Excerpt:

Let’s say you wanted the weather forecast. Key in “weather 29406″ — or whatever your Zip code is to get the forecast for the next few days. Within minutes it would come back, and you’d know whether to cancel that picnic.

That’s the service that felt the nip of the executioner’s ax. Suddenly. Quietly. Not even a whimper. Google-watchers were so busy with Reader that they didn’t notice anything else …

Check it out in Baling Wire and Duct Tape.

Off the top of my head, I listed a few measures you can take to protect your computer and your online information — in fact, your whole identity — from being stolen.

This gets even more important as we use the Internet for more important aspects of daily life, such as moving money around.

Most of these tips are common sense, but those are sometimes the hardest ones to remember and implement.

Here’s a sampling:

• Choose your tools carefully. If you use Internet Explorer, take that icon off your desktop right now and surf with a different browser. Chromium (an open-source version of Google Chrome) is good, as are Firefox and Opera.
• Keep that browser updated.
• Be careful about passwords; PayPal_Andy’s advice of having a designated password for each site is highly recommended, even though I’m guilty of using the same passwords for more than one site.
• Don’t open any attachments if you don’t know the sender.
• Be wary of attachments from someone you know; zap it with your virus and malware protection tools before you open it.
• I’d also be wary of links sent by email, especially when they’re shortened through bit.ly or some other service. Also be careful of links posted on your favorite social media sites; you can click on some malware real easily that way. I’ve seen malware propagate among everyone on your friends/followers lists, making them the gift that keeps on giving.
• You do have virus protection, don’t you? You do keep it updated, don’t you? Virus protection that’s not kept up to speed is totally worthless.
• Grab some spyware protection, too. For that I recommend Spybot Search And Destroy.
• Be careful about using public wireless for any business involving money; it’s too easy to tap into your information that way.
• If surfing in a public place, watch for anyone behind you or sit with your back against a wall. I know this sounds goofy, but when some lowlife is trying to grab your information the low-tech ways are often the most effective.
• Don’t let me scare you or anything.

If you use a smartphone:

• Guard it with your life. Even if you want to be a good neighbor and help someone in a pinch, don’t let that person “hold” your phone. It’s too easy for him to snatch it and run. Most smartphones carry way more information than you’d think, and most of it can be found in seconds.
• Be careful about dropping or leaving your phone somewhere. Same reason.
• I use a lanyard from an old mp3 player and attach it to my phone holster. The other end is attached to a small carabiner, which I clip onto a belt loop. The holster’s flap is closed when I’m not using the phone. That way, if the holster falls off (happens more often than I’d like to think) or someone tries to snatch it off your belt, you’d know immediately.
• Stay aware of what’s around you, even if you’re texting or playing Angry Birds. I’ve heard of folks stealing someone’s phone while the person is using it.
• Two words: Password protection.

If you can think of any other means of protecting your information, share in the comments section. I’ll be glad to include it. Let’s watch one another’s backs.

# # #

If you conduct your business online, make sure you don’t put any blood in the water …

Much of my life is automated via the Internet. I do my work, pay my bills and buy things online. Shoot, I haven’t been inside a bank in two years because all this is done over the ‘net. I even have an account with one bank that operates completely online, without a brick-and-mortar branch within sight.

This is great in most circumstances but it sure leaves me open to all sorts of security glitches.

If you’re reading this on your computer, you may be in that same boat. Of course you have an Internet connection. You might buy things online, pay your bills through the Internet or even govern your whole life through a coaxial cable or wifi connection. It’s great, it’s convenient, and sometimes it’s dangerous.

I received more confirmation of this danger the other day when I checked my email. It’s allegedly from PayPal, and it carries all sorts of dire warnings.

The email that set stuff off

Here’s the note, in its entirety but with the account ID deleted. Other than that, I kept the capitalization and spacing (this part’s important) just as you see it here:

Your account has been limited Paypal ID PP-xxx-xxx-xxx

Service@paypal.com

Identity issue PP-xxx-xxx-xxx

Please complete the attached form to verify your Profile information and restore your account access.

