Wirelessly Backup your Cell Phone Photos/Videos with DropBox

If you use DropBox, you can backup or sync your cell phone's photos/videos to your computer. Its an effortless way to transfer your photos/videos automatically without having to use a physical wire.

Instructions:

1. Press on the image icon in DropBox on your phone.
2. Press "Enable Camera Upload" button.
3. Choose "Only Wi-Fi" or "Wi-Fi + Cell".

Now every time you take a new picture, it will automatically upload to a folder in your DropBox and thus sync to your DropBox on your computer.

Tips:

• I would recommend first downloading all of your photos/videos to your computer first and delete them from your phone. Otherwise, DropBox will start uploading your entire current collection. And if you dont regularly back up and delete photos/videos on your phone, that can be a lot of files.
• Now every couple of months, on your computer, you would transfer (cut and paste) all of the photos/videos in your DropBox folder to another folder on your local hard drive. This will free up space from your allotted DropBox storage limit. (e.g. 2GB for free account).
• In Step 3 above, I would recommend choosing "Only Wi-Fi". That way, it wont use up your phone's data plan. However, keep in mind that the uploading will only occur when you enable your wi-fi at a later time.

Using DropBox to Share Photos

If you use DropBox, the below article explains a quick and easy method of sharing photos.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quickly-set-share-beautiful-photo-galleries-dropbox/

My Raptor Hard Drive died

Original Post Date: 3/5/09

I turned off my computer when I left for vacation. When I got back a week later, my computer wouldnt boot Windows XP. I opened up the case and I heard the infamous clicking sound that came from my Western Digital Raptor X hard drive. Definitely not a healthy sound, but at least I knew for sure that it was just the hard drive which should be fairly easy to replace.

Did I lose all of my data? No way. I had my "flawless" back up plan in place. Remember that I have 2 hard drives. I use the Raptor hard drive to hold just my Windows XP operating system. My 2nd hard drive has all my real data on it. So basically, I just lost all of my software applications and would just to have to reinstall them all over again. But wait...no I dont need to do that because I have kept a back up image of my Raptor drive. An image is like taking a snapshot of your current computer settings and applications. So all I need to do is restore the image and Im up and running again like nothing happened. So I had thought. More on this later.

I purchased the Raptor drive on 4/17/2007 (thank you gmail for keeping a record of all my purchases), so I was quite surprised that it only lasted under 2 years. Coincidentally, my brother's Raptor drive died recently as well and his Raptor was only a year old. Fortunately, there is a 5 year warranty on these drives.

To get the hard drive replaced, WD gave me 2 options. The website stated that they can immediately send me a replacement hard drive first, and then I can send in the broken hard drive afterwards. The only catch was that they required my credit card information and that they would charge me for the full retail price of the drive if they did not receive the broken one within 30 days. That sounded fair to me. The other option would have me send my broken drive first and once they received it, they would send me my replacement drive. Of course, I chose the 1st option because it was faster even though it still took about a week to get it.

I received the new hard drive and restored the image using Acronis True Image 11 which is a highly rated and very popular imaging software application. Wohooo...it worked! I didnt have to reinstall the 50 software applications I had. Wait a second...why did my computer just reboot all of a sudden? It turns out that the image was unstable and my computer kept rebooting by itself every so often. Unstable image!? Are you kidding me? Geez, after all that work and excitement of maintaining a backed up image. Maybe its because I had over 50 applications installed but that really shouldnt matter. That really chaps my hide.

The Bottom Line:

1. WD Raptor X drives dont last very long, so be prepared to have it replaced more often than you think. But man they are fast!
2. Even though Acronis True Image failed me this time, I will still maintain a backup image and be confident (or hopeful) that it will work the next time.
3. I dont use Carbonite to back up anything on my primary drive because all of my data is stored on my secondary drive. But the one set of data that my wife kindly reminded me about are the fonts. The fonts live in the Windows/Fonts folder and therefore it seems that Im unable to configure Carbonite to back up those files. I guess Carbonite cant touch Windows system files for obvious reasons. In any case, I was luckily able to retrieve my fonts directly from the image. And now I back them up on my secondary drive.

