Tech In Plain English

Cellular SmartPhone iPhone SIM swapping in Nassau, Bahamas

2016-02-21T19:12:00.000-05:00

I recently visited Nassau and I brought my unlocked iPhone for my trip to the Bahamas. I had previously been able to buy a SIM chip in the airport, but this is no longer available. Instead, I stopped by the BTC store on Mackey Street (just over the bridge from Paradise Island) in Nassau, and purchased a sim card for $15 and a plan for data ($30 for 2GB). Text messages were extra 5 (domestic) or 15 cents (international) each. I was in and out in less than ten minutes. If you have never swapped a SIM chip your visit might be longer.

http://www.btcbahamas.com/explore/mobile/prepaid

You first visit the cashier where you buy the SIM chip ($15) and you take that to the sales team who activates it for you and inserts it into your UNLOCKED iPhone. You MUST have an unlocked phone. To see if your phone is unlocked, contact your US carrier.  AT&T has a web site for this: https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/status.html

Removing the SIM chip is as simple as using a paperclip. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szcAfzoHPlw

If you use iMessage most of your messages from friends on an iPhone will arrive via iMessenger, those who were texting your USA number will NOT get through to you. If you roam using AT&T with a Global Pro Passport plan, be prepared to spend up to $120 for 800 measly megabytes. Text messaging is included in that plan, but the value is certainly better with BTC, and starting in February they provide LTE connectivity on these plans, and their system is generally snappy on most parts of Atlantis and great coverage all around Nassau. These prepaid plans last for only 90 days so give the chip away before you leave.

Best Twitter Accounts for Daily Bible Verses

2013-12-09T20:24:00.000-05:00

Watch the YouTube Video Tutorial to learn how to get a verse-a-day sent to your cell phone as a text message.

You probably know that a great many people use Social Media to send out updates about the Bible. There are Facebook, GooglePlus, Twitter and other sites devoted to updates about the Bible.

Here are a few of the best Twitter accounts that are used to send out updates from the Bible. These accounts generally provide a verse each day or sometimes a steady stream of scripture via a Twitter account.

The Bible Verse Twitter List, "Bible Tweeters" is here: https://twitter.com/kjvbible/lists/bible-tweeters

To get the most of these, you should follow your favorite account and have Twitter send you updates to your mobile device. This way, you can set up Twitter to send you a text message each time a Bible Verse is posted.

This method for getting a verse-a-day works like this:

A) Set up a Twitter account of your own. Follow someone like @KJVBible
B) Turn on the mobile device feature so that your mobile phone is linked to Twitter.
C) Follow a Twitter account that posts a Bible Verse each day.
D) Turn on the feature that allows you to receive each tweet on your cell phone.
E) Receive the tweets from this account(s) on your mobile phone.

You can actually sign up and use Twitter right from a text message. Here's how.

You can even "fast follow" a twitter account without having to sign up for Twitter yourself by following these steps: On a US cell phone, such as AT&T mobile phone, send the following TEXT MESSAGE to the number 40404 ...

follow KJVBible

40404 is a special number owned by Twitter. When you send the text message "follow KJVBible" to this special cell address, it will automatically send you updates each time the account, KJVBible posts a tweet or Bible verse. To turn it off, simply send another message to 40404, this time:

stop

This will turn off the feature and you will no longer receive updates on your cell phone. Remember that if you use the SMS/texting feature, your phone may be charged for the text messages based on your cellular plan.

Holy Bibles in a Digital World

2011-11-23T15:50:00.001-05:00

We celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible this year.

Where can you find a good Bible online? Some would suggest any Bible is a good one, but some web sites have more to offer than others when it comes to an online Bible. The best sites have mobile versions, study tools, maps, transliteration, voice narration and lots of translations and other tools, for free.

One standout from the crowd are the sites developed by Peter Coad. Check out http://greattreasures.org/ and the rest of the Scripture Network.

Here's a partial list. If I've missed one, leave a comment.

YouVersion with the best social media integration, mobile options
Logos Biblia.com and linked to the best study tools on the planet
Bible Gateway well known leader
OliveTree.com great mobile options
CCEL or Christian Classics Ethereal with Bibles and so much more, a must see
Bible.is fantastic interface
Mbible.com simple, easy to read from any device
Bible Study Tools reading plans and lots of versions
Bible.org Net Bible
eBible - search engine style
Heartlight Search God's Word
AudioBible to listen online
Lifeway & their MyStudyBible with great point and click transliteration/meaning on each word
Greek Bible but it's Greek to me
Biblos.com Bible.cc is huge with great tools and many, many languages
GloBible for a fee but worth it and highly interactive
Blue Letter Bible
Bible.com because the name is easy to remember
Douay Rheims Roman Catholic bible
Bible Ocean a Bible on every device with mobile options

Security for Dummies

2011-11-19T09:23:00.001-05:00

Security for Dummies
7 Steps to Perfect Your Security Online

When you first get a computer you feel dumb because for perhaps the first time, you are surrounded by unfamiliar (and what seems to be highly technical) tools. You've never used a computer, perhaps, and just learning how to do basic things feels daunting.

