this upgrade costs anything, or if it is a trial version of something (it is in fact free).

Do you need to install this?  No.  Here’s why:

If you are using the most current version of AVG (or even a version or two back), you won’t even be able to install it.  That’s because this software is already included in your AVG free application.  This is what you will see if you try to install it:

Why it pops up on computers that have AVG 9.0 already installed, I don’t know.  But you can click Exit and not worry about it.

And if you aren’t using AVG 9.0 as your free antivirus program, you can get it here.

These guys are pretty amazing!  This was a gymnastics demonstration in India.

(Sorry…Friday’s video got published a couple of days early)

We’ve had 2 kids go through college now.  (They’re both teachers – David teaches high school students for whom English is not their first language, and Brianne is about to start her first year of teaching Second Grade).  A big expense during the college years is the cost of textbooks (and a ripoff too, if you ask me – but that’s another topic).

One way of minimizing that expense is to make sure you are buying the books at the least expensive vendor.  There are lots of vendors that sell college textbooks, and they are not all at the same price.

That’s where Book.ly comes in (www.book.ly).  When you go there, you can start by choosing your school (over 1500 colleges and universities are listed).  Then choose your department, your course, and your section.  The site will then show you links to lots of different affiliates who represent the vendors who sell the book you need for that class.

If for some reason your college is not yet listed, you can still search for the book you need by ISBN, title or author.

Also, if you have completed a course and have a book (or several books) to sell, you can sell them through Book.ly.

If you know of a college student who is starting school soon, or returning for another year of school, you know that he or she is dreading the cost of those books.  Let them know about Book.ly!

(Note from Scott: if this post helped you from being caught in a scam, please “like” it by hitting the button – I just added it on Thursday because this post is getting so much traffic.)

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the world is full of scammers who would love to take your money.  The internet is teeming with them, so you have to be very careful.  One of the internet sites that scammers love to use is Craigslist.  I ran into one recently.

I was shopping around for an economical car for my daughter.  Craigslist is the obvious place to check, since the classified ads are free and there are hundreds of new listings created each day.  I saw this ad:

A few things caught my attention about this ad:

1. The text – where the description usually goes – only had one word: “driver”.  That didn’t make sense, so it is a good indication that a computer program is creating these types of listings, and just inserting random text so that the Craigslist computers don’t see a lot of duplicate content when multiple ads are created.

2. The photo – it’s just a vague picture, which could have been taken from anywhere on the internet and used in this ad.

3. The email address – in the ad, the email address was not actual text.  It was an image – a picture of text.  Again, this is so Craigslist is not able to read the email address.

4. The price – $1350 is a pretty good price for this car, but not so outrageously low that it would immediately raise suspicion.

I knew this was some type of scam, so naturally I played along.

I sent the “seller” an email saying that I was very interested in the car.  This is the response I received from “activj8@gmail.com”:

Hello,
I`m Maj. Briana Williams. You have to know that the 2000 Honda Accord EX 4 Cyl Automatic I am selling is 100% working and great looking, no flaws or dents, no scratches or any kind of damage. The title is clear. It has 119,857 miles. The VIN# is 1HGCG6673YA107020 This vehicle engine runs very, very smooth. No electrical problems on this beauty. This detailed vehicle makes the exterior looks like it just came off the assembly line.
Options:
Power Tilt/Sliding Sunroof Power Passenger Mirror Power Driver Mirror Intermittent Wipers Adjustable Steering Wheel Front Reading Lamps Driver Illuminated Vanity Mirror Passenger Illuminated Visor Mirror Passenger Vanity Mirror Power Windows Variable Speed Intermittent Wipers

Here are the pics of the car:
http://s1047.photobucket.com/albums/b478/2000accordexbbe/hondaaccord/

As I know that my current situation is pretty special I want the deal closed only through eBay’s Buyer Protection Program in order for you to be 100% protected. You will make the payment to eBay and they will hold the money until you receive the car. ONLY AFTER you receive the car and inspect it (for 10 days) eBay will release the payment to me; in this way we are both protected. Anyway i am sure that if you won`t be satisfied with the car i will surely find another buyer in your area and there will be no need for you to ship the car back.

