This is a great article that highlights a topic I’ve brought up many times. If it is free, the company that is putting it out is still making something from it. There is nothing completely free on the internet. Some companies just want simple, non-descriptive usage and statistics from you… but many want something much more serious. This more serious intrusion into your computer is where malware and spyware come in, so if you are looking for free stuff, especially if you don’t know the product or its reputation, it is likely you are going to infect your PC with something. Avoid products out there that are free for something “cool” or kind of pointless but “neat”. These are almost always packed with spyware. Also, avoid products that aren’t trying to sell you something but offer a great very useful thing. Ask yourself, if they aren’t asking me for any money then how are they running this crazy nice website? Usually a website that is offering a great product for free will post a link for donations or have a slightly less appealing website. If this isn’t the case, be very careful. There are exceptions to the rule, but usually those companies want statistics from you… these often aren’t intrusive, but they are making something from you. Always avoid toolbars, because these are almost always bad. Like I said, there are always exceptions though… but their names are very well known or they are begging for donations. Just to name a couple… Spybot: Search and Destroy and Microsoft Security Essentials… I’ll highlight these in future articles, but everyone should have these installed… especially if you are trying to use McAfee or Norton (Symantec) and think your system is protected… uninstall and stop paying for that crap and go get Security Essentials (for free) from Microsoft. I’ll talk more about this product later… but I highly suggest it. Anyway, that is just my two cents… Click more for the article.
Want To Stay Safe On The Web? Stop Looking For Free Stuff
Malicious Script Hidden in Graphic
The Microsoft Malware Protection Center has identified a clever new malware obfuscation technique which they have observed circulating on variant nearby and click it for a larger version) contains instructions to the user to open it in Paint and save it with a .HTA extension.
This makes it a HTML application, a browser-based program that can be run from the command line. Dump the file out, as they did in the Microsoft article linked to above, and you’ll see that there’s JavaScript at the end of it. The HTA parser bypasses all the graphic data at the beginning and runs the script at the end. This particular script repackages itself and reposts it to 4chan, defeating the CAPTCHA.
The important point to take away from this is that HTA files are programs, just like EXEs and can do dangerous things.
Microsoft detects the threat as Trojan:JS/Chafpin.gen!A.
via Malicious Script Hidden in Graphic.
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Free Summarizer, an online automatic tool to summarize any text or article
This is brilliant! Very helpful if you need to send a short summary of something very long, with little time to read it over. Man, this is going to same me a whole lot of time… serious.
Free Summarizer: http://freesummarizer.com/
Summarize any text online in just a few seconds.
via Free Summarizer, an online automatic tool to summarize any text or article.
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Ninjas Do Not Fight Fair
Ninjas Do Not Fight Fair
Ninjas are cunning foes. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people. Foolish Canadians learned this valuable lesson after challenging one ninja and being ambushed by scores of the deadly assassins.
If you see a ninja on the street, walk away. Because either they’ll slice you up into little bits, or it’ll be an improv group and they’ll make sure all your friends know you’re afraid of fake swords wielded by actors. Which is actually worse than being killed by a ninja. (Improve Toronto via reddit)
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Applebee’s Changes Policy After Toddler Accidentally Served Alcohol
I guess it would be a good idea to smell my kid’s juice before I give it to them. This is seriously crazy and scary stuff. Remember, you can’t trust everything that is handed to your kids… even from a trusted brand or restaurant.