————————————————————–

Personal Information Profile

Make sure you enter the information accurately, and according to the formats required.

Fill in all the required fields.

Dear customer ,

As part of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the online community, we regularly screen account activity. Our review of your account has identified an issue regarding its safe use. We have placed a restriction on your account as a precaution.

To lift the restriction we will require some further information from you.

If, once we review your further information and we’re convinced that the use of your account does not present a safety risk to our service and customers, we’ll be happy to reinstate your account.

We have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access. Download and open it in your browser. After we have gathered the necessary information, you will regain full access to your account.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Very sincerely,

PayPal Review Department.

* * *

There’s an attached document that came with this note.

Did I download and open it?

Uhh, noooo … forgive this journalistic lapse, but I’m really not as dumb as I look.

Things that made me go h’mmm …

Watch it if you get an email purporting to be from these guys.

There were a couple of red flags that went up right away.

One of those red flags was the address this email went to. I have six email addresses, and two of them (my Gmail addresses) are attached to my PayPal account. But this email went to two addresses that have nothing to do with PayPal, and both are under my ericpulsifer.com web domain.

Now understand the importance of this. PayPal uses your associated email address to make all transactions. That means if you use that service and want to send me money (hint hint) you’ll send it through the email address associated with it.

(So if you’re feeling generous, crank up your PayPal and my email address is epulsifer@gmail.com. Be sure and send it in small unmarked bills and I’ll be real happy.)

All my PayPal communications go through that one Gmail address. So to receive this email through one of my business (non-Gmail) addresses gives me pause right away.

This gets really suspicious when I get simultaneous emails to different boxes under the same domain name.

While the email’s reported sender is Service@PayPal.com (with the capitalization just as you see it here), the actual email address is security@info.com. Now, how suspicious is that?

I checked my PayPal account and found nothing even resembling the account ID number listed in the email. I do have a merchant ID number, but it’s not even close. Could be that I’m not looking in the right place, but I don’t think so. Paypal’s ID is basically your email address. Got that?

After receiving the email I checked my PayPal account right away. Everything was copacetic. I was able to access it like I always have, without restrictions. So you know the sender was trying to baffle me with BS.

Chasing the story

Being the troublemaker that I am, I ran a Google search using the phrase “paypal restore account information email” and man, did I get a pantload of results. None of them carried good news either, but it was highly educational.

Just from looking at the first page of the search results, I saw this scam has been kicking around since 2006.

According to consumerfraudreporting.com, PayPal will never send you an email without putting your name on it. In other words it will be “Dear Eric Pulsifer,” not “Dear customer.” And you can bet they won’t leave a space between “customer” and the comma in the greeting; this just tells me it’s just some guy sending these emails from some basement somewhere.

Oh, yes. According to my research, PayPal doesn’t send attachments. I know I’ve never seen one from them. Forget it.

I checked on the PayPal community forum, and found some more revealing information. Several users reported similar emails and the forum administrator, who identifies himself as PayPal_Andy (I’ll assume he’s an employee) wrote this:

First, I’d recommend running a virus scan just to make sure you didn’t pick up anything unsavory when you clicked there. If everything’s fine (or once it is), I would recommend going to PayPal and changing your password and security questions through the ‘Profile’ link. Make sure this password is brand new and you haven’t used it anywhere else and you should be fine. Just keep an eye on your PayPal account for any unauthorized charges, and if you see any, let us know ASAP.

Andy

Sound advice. It’s common sense, but you can ride with the assumption that the phisherman probably snagged some of your information before sending that email. Change your password immediately just to make sure.

By the way, Andy posted his response in August 2011, so you know this scam is an oldie but goodie. But phishers and other off-brand types wanting to access your valuable information tend to stick with a winning formula.