When you think about security or securing your information, you feel even more overwhelmed. Where do you start? You've heard about security threats, but how does it impact you as a newly trained person using technology for the first time? Will you make a mistake? Will your identity be stolen? The fear, uncertainty and doubt you feel are not unusual.

Follow these basic steps and you can keep your information safe.

Step One - have a password strategy
Bruce Schneier says that you should write your passwords down on paper. That's good advice. However you do it, don't use the same password everywhere. Passwords are supposed to be hard to guess, so get creative. Use a phrase, not just a word. Use numbers, letters, upper and lower case, and make them long: longer than 8 characters is best. There's a reason for passwords, don't get sloppy and overlook them. When you are on a site that's asking you for credit card information, the password you choose should be more complex, more unique, and more secure. Consider carefully if there's a reason for sharing credit card information, social security information, or any other sensitive information. Do not share your address, phone number, or email address unless you are sure the site is protecting your information and you have used a very secure password.

Tip for Grandma: use the web site's name backwards as the password or click here for a password generator site that will make you a custom & secure password.

Step Two - avoid open wireless networks
Wireless networks transmit information to your computer in one of two ways: (A) Encrypted with a password required - through a crackable and weak WEP system, or a more secure WPA2 encrypted connection. Generally the library or coffee house will provide you with this password - it's not the password that protects you (because it's a shared password that anyone can get) but it is the fact that the connection to your computer is uniquely encrypted when this password is used. (B) Not secure "open" network where no password is required. The open networks mean that anyone with sophisticated tools can sniff the data from the air and view your communications as they are sent to the Internet. Don't use open networks unless you don't care if the data being sent and received (including passwords) is viewed by others.Even encrypted wireless has vulnerabilities. But for beginners, avoid the open wireless network and stick to password protected (WPA2 not WEP) networks wherever possible. P.S. If you are employed by a company that provides you with "virtual private network" (VPN) connectivity, you can use a VPN on an open WIFI network (or any wireless network) to route all traffic through your company's secure and encrypted VPN. Check with your company to follow VPN policy as recommended. Using a VPN on any wireless network generally improves your security.

Tip for Grandma: don't use wireless.

Step Three - use "https://"
When connecting to email, banking sites, or sensitive sites where financial or private issues are at stake, be sure your connection through your browser is secure, or prefixed with https:// Thus connecting to https://google.com sets up anencrypted connection between your computer and Google. When you enter anything on that site, the data sent back and forth is protected through an encrypted channel. Not all sites support the https:// browsing feature, but look for it whenever possible. If you are using a Banking site, Mint.com or any site that might use your financial or identity information, the "secure browsing" option should be mandatory. Unfortunately, there are problems with secure browsing, explained in greater detail here. The companies who provide the certificates and encrypt the data between web sites and your computer are under attack themselves, and one such attack, the "man in the middle" between your computer and the web site that you thought was secured with "https" means that you can't even always trust secure browsing. But better to use https than just a normal http connection, so get to know that extra "s" and add it to the web address whenever possible. If you use Firefox web browser, there's even a plug-in feature that automatically tries to connect with https each time you visit any site. Download Firefox and then try it out here.

Tip for Grandma: type https:// before every www web site address like this: https://www.google.com

Step Four - update your computer, turn on the firewall
Any computer should have updated patches turned ON. If you're on a Mac these happen automatically, and when on Windows, the settings can be turned on with Windows Update. Apply these updates and turn on the firewall that comes with your computer. For Mac, click here. For Windows, click here to learn how to turn on your firewall and apply updates. Patch your computer when updates are available, and leave the firewall on wherever possible. This will protect your computer. Most home routers provide additional levels of security, so use them.

Tip for Grandma: get someone else to turn on the firewall

Step Five - know your banking rights
It's important to understand your liability and exposure if using a credit card online. Most banks limit your liability to $50, but check your card agreement to find out what you stand to loose if your credit card does fall into the wrong hands. Most agree it's a bad idea to use a debit card online.

Tip for Grandma: don't use a credit card on the Internet

Step Six - reformat your computer every year
It's also a good idea to rewind your computer to factory settings once a year, or more often if you are particularly paranoid, both to keep the computer running fast, as well as to erase or remove any virus that may have infected it.

Tip for Grandma: buy a new computer every year; better yet, buy a Mac

Step Seven - use antivirus software
An antivirus software program will attempt to prevent and remove virus activity. They are not completely effective, but are better than nothing. Find one and use it. Microsoft Security Essentials is my favorite, but for personal use you should not have to pay for Antivirus - they are generally free for personal use. Beware of ANY requests on your computer to pay for personal antivirus software, these are actually a virus!

Tip for Grandma: don't download anything. Install Microsoft antivirus

More tips from CNet here.

