How to Set Up Email on a New Android Phone

Unless you rely on one of the majors like Yahoo and Gmail for email on your Android smartphone, one of the worst tasks in setting up a new device is surely configuring the email server. The key is to ignore the Android-device prompts for an automatic setup -- they won't work. Instead, plan to manually enter the data straightaway -- it's faster.

 

Setting up a brand-new phone can involve numerous aggravations, but if you don't rely on one of the majors like Yahoo and Gmail for email, one of the worst is surely the manual email server configuration. If you use a customized domain name, your Android device's email client is likely to need this extra step.

This could become an even more prevalent problem with the January U.S. launch of the reasonably priced and specified Moto G smartphone, enabling consumers to buy new devices willy-nilly and without contract. Buying such a new device might be easy, but it will likely remain a time-consuming hassle to configure it -- particularly if you're moving operating systems, like Apple iOS or Windows to Android.

In any case, the key is to ignore the Android-device prompts for an automatic setup -- they won't work. Instead, plan to manually enter the data straightaway -- it's faster. Begin by identifying your existing email settings: Open a currently functioning email client and choose the Settings menu. Then copy the settings syntactically character-by-character.

Microsoft Office's Outlook on the PC lets you leave the settings dialogs on-screen while you fiddle with the phone, but the settings can be copied from iPhones or other software clients too; look for the Settings button on the iPhone and drill down for email settings. 

Outlook 2013

Step 1: Open Outlook 2013 and choose the File tab. Then click or touch the Account Settings button and again, click or touch the resulting drop-down button.

Step 2: In the resulting Change Account dialog box, double-click on the listed email account that you want to use on your phone. The account type, incoming and outgoing servers, and incoming logon information will be listed.

Step 3: Choose the More Settings button on the dialog and then the Outgoing Server tab in order to see if the outgoing mail server is different from the incoming mail server listed in the previous step. Keep Outlook open.

Tip: Some, but not all, outgoing email servers use settings different from those of the incoming server.

Step 4: Find the email setup area on your new Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") device by choosing Settings in the app drawer and then Accounts and Sync; then Add Account and then Email.

Tip: The newest Android operating system -- Android 4.4 "Kit Kat" -- sets up similarly.

Step 5: Follow the syntax precisely to enter server data, obtained in the earlier steps, into the Android device's email setup menu. Use the Next prompt button to progress forward through screens.

Tip: Check the server syntax, password and User ID if the Android device can't connect to the server. Required ports can be found in Outlook's More Settings. Look for the Advanced tab and copy the port numbers listed there.

Pay attention to outgoing server-required SSL encryption, which will be listed in that Outlook tab too. Outgoing encryption is more prevalent than incoming.

Step 6: On the last screen in the series of Android email setup prompts, choose the Android device's email account options such as inbox-checking frequency, default sending account, notification and syncing.

How to Tease Top Performance Out of Your Windows Laptop

Much like cars, Windows PCs need an occasional servicing to keep running at their best. That can mean replacing the battery, freeing up disk space, defragmenting and more. For example, older, nickel cadmium laptop batteries were never designed to be left endlessly plugged in -- as we all do with our laptops -- and often die before the laptop does.

If you're noticing that your Windows laptop runs slower and crankier the older it gets -- I'm talking about your laptop here, not you or me -- it's probably because it needs a bit of maintenance.

Some tender loving care will take care of most old-laptop lethargy in much the same way a routine service visit can extend the life of your car and let it operate with more vroom.

Here's how to fix your laptop. 

Step 1:

Buy a new battery if your laptop is no longer portable and needs to be tethered to the wall.

Older, nickel cadmium laptop batteries were never designed to be left endlessly plugged in -- as we all do with our laptops -- and often die before the laptop does.

Tip: Remove the battery pack from the under side of the laptop and perform a search for the model number on the Internet.

Choose newer Lithium Ion, or Li-ion, battery chemistry, if you can find that option, for the least weight and limited memory effect.

Step 2:

Run Windows Maintenance Tasks by opening the Control Panel in Windows 7 (older Microsoft operating systems are similar), and browsing to System & Security and then Find and Fix Problems.

Select Run Maintenance Tasks and allow the troubleshooter to run.

Tip: Run Maintenance Tasks will correct maintenance issues like excessive unused files and shortcuts.

Step 3:

Free up disk space by returning to the Control Panel home page and browsing to System & Security again. Choose Free Up Disk Space from the Administrative Tools area. The cleanup will run and prompt you to delete redundant files.

Tip: Freeing up disk space provides more elbow room within the hard drive.

Step 4:

Remove programs that you don't use by selecting Free Up Disk Space again. This time, choose Clean Up System Files and then the More Options tab.

Allow the list to populate and uninstall programs you don't use by double-clicking on the program label.

Tip: Programs take up space on the hard drive. As with the previous step, making space helps the laptop. Plus, fewer programs loading on laptop startup frees RAM.

Step 5:

Defragment the hard drive by choosing the Defragment your Hard Drive option label adjacent to the Free Up Disk Space label.

Click on Analyze and the tool will analyze the disk and advise you if defragmentation is necessary. Follow the prompt to perform the defragmentation.

Tip: Defragmenting physically organizes file clusters on the hard drive, making the day-to-day file reading faster.

Step 6:

Turn on Windows Update by clicking on Automatic Updating On or Off within the same System & Security section of the Control Panel, and choosing Install Updates Automatically.

Tip: Windows Update is a Microsoft service that pushes bug fixes and enhancements to the laptop.

Ensure the computer is running and online at the scheduled check time. Follow any prompts.

Step 7:

Install antivirus software. Browse to the Microsoft Windows Consumer Security Software Providers Web page and choose an antivirus application. I've had success with the free AVG product, but others are available too.

Follow the prompts to install the product and allow a scan to take place. Follow any prompts to repair virus damage.

Tip: You may have to delve deep into some of the antivirus websites to find the free version of the product.

Step 8:

Install maintenance software. I've used IObit's free Advanced SystemCare, which has corrected issues for me.

Browse to the IObit website for the download. Install the application and allow it to perform a Smart Scan. Smart Scan will identify and remove malware, fix registry issues and scan the disk for errors, among other optimizations.