If you get that email …

Generally, if you have an issue with access to your PayPal account, you can do all the fixing through the actual site. They have a “resolution center” where you may or may not get immediate answers, but it’s sure a lot safer than downloading/filling out an attached form you got from some random person and sending it via email.

Consumerfraudreporting.org suggests forwarding any fraudulent PayPal email to spoof@paypal.com — which I just did as I was researching and writing this piece. Here’s what I wrote:

I received this at two separate email addresses under the same domain, and neither one is associated with my PayPal account. Smelled a rat immediately and didn’t bother to open the attachment, so I won’t pass that part along to you.

Thought you might like to know, especially if you’re counting.

Thanks,

–Eric Pulsifer

So far, no response. But let the record reflect I went through proper channels.

Despite PayPal’s somewhat squirelly reputation (every year it finds itself in the running for the most evil company by the Consumerist website), I’ve never had a problem with them. Never. I once had to send some paperwork to prove I was who I said I was, but everything was resolved quickly by phone after that. While that was inconvenient, I have to give them brownie points for taking that security step.

I also have my account set up to send me an email and a text message when I make a transaction, and this has served me well. I found out within seconds when a restaurant tried to charge my PayPal debit card twice for a meal, so after I complained to the restaurant management, PayPal fixed things on their end without me having to prompt them. I might have scared the PP out of everyone involved, but somebody had to do it.

So from my perspective I have nothing bad to say about PayPal’s customer service. They’ve always been responsive and went that extra mile with me. Maybe I’m just Texas-lucky here, but I’ll take it.

The upshot of this whole mess is, if you receive this kind of note from PayPal, don’t panic. Don’t click on any attachments because it’s not from them and it’s probably malware anyway. And if you a) get it in an email box that’s not associated with your PayPal account or b) you don’t even have a PayPal account — that’s been reported too — then you know someone just tried to pull a fast one on you.

Enjoy your computers. Keep your online experiences fun and/or profitable. Just watch out for the phishing holes; there are sharks aplenty in there.

# # #

(For more information on protecting your computer and your information, be sure and check out my sidebar here. I even covered smartphones here, including my favorite 99-cent hack that may keep you from losing your phone.)

(In case I can’t get the photo to work: http://db.tt/PXTLgJEp)

I saw this display in front of a Cricket phone store in North Charleston, SC.

Of course, this shop doubles as a clothing store, which is probably a story in itself.

Come see their Anne Boleyn collection.

# # #

Enjoy. By the way, if you stop by Amazon anytime between June 1 and June 5, you’ll find this ebook is free for that period. Grab it, because its regular price is $3.99.

* * *

This is your brain … this is your brain on content mills. Any questions?

I mentioned content mills (aka “content farms”) earlier, along with the disclosure that I occasionally work for one.

Now, my content-mill work will not help me at all as far as exposure, even though my work shows up in highly-credible sites like the Houston Chronicle and Arizona Republic.

Here’s why:

Directly below the byline, where you would find something like “staff writer” or “contributing writer,” you’ll find the name of the content provider. Bam. There goes my credibility, right out the window.

You might as well say this article emerged from the slush pile only on a pass. Association with a content mill probably does my credibility more harm than good.

Besides, the writing is no great shakes anyway. It’s quick and dirty work, the kind I would not want to number among my best clips. Hey, I really do have standards.

Because of all this, my content-mill work shows up under an assumed name that I will not disclose in this ebook. Just call him John Doe for all I care.

Despite my misgivings I’m able to approach this assumed-name thing with some humor.

John Doe (or whatever his name is) has his very own email address under my business domain.

He’s an actual independent contractor with all the necessary paperwork (read: independent contractors require none).

John even has an official title — ghostwriter. Appropriate, considering he’s just a ghost anyway.

Even better, I don’t have to pay John because, well, he’s a ghost. What do ghosts eat anyway?

Although this sounds frivolous, maybe even my own sick imagination working overtime again, there’s a point to all this. My nonexistent contractor John Doe allows me to mentally detach myself from the work I consider objectionable or just plain lousy.