10/17/10 Update:So my hard drive crashed again. This time the replacement drive WD gave me only lasted about a year, but luckily, I am still under warranty. This time I was able to successfully restore using the backup image I made a couple of months ago. It only took about 20 minutes! But I also learned to keep a recovery boot disc in handy. Using the Acronis True Image installation cd worked for me. However, if you dont have the install disc, make sure you create your own recovery boot disc using the software. The reason for having a boot disc is so that you can restore your backup image directly from boot up. Otherwise, you would have to reinstall Windows, reinstall the imaging software, then restore the backup image.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are using an imaging software and Carbonite, you will have to disable Carbonite BEFORE taking the drive's image. If you dont perform this step, then Carbonite may not work anymore when you restore the image. Carbonite did not work after my image restore. Booo!

This will be my 3rd hard drive within the 5 year warranty. Let's hope this will be the last one for a while.
Hard Drive Replacement dates
1. 4/17/07
2. 2/12/09
3. 10/14/10

A Guide on How to Get Rid of Spyware

Some things to keep in mind before starting. Disclaimer.

• Reboots galore - you will probably need to reboot at least 5 times if not more.
• Backup - You should already have a back up of all of your files just in case as your system might get to an inoperable state. Always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
• Time - At least 2 hours, but it all depends on how badly infected you are.
• Newbie - If you are a newbie when it comes to computers, you really shouldnt be doing following these steps. I'd recommend having someone more computer savvy doing it for you.

1. Clean out your system
The first thing you need to do is to try to clean up your system. This will help you get rid of all the unnecessary garbage on your computer. CCleaner is very safe as by default it only cleans up files that you really dont need like temporary browser or system files that are harmless to remove.

2. Uninstall
You most likely have some bad software recently installed on your computer. Check the 2 places. Click on Start-->Programs then you will find the most recent applications installed on the bottom of the list. Look for unfamiliar items. The next place is to go to the Control panel-->Add/Remove Programs. Review the list of applications and see which ones may be unfamiliar to you as well. After compiling a list of unfamiliar or strange items, use Revo Uninstaller to uninstall those applications. Revo Uninstaller will completely remove all traces of the program.

3. Control your startup
Windows has a list of items to launch or auto start when Windows starts say from after a reboot or turning on your computer. Spyware is notorius for adding unwanted items there. So even if you remove spyware by using antispyware programs, you can easily get infected all over again after a reboot. Use Quick Startup to view and remove any unwanted items. Pay close attention to the items that have a strong red rating. Keep in mind that these ratings come from other users who have had the same program start up. They also provide viewable comments that specify why they gave that rating and tell you why you do or do not need it. Be careful not to remove a program that is necessary for Windows to start up. Also, if you are not sure, you can always google the item to see if its safe to remove or not.

4. Install Microsoft Security Essentials
Install Microsoft Security Essentials and then perform a scan to get rid of the bad stuff. Continue to use MSE as it will actively monitor your system for threats. More Info

5. System Restore
If none of the above seems to work, you can try to think back to the last time when you felt that your computer was stable and normal. Then you can system restore back to that point. More Info

6. Start Fresh
As a last resort and a 100% method to get rid of any virus or spyware is to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows.

Put Your Computer to Sleep

Do you leave your desktop computer ON all day and night? Or do you shutdown your computer everytime you are finished using it?

You should consider using Windows "standby" (sleep) mode instead. Here are some advantages:

1. Save Electricity - Why waste all that energy when you arent using your computer? When you use standby mode, it barely uses any electricity whatsoever.
   
   
2. Safer - When you leave your computer ON all day, that means your computer is online all the time. Therefore, your computer can be susceptible to malware or virus attacks. Whereas when your computer is on standby, your computer is essentially sleeping and not accessible or seen from the outside.
   