Tip: The paid version of Advanced SystemCare provides more in-depth fixes.

How to Use a Windows PC as an Internet Hotspot

It's a device-laden world out there, and that means we all have numerous Internet connections to maintain when we're out and about. One solution is to create a routerless wireless network for your devices using an existing laptop Internet connection. That's where tools called "virtual routers" or "hotspot creators" come in, including Connectify Hotspot Lite.

   

 

If you're like many, you're sprouting portable devices. Tablets, e-readers and phones are taking over our pockets and bags; add mobile games consoles and phoneless iPod touches for the kids, and that's a lot of Internet connections to maintain when out and about.

It's a gaggle of device connections that's hard to sustain because each one needs configuring onto a hotspot.

There are solutions, however. For some years Windows included an ad hoc WiFi network-creation tool as part of its OS. You hard-wire your computer to an Internet router and create an Internet-connected PC. You then use the PC's wireless card to create a WiFi network.

The problem with this method was that you had to use a hard-wired connection for the Internet element -- no good for WiFi in hotel lobbies and other public places. You could have bought additional hardware like a second wireless USB stick and configured it, but that's complicated, more work and conceivably a point of failure.

Microsoft dropped the ad hoc network feature altogether in Windows 8.

I've been exploring solutions to this problem and have been looking in particular at ways to travel with numerous portable devices while only having to connect one of them to the public network, with the others connecting parasitically.

Tools enabling such capabilities are called "virtual routers" or "hotspot creators." One freemium software solution I've used recently is Connectify Hotspot Lite, and it runs under both Windows 7 and 8.

The setup uses a laptop as hotspot. Here's how to do it. 

Step 1:

Switch on your laptop and connect to the wireless network that you'd like to share.

Connect as you normally would by choosing the network name and entering any network-provided password. Then open a browser window and agree to any network-specific terms and conditions or session payment options.

Step 2:

Browse to the Connectify website and choose the Continue button within the Connectify Lite download panel.

Step 3:

Follow the prompts to save the file and allow it to download. Then run the file.

Tip: Follow any prompts to install Microsoft.Net 4.5 and any Microsoft Visual C++ updates.

Step 4:

Allow Connectify to pass through the Windows Firewall when the Firewall dialog appears on the screen.

Tip: The Firewall defaults to allowing connections through Home and Office networks, but you should check the "Public networks" checkbox too.

Step 5:

Choose the free Hotspot Lite option by clicking on the button. Connectify Hotspot Lite will let you create an access point, share the Internet and see which of your devices are connected.

Tip: There are also paid versions that allow firewall controls, sharing 3G and 4G connections, creating a WiFi repeater and unlimited hotspot uptime -- among other things.

Step 6:

Follow the setup tutorial to configure the software by first creating the hotspot name. Then choose the password that you'll use to connect the portable devices to the laptop hotspot.

Step 7:

Choose the Internet connection that you'd like to use. This is the hotel room or other network name that you're already connected to. Then press Start Hotspot.

Tip: The already-connected network name will appear as the default.

Step 8:

Open the WiFi network connections settings on your parasitic portable device. Scroll through the list of available connections and you'll see the hotspot that you created.

Connect to this hotspot by choosing it and entering the password.

Step 9:

Repeat with your other portable devices. Now, when you need to connect multiple devices to a public network, connect the laptop first and then the devices to the laptop.

All of your devices will be online with minimal configuration and conceivably economically using one session.

Tip: Check the "Clients" tab within the connected Connectify Hotspot Lite software for a list of currently connected devices.

Restart the hotspot service with the Start Hotspot button if you encounter issues obtaining an IP address for your portable device.

How to Repair a Broken Screen on a Tablet or Phone

Does the glass on your mobile device sport more cracks than a frozen lake in springtime? Never fear -- this is a repair you can handle yourself. It's actually quite easy, and cheap, to replace the glass once you get the hang of it. I've replaced a few touchscreens now on my rough-handled devices. Tablet and phone construction is all roughly the same, with the same basic concepts.

Breaking the screen on your mobile device doesn't have to mean a brand new, expensive bit of kit. It's actually quite easy, and cheap, to replace the glass once you get the hang of it. A tablet touchscreen can cost about US$50 if you perform the work.

I've replaced a few touchscreens now on my rough-handled devices. Tablet and phone construction is all roughly the same, with the same basic concepts.

This is how to approach it.

First, get familiar with the makeup of your device. The construction is loosely the same across devices and generally includes a back cover, motherboard-containing frame, LCD-containing chassis, LCD, front frame or bezel, and the touch-sensitive glass sandwich -- which is called a digitizer.

Tools that you'll need include miscellaneous small screwdrivers, a heat gun, scissors, double-sided adhesive tape, canned air, work gloves and two dinner-table bowls to keep screws from getting lost.

Replacement digitizers can be obtained from auction sites like eBay.

The Teardown

Step 1: Remove the device's back cover and pull the main battery.

Step 2: Loosen any stuck-on cabling that is now exposed, like the camera cable, for example. Then remove cables if the clasps are exposed. These cables simply slide out of any exposed sockets after clasps are released.

Tip: The tape-style cables are often held onto the frame and parts by adhesive, so tug gently to release.

Step 3: Unscrew the Phillips or Torx screws that hold the motherboard-containing back frame to the LCD-containing chassis and place the screws in a bowl for safe-keeping.

Tip: There can be lots of screws here -- my Toshiba tablet has 14.

Step 4: Separate the back frame from the chassis by gently and carefully pulling the two apart.

Tip: Perform a visual check for any hidden, unremoved screws if you detect resistance. Look for any hidden cables that connect the glass to the LCD-containing chassis and remove if necessary.

Step 5: Remove any further cable assemblies that have become exposed by the separation of parts.

Tip: Maintain visual cues as to which cable to reattach where. For example, place them on the work surface face-up in the order of removal.

Step 6: Remove the LCD-containing chassis from the front frame or bezel and glass assembly by unscrewing a second batch of screws.

Store the second set of screws in a second bowl. Remove any further parts such as the camera.

Tip: Don't touch the LCD face.

Step 7: Separate the existing, damaged glass from the bezel or front frame by waving the heat gun over the adhesive join and pulling apart. Wear gloves here because you will further break the glass.

