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Apr 07

CyberNotes: KlipFolio – Turn Your Desktop Into A Virtual News Center

Posted in: CyberNotes, General, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 13, 2006 by CyberNet.

Free For All Friday

How would you like to turn your desktop into a virtual, non-cluttered news center? Just keeping up with the latest news or email on a daily basis can be quite the challenge. This is where KlipFolio comes in. KlipFolio is a personalized dashboard, a collection of “Klips” that are chosen and completely customizable by you, the user with a built-in alert feature. It is also developer-friendly, so if there’s a Klip you’re wanting that’s not available, you can create it yourself! The development tools are built right in.

These Klips are mini programs that keep you up to date with just about everything imaginable from weather and news to email and RSS feeds. They have a huge list of Klips that are already available as well as a list of some of the more popular ones like Yahoo! Mail, and Google Calendar. Some of the other popular Klips include weather, stock, news, auctions(eBay), and package tracking (FedEx and UPS). Customizing Klips is one of the features I like most. You can move and resize Klips freely, as well as minimize them. When you minimize a Klip, they will automatically expand when you get near them so that you can see the content.

It certainly wouldn’t be complete without RSS feed capabilities. To add a feed, simply click on the “add feed” button in the toolbar. A new feed viewer Klip will appear. From there you can add as many feeds as you’d like to each feed Klip that you create. For example, if you have 5 sites that are all related to software — you could create a “software Klip” so that you have your software related feeds in one window. You could also create them for politics, science, etc. the possibilities are endless, and it’s a really nice way to categorize your information. If you right click on the title bar of a feed, you can choose to dismiss the items which is equivalent to marking the items are read, something I always look for.

Additional features that I enjoy are preferences and alerts. Of course with the preferences, there’s a variety of colors and fonts you can choose from. They also have a selection of skins to change the look of your Klips. There’s lots of different settings to choose from to customize it so it will look just like you want it to. There is also a built in alert feature. You can get alerts to pop up whenever new items are added, whenever an item changes, or when a certain word appears. For example, you could receive an alert anytime that CyberNet writes about Firefox. You’d go into the Klip setup, select the alerts tab, and then you can add certain keywords you want to be notified of.

The interface is small, and looks nice on your desktop without slowing down your system, and it’s an easy download from Serence Inc. It is offered in several different languages, and is pretty user friendly. If you’d like to download KlipFolio, visit KlipFolio.com.

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Mar 31

CyberNotes: Mozilla Developer’s Sense of Humor

Posted in: CyberNotes, Mozilla, Today's Chili

This article was written on March 02, 2007 by CyberNet.

Funny Friday

Last week in the forum, FX Extension Guru pointed out a site that contains quotes taken from IRC Sessions on irc.mozilla.org. Anybody can go chat there, but many times these are conversations between developers. The site also allows people to vote on some of their favorites, and then they compile a list of the best ones.

Before I get into some of the funniest quotes captured, I’ll just point out that there’s an easy way to join in on the chats if you’d like. They have different channels for all of their projects including Firefox, Thunderbird, Seamonkey, even Spread Firefox. They also have channels available in different languages from Dutch to Japanese and German. To get those details on joining in on a chat, visit their site. Now on to the humor…

<jX> No, seriously, they have a legal obligation to provide shareholder value.
<jX> IE, Google can’t tomorrow say “We’re going to sell everything and buy toilet paper for African children!”
<Jesse> that would be a LOT of toilet paper
__________

<CTho|away> how many firefox devs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
<Pike> CTho|away: none, that’d be an extension
__________

<Lucy> omg, seeing the word “virgin” reminds me, the other day I could *not* say version
<Lucy> but I was talking about versions
<mkanat> Lucy: As in “How many virgins do I have to support?”
<Lucy> mkanat: yes
<Lucy> “what virgin is it?”
<Lucy> “on the old virgins this didn’t happen”
<mkanat> “Yeah, they were always STD-free. The new virgins come pre-STD’ed.”
<Jesse_> i use the nightly virgins
<Jesse_> the process of making a new virgin is quite interesting
__________