   
3. Faster bootup - If you shutdown your computer, you'll have to wait at least a minute or two for your computer to boot up. Whereas it only takes seconds when booting up from standby.
   


4. Easy - You can have your computer go on standby mode automatically after a certain period of time of it being idle, so you dont have to do anything. When you are done using the computer, just leave. To wake up your computer from standby mode, you just need to move the mouse or press a key on the keyboard. No need to bend down and reach for the power button all the time. To enable this option go to Control Panel --> Power Options.

If your computer doesnt seem to go to standby mode automatically, there is probably something running on your computer that is preventing it to do so. Its difficult to know what it is, but you can try closing all of your browsers and any other open applications. If that still doesnt work, then you might have some programs running in the background in which you'll need to disable or uninstall. You can also try a nifty program called "Close All Windows". With one click it will close all of your open programs. It will be the same as if you clicked the close button (x) on the top right corner of all open programs. But dont worry, if you have an open program that has unsaved work (ie. MS Word), it will still prompt you to save your work. In otherwords, it will not perform a "force quit" of your programs.

Bottom Line
Make sure that if you do use Standby (or Hibernate), remember to always save your work! Never leave unsaved documents or projects open no matter what. Other than that, using Standby should be a no-brainer.

Free emoticons for your iPhone

Follow the instructions below to start using cool emoticons when you text message on your iPhone. These emoticons will only appear when you text from iPhone to iPhone. [Source]

Secure Password Management

So how do you manage all of your passwords? Do you write them down on a post it note? Memorize them? Store them on your computer?

Here's a better question. How secure are your passwords? Do they contain words in a dictionary? Do they contain a mixture of numbers and letters and symbols?

Im afraid to say it, but Im willing to bet that none of you securely manage your passwords. But dont fret as I will show you how. But before that, here are some password tips.

1. Passwords should not be a word in the dictionary.


2. Passwords should use a random mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters plus numbers plus symbols. ie. Ws4d!y1d#


3. Use a password manager to manage your passwords.


4. Do not enter passwords on unsecure public computers. For example, I wouldnt dare to check my online banking balance at the library.


5. Make sure your browsers are up to date with the most recent patches and updates.


6. Dont use the same password across different accounts.


7. Do not use browsers to store your passwords.


8. Do not write down your passwords on paper.


9. Do not store passwords in a Word or text file.


10. If you memorized all of your passwords, then most likely they are not that secure.
    

Here's how I do it which was taken from this Lifehacker article using Keepass to manage my passwords and Dropbox to sync my passwords across multiple computers. Basically it goes down like this. I store all of my passwords and account info in Keepass. Keepass will not only encrypt my data, but will only open my list of passwords with a master password(in which I initially set). Therefore, I only need to memorize 1 password to unlock all of my passwords. I store my Keepass password file in a Dropbox folder. This special folder gets synced to all Dropbox folders that I install on any other computer. For example, if I add a new password to Keepass on my home computer, Dropbox will automatically detect the change and perform a sync to my other Dropbox folder on my work computer. That means not matter which computer I am currently on, I will always have my most recent passwords available to me. The only caveat is that I must have both Keepass and Dropbox installed on each computer.

The Bottom Line
You might say thats a bit troublesome and probably not worth the hassle. I agree, its a bit inconvenient. But did you know that there are bad guys out there who's full time job is to steal your information? How many of you had your identity stolen or even had credit card/banking information fall into the wrong hands?

Usually, there is an inverse relationship between security and convenience. The more you want to secure something, the more inconvenient it will be to access it. So the question is how important is your personal information to you? Are you willing to take that risk?

My laptop caught on fire

No, that is not my laptop. But my laptop did catch on fire a couple of months ago. I was too embarrassed and shocked to tell anyone about it because I couldnt figure out how or why it happened. Until now...