Tip: Be patient while the heat gun loosens the adhesive and be careful not to break the bezel or front frame while removing the glass -- you will need the bezel intact.

Replacing the Screen

Step 1: Attach fresh two-sided tape to areas of the bezel that have lost their stickiness. Use the existing adhesive where possible. Don't allow tape to overlap the visual part of the glass.

Step 2: Look for any foam padding or seals and reattach.

Step 3: Thread the digitizer cable and remount the new digitizer glass to the bezel by firmly pressing it into place. Then remove any dust from the LCD and glass with canned air.

Tip: Do not touch the inside of the glass -- you won't be able to get rid of the fingerprints after assembly.

Finally, Reassemble

Reattach any parts, like the camera. Then reassemble chassis, frame and so on, in order.

You may have to assemble and disassemble a couple of times because the two sets of screws use similar holes. It's easy to insert the initial set of screws into the wrong holes. You'll only know you've done that when the second set won't fit because you've already used the hole.

Tip: Look for solid connections when attaching cables. Ensure that the clasps are open first. Usually the up position is open.

In general, firm snaps indicate a good assembly. Always reapply any existing metallic tape. Count the screws. If you have any left over, backtrack.

Google's 15th birthday: 15 things you didn't know

From the company's original name to the first Google doodle, we search the archives of Larry Page and Sergey Brin's tech giant for some little-known titbits

Google is 15 years old.

 

Google is 15 years old today. To celebrate, here are 15 facts you probably didn't know about them.
1. Google was originally called BackRub. The homepage read: "BackRub is a 'web crawler' which is designed to traverse the web."

2. Google has acquired an average of one company every week since 2010.

3. The first Google doodle was a Burning Man symbol. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin went to the Burning Man festival in 1998 and added the doodle to let users know they were away from the office that weekend.

4. Google hired its first in-house chef, Charlie Ayers, in November 1999, when the company had just 40 employees.

5. Ayers went on to become the firm's executive chef, overseeing a team of 150 employees across 10 cafes at its headquarters in Mountain View, California.

6. You can use Gmail in more than 50 languages. These include: Welsh, Basque, Tagalog, Malayalam, Telugu and Cherokee.

The first Google Doodle from 1998 – incorporating the Burning Man logo. Photograph: Google

7. Around 1,000 of Google's employees became millionaires when the company went public in 2004.

8. One of those millionaires was masseuse Bonnie Brown, who worked at the company giving back rubs for $450 a week back in 1999.

9. The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, which bypasses the results page to take users directly to the first result of their search, has been estimated to cost Google around $100m in lost ad revenue every year.

10. Google hires goats. In 2009, the company rented around 200 goats for a week to eat the grass and fertilise the soil at its California headquarters.

11. Google's first official tweet was the words "I'm feeling lucky" in binary.

12. Almost all of rival company Mozilla's money comes from Google. The firm pays $300m a year to be the default search engine on Mozilla's web browser Firefox.

13. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin own just 16% of the company.

14. That 16% gives them a combined net worth of around $46bn.

15. A new Google employee is known as a "Noogler" and a former employee is referred to as a "Xoogler".

How to Manage Email and Stop It From Overwhelming You

It's a rare computer user today who isn't constantly battling email overload. Does that describe you -- or someone you know? Never fear. You're not alone, and there are steps you can take to tame the electronic avalanche and regain control of your computing life. Step 1: Shut down your in-box. Step 2: Unsubscribe -- again and again. Turning it all into a game can't hurt, either.

Email has been around since before the Internet, but while the technology itself hasn't changed much since the 1970s, the volume of it has. Some people, in fact, receive hundreds of messages a day. That's a threat to a human's ability to process information.

There are, however, ways to manage email. Here's how to go about it.

 

Step 1:

Shut down your in-box if you find emails are distracting you from productive work. You can still be alerted to important messages through an SMS text message.

Set up a "from-based" filter within your email client, such as Gmail, to forward important emails to your phone's text account. That way, you'll see the initial 140 characters on the phone as the message comes in and know that you need to open your email client to address the email. Yet you won't get distracted routinely by less important email.

Tip: This method will only work if you keep your phone's SMS message functions exclusively for important stuff.

Check your wireless carrier's website for the email-to-SMS messaging syntax. Sprint's, for example is 2127777777@messaging.sprintpcs.com, where the number is your phone number.

Step 2:

Hit the Unsubscribe link embedded in legitimate mass emails and then delete the email without reading it. Gradually your daily volume will decrease -- some of those lists are bombarding you frequently.

Tip: Be careful here, because some unscrupulous marketers use the Unsubscribe link to identify your email box as being live. I've written about identifying dodgy emails before in How to Identify Bogus Banking Emails and How to Do Your Part in Foiling Spammers.

Step 3:

Avoid distributing your email address, but if you do, use a Burner email.

Unfortunately, marketers looking for prospects to harass have wised-up to the use of completely fabricated email addresses when signing up for services, and won't let you register for services without a legitimate email.

Burner email addresses are disposable addresses that let you sign up for services and click on the verify link in the sent email; the addresses then vaporize after a predetermined period, like an hour. Guerrillamail.com is one such Web-based solution.

Step 4:

Look for newsletter marketing preferences options whenever you give out your email in a Web-based form and uncheck the boxes.

Tip: The only emails you'll ever need are the ones related to the account itself -- an option often with its own check box. If you ever feel the compunction to learn more about a company, browse to the website instead.

Turn off email notifications from social networks. Look for the options within the account management page.

Step 5:

Take advantage of triaging tricks offered by email services.

Clients like Outlook let you set up hierarchical folders. Add project folders with action and archive subfolders, then drag-and-drop from the in-box as emails come in, for example. Then deal with the email on a project-by-project basis rather than a hit-and-miss chronological one.

Alternatively, use filters to send messages to the project folder, then address the email content as you work on that particular project.

Look for category options within email clients and take advantage of them. Gmail's newest client on some Android 4.0+, iPhone and iPad devices, for example, lets you categorize by people you actually know. Look for the new Primary tab there.

Tip: Mark certain message senders as Important if your email client lets you do that.