<shaver> humans are obsolete
<sheppy> Speak for yourself.
<mrbkap> Then why are we still patching Mozilla by hand?
<crowder> mrbkap: Because the computers tell us to
__________

<biesi> it seems to me that finding something wrong in mail code is like finding hay in a haystack
__________

<matti> heyy i got busted for pot and at court they told me i had to donate $250 to a charitable organization. does the mozilla foundation count as that?
__________

<biesi> do googlers get a discount in the moz store?
<mconnor> no
<biesi> aw
<mconnor> I think you misunderstand which way this relationship work
<mconnor> we take your resources and food, you happily oblige
__________

<jX> “Reduced functionality is already a part of the Windows XP activation process, but Windows Vista will have a reduced functionality mode that is enhanced, Microsoft said on its Web site on Wednesday.”
<jX> How do you enhance reduced function?
__________

<sayrer> actually, that will still be ugly
<sayrer> but better than what I have now
<shaver> that’s what my wife said when I proposed

__________

You can sift through more of these random quotes here. There are a ton of them! And with that, enjoy your weekend

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Mar 27

CyberNotes: Blogmusik.net – Free Internet Virtual iPod

Posted in: CyberNotes, General, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on September 15, 2006 by CyberNet.

Free For All Friday

When I think of Blogmusik.net, I can’t help but think of the original Napster. You know, back in the day when Napster was the free peer to peer music sharing service that loads of people used? The good old days of Napster didn’t last too long, and I imagine Blogmusik.net won’t either. It is cool nonetheless and worth checking out.

They use an iPod like interface acting as your own personal jukebox to stream your selected songs over the Internet. It has a search feature with a rather large variety of songs to choose from. When you become a registered user, you’re able to save playlists with all of your favorites ready to go for the next time you’re wanting to listen to music. They even have some of those “one track wonders” you never thought you’d find or hear again!

The virtual iPod interface really couldn’t be any easier to use, and as for the quality of sound, it’s decent. Not great, but decent. Oh, and you can change the color of your “iPod” from black to white. The idea is kinda cool, however as mentioned, the legal status remains unknown which gives a good indication that it may not be around for long!

Alright, so that’s the free route you can take for now. There are alternative options that are legal and have similar features such as allowing you to save a playlist. One such option is brought to you by the ”new” (no longer free) Napster. According to their website:

”As a registered member of Napster’s free music service you can listen to all 2,000,000 songs in the Napster catalog up to 3 times each. After the 3rd free play, you must purchase the track to listen to it again. As a Napster subscriber, you can listen to the same song an unlimited amount of times without having to worry about any limits. You can also download your favorite music to your PC and listen to it when you are not connected to the Internet.”

To recap: Blogmusik.net is a pretty cool free service with the virtual iPod interface but probably won’t be around for long! Once/if they’re shut down, a good alternative paying option for $15.00 per month would be Napster.

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Mar 25

CyberNotes: Universal Notebook Docking Stations

Posted in: CyberNotes, Gadgets, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 11, 2006 by CyberNet.

Weekend Warrior

If you travel frequently for business, you may have searched for a docking station before. If you’re unfamiliar with what a docking station is, it is typically something you would associate with a laptop computer. Docking stations usually contain slots for expansion cards, bays for storage devices, and connectors for a printer and monitor. It gives your laptop capabilities that otherwise would not be possible! I went on a search trying to find some of the best universal stations, and this is what I’ve come up with.

First on the list is the Targus Universal Notebook Docking Station with video. One thing that certainly makes this docking station unique is the USB video capabilities. Video can be transferred from the docking station (connected to your laptop), to another monitor by using simply one USB cord. The benefit is obviously the fact that only one USB connection is required. Unfortunately, the downfall is that because of all the information that is transferred over the single USB cable, if you’re playing movies on your computer and it has to send it to the monitor, it’s going to be a bit choppy. This is because USB does have speed limitations.

