Privacy Concerns Hit Facebook For $10 Million Settlement…

And Other Items Of Interest

* Facebook settles Sponsored Stories suit for $10 million

“Facebook will pay $10 million in a settlement over its “Sponsored Stories” feature, which had some users up in arms about their privacy.” Read more..

* Facebook Scoops Up Face.com For $100M To Bolster Its Facial Recognition Tech

“After about a month of speculation, Facebook has finally announced its acquisition of Israeli facial recognition technology Face.com.” Read more..

(I see nothing creepy about websites using recognition technology.. Nothing at all.)

We’re All Abuzz Here! Department:

* Microsoft Media Event hits at 3:30PM PST in Hollywood

“This morning the folks at Microsoft are releasing the details for the special media event that will take place tonight revealing no less than a spectacular surprise the likes of which we’ve not yet heard, but certainly have been tipped off about.” Read more..

Yes folks. I can hardly wait for this.

I’m on the edge on my seat.

Not.

* Mozilla creates Firefox Junior, an iPad browser

“Mozilla at a recent presentation unveiled what it believes is the browser of the future, Firefox Junior, which it built for the iPad.” Read more..

(I hope not everything “for the future” is going to be a ‘watered down for the iPad’ version… But.)

* Xbox leak reveals Kinect 2, augmented reality glasses

“If a leaked document (part of which is shown above) is to be believed, the next Xbox will make use of augmented reality glasses. This much we know: Despite their silence on the subject, Microsoft is working on the next incarnation of the Xbox.” Read more..

(“Augmented reality” eyeglasses?? Hmmm…. I see possibilities..)

Off-topic (but important):

* Think you know about crime in the U.S.? Think again

“Forget, for a moment, everything you think you know about the crime rate. Because it’s probably wrong.” Read more..

(Highly reco’d read.)

Today’s quotable quote: “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” ~ Mark Twain

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Collusion

Reading the back of the menu at Buck’s, while waiting for my burger the other night, reminded me of an important topic I have been meaning to share with you since its announcement at the recent TED U event. (If you are not familiar with the TED Talks, click here.) It concerns a subject near and dear to my heart, and this little item is a bit of good news for all us ‘little guys’.

What I am talking about is called “Collusion”.

Meet Collusion, announced today onstage at TED U

“This morning onstage, Gary Kovacs of Mozilla announced a fascinating browser add-on for Mozilla: Collusion. It allows you to track who’s tracking you online … and the results are surprising to say the least.“

You should know, tracking our online behavior is big business. The revenues involved in the top online tracking companies is over $39 billion — I’m in the wrong business: that’s pretty good money for spying on us!

(And f you think this is some small issue.. or some NBD thing that only happens when you’re online doing Google searches, you really really really need to watch the video Big Brother Big Business. I think it ought to be required viewing before you can vote!)

Why this is important:

“Take control of your data

We recognize the importance of transparency and our mission is all about empowering users — both with tools and with information. The Ford Foundation is supporting Mozilla to develop the Collusion add-on so it will enable users to not only see who is tracking them across the Web, but also to turn that tracking off when they want to.”

What you should do: Please take two minutes (or less) and look at the animated demo, here, http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/collusion/demo/. Learn about how these vile and repugnant “tracking cookies” automatically build a “behavior profile” about all of us, so somebody can make an easy buck selling our ‘information’.. or serving us up “targeted advertisement”.

[ Update:  A version is available for Chrome as well. See, Collusion for Chrome maps how sites are tracking you, courtesy of the Disconnect team. ]

Related reading:

* TED 2012: New Browser Add-On Visualizes Who Is Tracking You Online

* Say Everything

“As younger people reveal their private lives on the Internet, the older generation looks on with alarm and misapprehension not seen since the early days of rock and roll. The future belongs to the uninhibited.“

Unrelated: Privacy concerns drive 1 in 4 Facebook users to lie

“Almost 13 million users say they have never set or didn’t know about privacy controls on Facebook, according to Consumer Reports.”

(I wonder how many million declined to admit their ignorance..?)

Much good information here. I hope you’ll click some links (at least view the demo).

Today’s quote: “Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Firefox 3, or 4 (or 5)? + Turn Off the "Upgrade" Nag

A reader wrote in and asked a good question. The answer(s) will be good “general knowledge” even for those of you who are not currently running Mozilla’s Firefox web browser.

Q: “If I may impose on you for information, have you upgraded Firefox to version 4.0.1? I keep saying no when the browser asks me, but my Mom let it upgrade.

