Jan 05

PayPal Beefing Up Security with Password Key Fobs

Posted in: Today's Chili, Web Sites

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

PayPal/VeriSign PayPal is in the process of beefing up their security by offering a password key fobs to users.  They have been a favored target of phishers for a long time.  Recently, a security researcher found that about half of all phishing sites target either eBay or PayPal. Clearly, extra protection would definitely be a welcome addition to the standard password, and much needed.

This one-time password is a six digit code that changes every 30 seconds.  It would work by users entering their typical login and password, and then additionally entering in the generated code which acts as an extra layer of protection. PayPal has been testing this with their employees for a couple of months now, and they expect consumer trials to begin next month.Users will sign up  via a special website that will be available in the U.S., Germany, and Australia.  Eventually they plan to expand this program to other countries as well.

This key fob will be $5 for personal accounts and free for business accounts.  Even $5 for some of those personal account holders may be enough to keep them from using this protection.  It would be nice if PayPal offered this as a free service for anybody that wanted to use it.  As of the end of September, there were 123 million PayPal accounts! With that many accounts, just think about the number of transactions that are handled each day, but also the fraudulent transactions as well.

Back in 2005, eBay entered into a partnership with Security Technology Company VeriSign.  This code generator is based on technology from them. Many financial firms already use this type of security, so it’s great to see PayPal taking an extra step to protect all of those 123 million accounts. The ones that pay the 5 dollars anyways…

PayPal Security Key FAQ and View Demo

News Source: News.com

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Jan 05

Google Video gets Contact Selector, what about Gmail?

Posted in: Gmail, Google, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on March 13, 2007 by CyberNet.

Google has added a feature to Google Video that is something Gmail should have received first. When sending a video to a friend you see a form similar to the one pictured below, and now you can click on the “To” link to display a popup window for your contacts:

Google Contacts

It is a nice feature that I think may come in handy, but why isn’t it available in the place we need it the most…Gmail? Sure Gmail will autocomplete your contacts for you as you type, but many people have troubles remembering the people they have on their contact list.

There is a suggestion page that Google has setup for Gmail in case anyone has ideas of new features. Right now you can select up to five options from the following:

Personalization
 Customize my Gmail color scheme
 Create my own keyboard shortcuts
 Automatically email my new Gmail address to all of my contacts 
 Always display external images sent by my contacts

Organization
 *Filter my outgoing messages
 Switch Conversation View on or off

Bells & Whistles
 *Delete attachments from a message
 Import messages from my other email accounts
 Automatically apply new filters to old conversations

Helpful Additions
 *Ability to add or remove messages from conversations
 Click a button to delete a message
 *Control whether people I send mail to are added to Contacts

I put an asterisk next to the four options that I chose, and then in the box for “I have a better idea” I entered in:

Contact selector for composing an email message

If you want to see this feature on there then you should enter in the same thing, because the more people who write in the same thing the faster it will get integrated.

News Source: Google System

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Jan 04

CyberNotes: Options For Resizing Your Images

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

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

CyberNotes
Free For All Friday

Nowadays, many people own a digital camera. This means that  email, social networks, and blogs are becoming popular methods to communicate and share digital photos. With cameras taking high quality pictures that result in huge photos, it’s almost always necessary to resize the pictures you’re wanting to share. There’s several different options available; we’ll cover the free options, both downloadable programs and web-based versions.

– Downloadable Photo Resizing Options–

If you prefer to have a program installed on your computer that will give you the capability options of resizing photos, both Microsoft’s “Image Resizer,” and Xemi Computers’ “Photo Gadget Pro” are good options.

Microsoft’s Image Resizer can be found here. This gives you the option to right click on one or many image files to resize it. It’s pretty simple and basic and will work well for the average person.

Xemi Computer’s has a program called Photo Gadget Pro which isn’t a free download but they do have a slimmed down free version available.  It’s a shell extension that gives you an array of editing options. Some of these options include:

  • Rotate, resize, and rename images (screenshots below)
  • Add a caption and/or a frame
  • Apply special effects and filters
  • Format conversions.

Photo Gadget Pro is available at www.xemico.com/photogadget and works with JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, PCS, and TGA file formats.

Photo Resizer 

 

– Web Based Resizing Options —

Shrinkpictures.com is one web based option that requires little to no skill to be able to resize an image.  The website was created by an Admin of an online forum who was frustrated with people asking how to resize images. Their process is completed in five steps (online).