Here are some of the technical specs for the Targus Universal Notebook Docking Station with video.

Video Modes Supports

Primary Video Mode: use external monitor or LCD as your primary display
Extended Video Mode: use both your notebook screen and external monitor or LCD for combined viewing
Mirror Video Mode: replicate notebook screen onto an external monitor or LCD
Video resolution: supports resolution up to 1280 x 1024 16-bit color

This particular docking station was designed for comfort and cooling. It has a raised notebook platform that helps the air to flow and keep the computer cool. The “one touch” connection to notebook and tablets PCs makes this a convenient option. It has two power ports that provide twice as much power as standard USB ports! This docking station can be purchased for around $129.99.

Another option that can be purchased for around $179.99 is the Kensington Notebook Expansion Dock with Video. As with most docking stations, you can plug in a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to use your notebook as a desktop. Again, the video with this dock will work with resolutions up to 1280 x 1024. It features an Intelligent Plug-n-Play technology that will select the best monitor settings automatically.

Docking Stations are a great way to turn your laptop into a desktop computer without spending quite as much money. If you’d like additional details on the Targus docking station, click here.

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Mar 24

CyberNotes: Gmail Notifiers for Multiple Accounts

Posted in: CyberNotes, Email, Freeware, Gmail, Google, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on April 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

I’m not sure about you, but I have several different Gmail accounts that I am constantly trying to keep track of. I’ve actually got 4 different personal Gmail accounts as well as the ones that I have Gmail manage for our website (using the Google Apps for your Domain). There are just too many email addresses for me to check on a regular basis, and the Google Talk client only lets you monitor the email address that your signed in with.

I looked all over for a good (and free) email notifier that I could use with multiple Gmail accounts, but there really aren’t many out there. There is an extension for Firefox called Gmail Manager that is supposed to monitor multiple accounts (including Google Apps), but I have experienced problems before with it where it constantly signs me out of one account and into another. Not only that, but I don’t want to bog down my browser with constantly checking 7 or 8 email accounts every few minutes.

Then it clicked! I’m constantly monitoring feeds using FeedDemon and so I’ll just have it monitor my email accounts as well. That way I can set it up to popup with a desktop alert anytime a new email comes into my Gmail account, and I never have to worry about a limitation on the number of accounts to check. Here is what FeedDemon’s notifier looks like:

It is important to note that FeedDemon is not free, but I use it because I believe it is the best feed reader available and is worth the $30. There are plenty of other feed readers out there though that have similar notifications without costing you a penny.

To gain access to your Gmail accounts feed there are two different types of URL’s that should work. The first URL is:

http://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom

This URL will require that you sign-in to the Gmail service before it will give you access to the feed. If you’re using FeedDemon or another desktop feed reader it should prompt you to enter in the username and password for the account. Another URL that you can use looks something like this:

http://username:password@mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom

In that URL you’ll replace the “username” and “password” with your own account information. If you’re trying to use the Gmail feed with an online feed reader (such as Bloglines) this will probably be how you have to do it. Actually, Bloglines even has a notifier available so that you could receive the email alerts right on your desktop.

Don’t worry though…because there are a lot more ways to keep track of multiple Gmail accounts. If you don’t mind using some widgets/gadgets then you might find these to be good alternatives:

Yahoo! Widget Engine has a few different widgets that will monitor your Gmail account for new emails.
Windows Vista gadgets has a really great Gmail checker available.

And then there are always the classic email management alternatives such as Thunderbird, Opera, Eudora, Outlook, and Windows Mail (a.k.a. Outlook Express).

Share your knowledge below by letting us know how you keep track of your email!

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Mar 22

CyberNotes: Using Gmail Filters

Posted in: CyberNotes, Email, Gmail, Google, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on February 19, 2008 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

One of the reasons that I love Gmail the most is the remarkably powerful filter system that is integrated into it. With the filtering system you can analyze emails as they hit your Inbox, and then perform certain actions on them. If you spend the time to setup quality filters it can almost be like having your own personal secretary to sift through emails, but it’s a lot cheaper.

