SERVICE: OPENDNS recommended for everyone

Thursday, July 19, 2012

*** begin quote ***

Announcing new Parental Controls categories

We recently announced several improvements to the Domain Tagging system, our content categorization engine, and two new categories that you can enable for your home networks, effective immediately, to secure your family’s Web browsing.

As with every new feature we deliver, these improvements are the direct result of your feedback. Our team spent weeks evaluating both the current categories and your suggestions, and ultimately we decided which categories need to be added and which ones could use a facelift. By simply logging into your Dashboard and adjusting your custom settings, you can now filter Anime/Manga/Webcomic and Click/Survey/Pharmaceutical Web Spam. To our knowledge, OpenDNS is the first and only filtering service to offer a Web spam category, though Web spam is increasingly present online.

As the Internet evolves we’ll continue to evaluate our Web filtering categories and your requests to make sure we’re ahead of the curve. If you’d like to get more involved, join our Domain Tagging community and help make the Internet better for millions around the world!

*** end quote ***

Item #4 is for those with children. First this is free. Second, it’s invisible to all but the most techie kids.

* Open a free account on OpenDNS. (Not even sure this is required, but it’s a trivial step that allows them to enumerate their User community.)

* Open your favorite browser, connect to your router, (usually http://192.168.1.1 or 2.1)

* Find the screen where the router holds the DNS entry. (Easy. Most routers have tabs on their admin screen. One will be labeled: “DNS”.)

* Replace what the ISP gives you (theirs. so they can collect ad $ on you) with the OpenDNS values. 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220.

That’s it. Each platform that starts up will shift to use the OpenDNS.

No one is the wiser that you’re protecting them.

You should check from time to time. You don’t “own” the router; the ISP does. From time to time, they will push a “refresh” or “software update”. (Not for your benefit, but theirs.)

Some of the more paranoid, not me, actually put another router after the ISP router. They wish to prevent the ISP from browsing their platforms or seeing the intra-platform traffic.

FMPOV who cares.

p.s., I use OpenDNS to prevent popup porn, phishing, and malware. Been using it for eons. I don’t understand why more people don’t. Don’t have to think about it. Most bad sites just won’t resolve. YMMV

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SERVICE: Son of CARDSCAN, ScanBizCards, panders for business. Fool me once …

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Dear Dymo CardScan customer,

As you may already know we discontinued CardScan At Your Service (AYS) at the end of last year. AYS was an online service integrated with the CardScan which synced all your cards to a web-based database, for backup and to manage your contacts from any browser. Instead we have selected a powerful, comprehensive replacement service provided by ScanBiz Mobile Solutions and have made it available to former AYS users since February. We now invite all CardScan users to consider the ScanBizCards Web Sync service.
Benefits
The ScanBizCards solution is comprised of:
1. Web Sync: A web-based account to backup and manage all your contacts from any browser
2. CardScan Sync: a Windows desktop utility to keep your CardScan database (CDB) files in sync with your Web Sync account on the web.
3. ScanBizCards mobile apps: optional mobile apps to carry all your contacts with you on your iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows Phone and (coming soon) Blackberry.

The ScanBizCards solution provides many of the same features as AYS – and much more:
* Cloud backup and sync: keeps all your CardScan contacts in sync with your private Web Sync account in the cloud. Every card you scan and every edit you make to existing cards is automatically uploaded to the web.
* Bi-directional sync: syncing is both ways – every card you create or edit on the web updates the corresponding CardScan database (CDB) file on your local desktop. Installing the ScanBizCards Windows utility on a new desktop automatically creates a copy of all your CDB files. Note: syncing cards down to the desktop is only available for Windows.
* Many powerful web-based features such as:
– Browse and edit all your cards on the web from any browser
– View cards in “thumbnail view”, or a more efficient list view, or even on a map of the world (Map View)
– Export cards to various applications / email providers such as Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Mac Address Book – or create a generic Excel CSV for other apps.
– Quarterly “keep current” system: send a request to your contacts asking them to review and update their own contact information (coming soon)
* CRM integration: available right now to Salesforce.com, SugarCRM and Daylite (from the iOS or Android mobile apps), more CRMs planned for this summer (please ask us for the one you use).
* Human transcription: don’t have time to review scan results for accuracy? Just submit cards for human transcription and the ScanBizCards transcription team will do it for you
* Go mobile: carry all your contacts “in your pocket” at all time by installing the ScanBizCards mobile apps on your iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry (coming soon). Please check http://www.scanbizcards.com for more information.

Getting Started
The ScanBizCards solution costs $20 for the first year and $10 for each additional year thereafter. Click http://www.scanbizcards.com/dymo for more information about signing up and installing the Windows CardScan Sync utility. Note: for Mac users a web-based CDB upload method is available instead, click http://www.scanbizcards.com/dymo-upload for more info.