  1. Browse your computer and select your image/photo to resize
  2. Select the new size for your picture – use a preset or choose a custom size
  3. Optionally, add an effect to your image
  4. Select output image/picture quality Lower quality means a smaller file
  5. Click “Resize” and wait for the processed images to be displayed

The screenshot below gives you an idea of what to expect on the screen when using this online version.

Shrink Pictures Resizing

Another online option is a website called resizepic.com which offers a simple, basic method to resize your pictures. With this option, you upload your photo and then select the width and height you want your image to be resized to.

–An Alternative Option–

Back in July, we wrote about a program called Preloadr which allows you to customize your Flickr photos without needing to download a thing! It takes your photos from your Flickr account (you must approve them access first) and gives you the capability to edit them.  This includes cropping, rotating, flipping, etc. If you use Flickr, this is a great solution.

–Overall–

Overall, if you haven’t taken the time to find out how to easily resize your images, this should point you in the right direction.  While I prefer a downloadable program that I’ll always have on my computer,  it may also be nice to have the resizing capabilities no matter where you go. Many of the options do more then just resize the photo. Now there should be no excuse for sending an email with  gigantic image attachments!

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Jan 01

CyberNotes: Create a Custom Software Update Notifier

Posted in: CyberNotes, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on October 11, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Tutorial Thursday

One of the most common things that I’ve been getting asked is how people can stay up-to-date on the latest software. I got really excited about the free UpdateStar application which I mentioned last week, but it still didn’t have information on a lot of the software that I used.

There are hundreds of sites out there that provide RSS feeds for downloads, and I began to think to myself that there had to be a good way to use some of those feeds to my advantage. Then Yahoo! Pipes came to mind since I had just used that last week to show how to translate RSS feeds, and it works perfectly in this situation.

–Overview–

What we’re going to do with Yahoo! Pipes is combine several feeds from popular download sites into one central feed. I recommend a handful of sites at the end of this article that should offer exactly what you’re looking for.

Then we’re going to use Yahoo! Pipes to sift through every item in each of the feeds, and pull out only the items that interest us. Because of the nature of Yahoo! Pipes it will only take a second to go back and add more things to watch for, so don’t worry if you forget to put an app on the list to be monitored.

–Instructions–

  1. Go to the Yahoo! Pipes homepage, and begin creating a new pipe.
  2. Drag the “Fetch Feed” item over onto the grid (located under the Sources menu):
    Software Update Notifier 1
  3. Add the feeds you want to monitor for the downloads (a recommended list can be found at the end of this article). To add multiple feeds just use the plus sign located next to “URL”.
    Software Update Notifier 2
  4. Drag the “Filter” item over onto the grid (located under the Operators menu):
    Software Update Notifier 3
  5. Adjust the filter so that it will only “Permit” a feed item to make it through if it matches one of the names you are looking for. You can add multiple names to search for by hitting the plus sign next to “Rules”. Just make sure each one has the “item.title” selected.
    Software Update Notifier 4
  6. Now you just have to connect the dots, literally. When you’re done hit the “Refresh” link at the bottom to see a live preview of what the resulting feed will look like. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see any items because there may not have been updates to your programs in a little while.
    Software Update Notifier 5
  7. Go ahead and hit the “Save” button in the upper-right corner of the screen, and give your Pipe a name. Then click the “Back to My Pipes” link towards the top, and you should see your new feed listed there. Click on it, and then subscribe to it with your feed reader!

–Feeds–

There are hundreds of different download sites that you can subscribe to, but that’s not really necessary. Below is a list of five different feeds that should take care of all your needs. All you need to do is copy and paste each of the URL’s that I provide into Step 3 above.

  1. Download.com: http://www.download.com/3409-2001-0-10.xml?tag=lr_rss
  2. Fileforum.com: http://fileforum.betanews.com/rss2
  3. MajorGeeks.com: http://majorgeeks.com/news.xml
  4. FileHippo.com: http://filehippo.com/rss/
  5. CyberNetNews.com: http://feeds.cybernetnews.com/CyberNetDailyDownloads

–Tips–

  • One feed will probably be enough, and that way you eliminate the possibility of receiving duplicate entries in the feed which you can see happened to me in Step 6 above. I like to know as soon as possible when new programs are released (for obvious reasons), and having multiple feeds lets me do that. I recommend the MajorGeeks feed if you are going to choose just one of them.
  • Let’s say you have something that you’re tracking called “ER”. You can’t just enter that into the filter because every title that has “er” somewhere in the words will match. To get around this just put spaces before and after the “ER” in the filter so that it is treated as a word.