For me, that’s important.

I’ll say this about content-mill work. They pay on schedule, there’s always some work for me, and most of it is easy. I could do it in my sleep. In fact, sometimes I think I do. Or at least John does. It makes a nice supplement when nothing else is going on.

But content-mill work is not sustainable, and it’s just too easy to get all comfortable and get locked into something where you don’t have to hustle.

Pitching your work is a big part of writing, of any other art. You have to get your stuff out there, and if you’re interested in finding a real buyer paying real rates, you have to pitch it. Warm up the email program, make a few calls, hammer together a cover letter and get your clips in order.

Content mills take away that edge. It’s a surreal world where you pick titles from an online dashboard instead of engaging in the real world of writing.

So approach content mills with eyes wide open. They are what they are — a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there.

* * *

Here are some of the biggest content mills around, and what they pay at this writing:

Demand Studios: Payment is upon acceptance, and is forwarded directly into your PayPal account. In the business and finance section (where my ghostwriter John Doe works), they’ll pay around $25 for an article of 400 to 500 words. Pick your titles from the dashboard and hope you’re thinking of the same angle as your copy editor. You get one chance at a rewrite, but acceptance after that is iffy. You may not get the same copy editor for the rewrite as you did for your original piece, so that’s a risk. Until recently, the writer never knew who edited the piece.

Demand Studios makes a decent backup income source for those feast-or-famine times, but there’s still no substitute for pitching your work elsewhere and making better money from it.

* * *

Yahoo: According to the company via a recent employment ad: “Payment is provided on a performance basis, at $1.10 per every 1,000 page views. Contributors may also qualify for occasional Upfront Payment on a per-submission basis. Only the highest-quality submissions will qualify for publication on Yahoo …”

The writer is also expected to be active on social media, strive to build his audience, and despoil his hard-won online reputation with work for a third-rate content provider that won’t really pay you anyway. Read: You’re on your own for promoting your work. And at that pay rate, do they really expect quality?

No wonder Yahoo is hurting.

* * *

AOL has several outlets for writers, including the ubiquitous Huffington Post that became mega-profitable (AOL bought it for more than $300) while paying most writers in exposure.

Then there’s AOL Seed, which I think is still around though no one’s sure why. Seed offered decent payment (for online content-mill writing, that is), but there was a catch: Many assignments go to more than one writer. The best submission wins while the others get … nothing. I submitted one to Seed, got nosed out in the so-called competition and never wrote for them again.

I’ve looked into the hyperlocal AOL Patch, which was supposed to be the answer for out-of-work journalists. They have yet to make a profit. In fact, they’re inventing new ways to lose your butt. Recent news indicates they’ll be laying off more staff fairly soon. I’m betting they won’t be around in 2016, which is kind of a drag because then I’ll have to update this ebook.

I understand most Patch outposts have one editor (though he’s often juggling several hyperlocal editions) and a few stringers. I hear several different things about those contributing writers, too. Some sources say they’re not paid at all, while others say they get up to $50 per article. I guess it’s up to the editor or AOL’s budget.

From what I hear, the editors do everything and put in a whole lot of work for their paychecks. Patch is getting its money’s worth from the editors, and mimics the old 60-hours-of-work-for-a-40-hour-paycheck business model that old print journalists so fondly remember. Well, since Patch basically intended to replace local print journalism, it looks like they’re leaving many things just as they were.

* * *

Helium: Like I can say in my Facebook relationship status, “it’s complicated.” They’re mostly revenue-share with some restrictions and a couple of additional carrots thrown in. I signed on with them several years ago and never submitted anything. An old newsroom buddy of mine posted a few articles on Helium but I haven’t seen anything from him since. If his work with Helium brought him anything, it was the chance to reconnect with someone from his past.

* * *

Examiner: Another revenue-share site. I think I wrote four or five articles for the Examiner, and that’s probably four or five too many. I think I earned about two bucks from them. I remember they ran a mini-background check on prospective writers, though I’m not sure why. Some folks say they make decent money on Examiner, though you’d have to write a lot of stuff to reach that tipping point.

