As you should hopefully know by now, you should always be extremely careful with data you access over an unsecure wireless network. You may have seen recent tech press being given to a Firefox add-on called Firesheep which allows people to hijack valid login sessions: The extension uses a packet sniffer to intercept unencrypted cookies from certain websites...

If you are taking a flight somewhere this upcoming holiday season, you don’t have to worry about how you are going to entertain yourself while in the air as Google Chrome’s team is providing free in-flight wireless access to domestic US flights: This holiday season, Google Chrome has teamed up with AirTran Airways, Delta, and Virgin America to offer...

Not to be morbid, but we are all going to die at some point… hopefully later rather than sooner. But to make sure your loved ones know about important accounts and login information, you should create an "In Case I Die" document which has this information. I have one I created for my wife which contains the following information:Social security...

If you consistently finding yourself needing to convert videos from one format to another, there are online services available which can handle this, but having a program on your computer is definitely the fastest method. In light of a post on Gizmo’s Freeware, you can get MacX Video Converter Pro for free via download until November 15th. Despite the...

As you may know, disposal of e-waste has become an issue in the tech world. You should never throw any electronic device in the trash as many contain metals such as mercury and lead which can (and does) leak and then makes it way into local water supplies (which is very bad). Instead you should either reuse (donating is a good idea too) or recycle your unwanted...

If you have ever tried a Linux distribution without actually installing it, you probably downloaded a Live CD and booted your computer from it to give the OS a whirl. While this method is a great way to see if the respective OS is something you like, it does have limitations in that it is typically slow and many times you cannot save any of your changes from...

Zip files are one of those "all or nothing" type of files. If there is any "hiccup" in the compressed file, none of the data can be read or recovered. However, a tool which can help you recover data from corrupted zip files is the freeware utility, DiskInternals ZIP Repair. After you locate an archive that needs repairing, the program will...

While there are numerous sites which offer the ability to create your own start/homepage, if you are looking for a homepage which is fast and just has the basics (i.e. a search box and links to frequently visited sites), then check out HomePage Maker. Using this tool, you can set to display cool glass thumbnails of your favorite websites and give them a display...

If you have recently made a transition to Windows 7 from XP and find yourself longing for the familiarity of the ‘classic’ interface, then check out Classic Shell. Classic Shell is a collection of features that were available in older versions of Windows but are removed from Vista and Windows 7. It has a classic start menu for Windows 7, it adds a...

If you do a lot of online shopping and have your preferences on the respective sites set to not remember your credit card or bank account information, a handy shortcut to have this information available quickly is to store it in a password database. I have discussed using Keepass to store secure text and your credit card and bank account information would...

The Consumerist ran an interesting article the other day that shows the browser you use may actually impact the interest rate you could get on a loan: [A]bout a week ago Capital One had sent me an email advertising a 3.10% rate. I went to check the website using my default browser (Firefox 4 Beta 6) and noticed it was at 3.5%. I figured it had just gone up since...

Various industries (you know who they are) heavily opposed to peer-to-peer file sharing and are pushing ISP’s to crack down on it. So as a way to facilitate P2P file sharing which is truly anonymous, the ‘dead drop‘ has been created. ‘Dead Drops’ is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. I am...

There seems to be a movement among the various MMO games where they are opening up the gates for users to play for free. One which just came onboard with this is Lord of the Rings Online which now offers a free account (no credit card required). While I have never played this game I have heard a fair amount about it and it seems to be a popular choice. When you...

Here is something really cool and unique: a conversion kit to turn a typewriter into a USB keyboard. Warning: you will need to solder electronics to complete this youself. It comes with two blank PCBs and all electronic parts (unassembled), so that you can have the knowledge and satisfaction that come with wiring up this fun electronics project by yourself. The...

While everyone knows Youtube as the definite repository for online video, what you may not know is that Youtube is used by many music artists to make their music available. Just this week I had a couple of old Beach Boys and Beatles songs stuck in my head and was able to search the song name on Youtube subsequently listen to them. If you have a Youtube account...