Saturday May 19, 2012
Did you know that Facebook has changed their privacy settings so all your information is publicly viewable?
Did you realize that you can charge your cell phone using only an onion?
Do you understand that if you don't forward that chain letter that your mother sent you, that you're probably going to get boils, dandruff, or lose your keys?
Hopefully, you've recognized that these are all Web hoaxes, circulated among a large group of people via email, social networking, blogs, and message boards. The most interesting characteristic of a hoax is that it offers a grain of believable truth to it, one that preys on your fears or makes you think "hmmm, I could see that happening!" These Web hoaxes are usually easily discredited with a simple Web search, but people (unfortunately) keep circulating them, adding fuel to the already raging hoax fire. If you've got a Web hoax that you'd like to check out - whether or not you think it's a hoax - you can do that pretty easily with this article titled Five Ways to Check Out a Hoax on the Web.
image Getty Images/Dimitri Vervitsiotis
Friday May 18, 2012
These days we can all use a little more money in our pockets, and the Web can help you do that. Here are three websites you can use to find all sorts of great freebies:
Freebie Finder aggregates freebie finds from all over the Web. Examples are free samples, free products, free cards, all sorts of goodies.
This one is my new guilty pleasure: Sample a Day gives you the opportunity to grab a new sample of something every single day, most of them pretty cool.
Spoofee gives you great freebie giveaways, plus coupon deals for various online and offline stores.
Note: most of these freebie and giveaway sites require you to register. I HIGHLY recommend you use a service such as BugMeNot to "mask" your identity so your email address isn't slammed with spam.
More Web freebies
Thursday May 17, 2012
We talk about a lot of very useful, productive Web sites here at About Web Search (for example: The Top Ten Web Search Skills To Have, How to Guard Your Web Privacy, The Ultimate Search Engine List, etc.), but today, we're going to look at five sites that are pretty much the opposite of that. Note: Some of these sites are not appropriate for younger readers.
The Customer Is Not Always Right: A collection of hilarious, real-life quotes from customers at all sorts of places.
Crazy Things Parents Text: As a parent, I both identify with and cringe at these texts to kids (pretty sure I don't see any of my texts there, but we'll see...hmmm)
Cake Wrecks: A collection of cakes that have REALLY lost their way.
The Oatmeal: Comics, quizzes, and more. Check out Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling to get started.
Awkward Family Photos: Relive the awkwardness of days gone by; you can share your own memories here as well.
What are your current favorite funny sites? Please share in the comments below.
Wednesday May 16, 2012
According to an article in the New York Times, 90% of those polled in an independent survey stated that online privacy was a "really" or "somewhat" important issue. More than 75 percent of respondents agreed with the statement "The Internet is not well regulated, and naive users can easily be taken advantage of." Obviously privacy online is a hot button! Where do you stand on this issue?
Do you know how private your Web searches are? For instance, do you read Web sites' privacy policies? Are you aware of how websites track your movements? Do you give your information out freely to websites that request it? If so, I've got some information you need to read:
Be invisible on the Web with anonymous surfing. Learn about anonymous surfing, what anonymous surfing is, why you might be interested in surfing anonymously, how much information is easily learned about you via your Web surfing habits, anonymous proxies and services, and more.
Don't want anyone seeing what you're searching for? Search engines (and other people that use your computer) can and do keep records of searches - here's a few ways you can keep your searching history private.
Don't want companies to know your information? If you're as tired as I am of sites forcing you to go through registration just to view their content, than BugMeNot is for you. It's easy to use and makes life much simpler, not to mention it's a good guard of your online privacy and enables you to surf anonymously.
One of the easiest ways for you to get tracked online is through malicious software applications (malware) that watch what your computer is doing. You can get rid of these with free spyware removal tools.
A lot of the traps that people get caught in online could be avoided with some common sense Web safety. Use my Safe Search Checklist to keep yourself from being tracked online.