Just for grins, I glanced over my old Examiner pieces, which are still there and supposedly drawing page views. A couple of them are quite impressive; good enough for me to put in my clips. But I probably won’t. Any points I gain for good reporting and writing are immediately canceled by that brand’s reputation as a content mill.

When I did my time with the Examiner, they paid writers a few bucks to recruit other writers. Now, I’m not about to call that company a multilevel marketing scheme, but did they have to make it look so much like one?

* * *

Hubpages: Admittedly, I like Hubpages. I still have an active account with that company, though it’s been more than a year since I submitted something. Hubpages offers 60 percent of any ad revenue your pages generate. That’s not bad as far as revenue share goes, but I’d rather post in my own blog. Hubpages generates pretty good traffic on its own, but it’s empty traffic. It seems I get very few clicks from there to my own sites. Probably the biggest thing Hubpages has going for it is that anything I write is mine. I keep all rights and can edit or take anything down whenever I want. As far as content farms that really don’t pay you, it’s not half bad.

* * *

Squidoo: The brainchild of Seth Godin (one of the great modern thinkers and a man I respect), Squidoo’s business model is similar to Hubpages.

* * *

EHow, then and now: Back in the Wild Wild West of the Internet, eHow was a really popular revenue-share site. Some writers swore they made good money via this site, only I never met one. Much of eHow’s content from back then was really bad, though. Demand Studios since took that over, cleaned out the garbage (much to the chagrin of the writers of said garbage), diluted the revenue-share scheme and went primarily with up-front payment.

Since Demand Studios took over the eHow operation and did the cleanup the site’s probably a bit more reliable for Web surfers who want to know how to do something. In the past eHow should have run a do-not-try-this-at-home disclaimer.

Another revenue-sharing site for how-to pieces, called Fire How, exists but it’s not going to knock eHow off the block anytime soon.

* * *

Textbroker: They’re pretty much a commercial content site where businesses and others post copy requests and they’re filled to order. Up-front payment, but it’s miniscule. Writers submit a sample to determine what pay rate they’ll get, and they can work their way up the scale. I have an account there, but I’ve never used it. Writers I’ve talked to say it’s an easy way to snag a few bucks from the low-hanging fruit.

* * *

Plus you have the usual suspects that I haven’t really tried: Constant Content, Associated Content (since taken over by Yahoo), Break Studios, About.com and a fistful of others. They all have different business models, though most are similar to at least some I’ve already outlined.

* * *

I know this is just a short list, as content sites come and go all the time. Recent changes in Google’s search algorithms really nailed most of these sites, which prompted Demand Media to clean up eHow and tighten its own editorial requirements. Many content writers, especially those with the revenue-share sites, saw their earnings plummet with each Google change. OK, so maybe Google is the spawn of Satan, but at least they’re trying to hide the thin content, total BS and unreadable, keyword-stuffed writing you usually find on the Internet.

Many of these content sites have since changed things up a little, but the info I have here is still remarkably current. Only the names have changed, you know how that goes.

* * *

I’ve checked out some of the bid sites like Odesk, but I don’t think they’re worth the trouble. You’re going against international competition which keeps most of the rates really low. It’s another race to the bottom.

Plus, some Odesk customers actually monitor the time you spend on one of their projects. They’ll know if you’re farting around on Facebook. They’ll know if you step away from the keyboard (which I often do when I need to untangle a fuzzy phrase in my mind). If you’re not at the terminal typing away like a deranged beaver, they’ll know that too.

I’ll pass, thank you.

# # #

That’s a preview. The book itself is on Amazon, formatted for your Kindle. During the launch period (June 1-5) it’s free. After that, you can grab it for $3.99. But whatever the price is, it’s still worth it.

If you see this on a website, you can subscribe. I’m just not sure where now.