Several things won’t work with V 4… Such as the ZoneAlarm browser toolbar and her HP All-In-One printer plugin.

She wants me to roll her FF version back to V 3.6.17 so those items will work, but I’m concerned about potential security issues.

Thank you“

A: Dear Reader,
Yours is a very good question, and poses an interesting choice. And, it shows how two “rules of thumb” can sometimes contradict.

* For security, you always want to be running the latest version (and promptly apply any “updates”) of any software.

* Don’t buy version 1 of anything (aka “wait for the service pack”) unless you enjoy being a product guinea pig (aka “bug finder”).

In my mind, Firefox 4 (and the new beta of 5) is enough of a change as to qualify as a ‘new product’, (and also has compatibility issues with some of my add-ons) and so I will not install it until version 4.1 (or 4.2) is released (give the product some time to mature).

Yes, this (staying with FF 3) may (probably does) pose some security “risk”, and is certainly not a long-term answer — bullet point 1 should not be ignored and bullet point 2 will become ‘false’ as newer version of FF 4 are released (and the Add-ons authors update theirs to better work with FF4). In the meantime, while I await v4.1, I have turned off the “upgrade now?” prompt.

To avoid being nagged:
1) Click on the Tools menu, then click Options.

2) Click on the Advanced tab (gray gear icon).

3) Click on the Update tab in the Advanced window.

4) Un-ckeck the “Firefox” checkbox, and then click OK.

That’s it. Now the automated “there’s a new version” prompting will stop (Firefox’s updater will now be in “manual mode”… meaning it is up to you to check the availability of new versions. You can do this anytime by clicking the Help menu, then “Check for updates”).

* 5) [at some future date] When I do install a newer version, I will make sure the automatic update checking is re-enabled (by reversing these steps), as the first bullet point stated, I normally want automatic updating.

Today’s free download: If you find that you too want to revert to the last version of Firefox 3 (or.. contrarily, get the beta of 5) the download site FileHippo is my choice. FileHippo’s right-hand column contains a string of downloads, starting with the most recent, and (usually) going back all the way to the original release. Click here and scroll down that list to “version 3.6.17”. FileHippo is where I go when I need an older version.

Today’s quotable quote: “If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.”  ~ Author Unknown

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

Firefox problem a result of malware?

If you are using Firefox to surf the web, and you see some odd behavior that has you thinking you may have been infected with a computer virus, the following information – provided by Mozilla (the authors of Firefox) – may help you. The links contain diagnosing and troubleshooting How To’s.

Is my Firefox problem a result of malware?

Malware is short for “Malicious Software”. It is a term generally used for software installed on your computer that is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. Computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware are different types of malware. Sometimes a problem with Firefox may be a result of malware installed on your computer, that you may not be aware of.

Table of Contents

• General prevention
  • Misleading pop-up windows
• Are there extensions installed which you aren’t aware of?
• Did you have to pay to download and install Firefox?
• Did you install Firefox from anywhere other than the Mozilla website?
• Did Firefox come bundled with other software?
• Are you unable to block certain websites?
• Do you get an error message when you start Firefox, telling you to use Internet Explorer?
• Firefox hangs (When a program hangs, it no longer accepts user input and does not seem to be performing any actions. Other terms for hanging are “freezing” or “not responding”.)
• Getting rid of malware

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

How To Set An Automatic ‘I’m Away’ E-mail Reply In Outlook, Windows Mail, Thunderbird.

A few days ago I posted a tutorial on how to set up an automated “vacation” (aka “out of the office”) reply for those folks who use webmail services for email (see, How To Set An Automatic Webmail ‘I’m Away’ Response). Today I am going to provide the same tutorial, but for those folks who use an email client for managing their mail – Outlook, Windows Live Mail, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird.

If you go on vacation (or otherwise won’t have Internet access for a while) and you have a vacation responder turned on, an automatic reply – with a message you’ve pre-typed – will be sent automatically to the Sender letting them know you will get back to them, just not right away. When you get back online again, you simply turn the feature off again.

[note: you would have to have an “always on” Internet connection, and leave your computer running while you are away.]

Outlook: In Outlook, you need to create a “Rule”; and this Rule tells Outlook what to do with an incoming message. We want the Rule to tell it to ‘send this reply to the Sender’.