Step 6:

Try some email management software.

Boomerang, a plugin for Gmail, lets you set up reminders if no one replies to your message, so you don't have to retain tickle items in your in-box.

ActiveInBox, a Gmail extension for Chrome or Firefox, creates professional status and prioritization project management-like elements within Gmail.

Step 7:

Turn the whole process into one big game with The Email Game. This Gmail- and Google Apps-compatible game gives you a score. The faster you clear your in-box, the more points you get.

 

How to Get Windows 8.1 on Your PC Now

If you've already got Windows 8 installed, it can be well worth your while to download the free preview version of Windows 8.1. New personalization and services improvements are among the many enhancements included in this widely anticipated update, which is expected to remedy many of the problems in its predecessor. Step 1? You guessed it: Make sure you have a recovery image.

It's no secret that Windows 8 has met with only a lukewarm reception, but life in the tech world moves quickly, and now Windows 8.1 is on the way.

If you've installed Windows 8, it's worth downloading the recently released free preview version of Windows 8.1. By doing so, you will be able to take advantage of the updated OS's personalization and services improvements. The final build will be out later this year.

Curious Windows 7 users can also check out 8.1 by creating and installing an ISO file from the Microsoft website. I've written about ISO-creating concepts before.

Windows 8 users update to Windows 8.1 through the Windows Store. Here's how to go about it if you've already got Windows 8 installed. 

Step 1:

Verify that you have a recovery partition on your hard drive. Access the Command Prompt from the Windows 8 Search charm by entering the term Command. Right click on the result and choose Run as Administrator from the options.

Confirm at the prompts, and then enter the term "recimg /showcurrent" at the Command Prompt to identify if there is a recovery image present.

Step 2:

Create a recovery image if, in the previous step, a "no active recovery image" error appears.

Create the image by creating a folder called Refreshimage at the Command Prompt and then entering "recimg -createimage c:\refreshimage" and Enter.

Tip: The create folder command is "mkdir c:\refresiimage" and then Enter.

Step 3:

Create a USB recovery drive. This will allow you to revert back to your previous install from external media if you need to.

Enter the term Recovery in the Search charm and touch or click Settings. Then choose Create a Recovery Drive and the tool will open.

Choose Copy the Recovery Partition from the PC to the Recovery Drive checkbox and choose Next. Then insert a USB drive, choose it from the options presented and touch or click Next followed by Create. Allow the file transfer to take place and then choose Finish. Then remove and store the flash drive.

Step 4:

Browse to the Windows 8.1 Preview Web page and choose the Get It Now button. Then follow the prompts to open the file and allow the install to take place.

Tip: Back up your personal data before updating any operating system. An update to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8 should retain Windows settings, personal files and most apps.

Step 5:

Restart the PC when prompted, and then open the Store by touching or clicking on the Store tile. Then choose the Update Windows tile or any Update Windows prompt.

Step 6:

Select Download and allow the download to proceed. Follow the prompts to restart and allow the setup to proceed. Follow the prompts to set up the account, including entering a security code that can be sent by email when prompted.

Step 7:

Explore the new features, which include navigation arrows where there was previously white space, and other navigation tools, like a Windows icon for flipping between classic desktop and Windows 8 Start page.

Tip: You'll need your Windows 8 product key when you update to the final edition of Windows 8.1 later this year. 

SOURCE

10 Tech Things You Need To Know This Morning

Good morning. Here's the news.

• This new iOS app lets you view 80 different kinds of file formats on your iPhone or iPad.
  
• Here's data to prove that Kickstarter is a much more effective fundraising platform than Indiegogo. Kickstarter has more big money projects, taking in much higher donations on average.
  
• Despite all the reports you've seen, Facebook still does not support the animated GIF.
  
• Ad-blocking software is on the rise. "A recent report from the Web service PageFair said that on average 22.7 percent of visitors to 220 Web sites were using ad-blocking software, which automatically removes most ads from a Web page."
  
• Apple has allowed dating app Bang With Friends back into the app store, only now it's called Down.
  
• Gawker is experimenting with native advertising in its user-generated content sections (also known as comments).
  
• Tech companies are really ramping up their efforts to fight government surveillance.
  
• "Just about everything that you love about Netflix (its affordability, its variety, its ability to take risks) is made possible because of just about everything you hate about cable."
  
• Here's a video showing off the shell of a gold iPhone 5S.
  
• There's new evidence that indicates that life started on Mars and moved to Earth on a rock. "The oxidized mineral form of the chemical element molybdenum may have been a key to the origin of life. Molybdenum is believed not to have been present on Earth at the time life originated."
  

Someone to Watch Over You: London's Recycling-Bin Spies

"The fact that people were walking through Square Mile, a really historic part of London in the heart of the Financial District, and people didn't know it was happening; you couldn't tell it was happening when you walked past," noted London reporter Siraj Datoo. "If you walked along the street, you really had no idea that your phone was essentially giving this recycling bin your information, and I think that's really what was the craziest part about it."

In June, Renew London equipped a dozen recycling bins in England's capital city with technology to track people's smartphones as they milled about the city. The devices went largely unnoticed until the appearance of an August articleentitled, "This recycling bin is following you."

The piece set off a bit of a media storm as people realized their every move was suddenly capable of being scrutinized and stored away for keeping, safe or otherwise.

Within five days, the City of London ordered the tracking devices to be disabled.

Here to discuss the situation is the man who broke the story, Siraj Datoo. In this TechNewsWorld podcast, Datoo talks about how he happened upon the recycling bins, why the reaction was so visceral, and why the City of London decided to ban them -- after bragging about them.

Here are some excerpts from the podcast:

TechNewsWorld: One thing that's interesting about this story is that the recycling bins that were equipped with this technology were actually introduced in June and weren't reported on, really, until your article, which was on Aug. 8. What was it that kept this story hidden? And how did you stumble across it?

Siraj Datoo: Well, in some ways it was a hidden gem because the story was sitting there for everybody to see, but it's not something that you really think about. These bins have been around in London for quite some time, and, you know, they look like innocent recycling bins, with a few digital screens on either side; they have adverts for Reuters and McDonald's. We came across one... on Twitter and thought, "Well, that's kind of interesting." I normally live in London but hadn't seen that before. 

