Category Archives: General

Geek stuff, General

Goog-411 A cool service from Google!

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Note: This service is available only in the USA & Canada, and just in English!

Many of G1 phone and iPhone users use Google search by voice options on their phones today, but did they know that Goog 411 existed before any other Google voice service?

The idea is very simple, Dial the number and speak your question.

The options available are great too, watch the video below for a great example, and remember that this cool service is not just to find a great Sushi place, the system can text you information, connect you to your result listing for free, figure out your location based on your number (You can always change your location) or even “Map It” will send the map to your mobile phone. And it’s all for free!

The only charges you pay is to make the call or receive the SMS if you requested, but no 411 charges at all. Cool huh!

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And if you are not an RSS subscriber yet, do so by going here.

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Announcements, Cool Toys, Gadgets, Geek stuff, General

Windows 7 and Windows Live & Facebook at CES

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I am not disappointed at all of the CES Microsoft keynotes. Some people didn’t like the fact that there are no new products, but if you really listen closely to Steve Ballmer’s (Microsoft CEO) keynote, you will realize that there are new cool stuff out there but it’s just not hardware.

Instead Microsoft is concentrating on the new Windows: Windows 7 and also launching a variety of products for Windows Live.

I can’t wait for Windows 7, so I am following a blog called: Engineering Windows 7
What really grabbed my attention is the new/old partnership between Microsoft and Facebook.
Windows Live is now 100% integrated with Facebook, Windows 7 is in the making to do the same, but as of today, every update, message, wall message, photo, video or status update that you do no facebook, will show on your windows live profile page as well, I think that this is a huge step forward by Microsoft, kind of like the OpenSocial and Friend Connect from Google, but actually working and more applications supported (Like windows live mail for desktop) as of today!
I am taking a look at every option and will write an article about it all in the near future.
4 Cool Windows 7 Features: The new desktop, faster boot time, more battery time and the touch screen user interface for the touch screen computers.
I am waiting for my copy of the Windows 7 Beta version to do some testings on my own 🙂

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Announcements, Education, General, News

Twitter is under hackers attack! Spoof Messages!

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If you are an avid Twitter addict like my self, you have probably got the DM (Direct Message) about an hour ago at the time of writing this article that’s saying:
“Hey! Check out this funny blog about you…. (Some link to a blog post)”

Please don’t tell me you fell for it, but if you did, here is what happens:
You clicked on the link to the blog post then the link (Somehow) took you back to the Twitter login page asking you to sign in!
You logged in and got a thank you message.

Here is what really happened behind the scene:
You click on that link (Which was a redirection to another page) then [[DO NOT CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING]]: the new URL in your browser looks like this: “http://twitter.access-logins.com/login/”
Again DO NOT CLICK ON THE LAST LINK.
The page looks exactly as the original Twitter homepage asking you to login.
You enter your information and click login (behind the scene your info was sent to the hackers email address) and your account is pretty much GONE!
With the information they collect they logged in to even more accounts and blasted the same message to more Tweeple so it looks like that your own friend or neighbor sent you the DM and of course more victims become exposed to the spoof.

Please read this carefully:
This is the oldest trick of the book, they did it with Yahoo emails and eBay accounts before. ALWAYS check on your browser’s address bar or your status bar of the link you’re clicking, for Twitter, it must be www.twitter.com or http://www.twitter.com and it may end with the user name link http://www.twitter.com/GuruOfSales
If any email or message you get says to open the link to update your account info but the link ends or starts with a different name, then that’s a spoof to hijack your account.
Some examples will be: eBay.login.com or twitter-account.com.
To be always safe, make sure you TYPE IN the address you need to go to in a new window or browser tab!
There are so many other ways to stay safe that I will go through in a future class at www.Wahol.com (classes are free to join) but for now, please spread the word and tell your friends not to fall for that one, so far this is the biggest attack on Twitter so mark this bad hour down in your history books!

Any safety question just ask in the comment area below 🙂

UPDATE: Twitter operators are now aware of this issue and posted a warning all over the site with a link to the status page here: http://status.twitter.com/post/68196572/dont-click-that-link
The status link said:

Don’t Click That Link! 56 minutes ago

Twitter Engineering and Operations are on the case but if you receive a
Direct Message with a blogspot.com link in it that redirects to what seems
like Twitter.com do not enter your Twitter credentials. If you look at
the URL, you’ll notice that it is not really Twitter but twitter.access-logins.com—a sketchy phishing site.

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