Click on the image to go to Step 2. (The walkthrough is on About.com)

Outlook Express/Mail/Live Mail: Again, we will need to set a Rule, but we also need to create a .txt (text) file, containing our response.. so Step 1 is to open Notepad..

Click on the image to go to step-by-step tutorial. (The walkthrough is on About.com)

Thunderbird: Basically, you do the same thing as with the other clients – create a “Rule” – but in Thunderbird, it’s called a “message filter”

Click on the image to go to step-by-step tutorial. (The walkthrough is on am-novice.com)

* My thanks to TuneUp for reminding me.

ATTENTION: You have already seen the ads. “Black Friday” sales are everywhere. I want to remind you that this is the cyber-criminal’s favorite, and most active, time of year. It is the time to redouble your “paranoid common sense” and triple your vigilance for scams, e-mails links, making sure the payment portal is https://, etc.. ATTENTION

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

Share this post :

Step-by-Step Security Tutorial – Firefox

How to Configure Firefox to Stay (More) Secure Online: Step-by-Step

If you are interested in Tech, and visit Websites such as this one, it will not be very long before you read about Firefox. And, it won’t be long before you see NoScript mentioned. Odds are, you already have (loyal T4E readers surely have!). Safer surfing is a popular topic here.

Today, instead of simply telling you “be safer”, I have a link to a step-by-step slideshow tutorial: How to Configure Mozilla Firefox for Secure Surfing

“With assistance from the United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), we’ve created this slideshow to help you configure Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser to stay secure and safeguard your privacy while surfing.”

click for slideshow

(Internet Explorer users, click here for your slideshow tutorial)

“In this digital age, we are all connected, and each of us plays an important role in securing cyberspace.”

It Is National Cyber Security Awareness Month

So do your part. Make sure your web browser is “hardened” against online attacks.

Related: Block IFRAME For Added Protection

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

Share this post :

Playing With A Fox

Simply Put, Firefox Just Kicks *Hiney*

Back in the days when I was young, and we were enthusiastically impressed with something, we didn’t use the expressions “wicked”, or “awesome”, or “dope”.. or whatever it is the kids are using today. We said that something “rocks!” And when that something was tops in its class, we said it “kicks *gluteus maximus*!”

Today I want to use those superlatives and tell you about a boring old Web browser — something we use everyday. To do other things. Namely, surfing the Internet looking for interesting videos (or.. reading our e-mail). The program I want to talk about is one I have been using for years – maybe you have too – and most readers will recognize the name. So what has me so “jazzed”? I recently discovered that Mozilla’s Firefox browser has something called “Persona’s”, and I think they’re a “real kick in the head”  (I think they are fun).

That screenshot shows you what my Firefox looks like. Today. With a couple of clicks, I have applied the Persona titled “Tiger Eyes”. Persona’s (as Mozilla is calling them) are not a real new concept: in tech, they are sometimes referred to as “skins”, or “themes”. And in fact, you acquire, manage, and apply Persona’s in the Themes tab of the Add ons settings.
Click on Tools > Add ons, and then Themes. Your saved Persona’s/Themes are listed on the left, and a preview is shown on the right. To browse for new ones, click the “Get more Themes” link (bottom).

This will take you to the Persona’s Gallery, where there are 1829 pages of Persona’s to choose from. When you are in the Gallery, you can hover your cursor over a Persona “thumbnail”, and it will be temporarily applied to your Firefox so you can easily see how the Theme effects your menus, tabs, etc.
Yes. 1829 pages. And I found at least one “keeper” on every page..!

Today I am ready to conquer the world — and thus the tiger Persona. But this week I also used these Persona’s/Themes…

And I want you, Dear Reader, to know that in spite of what impression my high-contrast, more masculine, preferences may have given you, I assure you that there are persona’s for kids…

and scads of frilly, “pretty”, pastel, flowers-and-butterflies girly stuff for the ladies…

These links will take you to the Gallery, pre-sorted into categories… which might reduce your number of choices down to the high hundreds… I am sure you’ll find one that fits your mood.

Persona Categories:	Abstract	Causes
Fashion	Film and TV	Firefox
Foxkeh	Holiday	Music
Nature	Other	Scenery
Solid	Sports	Websites

So check it out. Customize your Firefox and make it more “you” by applying a Persona today. Have some fun. Doing so is free, and it’s easy.

Related: To see my other articles on the features of Firefox, click here.

Unrelated: Do you like free software? Own a loptop? See my current software license giveaway: Software Licence Giveaway

Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. post to jaanix.

---

>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

Share this post :