So I kind of dug into them a little bit and found out they had these chips, these "orbs," they call them, and they launched in June.... So I started looking into it -- I found it kind of interesting. What do they do with the information? So I spoke to Renew's CEO, Kaveh Memari, and we had a really interesting discussion. I found out exactly what the technology was being used for.

TechNewsWorld: Do you think the fact that it was -- if not explicitly hidden -- the fact that it wasn't well-known was part of the cause for what was a pretty uproarious reaction? I mean, like you said, there was a five-day turnaround between when you wrote your story and when the City of London said, 'You gotta disable this.' Was part of that, do you think, because it was secret to so many people?

Datoo: Yeah. So we published Renew's CEO's open letter following the event, after there was a media storm about it, after there was a privacy outcry. He wrote something like, "This is all in the interest of a headline." I think the fact that there were so many publications that wrote about really shows that it wasn't just about a headline. There was something to be said.

The fact that people were walking through Square Mile, a really historic part of London in the heart of the Financial District, and people didn't know it was happening; you couldn't tell it was happening when you walked past. If you walked along the street, you really had no idea that your phone was essentially giving this recycling bin your information, and I think that's really what was the craziest part about it. People were walking, and it'd been happening for so long, that their information was being taken away from them.

TechNewsWorld: You mentioned your conversation with the CEO of Renew, and in your original article, the quote that I thought was so interesting from him was, "from our point of view, it's open to everybody. Everybody can buy that data. London is the most heavily surveillanced city in the world. As long as we don't add a name and home address, it's legal."

That seems either disingenuous or tone deaf, especially given all that's gone on this summer when you talk about data surveillance. What did you think when you heard that, and what did you think of his hypothesis that, you know, it's not really a big deal because everybody has access to this data?

Datoo: Well, again, I agree with you entirely. It was extremely disingenuous because [of] the entire idea that you can get access to that data, when in all fairness, you didn't actually know they had your data. You didn't have any idea they were able to take that information from you, able to see, you know -- from that data they could actually see which shops you went into.

So for example, if you walked past one of their bins -- maybe you walked past three of their bins -- and then you stopped for a little while, they track that down as dwell time, which means if you stopped into Starbucks, they would be able to notice that. And then, you know, let's say you came out after five minutes and you walked back in the same direction, they could tell that's exactly what you've done.

That idea, that you can just get access to that data, and really you didn't even know what that data was, is very concerning. I mean, that kind of links to their idea that they want to make this in some senses the real-world "cookies" that we see online. Renew are peddling this line about only being the MAC address, but it's really about the MAC address and a specific location and a specific time.

That's where it's worrying, really. That information is entirely personal to you, especially when mixed together.

10 Great Social Networking Tips and Tricks

These 10 social networking tips and tricks will help you build a stronger network and take your online presence to the next level. All are designed to make you think strategically and take advantage of timesaving tools to boost your effectiveness. 

Here are 10 ways to boost your social standing online.

 

1. Listen to Your Audience

   The three most important factors in social networking are audience, audience, audience. Identify what kind of people you're trying to reach and pay attention to what they're saying. Build RSS feeds and monitor conversations using listening tools like TweetDeck, Social Mention and Seesmic. (Take this 10-step tutorial on how to use Social Mention to monitor many social networks at once.) Learn the basics of social metrics, or what to measure and why.

2. Participate and Collaborate

   Set goals for engaging your contacts and monitor how much activity your efforts generate. How many retweets do you get on Twitter? How many reposts does your blog generate? Use third-party tools like Retweetist and the Retweet iPhone App to measure your social media influence and impact on networks. Klout is one such tool that lets you track your impact on multiple social media networks.

3. Join Specialized Networks

   Whatever your passion, there is a specialized social network for you. Try Digg if you're a social news hound, Kickstarter for fundraising, Last.fm for music, deviantart.com for artists, fanvibe for sports, or ozmosis for doctors. To find your niche network, run a Google search on "yourtopic and social media."

4. Use Social Media Dashboards

   Save time by using tools like HootSuite to manage your accounts and activity across different social media services, including Twitter, WordPress, Facebook, Foursquare and others. HootSuite lets you post and read messages, track mentions of you, and lets you prepare posts and updates for automatic posting later at pre-scheduled times. Most of the best Twitter clients, for example, also let you manage other social networks.

5. Ask Lots of Questions

   Asking questions is a great way to engage your contacts, attract fresh links and learn new things. When people reply to your questions with comments or posts, it boosts the visibility of your content on that particular network. But take care to read and respond to answers.

6. Link, Link, Link

   Links equal love in social media. So liberally add links to your posts, status updates, tweets and other content. Cross-link to your tweets from your blog and vice versa. On Facebook, you can tag your pals to hyperlink their names. All it takes is adding the "@" symbol at the beginning of your friend's name when you write your status updates. You can also upload files and link to them. Try the TwileShare app, for example.

7. Time Your Tweets

   Noon Eastern Standard Time is a great tweeting time to reach bigger audiences. American West Coasters are showing up for work then, while East Coasters are starting lunch breaks. If you really want to expand your audience, check out this guide to writing good tweets.

8. Use Mobile Helpers

   If you have a smart phone, install special helper applications to send and receive information faster on your favorite social networks. Instagram, for example, helps iPhone users spice up their cell-phone photos and share them quickly across different networks -- Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and others. There are plenty of Twitter helpers for cell phones and tablet computers. Trickle, for example, displays tweets on the iPad one at a time.

9. Create a Visual Identity

   Tweak your Twitter profile and other social network home pages to create a unique visual identity. Create a custom Twitter background to add more bio information and give your Twitter presence personality. Many custom backgrounds are available for free downloading at sites such as MyTweetSpace.com.

10. Back Up Your Virtual Self

    Once you've taken time to build a strong social network, don't let your social identity go up in digital smoke. Make use of available tools for backing up your profiles, photos, and status updates. Facebook's backup tool is under "download your information" in Account Settings. For Twitter, try a third-party tool like TweetStream or TweetScan. WordPress lets you export your posts to a downloadable XML file, which you can save and import later into a new blog in the event that one of your best social blogs accidentally get

A Better Way to Bring Your Desktop to Your iPad

Parallels Access on iPad, connected to a Mac.