Google doesn’t limit the amount of filters that you can create in Gmail (although just 20 of your filters can forward emails to another address) so you can go as crazy as you would like. Today we’re going to take a look at some of the various ways that you can put the filters to work for you.

–Using Gmail Filters–

Setting up Gmail filters can be as easy or as hard as you would like. Some filters that I’ve setup are rather simple and are just based upon the from address, while others took a little more thought. Lets start with an overview of how you would setup a filter:

Click Create a filter (next to the Search the Web button at the top of any Gmail page).
Enter your filter criteria in the appropriate field(s).
Click Test Search to see which messages currently in your account match your filter terms. You can update your criteria and run another test search, or click Next Step.
Select one or more actions from the list. These actions will be applied to messages matching your filter criteria in the order in which the actions are listed — for example, you could choose to Forward matching messages to a specific email address, then Delete the messages.
If you’d like to apply this filter to messages already in your account, select the Also apply filter to x conversations below checkbox.
Click Create Filter.

–Tips & Tricks–

Using the filters can be pretty easy, but here are some things that might help you out along your quest for a cleaner Inbox:

When blocking email addresses in the From field you can keep things a bit more general if you would like by specifying just the domain. For example, if you receive a bunch of messages from Orkut users instead of blocking each individual address just enter *@orkut.com in the From field.
I’m able to use only one filter for blocking dozens of spam addresses thanks to the OR operator. For example, entering in spamaddress1@junk1.com OR spamaddress2@junk2.com will block emails coming from either of those addresses. There’s no need to create separate filters for each address.
If you use Google Talk’s chat history feature you’ll soon realize that your conversations are also analyzed against your filters. To exclude chats from a particular filter enter is:chat into the Doesn’t have field. This will ignore all of your Google Talk conversations in the filters.
You can scan filetypes in an email by putting filename:type in the Has the words field. Just replace “type” with the extension of the file that you want to filter. For example, to filter for Windows Media Player videos you would enter filename:.wmv into the field.
Gmail supports what’s called “plus addressing” meaning the email address username+blah@gmail.com is still sent to the username@gmail.com email address. When signing up for services use this method so that filtering is even easier. For example, you could use an address username+amazon@gmail.com for all of your Amazon purchases. Then in the To field use the username+amazon@gmail.com to filter the emails sent from them.

–Useful Filters–

To get the ball rolling I thought I would list out some of the ways that I’ve put the filters to work:

Anti-phishing – I use the plus addressing technique that I mentioned above for all of my financial accounts. Then when the emails come in I check the To address to see if it is from someone like eBay. If it is I’ll apply a “Financial” label to it. This coincidentally happens to serve as an anti-phishing mechanism as well, because if you think about it almost no scam artists are going to guess the “plus addresses” that I’ve created. When I see an email from eBay that didn’t get my label I know something fishy (no pun intended) is going on.
Note: It’s not enough just to analyze the “from” address of an email when dealing with financial companies because those are often spoofed by the scam artists.
Bacn – Remember Bacn? We talked about it last year when it was introduced as the “almost spam” emails we often receive on a daily basis. They refer to things like notifications from Facebook or newsletters that you’ve subscribed to. These are emails that you want to read, but don’t want cluttering up your Inbox. I have a ton of various filters set up for things like this, but my main one just applies a “Notifications” label to the email messages and then they skip the Inbox.
Forwards – I receive quite a few forwards on a daily basis, and I normally never even open them up. Unfortunately the text “FWD” doesn’t show up in the subject line for most of the ones that people send, so I had to take a additional steps to block them all. Here are the two methods that work well for me:

If you can see every person that they send the forward to go ahead and pick one of the email addresses that you’re not familiar with. Then just create a filter blocking all emails being sent To that address. That way you should still receive any of the personal emails that are directly sent to you while removing all of the ones that are mass-emailed.
If the BCC (blind carbon copy) was used the previous method won’t work since you can’t see anyone else’s email address. But you likely won’t see you’re email address in the To field either. To get around this create a filter using the sender’s address in the From field, and then enter -youraddress@gmail.com into the To field. The minus sign before your address is crucial because this filter will check for any messages from the sender that aren’t addressed to you.