Applebees Changes Policy After Toddler Accidentally Served AlcoholPublished April 12, 2011 | FoxNews.com Print Email ShareThe Applebee’s restaurant chain is changing the way it serves juice after a 15-month-old boy was accidentally served alcohol at a Michigan location.The restaurants now will use single-serve containers to pour juice for children, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.Taylor Dill-Reese, the boy’s mother, said she ordered her son a kid’s meal on Friday afternoon and asked for apple juice. She said her son started acting strangely after drinking from his sippy cup. When she tasted the drink, it turns out it was margarita mix, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.Michigan police say the drink was mislabeled as apple juice. Applebee’s will retrain its employees to emphasize the use of separate containers for alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, the Detroit Free Press reports.The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was examined by doctors. The family later learned the boy’s alcohol level was 0.10 percent – over the legal limit for an adult driver. He has since been released from the hospital.”Nobody at the table ordered alcoholic drinks,” Dill-Reese told MyFoxDetroit.com. “So he definitely shouldnt have received one.”
via Applebees Changes Policy After Toddler Accidentally Served Alcohol | Fox News.
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Future mobile phones Future technology
This is just genius! I can think of so many uses that this would be great for… especially if they where able to increase the power generated from the twirl. I’d love to see this technology in a flash light and phone battery for sure… but twirling a battery to charge it could really be the next big thing, if they could work out the twirl to charge ratio.
Mind you, this is not a “Green” concept and neither does it claim to be “Eco Friendly”. It’s just a helpful solution for a tricky situation. The situation being: you running out of juice on your mobile phone. So what do you do? Remove the battery from the back of the phone; give it a few good turns around your index finger and its gathered enough power to last you a conversation or a safe trip to your charger and electric point.
Designers: Song Teaho & Hyejin Lee
via » Future mobile phones Future technology.
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“The Steampunk Garden” in a bulb
Based on an idea of Mr. Ravensdale from the Clockworkers Forum I build a little garden from a big 300W bulb.
Parts you need:
A salad bowl (as the stand)
A solar garden light with LED
A big bulb
Some copper tubes, fittings and parts
A switch
Some pieces of wood
Some brass applikations
Brass screws, bold´s and nuts.
via “The Steampunk Garden” in a bulb.
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ChristianPF.com… A great resource to help bloggers pave their way.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on blogs and how to be successful. In the process of my research, I stumbled on this blog called ChristianPF…. wow. This blogger really has it together. Not only does he go into great detail about how he made his blog worth something, he does it in a very informative and easy to understand way. There is endless amounts of detail on this site that any beginning or intermediate blogger would find very useful. Some of it was a bit of a skipover, as I am very technical and didn’t need an explanation on how to setup a blog or webhosting… but there is much here that I didn’t know or didn’t fully understand.
A great starter article is: http://christianpf.com/how-to-make-money-with-a-blog/
This was the first article I found on their site and, after reading this, I was hooked. As a fellow Christian and someone who is also trying to supplement my family income through blogging, this article was a huge eye opener. It is a great read and I suggest you go and check it out… especially if you think blogging for a living is just not possible. I can be straight with you and tell you I am currently not making any money from this blog… but I’ve only started. It really takes determination and a willingness to push forward past the opinion of people who will laugh and tell you it isn’t possible. I know it is, I’ve seen it done. This is just another blogger’s testimony of success on the internet… I hope to also be included in that list for someone else in the future… but for now, I point to success seen through blogs like christianpf.com. If you have any other resources you’d want to send me… drop me a comment! I’d love to see it. We are just starting out here, but I will also post anything I find that could possibly help others achieve something great with their personal website. Much love! 
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Mom Sues Preschool For Failing To Prep Tot For Harvard
(GraceFamily)
A Manhattan mother has filed a class action suit against her 4-year-old daughter’s $19,000 a year Upper East Side preschool for not properly preparing her child for a top-tier university.
“Getting a child into the Ivy League starts in nursery school,” says the lawsuit.
Her suit claims that contrary to the age-specific instruction promised on the website to get her kid ready for the ERB, a standardized test used by elite private elementary schools, the “school proved not to be a school at all, but just one big playroom.” Also, even though she was 4, the school was “still teaching plaintiff’s daughter about shapes and colors.”
The mother is suing for the return of the tuition, which by contract is non-refundable.
via Mom Sues Preschool For Failing To Prep Tot For Harvard – The Consumerist.