You don’t have to be a technophile to know a few things about compatibility. VHS tapes don’t play on a laptop, iPhone apps don’t run on your microwave and a CD won’t play in a toaster. 

Most people probably assume you also can’t use Mac or Windows programs on an iPad. The iPad, the world’s most popular tablet, runs its own flavor of software. 

Which is a shame, really. All kinds of programs would be useful to have on your lovely, lightweight tablet: Quicken. Photoshop. iTunes. The full-blown Word, Excel, PowerPoint. AutoCAD.

I’m pleased to report that such a thing is possible, thanks to a remarkable new app, Parallels Access. Parallels, the company, has a good deal of experience running incompatible programs on popular computers; its best-known product lets you run Windows on a Mac.

Access is not some miracle adapter that runs Mac and PC programs on the iPad itself. Instead, it’s a glorified porthole into the screen of a real Mac or PC back at your home or office. You see everything on your distant computer remotely; you can click, type and drag in the programs there, even listen to audio and watch videos. The iPad becomes like a detached touch screen for a Mac or PC that’s thousands of miles away.

It’s not just about running desktop software, either. This setup also means you can get access to the far greater storage and horsepower of your computer. And you can work with files you left behind. The one catch: It requires an Internet connection. Access works over slower connections — like 3G cellular — but barely. 

To make this come to pass, you set up Access on both ends. You install one app on your iPad, and another on your Mac or PC (Mac OS X 10.8 or later, Windows 7 or later). You also create a free account at Parallels.com.

From now on, whenever you want to operate your Mac or PC by remote control, you open the Access app on the iPad. You tap the picture of the computer whose brain you want to enter; there’s nothing to stop you from setting up two or hundreds of Macs and Windows machines to connect.

When you first connect, you see a launcher: an iPad-style screen full of icons. In this case, they represent your Mac or PC programs. Tap one to open it. This launchpad starts out showing only the icons of your most frequently used Mac or Windows programs, but you can tap a “+” button to add other icons. 

Getting into Word 2010 with the Parallels Access App Switcher, shown at the bottom of the screen, which lets you jump among open programs and even open documents.

Parallels Access is not the first product that gives you access to your Mac or PC remotely. Many iPad apps do that, bearing names like VNC Viewer and Screens. They cost $10 or $20. Corporate tech workers adore them. From wherever they happen to be, they can see, operate and troubleshoot the computer back at headquarters from the screen of a single iPad, without having to put on pants and drive to the office. 

But Parallels Access is superior, for many reasons.

First, VNC apps are extremely technical to set up. Here’s an excerpt from steps for VNC Viewer, one of the best reviewed apps: “By default, VNC Server listens on port 5900. You can listen on a new port, providing no other service or program is doing so. Note you will have to specify the new port when connecting, and you may need to reconfigure firewalls and routers.” O.K. then!

Parallels Access requires no fiddling with routers, firewalls or port numbers. You fill in your Parallels name and password, and boom: the connection is made, with 256-bit AES encryption (translation: “very securely”).

Second, VNC apps display the entire computer’s screen on the iPad. Icons, toolbars and buttons wind up about the size of subatomic particles.

Access, on the other hand, “appifies” the Mac or Windows program; the document you’re editing fills the screen. All the iPad touch-screen gestures work to operate the remote program, too — drag with one finger to scroll, for example. Tap to “click the mouse.” Tap with two fingers to “right-click.” Pinch or spread two fingers to zoom out or in. No matter what the Mac or PC program is, it behaves as if it is an iPad app.

Access is filled with additional touches that VNC-type programs generally lack, which further adapt mouse-and-keyboard software to a touch screen. 

 For example, when you need to see some tiny interface item, you can hold your finger down momentarily. Access displays the familiar iPad loupe — a magnified circle — that lets you tap or drag with greater precision. That magnified area also makes it easy to see when your cursor shape has changed, as it often does in programs like Excel and Photoshop. 

You can highlight, copy and paste text and graphics using the familiar iPad conventions; for example, once you’ve selected some words, the usual iPad row of black buttons (Cut, Copy, Select All and so on) shows up. When you need a keyboard, you can tap a button on the unobtrusive, hideable Access toolbar, and a big on-screen keyboard appears, with all the traditional Mac or Windows keys (Esc, Tab, Ctrl, Alt, F1, Home, End, arrow keys and so on). 

The iPad’s text-entry features still work, even though you’re typing into a program on the other side of the world. For example, you can speak to dictate, or you can use the iPad’s non-English keyboards, or even the iPad’s little character-drawing sketch pad for Chinese character recognition.

In short, Access does a lot more than just blast your computer’s screen onto the iPad’s. It truly does “appify” your computer’s programs. It creates a smooth, logical hybrid of iPad and “real” computer, in a way that the VNC apps do not. It works amazingly well.

I do, however, have complaints.

First, your Mac or PC has to remain on and awake. If it ever goes to sleep, your iPad’s “call” will go unanswered. From an environmental and cost standpoint, that’s not a great situation. You have the same problem with VNC apps. 

You should know, too, that when your iPad is connected, nobody can use the Mac or PC. The iPad takes over its soul. Its screen shows exactly what the iPad does: a squat, rectangular, one-window image. (You can opt to have the computer screen go blank.) 

The bigger concern, though, is the price: $80 a year. That’s right: Access requires a subscription. (Mac owners get a free two-week trial; PC owners become part of the free public beta-testing program, of undetermined length.)

The problem here isn’t the $80. It’s the “a year.” Subscriptions make sense when a company provides you with some good or service month after month. Electricity, cable TV, Internet, magazines, fruit in a box. Fine. 

Parallels says that it is providing a service — your connection from iPad to computer goes through its secure servers. But those VNC apps cost a one-time $10 or $20. No, they’re not as good, but they also don’t saddle your life with yet another eternal subscription. Eighty dollars a year, forever, seems steep. 

Otherwise, wow. Parallels Access is quick to set up, simple to understand, almost limitless in potential. It brings millions of full-powered, high-sophistication Mac and Windows programs to the screen of the humble iPad — backed by the full speed, storage and memory of those Macs and Windows machines. If $80 a year seems worth it to you, then guess what? Another great wall of incompatibility has just fallen. 