One day, I unplugged my laptop to surf outside in the living room. I noticed some smoke coming from the side vent of my laptop. As I looked closer, I saw a glow of orange. As I looked into the vent, I saw a small flame! I immediately ran outside and blew the flame out.

I thought at first it was a defective laptop. But as I searched online, I couldnt find reports of the same issue on my Dell XPS m1330. Not to mention this laptop is high end line of Dell's laptops. Luckily it was under warranty so I got a new replacement. In any case, I was mad because it could have burned down my entire house.

Last week, I was in my study surfing the Internet on my desktop. When all of a sudden my laptop which was charging, all of a sudden started up by itself. My laptops are always set to hibernate, when I close the laptop lid. So it was a true surprise that something was waking up my computer from hibernate as this should never happen...so I thought. It turns out that I had set my Windows Update to automatically download/install updates on Monday's at 10pm which was the cause of my computer waking up from hibernate. I can imagine it waking up my computer from sleep, but not hibernate.

So it turns out Microsoft is at big fault for this one. First of all, a computer should never wake up from hibernate by itself. I dont care what kind of important Windows updates are needed. Secondly, if you are going to force my computer to wake up, you better make darn sure that you can put it back into hibernate after you are done. And thats exactly what happened to my laptop. Windows update woke up Vista to auto install updates. But after doing so, it failed to put it back into hibernate and probably kept trying for hours which caused the CPU to get hot and intense. I've seen this behavior with my work laptop before. My work computer is set to sleep when I close the laptop lid. Sometimes, I close it and put it in my laptop bag. When I get home, I find that my laptop extremely hot because it failed to sleep.

Bottom Line:
If you have Vista on your laptop and use hibernate or sleep and have it plugged into a power source, make sure you do not use the 'Install updates automatically' setting for Windows Update. Otherwise, you can burn your entire house down.

Source

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! Im all for making new years resolutions. But I remember someone once said, "I dont make new years resolutions because Im just going to break them anyways". Now what kind of attitude is that? New Years resolutions is the same as making goals. Are you telling me that you dont have any goals for the new year? Are you absolutely content with the way things are now and have nothing to change or to accomplish? Rubbish.

Everyone needs a reboot once in a while and what better time than the new year. Just like a computer that has been constantly used and abused, what better way to put everything back in order than with a simple reboot.

Here are some tips on making New Years resolutions.

1. Make them specific and tangible. The more detailed the better.
   
   • Lose weight - BAD
   • Run on the treadmill for 30 minutes at the 24 hour fitness near my house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work. - GOOD
   
   
2. Write them down somewhere. Write it on a 3x5 card or put it on your phone or email it to yourself, just dont keep them in your head. Put it some place where you know you will visit or see often. If you complete or achieve a goal, then check or cross it off your list. Only then will you see how gratifying that is.
   
   
3. Share your new years resolution with someone on email or facebook or blog or on the phone or better yet...in person. Once you do that, it will keep you accountable because nobody wants to be perceived as a liar. Also, those people can hold you accountable.
   
   
4. Just do it. Do it now. Dont think or hesitate. What are you waiting for...next year? The new year has already begun. Go now!
   

Still cant think of any? Ya' lazy lima bean! Here are some recommendations.

1. Complete any unfinished resolutions from last year. Choose that one task that you put off that entire year.
   
2. Clean out your email inbox. Limit your inbox to have only 1 page of email.
   
3. Clean your house. Start with a single room, then move on to the rest.
4. Clean our your closet. Get a goodwill bag and get rid of all the clothes that you are never going to wear.
   
5. Create a work out plan and schedule to lose weight.
6. Too busy? Hire someone to help you and let them worry about it. ie. Gardener, House Keeper, Nanny, Mechanic, Handyman.
7. Plan a vacation. You deserve it.
8. Learn a new recipe.
9. Start a blog.
10. Create a website.
    
11. Clean up your computer. Get rid of all of the icons on your desktop. Reorganize your media

Good Luck!