Despite the best measures for security, the Internet is a planetary medium and anyone with the right skills can take apart the most sophisticated security. The question then becomes risk: how much risk are you willing to assume, what steps are you willing to take to reduce the risk or transfer it to others (like your bank). If you use common sense, limit the amount of personal information you share, stick to secure passwords and limit your risk with the seven steps listed above, you will significantly reduce the risk of problems while online.

Most Useful Internet Tools

2011-11-15T08:03:00.001-05:00

Here are a few of the most useful tools on the Internet:

1. Dragon Dictation for your cell phone. Or if you use an iPhone 4s, it's built in. This gives you the ability to talk to your phone instead of typing. Dictate a text message, or search the Internet by speaking to your phone. More details here.

2. Evernote is the best note-taking system on the planet. Use it on your phone, your laptop, or desktop computer. It synchronizes all your notes, your devices, your life.

3. RememberTheMilk.com if you're into lists to organize your life. There's a great iPad app, an iPhone app, it runs on any phone and any computer. It also runs on Android cell phones.

4. PhoneTag.com transcribes the voicemails in your life and sends them to your cell phone or computer as an email. Reduce the complexity in your life with Phonetag. If you want a less expensive and free version of this service, try Google Voice. There's a review of these types of systems here.

5. Livescribe SmartPens are great with Evernote, and if you're a student, you must at least take a look. Not only will it record lectures and meetings, but it will allow you to review the lecture by pointing to your notes and jumping to the exact point when you wrote the note during the lecture. Studying has never been so powerful as with a Livescribe SmartPen.

6. Mint.com organizes your finances, and takes online banking to a whole new level with budgets, analysis of your spending patterns, goals, and control over your financial matters.

7. Picasa from Google is the best photo organizer. Use it with your digital camera, cell phone, or other photography device to organize and store your photographs and videos.

8. Facebook, although I hate to say it, is still the best social media site to keep in touch with friends. We love to hate it for privacy problems and frequent design changes, but it's the only place where everyone can connect privately or publicly. It's today's modern equivalent of the telephone book.

9. Google Chrome is the software program, or "browser," that you open when you look at web pages. Most people use Internet Explorer because it comes with all Windows computers. But Chrome is better, IMHO ("in my humble opinion").

10. Google is the Internet to many people. It's the best place to search, and is still the most innovative place to search for information. Google is more than www.google.com. For search tips, click here. Discover the rest of Google here.

Honorable mentions:

www.netflix.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.ebay.com
www.itunes.com
www.pandora.com
www.fitbit.com

www.nytimes.com

www.wired.com

www.wsj.com
www.amazon.com
www.craigslist.org
www.skype.com
www.zillow.com
www.instagram.com / inkstagram.com

Text Messaging for the Pros

2011-11-12T16:34:00.001-05:00

The most useful technology these days is the humble text message, also known as the "SMS" or short message system sent to your cell phone. There's a reason why our teenagers are running three thousand texts a month, and rather reactively lurching about like drunken sailors trying to react to a deluge of information from all manner of digital sources.

But rather than letting the digital world happen to you, take control of it and determine how you will be notified of important events.

You can get updates from news sources, school closings, even Facebook updates sent to your cell phone as a text message. Without overdoing it or sending a single tweet of your own, you can have key messages sent to you so that you know what is happening immediately.

Get Text Message Alerts Via Twitter

The typical scenario is that you want to set up alerts to very important breaking news. Twitter is the best place to alert you to this type of information. Each time an important "tweet" is posted on Twitter, you can get a text message on you phone.

First subscribe to Twitter (learn how here).

Then turn on the feature that sends a text message to your cell phone when a "tweet" is posted by CNN Breaking News. If you're signed up for Twitter, just visit the site you wish to "follow" as shown below. Look for the cell phone symbol next to the "FOLLOWING" green button shown below. You will need to be "following" CNN Breaking News to have the updates from CNN sent to you via text message.

If you have previously set up Twitter with your cell phone's number in the mobile settings panel, you'll be able to click on the icon to turn on and off notifications that will be sent to your cell phone as a text message. If you need to adjust or set up your mobile preferences, login to Twitter, go to "Settings," then click on the "Mobile" tab to adjust your cellular phone number preferences.

You can turn off alerts so they don't arrive when you're sleeping. Click here to learn how.

When you're new to Twitter or Facebook, finding which sites send you information can be difficult. A few of the top Twitter sites for getting selective news when it breaks are listed below:

@cnnbrk
@bbcbreaking
@foxnews
@cnnlive
@abc
@cbsnews
@nbcnews
@digg_2000

Look for the most popular Twitter accounts here: http://twitaholic.com/top100/followers/

Send a text message to 40404 if you're in the USA to communicate with Twitter. Your message might be just "help" or "off" to stop the messages if they become too annoying.

Facebook Messages

Facebook also allows you to be notified via SMS. To get a text message from Facebook, sign up for an account, and adjust your settings so that you receive updates. Learn how here. You can subscribe to updates from key news sources.