A magnifying loupe appears when you hold your finger down, making it easier to "click" tiny buttons and controls. IPad touch-screen gestures work, too.

Lose Your Keys? Use Your Phone

My quest to test an app called KeyMe started with five keys. 

KeyMe allows you to scan digital keys into the cloud with an iPhone, to be retrieved whenever one goes missing. Rather than waiting around for a locksmith to change the locks, or overpaying a landlord for a new set, you can take the digital specifications to any place that makes and sells keys.

The app’s creator, Greg Marsh, came up with the idea about two years ago, after several trying episodes involving locksmiths at his Lower East Side apartment. 

“The more I found out about keys and how they worked, the more it seemed like a digital storage program would work really well,” he said.

The KeyMe app gathers crucial information, including a key’s type (SC1, for instance) and the height of and distance between the key’s teeth. Any locksmith who has that information should be able to replicate your key. 

Of the five keys I tried to scan, two were normal-size cut keys, one for my apartment and the other for my parents’ house. Another was the small key to my mailbox. The last two were more heavy duty: the keys to my bike lock and a black-jacketed Mul-T-Lock key to my apartment building.

But KeyMe is unable to scan bike keys and “do not duplicate” security keys, bringing my virtual key ring down to three. And scanning those three was a struggle. KeyMe’s scanning system requires the user to hold a phone completely still for about 15 seconds — a difficult prospect, particularly if you decide to scan keys after your morning coffee. Eventually though, the three keys that could be were scanned. 

After that, there were additional delays. None of the keys I had scanned made it to the key-ring display, which indicates that a key’s specifications have been stored.

Mr. Marsh explained that there was often a bit of a delay between scanning a key in and having its measurements available. “The last thing we want is to give someone a faulty key, so we’ve got strict thresholds about when a result is returned,” he said.

Two of the three keys that I had scanned in were added to my key ring after a couple of hours. But the tiny key to my mailbox didn’t make it, probably because it was one of several key types that KeyMe has yet to support. 

With my two virtual keys, I strode proudly to my local locksmith. When I got there, I learned that to retrieve each key’s measurements, I would have to pay a $9.99 fee to KeyMe, a cost that is not apparent when you download the free app. And that was in addition to the $10 my locksmith charged me for making a key from specifications (normal key copies are only $1.50; at the hardware store down the street, they’re a quarter). I decided to have just one key made, to my apartment. (It worked.)

From the five I had originally planned to scan, I ended up with only one $20 key. Anyone who had the foresight to scan keys with an app could have accomplished the same end merely by copying the keys at a hardware store for significantly less money. KeyMe is a good idea, but the app has quite a few doors to unlock before it becomes a viable alternative to simply being prepared.

How to use the 25% of the internet that the NSA doesn’t monitor

This morning you probably read the report that the NSA, despite its emphatic claims to the contrary, has the ability to scoop up 75% of all US internet traffic. Through various programs known as Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium, Blarney, Stormbrew, and old favorites such as XKeyscore and Prism, the US government gathers data from almost every US telecommunications company. Blarney, for example, according to former AT&T officials, sends a copy of anything interesting that crosses the AT&T network (which is huge) to the NSA.

Rather than worry about whether your internet activity is being snooped on by the US government, though (spoiler: it is), I thought I would instead take a different tack and surprise you with a glass-half-full approach. If the NSA can listen in on 75% of all traffic traveling through the US, then that must surely mean that a full 25% goes unmonitored. When you’re talking about a significant chunk of the internet’s infrastructure, representing exabytes (billions of gigabytes) of traffic every month, 25% is a significantly sizable swath that’s unchecked by the US government. 25% is easily enough room for you to surf the web without the omnipresent gaze of an overreaching government. But how do you stop being part of the quietly oppressed 75% and enjoy the freedom of the other 25%?

Are you being monitored?

Unfortunately, because we’re dealing with classified information and journalistic reports that redact a lot of the more juicy information, it’s quite hard to work out which 75% of the US internet is being monitored, and which 25% is fast and loose. Let’s start by running through what we do know.

 

At the very least, it seems that AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have hardware in their data centers and transit hubs that mirror data, filter the data according to the NSA’s requirements, and then ferry that data to the NSA. Judging by the names mentioned in the leaked Prism slides, major US companies such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook are all under the thumb of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court, too.
Between AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, the US government has a tap on most of North America’s US internet traffic. Not only do these companies act as ISPs (connecting consumers to the internet), but by virtue of being tier 1 operators they also run some of the largest backbone and backhaul links (connecting enterprises and whole data centers to the internet). AT&T and Verizon (via WorldCom and UUNET) also have extensive overseas networks, which the US government probably has access to as well.

 Sprint’s US backbone map (date unknown, but probably quite recent)

Level 3′s North America internet backbone (2013)

The most notable omission from the leaks appears to be Level 3 — a US company that just so happens to be one of the biggest players in the global internet backbone business. If Level 3 hasn’t signed onto the NSA data collection programs, then that might explain the missing 25%. In reality, Level 3 is probably beholden to the same laws and FISA rulings that have forced other US companies to install the NSA’s special packet-mirroring routers. (See: The secret world of submarine cables.)

Escaping the ever-watchful eye of the US government

Which ISPs and backbone providers have escaped the US government’s digital dragnet, then? Deutsche Telekom, which is headquartered in Germany by operates a large tier 1 network in the US, is one possibility. T-Mobile (which is owned by Deutsche Telekom) has so far been unscathed by the recent spate of NSA whistleblowing, suggesting that its lawyers may have successfully navigated the various FISA rulings. NTT, a Japanese company, and Reliance, an Indian company, both have operations in the USA and may have escaped the NSA.