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Jan 01

Who Will Win Vaporware Awards This Year?

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

This article was written on December 08, 2007 by CyberNet.

Each year Wired News puts together their list of Vaporware awards otherwise known as “the year’s top technology products promised, hyped and scheduled, but not delivered.” Reader’s send in nominations and then Wired ultimately makes the final decision. They’re in the current process of accepting nominations for 2007′s Awards, and at this point, it looks as though a handful of the “winners” from last year could potentially make the list this year:

  • Coming in at number 10 last year on the list was the Optimus Maxiumus keyboard which was supposed to be ready in 2007.  They were set to ship the first 200 keyboard in December, but on the Optimus Maximus website, it says they won’t ship in February 2008
  • Fourth on the list for 2006 was Spore – the new game from the Sims creator. After it was promised in 2006 and never made it, they promised a launch in 2007. December is here, and it looks like Spore won’t be ready until late 2008.
  • Duke Nukem Forever came in as the number one Vaporware award last year. It’s been in development for 10 years now and on the website, they say that there is no release date for the game and that it’ll  be released “when it’s done.” Period.

Again, as I mentioned, at this point people are just submitting their nominations. Among those nominations that have the potential to make the list this year are:

  • Home – Playstations 3′s version of Second Life. It was expected to be available around the Glove by Fall, but it’s now nearly Winter and there’s been no news of it coming
  • XP Service Pack 3 – yep, this one has gotten delayed despite XP’s popularity
  • Tesla Roadster – you know, the pure electric car? It still hasn’t made its grand appearnce yet

Check out all of the nominations that have been submitted so far and let us know if there’s something you think belongs on the list!

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Dec 31

Create Your Own Mosaics In Seconds Using Flickr Images

Posted in: Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on November 10, 2006 by CyberNet.

CyberNet Mosaic

Have you ever wanted to create your own mosaic of an image but don’t feel like sitting down for days and days trying to find pictures that match the color you need? Then you need to use the free online Image Mosiac Generator. Just upload your PNG, GIF, JPG, or JPEG image file and it will scrounge Flickr looking for images that will match the colors. If you don’t have any pictures you want to upload at least checkout the ones they have done on their homepage.

As you can see I did it will our logo but I used a low quality version so that the tiling is more apparent. If you stand back a few feet from your monitor you almost won’t be able to tell the difference between the real logo and the one that I generated.

This is actually more fun than I initially thought it would be. I have found myself uploading several images to see the result. :D

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Dec 31

CyberNet Forum Hits 200 Members and almost 4000 Posts!

Posted in: Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on March 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNet ForumOur forum community continues to grow as we have just hit the 200 member mark! From those members we also have nearly 4,000 posts and 350+ topics that have been started.

The great thing about the forum is that a lot of conversations have been started there, many of which are not related to technology. Sometimes it’s nice to step away from the technology and talk about other things. For instance, one of the most popular articles (with over 150 replies) discussed what the best movie of 2006 was. Now a new topic has emerged that covers what members believe to be the best movie of 2007.

Don’t get it wrong though, our forum is still heavily active with technology focused discussions. There are topics like:

And those are just a small handful of the discussions that have been started! You can also find a how to guide on using Windows Remote Desktop.

So head on over to the forum…browse around…and become a member so that you can jump in on the discussions as well! Also, the forum is ad-free once you become a member which I know a lot of people will enjoy.

Thanks to all of the current forum members who have spent quite a bit of time sharing their opinions and knowledge with the rest of us!

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Dec 31

Microsoft Announces They’re Still Interested in Yahoo

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, Web Sites, Yahoo

This article was written on July 07, 2008 by CyberNet.

yahoo interest.pngIn one of Bill Gates’ last interviews before he left Microsoft at the end of June, he said that a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo wasn’t likely to happen. He was speaking with Tom Brokaw of NBC news and was asked, “Do you think in a year from now, when you’re down at the foundation offices, you’ll look up at Microsoft and see Yahoo as a permanent wing of Microsoft, a part of it? Do you think the deal will get done?” Gates’ response was, “No, I don’t think so. But there are plenty of decisions ahead that Steve will get to make about what he invests in, R&D (research and development), and what kind of deals he does. I don’t think that one’s likely but there are plenty of others that will get done and I’ll look on with great respect.” (Source)