Facebook Mobile has more information. Like Twitter, Facebook has software that will run on your phone to make it easier to use. From your phone, visit http://m.facebook.com/sms to learn more. You will see these options:

Send a text message with the word "help" to 32665 to communicate with Facebook.

Send a text message with the word "stop" to 32665 to stop messages from Facebook.

Help Me Choose an Email Address That is Cool

2011-11-09T20:30:00.001-05:00

The choice of a personal email address is, well, personal. But the choice you make can say a lot about you. If you want a hip and post modern email address, consider gmail.com

If you want to appear un-cool, choose AOL. Tech people pick on AOL because it's so very old and used by those who don't know much about technology. Yahoo or Hotmail are somewhere between cool and not-so-cool.

Besides "cool" factors, the more practical issues to consider are:

How much storage does your system provide you?
Can you get to it from a web site at any time?
Does it work with your cell phone, if and when you wanted to get that sophisticated...?
Is it going to change or become obsolete (like juno or netzero)?
Do the features work and can you learn them quickly?
Does the system include a calendar, contacts, and the ability to add or remove personal contacts?

Generally one of the following major email systems is a safe bet:

Gmail
Yahoo
Hotmail
AOL

A few more perspectives on what your email says about you:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/email_address

http://lifehacker.com/5447335/know-what-your-email-address-says-about-you

Stay away from the email address given to you by your cable provider, or Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you move or need to change providers, your email address will change. If the cable provider or ISP is acquired, your email address may also change. Stick to a free email address that never changes.

Other facts:

E-mail addresses are always lowercase and UppER and LowEr CaSE doesn't matter in an email address.
Gmail has the best spam control, filtering out unwanted email.
Yahoo offers unlimited email storage quotas
Facebook offers email addresses as part of their messaging feature.

To set up a free @facebook.com address, go to your Messages view and click the "Claim your Facebook email" link.

Your email address will match your public username, for example:

Profile: facebook.com/username
Email: username@facebook.com

If you don’t have a username yet, you can choose one when you create your email address.

Once you set up your email address, people can email you using any traditional email system (e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail), and the emails will be delivered to your Facebook Messages. When you send messages to external email addresses, the emails will be formatted to look like Facebook messages, including your name, your profile picture and your message.

The Perfect Computer

2011-11-09T19:36:00.002-05:00

The best computer is a fast computer.

What is the perfect computer? If you are buying a new computer, what should you get? I get this question all the time, but the easy answer is that it depends on your needs. One thing is certain - everyone wants a fast computer.

Like a car, it depends on your tastes, your budget, the way you drive and what you plan to do with your vehicle. There are so many choices, but all of them can be confusing. When it comes to a computer, however, most people just want something that is fast and problem-free.

What if you don't know what you need? What if you are new to computers?

Start with simple and practical facts: Windows computers will run the most popular software, but they are also infected with viruses at the highest rate. If you are new to computers, I would suggest you buy an Apple Macintosh if you can afford it. The reason for this is that they are less prone to virus infections, and they tend to be easier to learn if you have never used a computer.

Windows is more widely used, but expect a Windows computer to slow down over time, get infected and have virus problems, even if you've purchased an antivirus program.

This is the key fact about Windows computers at home: they will eventually run slowly and need to be reloaded. (Over time, even a Mac will run slowly too, but they are less prone to virus threats.) The best computer is a fast computer. To make yours fast like it was when you purchased it, reload the factory settings.

How to Reload Your Computer's Factory Settings:

If you own a Windows computer, prepare to reload it (or have someone else do it for you). If you buy a computer these days, it has either a CD ROM with the "factory settings" on it, or it has a special "partition" on the hard disk with the factory settings stored for when you need to restore the factory settings. To restore the computer to the original factory settings, you would either insert the CD ROM into the computer BEFORE you turn it on, and "boot from the CD" .... OR you would turn the computer on and run the "RESTORE" program to restore the factory settings to the computer. Every computer is different, so check your computer's manual or tech support phone number to find out how your factory restore works.

Step by step instructions on how to perform to a "factory restore" procedure:

1. Back up the data on your computer. The easiest way to do this yourself is to drag the items you've stored from their place on your computer to an external USB "thumb drive." If you're worried about missing something, get professional help to be sure you've backed up the important data on your computer. Don't forget the music, movies, photos, documents, the financial files, the favorite sites, any email, etc.

2. Find out if you're using a CD ROM to restore the computer or a special "partition" on the computer. If you have a CD ROM you normally turn the computer on and press the "C" key or sometimes F10 or F12 to "boot from CD ROM."

The crazy thing is that each computer may be different, and the special key that you need to hold down while turning on the computer may vary. Sometimes the computer gives you a clue each time you power it on. The screen may say "Press F4 to run factory restore" or "press F10 for boot options"

If you pressed the correct key, the computer will start a series of steps to ERASE your computer COMPLETELY. This means all your data will be gone, so be sure you backed it up first. The computer should guide you through some steps to return your computer to the original factory settings. Once complete, your computer will need to update itself but should run much faster. Many computer makers will provide technical support and they can walk you through the correct procedures to restoring your factory settings.