I am located in London,United Kingdom and I was sent here to improve the military relationships between USA and United Kingdom. One months ago, my husband moved here with me and brought the car with him, but now we have to sell it back in the United States because we can’t register it here; it has US specs and everything, and registering it here in Europe will take for ever. My final price on it is US 1,350 $. If you will take it for this price, I am willing to handle the shipping. It will be shipped from here by plane with US Air Military Cargo so it will not cost me anything. You will get it to the nearest airport in your area and then it will be trucked forward to your place. You will receive the car in about 3 days. Please get back to me asap if you decide to buy, and include in your e-mail your full name and address where you want it shipped so I can start the deal with eBay. You will receive all the transaction payment and shipping details from them.
Respectfully,
Briana Williams
Maj, USAF1 SOMOS/MXOOA Maintenance Analysis DSN 579-1794  Comm 884-1794

She even sent along a picture of herself, to add to her credibility:

Some observations about that email:

1. Of course the car has no problems – that makes it an even better deal.  The average car buyer will start to get excited that he is about to get a great bargain.

2. The scammer seems to think that it is important to list the fact that the car has intermittent wipers, and illuminated vanity mirrors.  This person is probably using an internet cafe in a country where nice cars like this Honda are rare, and is not familiar with these “options”.

3. Take a look at the link that goes to the Photobucket account (Photobucket is a free image hosting service).  At the time of this writing, that set of pictures has been viewed over 2100 times.  That is a pretty good indication that this person is posting lots of ads on Craigslist, and lots of people are inquiring about this car (and probably other cars).

4. As expected, the car being offered is not in the US.  The story may change with different scammers, but the one fact that doesn’t change is that the car is not local to the buyer for inspection.  That is why, at the top of each set of car classified listings, Craigslist has this in bold print:

Anyway, I continued to play along and told her that I was interested in proceeding with the transaction.  She sent me these instructions:

Here is how it works:
1. First of all I will need  the following details from you: full name, shipping address and telephone number.
2. After I will receive the details from you, I will forward them to eBay.
3. After they will process your info, they will send us both invoices (email forms).The price for the car is $1,350 USD. This price includes all the shipping taxes and fees.
4. After you will make the payment in an eBay trust fund account and confirm it to them they will contact me and I will ship the car to you. After you receive the car you will have 10 days to test, verify and do whatever you need to the car. If you will buy, then I will receive the payment details from eBay so that I can pick up the money.
5. If the car is not as I told you or have some problems, or is not as described, they will refund you 100%. There is no risk in this deal. I don’t touch your money until you receive and inspect the car. The transaction is simple so everything should go as planed. If the car is not as advertised and decide not to keep it eBay will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back the car will be my concern. I think this is more than fair for the both of us. Please take into consideration that I will get paid only after you receive the car and make sure everything is as agreed.
6. From the moment the payment is secured by eBay the shipping process will begin and it will arrive at your address in about 3 max. 4 business days. You will also receive all the documents including the titles and a Bill of Sale. The cargo is insured so if the car is damaged during the shipping you will also be refunded.

Another interesting factor is that this car is not even listed on eBay.  Why would eBay get involved at all, when there is no listing to sell the car?  The scammer doesn’t even know if I have an eBay account.  But, everyone knows the name “eBay” so it adds to the trust factor.  So I gave her a phony address and contact information.  Within 24 hours, I received an email that was designed to look like it came from eBay.  The images were a little sloppy, but not bad:

At the same time, I got a separate email, also supposedly from eBay, with these instructions:

!!!  TO COMPLETE THE PAYMENT, You must go with cash in hand and your ID to the Western Union agent closest to you and fill in a simple ” Person-to-Person ” form with your personal information and the details of the eBay Transaction Agent assigned for your transaction which you have below.

That is always the final tipoff – you have to pay through Western Union.  As you probably know, once you hand cash to the Western Union agent, you can kiss that money good-bye.  You have no recourse to get it back.  Western Union is a scammer’s best friend.

So here ends another story where the scammer tried to steal, but got nothing except for some unwanted publicity.

UPDATE: the scammer got the pictures from this actual car ad

This Japanese baseball player makes an amazing catch, and then acts like it was nothing.