I think I cried in my coffee when I heard the news. I think. I know my mind went utterly blank. What am I gonna do now?

But the news: Google Reader is shutting down!

It’s all part of search giant/Internet gadfly Google’s spring cleaning. In the past that company scrapped Google Buzz (which needed killing because it was a total cluster), Google Wave (did anybody use it?) and iGoogle (which I kinda liked). Usually they cut products hardly anybody uses. There was speculation it might kill Feedburner, but that hasn’t happened yet. But that forced me to make a few adjustments and I’m glad I did.

But Google Reader. That one hurts. According to plan, its execution date is July 1.

To those who don’t know about such things, Google Reader is the RSS reader to end all RSS readers. Sometimes literally. As soon as Reader hit the scene, some (such as Bloglines) pretty much bit the dust. Netvibes is another that I question whether it’s even relevant. Feed Demon, a software-based (as opposed to Web-based) RSS reader, is either dead or dying.

OK, some of y’all may not know what this RSS thing is, so pull up a chair and I’ll give you the story. RSS, or Real Simple Syndication, ranges all over the Internet and pulls articles from all your favorite sites. They’re then put into your reader, and you can go from there. Most sites (including mine) are set up so you can subscribe in an RSS reader.

Think of RSS as a gigantic newspaper where you set the editorial policy.

You choose your feeds, they load any new copy into your reader, and off you go. From there you can send news items, save them, share them, bump them over to Evernote or Pocket, or put them on your to-do list. I save many links in my to-do list (in my case ToodleDo), building a pool of ideas for blog posts. I send wacky news items to my brother, and you can bet I saw those in my RSS feed first.

Since about 1995, Google Reader was the big one, and many of your smaller readers — including those on cell phones — are built as little more than a front end for Google Reader.

What’s a news junkie to do?

Admittedly, RSS has a high geek quotient and it’s not all that popular with your average Joe Mouseclicker. But to news junkies like me, it’s a wonderful timesaver.

Or a wonderful time-suck, depending on your perspective.

RSS is like reading a whole bunch of online newspapers without having to surf for them.

Being a person with a serious news addiction and some decent chops in technical matters, of course I swear by RSS feeds. I’d tell you how many feeds my Google Reader pulls in every day, but then you’d tell me I have a major problem. I’m in denial and need counseling. You’d shake your head and try to hook me up with a 12-step program.

Newsoholics Anonymous, anyone?

My name is Eric, and I’m a news junkie (applause).

Anyway, I’m frantic right now. OK, maybe not frantic, but kinda concerned. Yeah, that’s it. Concerned.

Since I heard the news I’ve been weighing some RSS options, and most are found wanting. I’ve tried Feedly (too slow and not good for offline reading on my phone), the Thunderbird mail program (I’d rather gargle razor blades), Flipboard (beautiful, but won’t work with a marginal signal), and a bunch of pretenders. On my Android phone, where I do most of my news reading, I’ve tried numerous options. Most either drain the battery, make it run hot enough to blister my hand, gobble up tons of memory or serve as a front end for … Google Reader.

Already I think this is gonna end badly.

Folks tell me RSS is dying and Twitter is the new way to grab news, but I can’t see it. Even with a third-party program like Hootsuite it’s still way too disorganized. Twitter’s signal-to-noise ratio renders it useless. I guess Facebook can be sort of an option, and I might consider it if I didn’t despise that medium so much. I want to know the news, not what my friends are having for dinner (unless there’s an invite there somewhere).

Google-fied and frantic

This also makes me a little nervous. I use Google for so much of my work. Gmail. Google Drive (formerly Docs). The search engine. Google Calendar. Google Voice. Google Reader. Google Analytics. My Android phone, which is a Google brand. Occasionally Google Plus. Shoot, I’m totally Google-fied.

I mentioned Feedburner. I used that extensively, but when I saw that might not have long to live I took to managing my blog’s RSS feeds myself and went to MailChimp to send posts by email. I’m glad I did that, though I’m still a little chary about crapping up your email box like that. But if you want to subscribe to my stuff, that might be the way to go, hint hint.