If I had to pick a major carrier/backbone provider that accounts for the missing 25%, it would probably be Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile.
But these are just educated guesses. The other gloomy possibility, though, is that the missing 25% represents the data that the telecoms companies hold back from the NSA. According to the Wall Street Journal report, at least one telco has its lawyers only hand over “clearly foreign” streams of data. It’s entirely possible that the government has a tap on every major player in the US internet market.
 If that’s the case, then your only real recourse is moving to another country and using an ISP/mobile carrier that doesn’t have ties to the US (very hard, as much of the internet backbone is owned by US companies), or perhaps waiting for an ISP to make a stand and publicly announce that it will not allow the US government to spy on your internet activity. In the meantime, your best bet is probably to use encrypted connections wherever possible. You should force HTTPS with a browser add-on when you’re surfing the web or using webmail, and use encrypted tunnels (SSH) or the secure versions of services (SFTP,  IMAP over SSL, etc.) whenever you venture outside your browser. If you’re really serious about your privacy, using an anonymity network like Tor or Freenet is probably a good idea, too.

Five ways to make Facebook better

Make facebook work for you. It's not that hard.

FACEBOOK sucks. 

 

If it doesn't yet suck for you, it can start at any time and quickly blaze out of control.  Making things bearable again - even better than they were - can be a difficult prospect for the average user. 

We're going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you use Facebook for more reasons than simply 'staying in touch.' You might play the stupid games. You spy on ex partners. You eagerly await the sudden appearance of the next hilarious YouTube opus and/or awesome article. You want to be entertained by Facebook. Of course you do - it's a great medium for that in a lot of different ways.

A few things can get in the way, though. We'll need to fix those before the merriment may continue (or start).

1. Uninteresting Updates From Uninteresting Humans

You might have a few hundred "friends." Some people will have a few thousand. Whatever the case, nobody has that many actual friends. Nobody. The problem with friending that guy you ran into at a bar who also liked drinking eight years ago is that you end up with a feed full of awful, useless, whinging, mundane bulls**t. Hell can totally be other people, especially on Facebook. Now, defriending people can start something. We don't want to do that. Instead, you can unfollow. Scroll up to the right corner of a post from someone you can't stand. A little box that was previously invisible will appear. Click it, and click 'Hide'. Then go the extra mile and click 'Change what updates you get from <insert insufferable human garbage here>.' Click 'Unfollow'. They are now gone from your feed forever. And they'll never know, either.

2. People's Dumb Babies

Some of your Facebook chums are legitimately cool. However, even cool people sometimes have babies and this can cause a horrible schism to occur in your enjoyment of them: They are now parents. Proud parents. Proud new parents who will show the world their unremarkable bore-spawn doing nothing at all at least 200 times per spare moment. You can't simply unfollow these people though, they were formerly cool and maybe show glimmers of this in between bore-spawn offensives. The solution is to a) Start using Google Chrome, and b) Install unbaby.me. The child is now kittens.

3. Everything You Like Is Boring

Most of us see the page of something we enjoy or have enjoyed only recently (like a new movie, say) and instinctively click 'Like' on it because, well, we like it. This natural reaction has the adverse effect of cluttering your feed with huge steaming piles of 'engagement' that's either redundant or grasping. Annoying, right? Apart from resisting the urge to Like everything within personal interest range, be judicious about what pages you let into your FB boudoir. Here, let us assist in this matter of grave import: news.com.au (of course), AskMen Australia (for fun), Shock Mansion (they live for the best vids on the web), and I f***ing love science (learn while you laugh). 

4. It's The Little Things

It really is. Facebook's little annoyances can add up to one huge suppository that constitutes your social media experience. Endless event invites (even from complete strangers. How does that work?), insistent hassle from apps and your friends' silly startups, guilt-brokering pictures of maimed animals, and the dreaded poke. Refrain from any of this, especially poking anyone. It's weird and nobody knows how to feel about it. Furthermore, stamp out the tyranny of event invites (just say "no" or, if you're chicken, "maybe") or receive constant updates whenever somebody posts in them forever. Your mind is a terrible thing to lose and housecleaning your Facebook is essential.

5. You

The average Facebook user has over 120 friends and likes another 100 groups or pages. You're an average Facebook user. That's a lot of potential pollution you might also be putting out. The problem could be you, or you could be part of it. It's incredibly tempting to see 'What's on your mind?' and be very quick to take up the invite to talk about yourself and thus bore everyone to death with triviality, passive-aggressiveness, attention-seeking, or egotism. Self-absorption is one of the biggest problems with social media. Most people are unremarkable and don't realise it. If the internet is good for anything, it's good for escapism and/or education. Next time you go to tell the world "lovin' lunch right now lol/someone has really done it now/man I can't believe what just happened/in New York & ur not," backspace it to hell and try this instead: Share something of intense worth and interest. It could be the latest expose on Mexican drug cartels or that time Frenzal Rhomb's frontman got a tapeworm stuck in his brain. You're selflessly contributing good stuff and you look good doing it. Start that trend.

What really happens to your deleted files

YOU know that file you deleted from your computer before your significant other had a chance to find it?

What if we told you that file never really disappeared?

That's right, just because you move a file to the trash doesn't mean it has actually been deleted.

And even once you empty the trash, the space inhabited by the file isn't actually emptied. When you hit "delete" that file doesn't disappear. It is simply marked as empty.

Michael from YouTube channel VSauce explains that "the file's home becomes available real estate but the file itself hasn't actually moved out. Only the pointers have gone away."

What are pointers, you ask? Pointers are a kind of data that point to places in your computer's memory where the file you are referencing can be found.

Deleting a file is the equivalent of turning to the contents page of a book and marking a chapter as empty, even though the actual chapter still exists.

Which is why you need to "overwrite" the file. Overwriting the file is the equivalent of turning it into Frankenstein's monster. You keep adding new data to it until it becomes unrecognisable.

However, overwriting doesn't always work. Some people have overwritten files more than 35 times and even then hackers and cyber criminals have been able to piece the information back together.

So the next option is shredding - physically taking apart your computer piece by piece and maybe putting it through some high powered magnet for good measure.

But much like shredded pieces of paper can actually be put back together, so too can shredded computer parts.

The video explains that cyber criminals have been able to find classified files from the US government in digital dumping grounds in Ghana.

So basically, nothing is permanently gone. And the best way to keep your data safe is to keep the hard drives of your old computers before ditching, donating or selling it, because you never know where your data can end up.

And then take to it with a hammer or some gasoline and a match.

Watch the video above for a more detailed explanation.