Things I Learned This Week

While unable to blog regularly due to computer problems, I sat back and read the feeds in Google Reader and browsed some sites. Here are some things I learned this week and decided to share with you while I wait for a new computer to arrive. I will tell you about the computer in another post.

UPS tracking is available inside Gmail.

When using the UPS track by e-mail option, I opened the e-mail that I received with two tracking numbers that I was tracking, and on the right side above the Google Ads, there were the two tracking numbers with links to the corresponding tracking pages. Since the e-mail doesn’t give you any links, this is very useful. I wonder if this happens for FedEx or for any other company. Leave a comment if you know.

DTV will be here on February 17, 2009.

By law, television stations nationwide must switch from the old method of transmitting TV signals known as analog to digital television (DTV) on February 17, 2009.

As long as you know you can receive a digital signal, you will be fine. Learn how to prepare for DTV.

Free branded custom RSS reader.

Snarfware lets you give away a free branded custom RSS reader for your readers. I don’t think I will try it, but that could be a good way of getting more readers. Everyone likes to try new software, right?

No-follow option coming soon to PayPerPost.

Advertisers will be able to choose if they want no-follow added to their links. This is great for bloggers who may want to only write sponsored posts that have no-follow added, especially with the recent happenings with Google.

TeXtra with Natali Del Conte is a technology news show.

TeXtra is a video podcast providing you with technology news in just a short amount of time. I like this because my iPod battery doesn’t last long enough to watch every podcast I subscribe to when they are long.

Host Natali Del Conte follows the what’s what, who’s who, and WHY of technology news that goes beyond the Silicon Valley. She is an established technology journalist, having written for PC Magazine, WIRED, TechCrunch, MarketWatch, and more. For more about her credentials, visit Natali’s producer page.

Are you willing to go naked for one day for Akismet?

That title alone will probably attract comment spam later on. My answer to the question is, “No.” I appreciate Akismet, but if I turn it off for one day, I will feel like I’m giving those spammers what they want, and I also don’t have time to go through all of it. Will you do it? Akismet wants to know how it goes if you do.

Computer Problems, Not Lack of Content

Anyone who is a regular here should know that I normally write more often than I have in the past week. For those of you who don’t know and have considered unsubscribing because of the lack of posts, please don’t! Or, if you aren’t a subscriber, please subscribe to the feed so you’re notified when I start writing again.

The reason for the lack of posts is because my computer stopped working correctly. I’ve tried everything possible, coming to the conclusion that the motherboard has a problem with the slots where the RAM goes. It won’t take anything in the last two slots and is picky in the first two. (Yes, I know that I can’t just place any RAM in any slot. I have a manual that shows me the combinations.)

I am writing this from my laptop, but I don’t have anything on this laptop to work with. This laptop isn’t great for doing the type of work I do, which involves Flash and Photoshop.

Although I love my computer very much, I am kind of glad that I will be getting a new one, because mine is 4-5 years old (considered ancient if you compare it to newer ones). It has also had problems from the beginning with double-sided RAM even though it claims it is supported. It’s a Gigabyte motherboard if you’re interested. Great motherboard, but very picky.

So, if you don’t see any new posts from me this week, hopefully I will be setting up a new computer. Stay tuned!

10 WordPress Themes

Here are some nice looking WordPress themes. Not all of them are free, but are definitely worth looking at. The download links do not point to the downloads directly, but to the theme page itself.

Fluidity: Preview | Download

News Portal: Preview | Download

At Peace: Preview | Download

Cornerstone: Preview | Purchase

Mimbo: Preview | Download

Jello Wala Mello: Preview | Download

The Morning After: Preview | Download

Premium News: Preview | Purchase

Gossip City: Preview | Download

Several3: Preview | Download

Are You An Anti-Phishing Champion?

Are you an anti-phishing champion? Do you know what to look for in an e-mail to tell the difference between an e-mail that came from PayPal and one that did not?

PayPal has a Fight Phishing Challenge consisting of five true/false questions to determine if you know a few things about phishing and help you to learn what you should be looking for. Although it’s not new, I did just receive an e-mail about it and decided to check it out and find out if I’m a champion. It turns out that I am!

Here are a couple of the questions you will be asked if you take the challenge:

1. You can be sure that an email is valid based on the sender’s email address.
2. Clicking on a link in an email is the most reliable way to get to your PayPal account.

These two might be more difficult to spot. The first one, an e-mail address can easily be masked or hidden behind a PayPal e-mail address such as: security@paypal.com. An easy way to spot it, would be to click on ‘Reply’ and look at the recipient’s e-mail address.

The second one, it depends on how you check your e-mail. Not all e-mail clients will show you the masked or hidden URL behind a link. Some will display it when you move your cursor over a link as shown in the example below if you move your cursor over it:

www.paypal.com (Note: Nothing will happen if you click this link.)

Those are just two things to look out for. PayPal suggests that you forward any e-mail appearing to come from them if you are unsure about it.  Just forward the complete e-mail to spoof@paypal.com.

How to Spot Phishing

PayPal has a nice Phishing Guide consisting of Parts 1-3: Understanding Phishing, Recognizing Phishing and Fighting Phishing.

How to Protect Yourself

Using software that detects phishing is a good way to protect yourself from accidentally giving away private information.  Here are some anti-phishing browsers that try to protect you:

• Internet Explorer 7
• Firefox 2
• Opera 9
• Safari 3
• Netscape 8.1

Wikipedia has a list of these and other anti-phishing programs.

ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware for Free

ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware is being offered for free today until 5:00 PM PST. This is for Windows XP/2000. Sorry, I don’t see any mention of Vista. Your free license is valid for one year from November 13, 2007 until November 12, 2008 for one computer.

They are offering it for free to help you protect your computer when there are new vulnerabilities and Microsoft hasn’t released a patch yet:

The security experts behind ZoneAlarm urge you to always patch your operating systems and browsers whenever an update is available. More importantly, take extra precautions to protect your PC for those times when a patch may not be available. That’s why we are offering you ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware for FREE today, Patch Tuesday, only. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to protect your PC and stay safe online!

It appears that the ZoneAlarm Firewall comes bundled with it. So, if you currently use the firewall, I recommend adding the Anti-Spyware to it, especially if you don’t currently have an anti-spyware application.

Get your free ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware license. If you’re too late, you can always purchase ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware.

Thanks to Lifehacker for the heads up.