Free AT&T Wi-Fi for iPhone Users at Starbucks

Here are the instructions from the AT&T website:

• Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
• Select "attwifi" from the list of available networks
• Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap 'continue'
• You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
• The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
• Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot

Tivo + iPhone = :)

Time is a luxury these days, especially with 2 needy boys. No more time to sit on my couch and watch my HD shows on my Tivo. But now I have a solution - watch my Tivo recorded shows on my iPhone during my weekday commutes to work.

Setup

1. Tivo Series 3 - to record TV shows.


2. Tivo Wireless Adapter - to send shows wirelessly to my computer.


3. Wireless router - to receive shows wirelessly.


4. Tivo Desktop Plus - to manage/transfer and convert shows to compatible iPhone format.


5. iTunes - to sync shows to iPhone.


6. iPhone - to watch shows.

Now you might think this is a big hassle, but I already had most of this set up already. The only new thing I added was the Tivo Desktop Plus Software to make this entire process complete. The software unfortunately is not free ($24.95) but is well worth it as it does practically everything automatically. Believe it or not, the only manual thing I do is sync my iPhone. Dont believe me? Well, let me explain.

First of all, I just configure Tivo Desktop Plus to download to my computer any TV show on my Tivo ie. Heroes, Prison Break, Terminator. These are .TIVO files. Secondly, I tell it to convert the .TIVO files into the iPhone format .mp4. Lastly, it adds the shows into my iTunes library. Keep in mind that all of the above is only a one time set up. So now, whenever a new episode of Heroes has been recorded on my Tivo, it will also be waiting for me in my iTunes library in which I just have to sync my iPhone. Major kudos for Tivo for simplifying such a complex process. The Tivo software doesnt work 100% of the time. Sometimes, it doesnt transfer over the recording automatically. Or it transfered the recording, but didnt convert it to mp4. Had some issues with some Heroes episodes. But maybe its because NBC adds some DRM into its shows. Who knows.

Not only can I transfer my Tivo recorded shows, but I can also transfer Caden's as well. ie. Teletubbies, Wiggles. Now Caden can watch his TV shows when we're on vacation like when we're on an airplane OR in the hotel room. Huh? Yes, Apple sells an iPhone AV cable in which you can hook your iPhone up to a TV. But Im still debating whether or not to spend $49 on it. Yes, Apple is charging $49 for that stinkin' cable! What a ripoff.

The "Ultimate" Keyboard Shortcut

I know a keyboard shortcut that will save you 9 keystrokes every time you navigate to a website. So let's say you visit 10 websites per day. That's 90 keystrokes! Once you use this shortcut a couple of times, you will never go back. Trust me. It works across all browsers and even on both Windows and Macs.

When you type in a URL, most likely you would type in "www." and ".com" which equals 9 characters. What a waste. Why not use a keyboard shortcut that fills those characters automatically for you so that all you need to do is to type in the website's name. So what's the magic keyboard shortcut? It's CTRL + Enter. For example, let's say you wanted to visit Google's website. You would just type in "google" then CTRL + Enter. That's it! If you dont normally use any keyboard shortcuts, give this one a try. Its easy to remember and will save you lots of time.

simplebookmarks.com is live!

A while back, I said I was working on an online bookmarking application. Today, I would like to announce that it has been completed (beta version) and is called simplebookmarks.com. I created this site so that I can easily save bookmarks online. I hope you like it. Internet Explorer is still giving me problems because of its aggressive pop up blocker. But it will work if you hold down the CTRL button and then click on the bookmarklet.

Check out the demo!

All About HD

I just got a killer deal on a new 50" plasma HDTV. Its all set up now and just wanted to share some things I learned about HD.