–Overview–

There’s a lot more that you can do with the filters, and the advanced operators guide by Google will definitely help you out on setting up extensive filters. I’m sure there are a lot of advanced Gmail users out there, and so we want to turn the stage over to you now. Let us know in the comments how you use Gmail filters to cleanup your emails.

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Mar 12

CyberNotes: Best Firefox Extensions for Bookmarking

Posted in: CyberNotes, Features, Firefox Extensions, Freeware, search, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on September 12, 2007 by CyberNet.

Web Browser Wednesday

Could you imagine having a browser without a bookmarking system? To me that would be like using a computer that doesn’t let you copy and paste…it’s almost impossible to fathom what that would be like! So I think it is safe to say that bookmarks are important for productivity, but the real question is, what can we do to make it better?

I crawled my way through all of the 218 bookmark-related Firefox extensions on the Mozilla add-ons site, and I quickly realized how poorly some of the extensions were categorized since many of them didn’t have much to do with bookmarking at all. I was able to find a pretty good amount of extensions though that I thought were pretty interesting.

–Synchronizing Bookmarks–

Circle Arrows One of the most common things people want to do with their bookmarks is synchronize them with some online service. That way they can be accessed whether they are at work, home, or on the go.

There are several different services that can be used to store your bookmarks, and here’s a listing of what I believe are the best synchronizing extensions:

GMarks (for Google Bookmarks) – This is my favorite Firefox extension for synchronizing bookmarks. It makes use of the Google Bookmarks system so that everything you bookmark is kept private, and it is packed with features. You can have your bookmarks in a toolbar or in the sidebar, and it’s capable of importing your existing Firefox bookmarks.
Smarky (for Simpy) – This is based off of the GMarks extension mentioned above, except this one works with the Simpy bookmarking system.
Del.icio.us (for Del.icio.us, duh) – This is a simple Firefox extension that’s used for managing your bookmarks on Del.icio.us. You can add a description, notes, and tags to each bookmark you save.
Foxmarks (for Foxmarks or custom) – I really like this extension because it integrates right into your existing Firefox bookmarks. You can hardly notice that the extension is synchronizing your bookmarks, but it is. Lifehacker also has a great tutorial on how to setup Foxmarks to work with your own FTP.
Clipmarks (for Clipmarks) – Clip certain sections of websites so that only the content you want is saved.

–Making Bookmarks More Productive–

Now on to more of the gems. Some of these extensions I had heard of, or even written about prior to this, but there are still several that I hadn’t seen. You may not need to use some of them now, but there are certain times when each would serve a useful purpose.

Flat Bookmark Editor – This adds several fields to the bottom of the Bookmarks Manager so that you can edit the contents of a bookmark without having to pull up the properties. This is extremely useful if you’re trying to edit a bunch of bookmarks simultaneously.
Speed Dial – The idea for this type of feature was originally from the Opera browser, but as expected, a version with slightly less features has also been turned into a Firefox extension. Using it, you can set some of your favorite sites to be displayed on a Speed Dial page.
Visual Bookmarks – Have a hard time finding a site or image in your bookmarks? This could be just the solution since you can view all of the sites as thumbnails. Unfortunately this doesn’t integrate into the Firefox bookmark system so you’ll have to bookmark sites separately with this extension, but you can highlight certain portions of the screen that you want captured for the thumbnail.
Bookmarks Duplicate Detector – When you reach a few hundred bookmarks, sometimes it is difficult to remember whether you’ve already bookmarked a site or not. Have no fear…Book Duplicate Detector will scour through your bookmarks looking for ones that point to the same address.
Smart Bookmarks Bar – Sometimes you may want to put a lot of bookmarks on your toolbar, but the problem is that there just isn’t enough room. This extension will collapse all of your bookmarks down to just their icon, and when you hover over them with your mouse it will reveal their names.
Bookmarks LInkChecker – You can check your bookmarks to see if the links have been broken. This should become part of your regularly scheduled maintenance.
Enhanced Bookmark Search – This is a much more powerful search mechanism for finding bookmarks. You can even save searches into dynamically updating folders…it kind of reminds me of how the dynamic playlists in iTunes work.
Dog Ears – This lets you bookmark your place on a page so that you can quickly jump to the important portions using the Shift+Spacebar hotkey.
AddThis – Using this extension you can quickly bookmark a site on any number of different services.
Bookmark Permissions – This lets you enable or disable certain options, such JavaScript, on a per bookmark basis. That way you can disable JavaScript system-wide, but enable it for the sites that you trust. Of course you’ll have to open the site using the bookmark in order for the settings to be applied.

