Never Lose Your Cellphone Phonebook

A new product by Spark Technology, called Cellstick, plugs in to your cellphone and backs up your phonebook contacts. According to the product description, Cellstick "works with virtually any cell phone. It'll let you backup, enter, edit and transfer your cell phone contacts. So no matter what happens to your cell phone, your phone book survives. "

The product received a positive review from Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal. According to Mossberg, Cellstick is "A smart solution that really works, and it's about as easy to use as possible... CellStik is a fast and simple solution that could save users from the frustrating ordeal of losing a cellphone and every name and number on it."

For more information and to see if it supports your model of cell phone, visit the website at: http://www.sparktech.com/

Fake News Bulletin Email Spreads Malware

Spammers and hackers have been sending out e-mail messages that look like they are coming from CNN or MSNBC as news alerts. It's easy to fall for this trick, especially if you actually have subscribed to receive news alerts via e-mail. The e-mails have included subject lines such as "CNN Alerts", "CNN.com Daily Top 10", and "Breaking News" with phony or legitimate news headlines.

According to PC World, one example includes a link that brings users to a fake CNN site, "where they are told they need to download an update to Flash Player, Adobe System Inc. 's popular Internet media player, to view a video clip from CNN."

"If users agreed to download the bogus Flash update, they were trapped in an endless loop, where clicking "Cancel" in the initial dialog produced a second pop-up. Clicking "Cancel" there returned the user to the first pop-up. The only options at that point were for users to shut down the browser or give in and install the malware."

"The bogus update -- named "adobe_flash.exe," ...is actually a Trojan horse identified by security vendors as "EncPk-DA" and "Exchanger.mn" among other names. The Trojan, in turn, "phones home" to a malicious server to grab and install more malware."

As a result of the rash of these fake e-mails, Adobe has issued the following warning: "Do not download Flash Player from a site other than Adobe.com," said David Lenoe, the company's product security program manager, in an entry on a company blog. "If you get a notice to update, it's not a bad idea to go directly to the site of the software vendor and download the update directly from the source. If the download is from an unfamiliar URL or an IP address, you should be suspicious."

Source: PC World: Fake CNN Alert Still Spreading Malware , and Fake News Bulletin Spreads Malware

Easily Add Speech Bubbles to Your Photos

Adding "speech bubbles" to digital photos used to involve learning how to use a sophisticated graphics program. But now there is a free service called Kyolo that makes it easy.

With Kyolo, all you do is upload the photo, add your choice of speech bubble shapes, enter the text you want for each bubble... and that's it. Once you are finished you can save or e-mail the updated photo.

click here to go the the site

Source: Download Squad

How to Block Cellphone Spam

Are you receiving unsolicited text messages on your cellphone?

According to Wikipedia, this practice is described as ‘mobile spamming, SMS spam or SpaSMS, but is most frequently referred to as m-spam.’

Unlike regular e-mail spam, you have to pay for it - At least if you don't have an unlimited texting plan. Meanwhile, the spammers can send text messages from a computer’s e-mail program for free. Moreover, there are no anti-SMS spam programs you can install on your cellphone.

But according to AT&T, with a little-known cellular feature you can block cellular spam.

“Our customers can get onto our Web site,” he wrote, “and set their handset so that it receives no messages from the Internet, the origin of the vast majority of wireless spam.”

“Text messages sent from the Internet are addressed as follows: [Your 10-digit wireless number]@txt.att.net.

“What spammers try to do, of course, is attempt to guess your number, largely by trial and error. This brings me to the second capability we offer our customers. Let’s say you want to block spam, but still want to receive messages originating from the Net that you would actually find useful (airline schedules, hotel reservations, etc.). For this purpose, we let you replace your wireless number with an alias. It could be some quirky name, or whatever you like. [You share this address only with people you know.] This could disrupt the guessing game spammers play to try to discern your number and sent you their junk.

