Maximizing Use of your Gmail

Maximizing your GMail
written by Corey L. Stokes
(view as .pdf)

If you are new to Google’s G-Mail service you may not know all there is to know about your g-mail account. From Google Books to Google Voice, Google has truly created a once stop shop to stay connected.
If you thought your g-mail and your search engine was all that Google had to offer, you may want to take another look. Recently, I began researching a way to get my news in one area. With my email being clogged with useless information or at least information that was not useful to me, such as advertisements and spam,  I came across Alerts, Google Reader and a host of other applications i found very useful… well it really didn’t just fall in my lap, a few clicks off of Google’s home pages and they were right there in front of me.   But not just applications for news and readers;  a slew of applications that provided a variety of solutions.

Google Alerts, one such solution,  according to Google web site description allows you to receive email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.  Making is much easier to stay up-to-date on exactly the information you want. With a few click to customize your settings you can start receiving  updates on say… the latest technological advances… or the last news on political offices.  Instead of searching everyday for articles that are posted on your topic  Alerts allow you to receive those post in your email on a daily basis.  Hows that for cutting the search out of research.  In the same fashion,  Google reader, an RSS reader allows you to subscribe to the news feeds of all your favorite news outlets, like the BluestripesIRM.com RSS Feed.  Similarly, If you are not getting over flooded with information already,  Google’s blog search, allows you to search through and subscribe to the blogs to see what others are saying about a given topic.   Whether you are looking for videos, images, news, financial data,  and blogs,  to quote a famous phrase from the popular apple commercials, “there is an app for that”.  And it’s  all right from your g-mail account.

Pursing Google’s web site however, was not only to find the latest news updates, or the newest blog posts from other technology guru’s.  while completing a Masters of Science Google Scholar provided the a library’s worth of scholarly journals or, as Google puts it,  scholarly literature, that kept me informed what the professionals where saying about  a given topic.  In addition to feeding my inner nerd,  Google Books satisfied my fancy for entertainment reading; without leaving my computer or my g-mail account. With thousands of e-books, including many of those in the public domain which are available as an Adobe download.   With the e-book market rapidly growing Google books give you the opportunity to enjoy the many e-books in publication without having to purchase a reader.  For mobile enjoyment of e-books however, choosing to purchase an e-book reader of your choice may be beneficial.  Google list of solution however, doesn’t stop with scholarly studies or Entertainment Reading,  their repertoire also includes various types of apps for web design, 3D model building,  and photo sharing and even a desktop side bar.

So let’s see, we have email, rss reader, desktop tools, an online library for entertainment and scholarly reading but… what if you merely wish to connect with friends, check email, use spread sheets, and type documents? Google still has something for you.  Of course you’ve heard of glue of it all G-mail, which is adding new services and features everyday. Google Documents gives you mobile access to any document, spreadsheets and more.  It also makes editing and sharing your documents that much easier than basic email or document tracking. But don’t think of it as a replacement for your current word processor however, if you have not purchased the licensed copies of other word processes it makes for a viable and competitive option. Even the G-Talk application provides VOIP, Chat and a Video chat, that also allows for file share.  It seems Google has thought of everything.  Even connecting your telecommunication  devices and land lines to one number with Google Voice.  So what’s the Buzz around the net… If you ask me it’s Google.

Chances are, even if you don’t use G-mail, you have everything that I’ve highlighted here. but you probably use several different usernames and passwords, and different applications..And you are probably getting along just fine.   Google however,  gives you one place to go with one username and password remember. And the best part… Its Free!!!  So I ask you Are you getting the most out of your GMail?

How to Disappear

When I heard about this on the NYT Tech Talk podcast, all I could say was…WOW!!!  You’d really be surprised what you will find on the internet about yourself.  Be Safe! while surfing the net. 

 

——————————————————
How to Disappear
by
Frank M. Ahearn & Eileen C. Horan

 
From the world’s preeminent people finder—an insider’s guide to disappearing!

How to Disappear is the authoritative and comprehensive guide for people who seek to protect their privacy as well as for anyone who’s ever entertained the fantasy of disappearing—whether actually dropping out of sight or by eliminating the traceable evidence of their existence.

Written by the world’s leading experts on finding people and helping people avoid being found, How to Disappear covers everything from tools for disappearing to discovering and eliminating the nearly invisible tracks and clues we tend to leave wherever we go. Learn the three keys to disappearing, all about your electronic footprints, the dangers and opportunities of social networking sites, and how to disappear from a stalker.

Frank Ahearn and Eileen Horan provide field-tested methods for maintaining privacy, as well as tactics and strategies for protecting personal information and preventing identity theft. They explain and illustrate key tactics such as misinformation (destroying all the data known about you); disinformation (creating fake trails); and, finally, reformation—the act of getting you from point A to point B without leaving clues.

Ahearn illustrates every step with real-life stories of his fascinating career, from undercover work to nab thieving department store employees to a stint as a private investigator; and, later, as a career “skip tracer” who finds people who don’t want to be found. In 1997, when news broke of President Bill Clinton’s dalliance with a White House intern, Ahearn was hired to find her. When Oscar statuettes were stolen in Beverly Hills, Ahearn pinpointed a principal in the caper to help solve the case. When Russell Crowe threw a telephone at a hotel clerk in 2005, Ahearn located the victim and hid him from the media.

An indispensable resource not just for those determined to become utterly anonymous, but also for just about anyone in the brave new world of on-line information, How to Disappear sums up Ahearn’s dual philosophy: Don’t break the law, but know how to protect yourself.

Firesheep Firefox Add-On Hijacks Twitter, Facebook Over Wi-Fi

I heard this on NYT Tech Talk and thought it was very informative. Beware of unprotected hot spots and ensure your browser is the most up-to-date.

By: Larry Seltzer

If you didn’t already know that plain HTTP sessions are utterly insecure, here’s proof: A new Firefox addin named Firesheep captures sessions on open Wi-Fi networks and goes one step more sinister. It finds users logged into Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Dropbox, Evernote, WordPress, Flickr, bit.ly and more, and lets you take over their sessions and become them.
This isn’t revolutionary in any way. Session hijacking in HTTP is old news, but it may never have been this easy before. For Windows users it’s a bit harder, as they have to install WinPcap, a packet capture library, but it’s still not much of a barrier. An OSX version is also available.
What can you do? Don’t use open, unencrypted Wi-Fi networks or, if you do, use a VPN on them. At the very least, use HTTPS sessions on open networks. Hat tip to TechCrunch for suggesting Force-TLS, another Firefox extension that forces Firefox to use HTTPS (TLS) connections from certain sites.
Many of these sites offer TLS (HTTPS) connections, but don’t default to them. Support can be flaky: Facebook on TLS has no chat available. What’s up with that? Some services, like Gmail, have moved to all-TLS all the time.
I don’t think there’s any particular reason why Firesheep should be limited to Wi-Fi networks. Regular wired Ethernet connections aren’t encrypted by default either. I’ll research this and report back.
Originally posted on PCMag’s Security Watch blog.