(Note to self: Set up The Column on MailChimp, like I did with my flagship blog, creative&dangerous.)

With Google’s propensity for cutting services, you can almost set up a “dead pool” and pick what’s next to go. Maybe win whatever’s in the pot if you guess right. Hey, this might be a good office pool once everyone’s done with March Madness.

I don’t see Gmail going anytime soon. Nor Google Drive or Google Plus. That company invested too much of its reputation for those three. However, I am shifting most of my email traffic to my own Web domains and looking into other, in-the-cloud office options.

In truth, the Google project that would kill me is if Google Voice feels the nip of the executioner’s blade. So the fact Google killed off its Blackberry version in the latest sweep gives me pause.

Now, I use Google Voice as my business line, and it feeds directly into my cell phone. I also give that number to people who are not in my inner circle because it’s easy to screen calls with it. Shoot, I can make certain phone numbers go away if I needed to. If you’re hounded by bill collectors or the law, Google Voice may be your best friend.

But Google Voice going into a horrible death spiral hasn’t happened yet, and it may not. With Google, however, you never know. Not after Google Reader.

Meanwhile, I must find some alternatives to feed my news habit. It’s like my morning coffee; I get evil unless I’ve had my fix.

# # #

What say you? What do you use to read your news feeds? I’m talking about online and anything that’ll work with Android. Help a brother out.

Doesn’t matter how good it looks, it’s still not them. Even thoug Miccrosoft really has a Digital Crimes Unit, it’s still not them.

In fact, not only is it someone else, but that someone else wants information. Your information. Nothing major; just things like your name, address, social security number, your credit card numbers. Oh, yeah, all your passwords won’t hurt either. That information.

This comes directly from Kim Komando, who knows a little something about Microsoft products. She certainly knows a lot more about Windows than I do.

Here’s the deal. If Microsoft wants to get in touch with you so badly about security fixes, they’ll do it via Microsoft Update. I understand it’s automatic now.

Here’s the story:

www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=14152&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=alerts&utm_content=2013-03-07-article-in-body-b&page=1

Standard email safety rules apply. Don’t open attachments from strangers. Don’t click links from strangers. Don’t accept candy from strangers. Shoot, be leery of links and/or attachments from friends unless they’re at least halfway computer literate.

I’ve yet to see these Microsoft emails in the flesh. Considering I’m a full-time Linux user (my main laptop has Windows 7 that I’ve maybe used once or twice), if I get email purporting to be from Microsoft I’d definitely be suspicious. Have fun and safe surfing. It’s a jungle out there.

(Special thanks to my brother Rick, who sent me the article.)

# # #

Each new innovation seems to be toward throwing as much computing power as possible into smaller and smaller packages. The laptop of two years ago became the iPad last year, and it’s this year’s phone.

Or something.

My first computer had 512 kilobytes worth of RAM, a 42-megabyte hard drive, and a Hercules graphics card. The modem was one of those screamers; use it to dial your phone and you hear those unearthly sounds as it negotiated a connection. At 2,400 bytes per second, it took a few minutes to upload a text file the size of this blog entry.

Hate to say it, but that early-90s vintage Leading Edge computer didn’t have near the computing power of my phone now. My smartphone — and it’s a cheap workingman’s model — stores 200 megabytes of stuff on the internal memory and another 16 gigabytes on the micro SD card. I can send text files quickly and noiselessly, and check it. The display’s even got color.

I’ve always loved big, bulky desktop computers. The big freestanding towers with every kind of drive, the big display screen, those dust-collecting pieces of furniture we’ve used in offices and homes for so many years. Now we’re talking about a computer, baby.

Nothing quite beats the thrill of leaning back in the chair, feet up on the desk, the keyboard in my lap as I pound out a story or three. I could do that without looking at the screen or clicking the mouse until I’m done writing.