“Though not perfect, our efforts have helped keep spam in the category of minor, though annoying, phenomenon. Thanks for listening.”
The beauty of this feature, of course, is that it blocks ONLY text messages from the Internet. Your friends, using cellphones, can still text you.
As it turns out, Verizon Wireless offers these features, too. Sprint and T-Mobile don’t go quite as far, but they do offer some text-spam filtering options. Here’s how you find the controls for each company:

* AT&T: Log in at mymessages.wireless.att.com. Under Preferences, you’ll see the text-blocking and alias options. Here’s also where you can block messages from specific e-mail addresses or Web sites.

* Verizon Wireless: Log in at vtext.com. Under Text Messaging, click Preferences. Click Text Blocking. You’re offered choices to block text messages from e-mail or from the Web. Here again, you can block specific addresses or Web sites. (Here’s where you set up your aliases, too.)

* Sprint: No auto-blocking is available at all, but you can block specific phone numbers and addresses. To get started, log in at www.sprint.com. On the top navigation bar, click My Online Tools. Under Communication Tools, click Text Messaging. On the Compose a Text Message page, under Text Messaging Options, click Settings & Preferences. In the text box, you can enter a phone number, email address or domain (such as Comcast.net) that you want to block.

* T-Mobile: T-Mobile doesn’t yet offer a “block text messages from the Internet” option. You can block all messages sent by e-mail, though, or permit only messages sent to your phone’s e-mail address or alias, or create filters that block text messages containing certain phrases. It’s all waiting when you log into www.t-mobile.com and click Communication Tools.

Source: NY Times, David Pogue

Some Handy Tools & Tips for Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is full of tools that can help you work faster and smarter—but only if you know about them. Here's some that you might not be familiar with:

Shrink document by one page. A document whose last page is mostly blank is a waste of printer paper, especially if you have to make a lot of copies. Your letters and mailings will also look more professional if they fill the pages nicely. If Print Preview reveals a skimpy last page, click the Shrink to Fit (Word 2003) or Shrink One Page button (Word 2007). Word will tweak the fonts in the document to make it a page smaller. Don't like the results? Just press Ctrl-Z to Undo.

Calculate in tables. Sure, you can embed an Excel worksheet in a Word document, but if you just need a few simple calculations, you can use Word's own math skills. Select a cell at the bottom of a column and click Formula on the Table Tools Layout ribbon (Word 2007), or select Formula from the Table menu (Word 2003). Word will suggest =SUM(ABOVE), but you can select among over a dozen functions. Besides choosing ABOVE, BELOW, LEFT, or RIGHT to work with all cells in the specified direction, you can reference individual cells and ranges as you do in Excel—for example, =AVERAGE(A1:C3).

Merge to e-mail. Mail-merging to letters and envelopes is too-too 1990s, but you may still need to send a common message to a group of correspondents. That's no problem, since the familiar mail-merge feature in Word can also send e-mail messages. In Word 2007, complete your letter, click Finish & Merge in the ribbon and choose Send E-mail Messages from the menu. In Word 2003 select "E-mail messages" at the very first step of the Mail Merge wizard. Either way you'll be prompted for a subject (the same for every message) and for a data field that holds e-mail addresses of the recipients.

Compare two documents. Your newest client just returned a revised version of a contract document file but didn't mark his revisions. Is he trying to hoodwink you with sneaky changes? Rather than ruin your eyes poring over the old and new documents, have Word find the differences. In Word 2003 open the old document, choose Compare and Merge Documents from the Tools menu, and select the new document. In Word 2007 choose Compare Compare from the Review ribbon and select both the old and the new document.

Document inspector. Your Word 2007 documents may contain a lot more information than you realize--tracked changes, comments, hidden text, private properties, and more. Distributing a document with this kind of data present can be embarrassing. To make sure you're not revealing too much in a Word 2007 document, click the Office button at the top left, point to Prepare, and click Inspect Document in the resulting menu. Word 2003 has no precise equivalent, but you can get some benefit using the Security tab of the Options dialog. Check the boxes "Remove personal information from file properties on save" and "Warn before printing, saving, or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments."