1. 720p vs. 1080p
   I am sick and tired of people complaining about 720p HDTV's as opposed to 1080p. Every time there is a good deal on a 720p HDTV, the great debate over the 2 resolutions starts, but never ends. Well, the plasma I got is 720p and I have no regrets. Take that haters! First of all, the 1080p's are almost double the cost of 720p's. Secondly, you wont notice a difference unless you are closer 7 ft. away from the TV. Thirdly, the only way to get your picture in 1080p is by using a Blu-ray player (or PS3 which has a built-in Blu-ray player). Lastly, Im not going to convert my entire DVD collection into a Blu-ray collection. So for me, 1080p is totally not worth it. But for those of you who want to shell out twice as much $$$ and will sit closer than 7ft away from the TV and owns a Blu-ray player and has a Blu-ray collection and can tell the difference in quality...good luck to you. Just leave the 720p owners alone.



2. Break in
   Did you know that you should break in your HDTV? Yeah, I didnt know that either until recently. Here's the scoop. The HDTV's by default have their color, contrast, and other settings set really high. That's because when stores display the TV's, consumers are attracted to the brighter and more colorful ones even though that is totally the wrong things to look at when buying an HDTV (more on that later). In any case, those extreme settings are too high especially during the first 100 hours of the TV. Its like when you buy a new car, dealers will often say not to drive the car too rough for the first 1000 miles. This is all to help prevent "burn-in" on your TV. Burn-in occurs most often by having static images on the screen for long periods of time. For example, when you watch TV, you will notice that most stations have their logo on the bottom right corner. Well, if that image stays their for a really long time it can leave an imprint. Or if you play video games, there can be many static images that dont move. So to break in your HDTV, people suggest lowering the settings and playing a special DVD (or SVCD) for at least the first 100 hours. I've been doing this for my TV and even though I dont know if its really helping, it doesnt do any harm. Im sure if people are posting specific TV settings and if someone went through all the trouble of creating a break in DVD, there has to be some truth in it.
   
   
3. HD Quality
   "Wow". I say that everytime Im viewing HD. Once you see and taste HD, there is no going back. Food never looked so delicious on the HD Food channel. Tivo Series 3 does an excellent job recording HD shows. It is so amazing clear that I cant believe it is a recording.



4. Cable Cards
   Because Im using my Tivo Series 3, in order for me to get HD, Im using 2 cable cards that I picked up from Comcast. It was fairly easy to set up myself, but I wasnt getting all the channels that I was supposed to, so a Comcast technician had to come by my house. Turns out it was just some wrong data set up on their end. So what is this cable card and what does it do? The cable card takes the place of a Digital or HD receiver because it does all of the unscrambling of the channels. So instead of getting a clunky HD or Digital receiver from comcast, you can just get a cable card and stick it directly into your HDTV. But not all HDTV's have cable card slots, so you will have to check. Its a lot cleaner this way because you dont have to plug the receiver and you dont have to use their ugly remote. But keep in mind that my set up is different because Im using Tivo. But can you imagine if my Tivo did not have cable card slots? Then I would have Tivo talk to the clunky receiver which then talks to my HDTV. Anyways, cable cards are a good thing. I would do anything to avoid those clunky comcast receivers and their nasty remote control.
   
   
5. HD Channels (Comcast)
   Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I have Comcast cable (non digital) in the SF Bay Area, so Ill be writing about my experience under those conditions. If you have Comcast and use a receiver that they gave you, then this wont apply to you.
   