I still have my desktop, and though it’s in a dignified semiretirement, I’m not ready to give that up yet. In fact, I wouldn’t mind upgrading it.

For most of my home-office use I have a laptop with a ridiculously huge screen. I love it. It’s a couple of years old but blisteringly fast. It’s on a platform on my desk, about waist high when I stand up at the desk. It’s my main office rig.

I still have the Acer Aspire One netbook I bought several years ago, and it’s my weapon of choice when I’m writing on the road. Most of my Internet work is done with that machine, because it’s a breeze to carry in a backpack.

The phone has a slideout keyboard and a decent text editor, so that’s my extremely portable writing terminal. I’ve written blog posts on that and uploaded them right away, and it keeps my organizational tools.

The desktop? It’s got all my music on it, and it’s plugged into my stereo to give me the baddest jukebox in the world. But before I got the portable toys
the desktop was my workhorse. For a 15-year-old computer it does all right, if I’m careful to use lightweight software. About the only limitation it has is that it can’t handle any kind of high-speed Internet.

I must have me some Raspberry Pi.

Being a closet geek, I definitely have my eye on one of those Raspberry Pi computers. They’re little more than a mini-motherboard with flash memory, two USB ports and a place to put your power. As far as a case for that thing you’re on your own.

I want one.

Scratch that. I need one.

I’m also intrigued by those LiveScribes or whatever they are. A computer shoved into a pen. Scratch out a note and upload it via wifi into your Evernote account, now how cool is that?

It’s not nearly as cool as a Raspberry Pi. I’m getting me one.

But portability or not, I still love desktops.

Have you ever tried to replace a hard drive in your laptop? Or upgrade the memory? Shoot, you’d need to take it to the professionals. I swear it takes tweezers to do any kind of work on them.

That big desktop has the hard drive I transplanted from an older, long-dead computer. It took about five minutes and four screws, plug in two things, and I’m all set up. The desktop originally had 256 megabytes of RAM, but I snagged a couple of odd-sized memory cards from another old dead computer and bumped it up to 383M. Ain’t pretty, but it works.

On my older desktops I’ve replaced motherboards, CPU chips, heat sinks, CPU fans, power supplies, CD-ROM drives and … did I leave anything out?

But you get the point. Try doing any of those things with a laptop, and don’t even consider that with your Android phone.

It’s kind of like that Saturn an old girlfriend drove. It was a great car, fun to drive, but if you have to work on it you’re straight outta luck. When her alternator went out she suggested having it towed to the dealer to have a new one put in.

“Later with that,” I told her. “Let me have a look at it.”

Now, I’ve replaced alternators. It’s pretty easy. The part is right there where you can see it and wrap both hands around it. One bolt to hold it in place, a second bolt to anchor it and to adjust tension on the belt; that’s all there is to it. I once replaced my alternator in a dark parking lot in some neighborhood I can’t recommend, so you know this wasn’t my first rodeo.

So I popped open the hood of her Saturn to take a look, and everything went downhill from there.

Once I located the alternator, I think I managed to get my pinky around it. What’s up with that?

“Babe,” I told the girlfriend when I went back inside. “Give me the number to your dealer, would you please?”

The new portable computers are like that Saturn. Forget about working on them. Your favorite shade-tree computer technician can’t save your butt either.

Maybe the desktop is on its way out. People are more into small-form-factor computers these days. Something that takes up half your desk and can’t be shoved into a briefcase, well, people don’t want it.

Except experimenters. Except people who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty a bit. People like me.

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To all intents and purposes, you’ve also lost your wallet. And maybe even the keys to your financial kingdom.

As cell phones get smarter, the ante goes up even more.

Here are some ways of protecting your smartphone and the information it carries. Some of this stuff is common sense, while there are others you may mot have heard of. Like my own best cell phone protection costs almost nothing but saves it from all kind of problems.

Read the article in CreditDonkey: http://www.creditdonkey.com/cell-phone-theft.html

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