Just 10 days after Bill Gates made that statement, and Microsoft released an announcement saying in a nutshell, that they are still interested in Yahoo. The only condition influencing whether or not they will enter further discussions is “if” and only if a new board is elected. They were responding to talks they had with Carl Icahn about his plan to oust the Yahoo board and replace them with a new board. Icahn wrote a letter to Yahoo shareholders to let them know where he was at, and commented on the talks he’s had with Microsoft. At one point he said, “Jerry Yang and the current board of Yahoo will not be able to “botch up” a negotiation with Microsoft again, simply because they will not have the opportunity.”

We know that everybody is probably getting sick of this whole Microsoft-Yahoo saga, but over the next month or two is when it’s going to get really interesting. Now that Microsoft has confirmed that they still have Yahoo set in their sites, still, and we know that Yahoo’s annual shareholders meeting is scheduled for August 1st, something could definitely happen. Whether it would be a full acquisition or just a partial acquisition, we’re not sure yet, but if the board is replaced, some type of acquisition is likely.

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Dec 31

Yahoo Mail Celebrates Birthday, Offers Unlimited Email Storage!

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

This article was written on March 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

YahoomailSome of you have said that you’d never have a reason to switch back to Yahoo Mail – you tried them, left them, and you’re not going back.  In May of this year, Yahoo will start unrolling unlimited email storage to all of their customers. Is that enough to go running over there? According to the recent poll that we started, probably not.

In our poll (you can still vote in the left side-bar), we are asking, how much storage do you actually use? The number one answer with 54 votes is 0–10 MB with 51–200 MB in a close second with 53 votes, and 201–500 MB in third with 51 votes.  The majority of people for this poll use between 0–200 MB of storage. They don’t need the heaps of storage that are currently offered, let alone unlimited space.

So will it really be the endless supply that will attract users? And now that Yahoo has made the move to unlimited storage, you can bet others will be quick to follow.  What will set these services apart? The only real big advantage that I can see for most people will come in the longer term, years from now in like 2020 when people are able to go back to their old email archives from 2007.

As mentioned, this expansion will start in May as Yahoo Mail is coming up on their 10 year anniversary. Yodel Anecdotal points out a few interesting stats:

  • Yahoo Mail launched 10 years ago with 4 MB of storage for each user (that wouldn’t last long today!)
  • Their total capacity for mail at that time was 200 GB for all of their customers combined
  • Now people send and receive pictures in their mail that are as big as the original 4MB offered.

Yahoo mentions that they will be introducing this slowly over several months to make sure the process is smooth. The only way I could see another service one-upping them at this point would be to offer unlimited attachment size.  So far I haven’t read anything about Yahoo increasing their allowance for attachment sizes with the increase in storage space.

Good move for Yahoo, but will it make that big of a difference? With that, who will be next to jump the gun and offer unlimited space?

Source: Thanks CoryC!

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Dec 30

Online Data Backup Solution in Symantec’s Future?

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

This article was written on June 12, 2008 by CyberNet.

symantec acquires swapdrive.pngThe online data backup market has gotten swollen lately with services like Mozy, Box.net, and Carbonite as well as companies like HP (Upline) and Microsoft all offering solutions. Now it looks as though Symantec too wants to get in the online data backup market by acquiring a company called SwapDrive.

SwapDrive calls themselves the leader in file sharing and backup services. Like many other services out there, their customers are able to remotely backup, store, and access their information online. As of June, Symantec completed their acquisition of the company and said that what SwapDrive offers fits right into their strategy.

Our question now is whether Symantec will be incorporating SwapDrive into their Security Suite like Microsoft has done with Windows Live OneCare? You may or may not know this, but part of what OneCare offers besides the antivirus and anti-spyware is a backup and restore feature. They offer “centralized backup management” to make it easy for people to keep their data backed-up.

After doing some digging around, we answered our own question and found Vnunet.com saying, “Symantec will integrate SwapDrive’s service into its Norton consumer storage and security products, selling online storage space as part of broader subscription software packages.

So there we have it, Symantec will soon be adding an online data backup solution to their security suite which tells us that the majority of you won’t be able to take advantage of it. We’ve talked about Norton before, and the general consensus from many of you is that it’s bloated and near useless. Still though, it’s an interesting move for Symantec to make.

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