3. Don't forget to copy your data back to your computer, re-add printers, and run Windows updates. Best Buy has a service that will do all this for you if you find this too daunting of a task.

My favorite places to find computers:

Apple Store (fantastic personal service, more expensive)
Walmart (rock bottom prices, buy instantly at the store near you)
TigerDirect.com web site (great prices online)

Whatever you purchase, think carefully about the warranty: how long does it need to last? The warranty you get should cover the length of time you need the computer to last.

A site with great computer reviews: http://reviews.cnet.com/

Movies Online

2011-11-06T09:55:00.000-05:00

Your grand kids bought you a computer, and you know it's possible to watch movies on your computer.

Where should you start?

Most of the action these days is at Netflix and iTunes. Some "leaders" and "followers" are listed below:

Market Leaders:

Netflix will send you DVDs plus online movies by subscription.
Apple's iTunes lets you rent or buy movies, TV, podcasts and music videos. They have a site here where you can view movie trailers.
YouTube has more than cute cat videos. Check out their movies site.
Amazon's Prime service offers movies as part of a subscription service called Prime. Or you can rent them individually on their web site.
Hulu offers movies, TV and more.

Others:

CinemaNow from BestBuy
DishTV/Blockbuster Total Access - if you're a subscriber of DishTV, they plan to offer streaming movies via satellite. Blockbuster was acquired by Dish in April of 2011.
Vudu has lots of movies, TV and more. They're owned by Walmart
Joost is still around but not thriving
Real Networks has some reality television programming
Asian movie specialty site TigerCinema is worth a look if you love Asian movies
Hard to find/non-mainstream movies are found at EZTakes and MovieFlix

ABC, NBC, CBS, FoxTV and other networks carry their programming on their web sites, and in the case of ABC, have an iPad application worth seeing.

Here's a recent review of some of these sites.

There are a few software programs and hardware devices for your living room that let you watch online video from many of the sources above. Boxee and Roku are two examples. You either install the software on your computer or your buy a device and it pulls the video in from the sources above to make it easy to play on your living room television. Connecting the Internet to your television should be easy, but no one has figured it out yet. Apple has a device called AppleTV, Roku makes a device. Western Digital has a media player that's worth a look. Google, who owns YouTube is getting into movies and TV and trying to figure out how to make your living room devices work with Internet video through GoogleTV. Steve Jobs and Apple thoughts on televisions and computer/Internet integration can be found here.

Content Filter Help for Parents

2011-11-02T12:51:00.000-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me that the providers of our Internet service do not provide better options for managing content at home. In a workplace setting the network gurus will ensure that spam is filtered, malware is blocked and content does not violate company policy.

At home, you're on your own.

What's the best way to ensure your family is protected properly? This naturally is a personal choice and depends on many variables, but for most families, the question is complicated technically, not morally.

The typical family may have a dozen or more devices, and each one connects through a wireless network to the Internet. Many devices may also have a cellular connection to the Internet.

Content can appear on a mobile device (a phone or computer) and the two basic levels of control to consider are the device itself and the network that feeds the content to the device. Let's call them "device protection" and "network protection." A layered strategy for thinking about security and content protection will offer the most coverage, but it depends on what you need.

Content filtering is somewhat different from virus filtering, although they are closely related. We're not talking about virus protection, or spam protection for email, just content monitoring/filtering.

Protecting The Device

The device could be a laptop or handheld, and it can be mobile or fixed. Increasingly homes have mobile devices, like a cell phone or laptop, so let's start with the cell phone.

Cellular:

I know of no cellular provider (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.) who will filter or provide network filtering options to family or company devices. Filtering content on a handheld device is largely a matter for third-party applications or software that runs on each phone or device. The software is installed on the device and no matter where it goes, the device is protected as long as the software is not removed/bypassed or disabled. For this there are a few options:

Android
If you own a smart phone, like an iPhone or Blackberry or Android device, you can purchase software like McAfee Family Protection Android Edition to manage content on your child's cellular device. CarrierIQ on Android has recently made headlines for tracking a bit too much information.

Apple
If you own an Apple product, such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch you can use iTunes to restrict the ratings for content you download to your devices, based on Apple's rating system. This will restrict the content of the "apps" that run on the Apple device. This will block software that you might find objectionable on Apple's iTunes App Store. Since Apple classifies (and blocks) most adult content/pornography on the Apple App Store, your filtering by rating should be effective for blocking content based on a rating system Apple designed. Click here for more information.

Blackberry
If you have a Blackberry device, and it's not already being filtered by your company's policy, consider using PhoneSherriff, which works with more than just Blackberry devices.

To review, it's possible to view inappropriate content in two ways on a mobile device: A) You can view inappropriate content by downloading an "app" which comes from the iTunes or Android or Blackberry store, or B) you can view content by visiting web sites (through a "browser" like Safari). In other words, you can download an "app" or you can go to sites like Google or Yahoo and search for inappropriate material, or visit inappropriate sites by typing them into the "browser" as www.exampleadultsite.com directly on your device.