Built-in translator. The Research panel in both Word 2007 and Word 2003 includes an option to translate the selected text or the entire document between various languages. It's more useful when you're trying to puzzle out what a foreign-language document means than when you want to communicate your own thoughts with those who don't speak English. To see why, translate a few sentences from English to another language and then back to English.

Create fancy equations. Sure, you can write "the electric field equals one over the electrical conductivity times the electric current density," but is a lot more compact. To insert an equation into Word 2007 choose Equation Insert New Equation from the Insert ribbon and use the tools on the Equation Design toolbar that appears. In Word 2003, it's a bit more awkward. Select Insert Object from the menu, choose Microsoft Equation 3.0, and click OK, then use the Equation toolbar that appears.

Use math autocorrect. (Word 2007 only) All of those fancy math symbols can be available even outside the Equation Design toolbar. Click the Office button at the top left, click the Word Options button, select Proofing, click AutoCorrect Options, and check the box "Use Math AutoCorrect rules outside of math regions." Now you can type \aleph to insert an aleph (ℵ), \int for an integral sign (∫) or even type \quadratic to insert the entire quadratic equation (x=(-b±√(b^2-4ac))/2a).

Source: PC Magazine, Neil J. Rubenking

Problem with 2008 Holidays in Outlook 2003

If you're using Microsoft Outlook 2003 you might have noticed that you can only add holidays through 2007. Here is a solution from the New York Times Personal Tech Column:

The ability to mark holidays for your particular country or region on your personal calendar is a handy feature of Microsoft’s Outlook program. But you don’t have to be stuck in time if you’re sticking with Outlook 2003. Microsoft has issued a software patch for Outlook 2003 that lets you add holidays through 2012. You can download and install the update at snipurl.com/22r1s.
If you encounter problems installing the update, Microsoft has a technical support document at support.microsoft.com/kb/924423. Outlook’s official blog explains how to add your own custom holidays to your calendar at snipurl.com/22r2n.

On the Mac side, Entourage users can add holidays to their calendars by going to the File menu to Import and choosing the “Import Holidays” option in the box. Mac users looking to add holiday calendars for Apple’s iCal program can download and subscribe to a variety of different dates at apple.com/downloads/macosx/calendars.

Covering sporting events, SAT testing dates, Blu-ray disc releases and even Belgian school holidays, the iCalShare site also offers 2,500 calendars for download at icalshare.com. The files are compatible with Microsoft Works and other programs using the iCalendar standard.

The online calendars offered by Yahoo and Google also let you add holidays to your digital datebook. For Yahoo, click on “Calendar Options” on the right side of the screen, and then on “Time Guides” to get to the “Add/Edit Holidays” link. For Google, click on the tiny “Manage Calendars” link on the bottom left side of the screen. Click the Calendars tab and then on the “Add Calendar” button to get to the link for “Holiday Calendars.”

Source: NYT (By J.D. BIERSDORFER)

Wireless Headset for Internet Phone Calls

Wireless Headset for Internet Phone Calls
By ROY FURCHGOTT
Published: March 27, 2008
The Logitech ClearChat wireless headset, which the company says is the first of its kind with Internet calling in mind, is also meant to be faux-pas-proof.

The addition of an unusual feature can keep you from speaking out of turn. When the headset is muted, the microphone glows red. This confirms that the microphone is off, so you won’t have to ask, “Can you hear me now?” They can’t.
This stereo headset, with a retail price of $100, has over-the-ear padded phones and a boom microphone. Compatible with Macs and PCs, it requires no setup, although a small receiver will occupy one of your computer’s U.S.B. ports.

The headset broadcasts over the 2.4-gigahertz band, just like many portable phones, and Logitech estimates that the signal will carry more than 30 feet. The microphone has noise canceling to diminish background sound, so people can hear you clearly when they are supposed to.

Source: NY Times