   
   If you recently bought an HDTV, most likely it will have QAM tuner and ATSC tuner. An ATSC tuner, will allow you to get "over the air" (OTA) local HD channels (ie. 2, 5, 7) . Although, I couldnt get any channels whatsoever in my area. A QAM tuner will also allow you to get local HD channels, but by using the coaxial cable. Now I thought that to get local HD channels, I would not only need an HDTV to view it, but I figured I would also have to pay extra for it. But currently, Im not. As long as you have a QAM tuner, you should be able to pick up local HD channels merely by sticking the coxial cable directly into your HDTV. But recently, the local HD channels on only one of my HDTV's have been disappearing. In otherwords, I cant view them anymore. The weird thing is that my other HDTV still gets it. But I heard that its because Comcast is gradually taking away those local HD channels. I guess you arent really suppose to get local HD channels for free so Comcast is trying to filter those out and make you pay for it. The Comcast cable packages are confusing, but I believe I have the Standard Cable package. It includes local channels plus the other popular channels like MTV. So with the addition of my cable cards in my Tivo, Im now getting all the channels that I use to get with the addition of non-local HD channels (ie. Discovery, TNT, etc). Comcast only charges me an extra $2 per month. Now to get the non-local HD channels on my other HDTV's, I would have to get a Comcast HD receiver and pay an extra $8 per month for each one. Am I confusing you yet?
   
   
6. Upscaling DVD Player
   If you plan to watch DVDs on your HDTV, do not hook up your old DVD player to it. You can, but it wont look that good. You need to get what's called an "upscaling" DVD player. These players will upscale the DVD video to fit and conform nicely to your HDTV. I think if you use a regular DVD player, you will get the black bars on the side. Costing around $50, these players arent that expensive. Or you can altogether skip that and get a Blu-ray player. But those are very expensive, not to mention the cost of Blu-ray discs.
   

Free WiFi at Starbucks

"Free at last". I've always been jealous of people surfing the Internet at local cofee shops like Starbucks on their laptops. Its not like I dont have free wifi at home or drink coffee. But there's just something about surfing the Internet in a public location and doing it for free which makes it fun. For the longest time, Starbucks had wifi, but you had to pay for it with T-Mobile. But now, they are offering free wifi. The catch? None really. You just have to have an ATT DSL account which Im sure many people do. Just login using your ATT DSL account (ie. joesmith@sbcglobal.net) According to the sfgate article, it starts today. Happy surfing!


SF gate article
Official Starbucks site article

Get Cash Back When Shopping Online

Did you know that you can earn cash back for many of your online purchases? Whenever I purchase something online, I always check 3 Cash Back sites (ebates, fatwallet, upromise) that pays me back 1-5% (sometimes 10%) of my total purchase. So the next time you buy something online, here is what you do (after signing up for an account on each of the sites).

1. Search for the online store on the Cash Back sites above to see if they offer cash back.
   


2. Of the sites, choose the one that gives the most % cash back (as it may differ).
   
   
3. Click on their special link that redirects to the participating store.

That's it. You just shop as you would normally and these Cash Back sites will automatically know how much you spent at the participating shopping site. In a few days, you will receive cash in your account. Then you can have them send you a check or transfer the amount to your bank account or even paypal it to you.

Right now, Ebates is having a referral promotion where if you sign up and make a qualifying purchase before May 31, 2008, we both get $10. Click here to take advantage of this offer.

Free Google Phone Number

A while back I posted the ability to create disposable phone numbers in order to protect the privacy of your existing phone number. I found a similar service with many features by GrandCentral which was recently aquired by Google. There are many cool features, but I will touch upon a few.

1. Permanent Local Phone Number - There is a subtle but important difference between the Numbr and GrandCentral phone number. For the Numbr phone number, you have to dial an extension which does require a little more work for the user. Not only that, I think that users might be a little weary of dialing a phone number with an extension. Users are more used to dialing extensions when calling companies. So its a bit weird to call a craigslist person with an extension in my opinion.



2. Ring Multiple Phones - So you can add multiple phones to your one GrandCentral phone number. For example, when someone calls your GrandCentral number, your cell phone AND home phone can ring. Therefore, you can answer the call by either phone.