To restrict or filter the Internet browsing features on the device itself, you have a few options. First, you can subscribe to special browsers that replace Safari on the device with something like Covenant Eyes or K9. Instead of browsing the Internet using Apple software, the software from Covenant Eyes or K9 is installed and you turn off the normal Apple browser (Safari). Here's how to do this on an Apple device. Covenant Eyes allows you to surf the web with their special software, and then it either provides a "report only" mode or if you use K9 they provide a "filter" based on your desired level of protection. Since no filter is perfect, the report only mode allows you to keep tabs on sites visited without filtering, if accountability is more important to you than blocking. Blocking by category is not a perfect science, but you can generally set a level of protection which can restrict content based on your preferences.

All software-based options require you to protect the settings through passwords, so be sure you keep the passwords confidential in order to protect the settings from unauthorized changes.

Computers:

Desktops or laptop computers can be protected by software that can either restrict content or report usage. Apple computers running Apple's latest operating system, Tiger, have some great parental features. Click here to read more on Apple parental control features. There are many software applications and reviews here for Apple and Windows computers, but be sure to look at Covenant Eyes, SpectorSoft, McAfee, K9. A favorite? SpectorPro.

Google and many other web sites allow you to set up "family safe" search settings. These are easy to bypass but do allow a level of protection against accidental search results. Learn more here.

Protecting The Network

Protecting the device can restrict content no matter where the device goes. Visiting a friend's house? If your filters are set on the device, the restrictions will work everywhere, as long as the phone is not reset to factory settings, the password is not shared, or the software bypassed. Filtering on a device can have drawbacks, mostly related to "false positives" or sites that are blocked unnecessarily. Additionally, blocking vs. reporting will frequently not pick up visual search results. Content categories are never completely accurate. If you have sophisticated (i.e. children) people at home you may find a new device, virtual machine, or other computers in your home and they may not be protected unless you protect the network which feeds Internet to your home. Filtering each device can get expensive if you are a modern family with a dozen or more devices.

Network filtering generally happens on the router or device that brings the Internet into your home. This software or setting locks or filters your Internet connect at one single place: the router. A router is a gateway or traffic on-ramp to the Internet. It is usually a black box that is provided by your Internet Service Provider.

If you are reading this at home, the router device has an "address" on your home network and your device can frequently be viewed from a web site by visiting either 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 Check your router's manual for more details on how to connect to the router in your house.

All devices in your home route through this device unless they are using a cellular signal to connect to the Internet. Some devices that have cellular connections may switch to wireless (WIFI) when it's available. The router's login settings can be protected by a password against unauthorized changes.

To protect this network connection, one option is to use "DNS" filtering. The router that connects your home to the Internet uses a "phone book" called "DNS" (domain name system) to match the English name of a web site (whitehouse.gov) to the actual number that a computer understands (called the "ip address" or "internet protocol number"). When you type whitehouse.com into your web browser, it is the technical DNS system that resolves that name and routes the computer to the right web site on the Internet. If you subscribe or use the free services from OpenDNS (or similar service) you can allow all the site look-up traffic coming in and out of your network to pass through OpenDNS. They have a set of filtering categories that will allow you to choose what content is allowed into your home. More here. If use use a DNS service like OpenDNS, when you ask for a web site that is blocked, the DNS service looks up the site, and if it's a blocked site, it will display a "this site is blocked" message. The OpenDNS site has all the details on how to subscribe and use this service. Watch this video for a tutorial.

Visitors or any computer or device trying to use wireless at your home will be blocked if you use an OpenDNS-like solution. No software is required on each device. Consider using SafeResolve or similar DNS filtering/blocking site. OpenDNS can be used to "report only" if you prefer accountability reporting vs. blocking.

To deploy DNS services properly, you should use something called "egress filtering" so that sophisticated family members cannot arbitrarily replace the DNS service and bypass OpenDNS. You should restrict administrator access to computers at home, and you should restrict proxy/anonymizers in OpenDNS.

The hardest part about filtering your network is making the settings changes needed and keeping them set after power outages, router upgrades, and network outages.

Some routers also come with family filtering options. iBoss is one, or consider options from DLink or Cisco or Adtran when sold with parental controls.

Bottom line? If you want filtering and you have the money, pay someone to install SpectorSoft on your computers and then install OpenDNS on your router including DNS egress filtering, block proxy/anonymizers, and do not allow computers at home to have administrator access. Have your technician show you the "console" so you can fine-tune the settings and keep tabs on your family's Internet usage. Don't share your passwords.

Music on the Internet

2011-10-30T14:18:00.000-04:00

To do two things at once is to do neither.

-- Publius Syrus

It may be obvious to say that when you’re new to computers, the place most people start is with iTunes. Apple has made music easy with iTunes, after Napster and others in the 1990s made music easy to download. If you have an Apple device, iTunes makes it easy to buy and manage a music library on your computer or phone. Most recently, iTunes Match allows you to keep a copy of your music on Apple's servers. More here.