Questions?
Please email cardscan@scanbizcards.com with any question or issue or call +1 (646) 926-4095 (New York)

Sincerely,

The DYMO team

DYMO, a member of the Newell Rubbermaid family of brands.

Please do not respond to this email address, this mailbox is not attended. Please click here to email us directly.

You are receiving this email because you have registered a DYMO product. If you no longer wish to receive emails from us please unsubscribe here. Your privacy is important to us click here to read our privacy policy.

This email was sent by: DYMO, 3 Glenlake Parkway, Atlanta GA 30328 , USA © 2012 DYMO. All rights reserved.

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And, why should I trust “you” again?

You promised a free service if I bought your over-priced scanner. I did. You reneged. Now you want to sell me the same service?

fuhgeddaboudit! (translation from the Brooklyn dialect: “forget about it” with a sneer.) 

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Google Apps v. Office 365

Thursday, July 12, 2012

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/google-apps-v-office-365-summary-which-is-better/5637?tag=nl.e019

The Enterprise Cloud
Google Apps v. Office 365 summary: Which is better?
By Ian Hardenburgh
July 5, 2012, 12:20 PM PDT

*** begin quote ***

Takeaway: Ian Hardenburgh sums up his research on the Google Apps and Office 365 suites. He has a preference, but it still comes down to individual needs and your number of users.

*** and ***

So, which is better?

So at this point, you’re probably saying, that’s all fine and dandy, but which service is truly the better of the two? Well, I’d have to say Office 365, but only if your organization is prepared to (1) pay a premium (for a truly premium service), (2) take advantage of the advanced set of features noticed with auxiliary services like SharePoint Online, and (3) have the resources to thoroughly train your staff on the on-demand technology (You will have users saying, “Can’t I just have Office on my PC like I used to?). Otherwise, the scalability of Google Apps, combined with the applications and professional services that can be gained from its Google Apps Marketplace is a very close second.

Therefore, in my humble opinion, I’d say most enterprises, with the exception of extremely large ones, can be well-served by Google Apps. In increased summation, go with Google Apps if you’re a small enterprise and Office 365 if you’re a large one. It really is a crapshoot if you have somewhere between several hundred and ten-thousand users (what I consider a medium sized enterprise). Hey wait, I guess comparing Google Apps and Office 365 was simply a matter of enterprise size after all!

*** end quote ***

The choice is much harder for the “amateur” trying to get work done in the most flexible cheapest fashion.

Cloud is great if the inet is always there for you. (Only a Fortune 500 CEO or Gooferment bureaucrat has that.)

There are still format and User interface issues.

True Client – Server cooperative productivity apps are few and far between. 

Stuff changes in the wink of an eye.

Microsoft and Apple and Google all have their flaws.

Seriously, I don’t know. A plague on ALL their houses.

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SERVICE: Yahoo! Groups Labs Applications (beta) and Groups Chat — goodbye

Saturday, July 7, 2012

ygroupsnotifications@yahoogroups.com via ng4-ip2.bullet.mail.bf1.yahoo.com

to JasperJottings.

Dear User,

Unfortunately, the time has come to say goodbye to Yahoo! Groups Labs Applications (beta) and Groups Chat. We thank all the users that were a part of this program. We intend to use this learning to enhance Yahoo! Groups further with new features.

On July 04, 2012, we will shut down the Yahoo! Groups Labs Applications (beta) and Groups Chat. We request you to backup any data that you might have created using the applications.

This closure will not affect your other services on Yahoo! Groups.

We look forward to continue having you as our customer.

Best,
The Yahoo! Groups Team

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You can’t depend on Cloud apps not changing on you. Free is just a hook up. If you’re not paying for it, then you have zero assurance.

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SERVICE: FACEBOOK has risks; parents should engage a “Glenda”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I found something disturbing aimed at one of my young Facebook “friends”.

(You know they “friend” me when they think it’s “kool” to have some “friends” and want to build up their count. Then forget that the fat old white guy injineer “stalks” them forever. Like Glenda the Good Witch, watching over them and their online presence.)

So, I immediately alerted on it to the “command authority” (i.e., her parents) via the approved channels (i.e., her aunt).

Action was taken.

This post suggests that parents need to have a view into their children’s onine activities.

Of course, I offer my “glenda service” at my usual discount. (LOL!) But, you’ll have to be “kool” about how you get a Glenda on to their friend’s list.

“Wonder what that crazy old koot is up to this week end? You see him on Facebook don’t you, dearest child of mine?” May work?

Or, find a trusted friend or relative that the child has already been “friend-ed” during their naïve days, and assign them Glenda duty.

Forewarned is forearmed. Or in this case, four eyeballed. (Yeah, I know it falls flat. But you get the idea!)