–Overview–

I think I’ve covered almost all of the interesting bookmark-related extensions, but I would love to hear of any others you can come up with. Don’t forget to checkout our URL-related extensions as well, but even more importantly, make sure that your Firefox extensions don’t have memory leaks.

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Mar 04

CyberNotes: Staying Connected To The Internet While Traveling

Posted in: CyberNotes, Today's Chili

This article was written on July 08, 2006 by CyberNet.

Weekend Warrior

Staying connected while you are traveling can be fairly easy and affordable if you plan ahead. These days, with easily accessible high speed internet, using your laptop while traveling really isn’t a whole lot different than using it at home or at the office. Even without a laptop, it’s easy to stay connected with devices such as the Blackberry. There’s lots of easy ways to stay connected from Wi-Fi hotspots, to using your cell as a modem. This will be a quick guide to keeping you connected while traveling!

One of the easiest ways to stay connected without carrying around the baggage of a laptop is the Blackberry mentioned above. For those unfamiliar with the Blackberry, it is a wireless e-mail solution that many professionals use to stay connected. Not only can you keep up with your e-mail, you can also send and receive instant messages, and browse the web. They are gaining in popularity with big name providers in the U.S. such as T-Mobile, Verizon, and Cingular all offering service plans.

Another easy way to stay connected is by using an EVDO card. We recently profiled the newest release from Dell, the Wireless 5700 Express Card. An EVDO card is similar to a typical Wi-Fi card except that it allows you to connect via a cellular network such as Verizon or Cingular. The recent release from Dell operates on the Verizon network with speeds of 400-700 kbps. It is also capable of bursts up to 2 Mbps! Pretty impressive and easy to use while on the go! Rates from Verizon can be from $59.99 – $80 per month depending on if you are an existing customer or not. I think we can expect EVDO cards to gain in popularity as rates among providers become more competitive.

Wireless travel routers are another great way to stay connected. Netgear has a wireless 54 Mbps travel router that is super portable and easy to travel with it literally can fit into your pocket! It features an internal antenna so you never have to worry about breaking or bending anything while you’re on the go. Plus, it can be used with a single user or set up to allow multiple users connecting to the connection. It will run about $60.00 but will make connecting at a hotel quick, easy, and very portable! Both Belkin and Dlink make a similar product.

Finally, one of the easiest ways to get connected is to find a Wi-Fi hotspot! There’s lots of them popping up all around. Here, you can find an international directory of Wi-Fi locations. It will pull up lengthy lists of locations from hotels and Starbucks to Kinkos and bookshops. While some of these locations will charge a fee, others offer a completely free Wi-Fi connection. www.hotspot-locations.com will even sort your results by those that charge, and those that are free! It can’t get any easier than that.

Whether you’re traveling at home or abroad, staying connected to the internet really isn’t so difficult after all! To re-cap:

Stay connected with a Blackberry the ultra portable wireless solution!
EVDO Cards can make connecting anywhere you go pretty easy, not to mention fast using a provider such as Verizon.
Wireless Travel Routers Super small and great for connecting in your hotel room, or shacking up at your friend’s house.