There are a few other sites you should consider after you’ve looked at iTunes. Most notably, Google Music launched and is worth a look. Apple and Google as well as Amazon are now moving music to the "cloud" by storing a copy of your music on the Internet and making them available anywhere.

Steal It, or "Share It" For Free
As the Napster model showed, the free acquisition of music met with a predictable response from the recording industry: accusations of theft and counterarguments of “fair use” raged, but eventually the courts protected the music industry and for better and worse, the free distribution of music has faded or moved to the risky peer to peer nooks of the Internet. Peer-to-peer connects computers--your “peers”--to each other directly over the Internet. Once that connection is established with programs like BitTorrent/uTorrent or Gnutella/Bearshare, etc. you can choose to share music or movies or other files with your peers via the Internet.

You can still find music for free on these peer-to-peer networks, but expect to run afoul of the law if you’re sharing music that is intended for sale or otherwise protected by lawyers and music copyright. Your kids may be downloading music for free, but the risk of a lawsuit is probably not worth it, or at least that is what the music industry wants you to believe. Networks like Gnutella keep file sharing alive, but consider the risks before participating. When you hear “peer to peer” you should not think “illegal” but rather “what kind of sharing activity is happening? If it’s protected by copyright that restricts sharing, you could find yourself the target of a lawsuit.

Don’t forget that some musicians are giving away their music for fee, so the free options still exist for legally finding free music. The challenge is making sure you don’t download something that will get you prosecuted. A great site for finding (legally) free music without risk of a lawsuit is the music site, Jamendo. Why would someone give away their music? Watch this movie for a more detailed explanation.

Own It/Download It
As a dramatically changed industry, music and media have been rocked to their core over the past ten years. The way we pay and play music is still changing. iTunes is the most popular “download and own” method, where you buy a song (instead of an entire album, perhaps) and play it on a device like an iPod or iPhone. Steve Jobs best explained this music model in a letter on his thoughts about “DRM” in 2007. “DRM” or “digital rights management” is the effort to restrict those who buy music from sharing it or selling it or giving it away… some would even say loaning it to friends. In any case, the restrictions placed on music use are still a topic of spirited debate. Another popular site for buying music is Amazon.com’s MP3 site. A “digital tattoo” or watermark technique trend has made music easier to play on any device without too many restrictions. Technology now makes it possible to download a music track with your purchase details affixed to the file. If you give it away or share it for free, your digital fingerprint may remain with the song.

Rent It/Stream It
Another model for listening to music is the radio-style rental model. Music access, not ownership: Listen to music over the airwaves, or more accurately, over the Internet. Pandora has emerged as the best known site for listening to music without downloading it. With Pandora, you create an account, enter your favorite artist(s) and listen to music related to that artist. This type of service is supported through advertisements or in some cases, with a monthly fee. It is legal and free to you. Rhapsody is another site offering an “all you can eat” rental of music for a monthly fee. Check out Grooveshark, Rdio, Spotify Last.fm for more variations on the theme. Some work really well with Facebook, others let you download a copy to your phone or computer.

Finally, don’t forget that many radio stations offer a digital stream of their station online.

If you are looking for lyrics for music, consider TuneWiki.

A more in-depth recent review of music sites is here and here.

Google announced their service on 11/16/11 - click here to read more about it.

Back Up Your Precious Things

2011-10-26T15:50:00.000-04:00

If you have ever lost a term paper, a precious photo, or important tax information, or seen your computer crash without warning and no recovery, you know that having a backup strategy for all your computers is important. What would happen if your computer was stolen, or burned to a crisp in a house fire?

One approach is to back up your computer information to an external disk drive or even a USB thumb drive, but if your house is destroyed, that won't help you. The best approach for backup today is to use a service that is quietly and constantly copying your computer's information to a secure site somewhere far, far away.

Several services are available for this, including:

Backblaze
Carbonite
Crashplan
Dropbox
Jungledisk
Mozy
SugarSync

Most of these services are free to use if you store small amounts of data, say up to 2 gigabytes of data. For larger amounts or for extra protection they charge about $5 per month or less thereafter for unlimited storage, and include software for your smartphone so you can see you backup files on a cell phone, or through a web site. Each service has different features, so look through the reviews to see what makes sense for you.

How it works:

These services will install special software on your computer. The software transfers the data (in the background, while you're working or idle) from your computer to the company's secure storage site, somewhere deep in the mountains or in a high security vault at some undisclosed location. Each time you save something or make a change to your computer, the work is stored on your computer and a copy is kept in the "cloud" far away. These services are designed to be secure, encrypted, and safe. If your computer is lost, damaged, or destroyed for any reason, the backup is always available through a web site or in some cases the service will send you a backup disk.

