Author Archive

Gmail’s New Priority Inbox

Gmail now sorts your inbox by putting the most important email  in the Priority Inbox and the rest(subscriptions, etc.) in the standard inbox.  This new feature give you the ability to adjust what is important or not by clicking the + or – button.

Skype Gives Us 10 Person Group Video Calling

Skype gives us group video calling (up to 10 people) with it’s latest  beta release  of version 5.0. Give it a try here.

Verizon Wireless Customers Get Skype Mobile

Verizon and Skype  just announced an exclusive deal giving Verizon customers(with Android and Blackberrys)unlimited free Skype to Skype calling and IM. The free app is now available in the Android Market.  Blackberry users can get it from Skype here.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Stop paying for antivirus.  When my antivirus subscription ran out and was up for renewal, I made the switch to Microsoft Security Essentials. I have tried AVG and some of the other free solutions and was not happy with the slowing effect it had on my machine.   I have been a very pleased customer of Nod32, but when Microsoft put out a free and very lightweight Antivirus with pretty decent reviews, it was time to make the switch.  I have been using it for about 6 month and I am now ready to recommend it.  Make sure you uninstall any current antivirus that you may have on your system, them go to Microsoft to get Security Essentials here.

Blocking Chatroulette

All you parents out there with young children in the house and on the computer should know about Chatroulette. Chatroulette is a very simple video chat service that connect you to someone randomly.  You never know who or “what” you will get.  More times then not it will be something very inappropriate.  Blocking Chatroulette is very simple if you are already using OpenDNS.(talked about here in an older post) Once you have OpenDNS running and signed into your account, click on settings tab, then under “Manage You Networks”,  click on ip address.  Here is where you can manage you content filtering.  At the bottom where it says “Manage individual domains” , enter chatroulette.com and mark it as “always Block”. You can also set your setting to “high” then unblock sites as needed.

Google Voice Chrome Extension

Google recently release a Voice extension for the Chrome browser.  The extension adds an icon to the toolbar giving you easy access to your Google Voice inbox. Also, phone numbers on a website are turned into a clickable link to call instantly using your Google Voice number.

Switching to Google Chrome

Now that Chrome has opened their doors to extensions, I think it is finally ready for prime time. Also the internet is quickly moving to html5, which Firefox does not yet support. The two extensions I have been waiting for are, Xmarks and Roboform. Xmarks syncs all your bookmarks browser to browser and computer to computer and storing a copy on the internet. Roboform is a great password manager.

Seesmic Look Desktop App

“Seesmic Look is a unique way to immerse yourself in the real-time web. Optimized for Windows 7, this innovative interface allows you to feel the pulse of millions of users or be inspired by individuals of your specific interest. Beginners learning to understand real-time can stay engaged and connected without even logging into Twitter, while experienced users can take advantage of Look’s powerful features in creative and imaginative ways.”

Jump to their videos page for more info. Seesmic Demo Videos

Google Dashboard

What does Google know about you? Check out the new Google Dashboard.  All your Google products on one page.

Use Fonolo When Calling Customer Service

Before you call customer service or tech support and get caught up in their maze of touch tone menu hell, Go to fonolo.com.  Most of us just want to talk to a live person and Fonolo can help you achieve that. When you get to Fonolo.com, type the company you wish to call in the search bar, click on the number or department you want to reach, then enter your phone number.  Fonolo will call you when they reach a live person.