3. Listen to Voicemails Online - This is probably my most favorite feature. Voicemails are recorded and can be played online in your GrandCentral account. I wish Verizon Wireless had this feature. I would love to listen to my voicemails online instead of always having to dial and punch in my password. Not to mention wasting valuable peak time minutes just for listening to my voicemails. This can also help you to screen your calls. Sometimes, you just want people to leave you a voicemail especially from uknown callers. Recently, I just used my GrandCentral number to sell something on craiglist. Usually, in terms of fairness, its first come first serve. But I found it to be more beneficial for me to sell it to one person over another. For example, I sold my desk on craiglist today. I wanted to sell it to someone who had a truck or van because I didnt want to disemble the desk. If I answered my first phone call, then I would be obliged to sell it to that person. But I intentionally did not answer calls from my GrandCentral number and just let my voicemail inbox fill up. Then I just chose the person who had a van and "sounded" the most reliable.
   

Feel free to leave me a voicemail by clicking on the button below.

4/2/08 Update: Someone just told me that they could not immediately sign up for the service since they are in private beta. Looks like you can just "reserve" a number (whatever that means). I wouldnt be surprised if they ran out of local phone numbers to give out. It also says on the site that a current user would be able to invite others, but I dont see that option in my account. They might have temporarily removed that as well.

Remote control a PC anytime...anywhere

Sometimes, I need to troubleshoot my parents computer when something goes wrong. The best way to do that is to remotely control the computer. Im going to show you the most effective way to remote control another PC for free. Keep in mind that this method is only for circumstances in which you would like take total control and have instant access to the host computer whenever and wherever you want.

Requirements:

1. Both computers need to be connected to the Internet...duh.


2. DSL or higher internet connection

Instructions:

Host PC (computer you wish to control)

1. Sign up for a free no-ip.com account



2. Click Add under Hosts/Redirects.



3. Enter a hostname and choose any domain name. For example, mydadscomputer.no-ip.org.
   Choose something easy to remember as this will be part of your login.



4. Install the Dynamic Update Client.
   This software ensures that the host computer ip address is always current and updated for the mydadscomputer.no-ip.org host.



5. Install VNC (free edition). During install, choose the server version.
   Run VNC and in the options, specify a password.
   
6. Turn off Windows Firewall in the Control Panel.



7. That's it. Both the Dynamic Update Client and the VNC server should automatically run in the background from now on.

Controller PC

1. Install VNC (free edition). During install, choose the client only version.



2. Launch VNC.



3. Enter "mydadscomputer.no-ip.org" for the server name and the password that you set in step 5 above.

Voila! Now I can control my dads computer wherever and whenever I want with a click of a button. My dad doesnt even need to be at the computer when I take control as long as the computer is on.

Now you might ask, why not just use something like crossloop to remote control another persons computer. The big difference is that I wanted full control of the host computer without having to call my dad every time I wanted to do so. With crossloop and most other remote controlling software, there has to be physically someone sitting at the host computer.

AT&T jacks up DSL price $5 per month

Looks like for California, they are raising the prices this month. For me, its Feb 15 (that's tomorrow!) Currently, Im paying $19.99 per month for DSL Express. So tomorrow they are raising it to $24.99.

So there are a couple of things you can do. Since you are going to pay $24.99 for DSL Express, you might as well upgrade now to DSL Pro for $24.99 and lock that price in for a year before they raise the price. Too bad they dont offer DSL Pro in my area :( But I found an even better deal that was mentioned in the forums. Go to the online ATT upgrade tool and it will offer you a yearly renewal of your current rate.

You can also try calling the retention department and see what they can offer you (1-877-722-3755). They offered me a credit for $10 per month for the next 6 months which was weak. But YMMV (Your mileage may vary). I just purchased the renewal using the online ATT upgrade tool and it looks like it worked. Good Luck!

Black Friday 2007

Ready...set...shop!

1. Check out the Black Friday ad scans. Download the pdfs by right clicking and saving directly to your computer. I had problems opening up the pdf directly in my browser.

2. Some hardcore dude made this incredible excel sheet which all the Black Friday ads listed. Its awesome especially the use of the filters. Check out the forum for more info and the download link.

UPDATE:
11/22/07 Some Black Friday deals are already showing up online. You can use my site to track them. Good Luck!
www.fealdeals.com