Computer Tips, News and FREE Support

We’re adding more ways to connect with other through the social media and blogoshere.

The technology today is great… it allow people to connect, and that’s what it’s all about.

I’m tagging sites I see using tools on the blogs, and in my browser.

Today, I’m testing Onlywire.com and this button:

- The simple script

- the plain html

- The advanced button

International flights that don’t cost a thing? Books or music you don’t have to pay for? Even companies handing out cars? Traditional business is based on the certainty that everything has a price. But now we are at the dawn of a new consumerist era, governed by ‘freeconomics’…

read more | digg story

I am angry. The price of gas has really got my goat. Every time we fill up the car
…well, I don’t have to go into it because all of us are in the same situation, and we all know how painful it is to fill our tanks. Rather than complaining and moaning and groaning, I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s not all bad that gasoline prices have skyrocketed.

read more | digg story

We’re using twitter.com for micro-blogging. Short posts under 140 characters answering the question “What are you doing?”

The best use isn’t the things we post. It’s the conversations we have we real people, in real time.

I get answers for almost anything in minutes, and find out about very cool stuff.. like this

HugeURL.com

We all hate those long URL links that wrap around several lines in an email. So there are many URL shrinkers

http://snurl.com

http://TinyURL.com

http://twhirl.nl

Here’s one that does just the opposite. Put any URL in the box, click a button and get a long URL.

Try this one.. it goes to the Best Seller Authors we site

For those of you who have been lucky enough to dodge Windows Vista thus far..

Here’s a frustration we can all expect to see increase in the next three months: A reader, Brent Smithline, was trying to get a Windows XP-based PC before the June 30 date after which Microsoft will no longer provide new licenses to retailers and PC makers

Read the article

read more | digg story

Miniture robots talking to each other form a smart network

Watch the video here

FAA clears in-flight WiFi for takeoff on American Airlines

Aircell, the company behind American Airline’s plans to offer in-flight broadband, has just received crucial clearance from the FAA. With issues of production and functionality now resolved, the way is clear for the technology’s rollout. Expect to see transcontinental AA flights with broadband available within 2008.

read more | digg story

Tlalim’s Wiimote suit (called “W_space”) interfaces with the open-source music platform SuperCollider. An amazing mod! Check it out

read more | digg story

Turn a Smart Phone into a Wi-Fi Hot Spot - Yahoo! News: “North Carolina-based TapRoot Systems today announced its WalkingHotSpot software, designed to effectively turn a Wi-Fi- and mobile broadband-enabled handset into a Wi-Fi router. At launch, WalkingHotSpot will be available only for Windows Mobile or Symbian Series 60 smartphones. TapRoot CEO Bob Bicksler said.”

by Leo Notenboom

Approach the internet with skepticism. It’s full of bogus information, hoaxes and scams, and you’ll find a lot of it in your email inbox.

You’ve probably seen them: emails that have been forwarded countless times warning of some supposed threat, computer virus, money making scheme, or amazingly inappropriate or blunt comment by some notable entertainer or politician.

And, of course, the always present request to “forward this to everyone you know!” or something similar, which you may have done.

They’re almost always bogus.

At best they are simply fictitious stories that have been circulating the internet for years, known as urban legends. At their worst they’re hoaxes or scams designed solely to lighten your wallet, or get you to unwittingly help someone else lighten theirs.

Put another way: No one is tracking whether or not you forward an email. No one will give you a coupon or pay you or anyone else for doing so. Boycotting gasoline for day will have no effect on the price of oil. A particular brand of cleaning cloth won’t kill your pet, plug-in air fresheners won’t kill you, and aspartame isn’t going to give you half a dozen diseases.

The list goes on.

One common aspect that they all share is the request, the plea even, that you forward the email to everyone you can. Some even go so far as to claim you would be heartless not to!

PLEASE don’t do it.

Or, at least be positive that it’s legitimate before you do.

And to be clear, if it asks you to “forward this all your friends” it’s probably not legitimate.

How do you tell what’s real?

There are many great websites that you can use to find out, but http://www.snopes.com is perhaps the most popular, timely and comprehensive. A quick search there will frequently tell you not only what a suspect email is all about, but most importantly whether or not it’s true. All of the examples above can be found there.

Why should you care?

Forwarding hoaxes is a little like filling the inboxes of your friends and family with garbage; you’re at least wasting their time, possibly causing unnecessary anxiety and in the worst case you could even cause them to fall victim to a hoax or scam.

We all get more than enough spam and email that you don’t want to be sending email that’s likely bogus anyway to all your friends. Do them a favor and resist the temptation.

Isn’t it safer to forward in case it’s actually true?

No. As we’ve seen here it’s much more likely that you’d simply be participating in spreading the hoax. And the alternative is so simple: check it out first. If it’s not worth your time to check it out, then it’s not worth forwarding, simple as that.

And if you’re still worried realize that legitimate issues will show up in the legitimate press. Email is not how the government, news organizations, and corporations spread important information.

Leo Notenboom has been in the tech industry for nearly 30 years. After retiring from an 18 year career as a Microsoft Software Engineer Leo went on to create Ask Leo!, a free web site where he answers real questions from ordinary computer users. In addition to answering tech questions Leo also maintains a number of web sites for a very limited clientèle, including customer number one: his wife’s collectible doll shop.