A few reviews of these systems include:

Published 7/16/2009
http://gigaom.com/apple/mozy-vs-carbonite-mac-backup-smackdown/

Published 3/10/2010
http://www.help2go.com/content/reviews/6-online-backups-comparing-carbonite-backblaze-jungledisk-more.html

Published 3/22/2010
http://www.wirefresh.com/crashplan-triumphs-in-comparison-of-online-backup-services/

Published 12/22/2010
http://www.macworld.com/article/156511/2010/12/whatonlinebackupservice.html

Published 2/11/2011
http://lifehacker.com/5749845/the-best-alternatives-to-mozy-for-big-or-unlimited-backups

Published 4/2/2011
http://www.techwizbackup.com/carbonite-vs-mozy

Published 11/26/2011
http://gigaom.com/cloud/backblaze-now-backs-up-whatever-youve-got/

Coolest Hangouts on the Internet

2011-10-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

Where do all the cool cats hang out on the Internet? That depends on age, interests and many other factors, but there are a few places to track what sites are popular, and to get you started, here are a few lists to discover:

Top Sites by Visitors (from Hitwise as of October 2011):

1. Facebook
2. Google
3. YouTube
4. Yahoo! Mail
5. Yahoo
6. Bing
7. Yahoo Search
8. Gmail
9. MSN
10. Windows Live Mail

Alexa, NPD, Compete, comScore, Hitwise, Nielsen Online are good places to go to find trends and research what's popular on the Internet.

To find top blogs, my favorite is Technorati. This site gives you an overview of which blogs are most popular by topic and traffic.

Here's a neat way of looking at the Internet: an info-graphic showing the major sites on the Internet.

Some further statistics here on who exactly owns the search business.

Search Tips for Google

2011-10-17T10:09:00.000-04:00

My family, friends, everyone has said to me at some point, "I don't understand..." Most of the time they have simple questions, like "How do I get my WIFI working again?" or "Where do I find someone who will fix my computer!?"

Maybe you're like them and you feel silly asking questions. Or maybe you work with technology people and have questions you feel foolish asking. Or maybe you just want to seem a bit more savvy than your colleagues.

If I had just one piece of advice for my Mom or co-workers afraid of technology, I'd say this: be fearless. Ask even if you feel stupid. Google it if you don't know. Discover searching for things on Wikipedia, the online dictionary. Spend a few minutes each week on a blog like this one, and you'll be astonished how quickly you can come up to speed. Welcome to the new hyperdigital age.

The Gartner Group, a fancy high technology consulting firm that Chief Information Officers pay to tell them what they already know, calls it "hyperdigitization" and there's plenty of money for those smart enough to sell services to people this new age.

But where do you start if you don't understand technology? Google.

How to use Google to search: secrets to help search better:

Did you know you can search for weather by typing weather 14127 or weather Buffalo on Google to find weather near a zip code or city?

Did you know you could enter just a stock ticker symbol into Google to get an update? Search using the market name for best results, enter this into Google: NASDAQ:AAPL

Try these other tips for easy Google searching: search for a phrase by typing "Tech In Plain English" with double quotes around the phrase you're seeking. Google isn't case sensitive, so if you want capital letters to work, use this: search engine.

Want to find the definition of a word? Enter define operose into Google to see a quick definition.

Need to find something on a single web site? Enter site:cnn.com Colombia to find stories about Colombia on CNN. Remember, no spaces after "site:" and your search will be restricted to just the site you enter.

You can also search for files of a specific type on Google. Need a quick PowerPoint or Word document? Search for filetype:ppt Colombia to find all files that are PowerPoint files that contain the word "Colombia." Microsoft's PowerPoint software saves files on your computer with the last three letters of .PPT or .pptx just like Microsoft Word documents are stored with the last three letters appended as .doc or .docx. Use the last three letters of a file's type to find files on the Internet.

Want to exclude something in your search results? Put the dash in front of the search, like this, Colombia -drugs will find items about Colombia without reference to drugs.

Want to dive even deeper? Check out Google's detailed search help here.

Try these other Google sites for even better results:

Search scholarly journals:
http://scholar.google.com

Search digitized books:
http://books.google.com

Search maps & geography:
http://maps.google.com

Search images/photos/drawings:
http://images.google.com/

Search the news:
http://news.google.com/

Search videos:
http://video.google.com/

Although the kids growing up these days are supposed to be smarter and somehow wired differently, the research shows that they, like the rest of us, don't always understand a foundational element of evaluating search results: trust and credibility. Discernment and common sense are required in greater quantities to be able to process or trust the results of a search. The credibility of a site and the information it contains still causes many people to go wrong when they search.

Ask yourself these non-technical questions before visiting a site or trusting the content:

Who wrote it?
Are there multiple trusted sources cited?
Does the web address clearly identify the author for full accountability?
Does the site's web address belong to a credible organization?
Does the information found make business sense?
When you search for the site or the information presented does it check out as legitimate or does a quick Google search present a different story?
Does the site present facts or opinion?
Is the site endorsing a product or company?
Every opinion has an opposite viewpoint, does the article present all sides?
Are the facts correct? Can they be verified?

CNet’s Molly Wood has even more tips here:

How to Get Better Google Search Results