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SERVICE: FACEBOOK shoots itself in the foot

Sunday, May 6, 2012

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/05/facebooks-positive-comment-policy-irrelevant-inappropriate-censorship/

Is This Censorship? Facebook Stops Users From Posting ‘Irrelevant Or Inappropriate’ Comments
Colleen Taylor

*** begin quote ***

Updated. Today was just another Saturday morning in blog land when Robert Scoble, the well-known tech startup enthusiast, went to post a comment on a Facebook post written by Carnegie Mellon student (and TechCrunch commenter extraordinaire) Max Woolf about the nature of today’s tech blogging scene. Scoble’s comment itself was pretty par-for-the-course — generally agreeing with Woolf’s sentiments and adding in his own two cents.

But when Scoble went to click post, he received an odd error message:

“This comment seems irrelevant or inappropriate and can’t be posted. To avoid having comments blocked, please make sure they contribute to the post in a positive way.”

Now, Facebook makes no apologies for working to create a safe and clean environment on its corner of the web by shutting down abusive or harassing behavior, content such as pornography, or generally spamming of the system. This particular method policing “inappropriate” comments may be new, but it would fall within the same general realm.

*** end quote ***

I love it when these tech giants step in it.

Like this!

Haven’t seen it personally, but I can imagine some developers buying the midnight oil to fix it and then again being “burned at the stake” on Monday morning,

Great “fun”!

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SERVICE: KODAKGALLERY days are numbered

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

http://www.macworld.com/article/1166562/shutterfly_only_bidder_for_kodak_gallery_customer_accounts.html#lsrc.rss_main

Shutterfly only bidder for Kodak Gallery customer accounts
by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service Apr 26, 2012 10:00 am

*** begin quote ***

Online photo service Shutterfly has emerged as the only bidder for the customer accounts and images of Kodak Gallery online photo services business, the companies said Wednesday.

*** end quote ***

Only last year, I urged folks to get their backup in order. 

The times are a changin’!

KodakGallery is on life support.

And, that’s the part of “put everything in the cloud” that people forget.

This is the last month for folks use Apple’s IWEB to publish web pages. 

Don’t be a sucker. Stick to open standards and non-proprietary software like what you get from Apple and Microsoft.

Don’t be lured to the “Dark Side”.

Like the Gooferment, NO ONE is here to HELP YOU!

Apple, Microsoft, and all the ISPs want to lock you in.

No matter how cheap and easy it is to start, it’s always painful at the end.

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: SkyDrive free storage space

Thursday, April 26, 2012

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/take-advantage-of-limited-time-skydrive-loyalty-offer-from-microsoft/6049?tag=nl.e064

Microsoft Windows
Take advantage of limited time SkyDrive loyalty offer from Microsoft
By Mark Kaelin April 24, 2012, 8:31 AM PDT

*** begin quote *** 

Takeaway: Get a free SkyDrive upgrade to 25GB just by clicking the right link, but don’t wait too long.

This story has been showing up all over my social media streams and on several of the websites I track, but I could not leave the news to chance when it comes to readers of the TechRepublic Microsoft Windows Blog. Whether you use Microsoft’s SkyDrive on a regular basis or just occasionally, you still have a limited time to upgrade your account to allow access to more free storage space.

*** end quote ***

I grabbed mine. You?

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NOTRECOMMENDED: Google’s GDRIVE while live; when uninstalled leaves a mess. NOT GA; use only if you’re on the “bleeding edge”!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Looks interesting as a DROPBOX competitor.

I can’t tell if it uses real hard drive space. (It must.) 

So it’s behind DROPBOX. (You can tell DROPBOX that you don’t want a local copy.)

Also, it copies to the local drive all the docs on the GOOGLE_DOC account. (I don’t want them all on local. That’s why I put them up on GOOGLE in the first place Argh!)

Jury is still out!

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GDRIVE puts down a “footprint” on your machine. I don’t know what all that crud it but in my case it’s two or three GIG!

Even uninstalling with APPCLEANER doesn’t remove the “footprints” (i.e., at least two directories with big files). One of which is PICASSA related if your believe the directory names.

I’d classify this as alpha software and leaving it the “bleeding edge” folks until it gets more exposure and “testing”. 

It’s imho NOT ready for prime time use.

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Apple APPSTORE continues to befuddle me

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Apple store asked for another reset after taking #2 to download epson ipad print (free) app. That app works beautifully. Unlike the APPSTORE app.

This is my THIRD password reset. I know I know it.

Interesting I went “up” to the APPSTORE for the free IPAD Epson utility. It challenged me for my password, I gave it, and it started to download. So, i thought: “Hey, stuff working. Let me update the 18 apps that I couldn’t do last time”. Silly rabbit.

It tells me I’ve forgotten the password I just used successfully.

Argh!

So I go thru the “i forgot my password” again. (After waiting a good 5 or 10 minutes. Reset it by incrementing the number to “3”!) Went back and retriggered the update. And, it worked.

Argh!

So here is something very funky with how Apple has the APPSTORE coded.

Argh!

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