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Mar 01

CyberNotes: Is that Forwarded Email Fact or Fiction?

Posted in: CyberNotes, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on April 05, 2008 by CyberNet.

Weekend Website

Each day I seem to get a handful of emails forwarded to me, the type you’re supposed to read and pass on. Many of them are the “true story” types of forwards where the author of the email is warning the reader about something they experienced or something they heard about. Often times, people read them and actually believe whatever was said, and then click “forward” and pass it along to all of their contacts. The problem with many of these “true” stories is that they’re actually false. So how is someone supposed to know whether what they read in an email is actually true or not? The answer? Snopes.com

What is Snopes?

Snopes is an index of urban legends where users can go to validate or debunk Internet rumors, forwarded emails, or urban legends. Given the number of Internet rumors and forwarded emails out there, Snopes has turned out to be a great resource.

snopes

How’d they end up naming the site Snopes?

It’s actually interesting how they ended up naming the site Snopes. Here’s what they say about it:

The Snopes were a family of characters weaved throughout the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer William Faulkner. When David Mikkelson, creator of snopes.com, first came onto the Internet in the late 1980s, he worried even back in those relatively uncrowded days that no one would remember yet another David. He was thus inspired to adopt a nom-de-Net, selecting one that honored those fictional Faulknerian characters, and began signing his newsgroups posts as “snopes.”
Over the years snopes established a fearsome online reputation for his ability to thoroughly research and debunk false claims. When it came time to name our domain, www.snopes.com seemed the obvious choice.

The site is run by a husband and wife team from California who met on the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban, and Snope has been around since 1995.

Where do they get their information?

The owners of Snopes know that they are not the ultimate authority but they do show their work. Each page will list a bibliography so that users can verify the validity of the information themselves.

Ratings

Snopes uses a ratings system (shown below) so that users can easily see which stories are true, false or undetermined.

ratings key

How to search…

Just last week I received an email about how several major brands of lipstick contain lead which can cause cancer. The email went off to list the different brands that contained lead and gave a number next to each. The higher the number, the higher the amount of lead that is supposedly in it. The message said to “pass it on to all the women you care for…”

I decided I wanted to find out whether this was true or not so I went to Snopes.com. There they had a whole list of categories to choose from with an icon representing the category next to each. One of the categories was “Toxins” which I figured this particular email would fall under, and so I clicked it.

Other Details…

Here’s a quick list of other interesting details about the site.

Visit the Snopes Community Section and read through and contribute on different topics regarding urban legends.
If you want to get updates on when new content is added to the site, you can subscribe to their weekly newsletter.
View what’s new, the hottest 25 legends or weird news using the menu towards the top of the Snopes page
Confused about a term you find on their site? View the glossary

About Adware…

While doing my research for this article, I came across an article at Slashdot which talks about how one of Snopes ad providers was distributing the Zango adware product. Apparently Snopes got enough emails about it because they responded to a complaint and said that they have removed “all advertisements from the agency that handles the ad in question while we investigate if and how such an ad was indeed being served to some of our visitors.” They also say that they “don’t ever knowingly run adware or malware on our site — that’s not who we are or who we’d ever want to be.”

If you ever receive an email forward that just doesn’t sound quite right, go to www.snopes.com and see if they’ve already researched it. Chances are, they have and you’ll know whether its worth passing on to friends and family.

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Feb 20

Your Week in Review…

Posted in: CyberNotes, Today's Chili

This article was written on December 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

Sunday’s Summary

What was going on this week at CyberNet News and Learn Firefox? Here’s your chance to catch-up if you missed something!

Wednesday:Google Auto Pager (Pagerization)
Thursday:How to Remap Keyboard Keys
Friday:Thank You Captain Obvious
Saturday: Easily Locate Webcams Around the World

Organize Search Engines – Add folders and separators to your search bar.

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