Contrary to the belief of most computer users you don’t have to be a computer genius, or be involved in voodoo, to be safe on the internet.  By following some of these basic tips you can be infinitively more secure on the internet.

Keep Windows Up to Date:
This is probably the most important tip you can get and it applies to all operating systems, not just Windows.  Almost all major desktop operating systems have built in methods for keeping the O.S. and other major software systems up to date.  In Windows this is called “Windows Update” and it is located on your start menu under all programs.  Windows Update will keep Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office all up to date with the latest security and bug fixes.  In the Windows Update settings area there is also an option for turning on automatic installations of updates for those of us too lazy to do it manually on a regular basis.

Quick Note: Most major Windows viruses featured on the news in the last five years all had security updates posted to Windows Update.  These updates were made available months before the virus was released.  The only reason the viruses were successful was due to users not keeping Windows up to date.

Use a Firewall:
Most households these days have a internet connection that is constantly connected.  While we all might have hated the screeching sounds of a modem and equally despised the downloads speeds we got when connecting through them, they were actually much safer than todays internet connections.  The fact is that most computers connected to the net these days have excess ports open on them that are not known to the users of the system.  Whether they were opened for File and Printer Sharing or opened by a spyware program, these open ports can be very dangerous.  9 times out of 10 they can be used to copy files from your computer or to install new new programs on your PC.  Either way it’s really not a good idea to leave these ports open to the world, especially not when we have a internet connection that is always connected.

Physical firewalls, mostly built into routers for home users, are by far the best way to go.  They will not only protect these open ports on your computer from potential internet problems, but they will also allow you to do all of the following:

• Connect multiple computers to a single internet connection
• Allow you to continue to use file and print sharing between the computers in your home with no additional configuration
• Broadcast a wireless signal in your home for wireless based devices to be able to access the net. (Wireless Model Required)

The downside to a physical firewall built into a router is that they typically cost from $60 to $100 at BestBuy.  If thats something your unable to do you can always use a software firewall that will also protect your computer.  Performing the additional tasks listed above will be more difficult with a software firewall, however simple PC protection is not.  Windows, since Windows XP, has had a firewall built into the core of the system and it simply needs to be turned on.  To do so go to the control panel from the Start menu and choose Windows Firewall.  Once the Windows firewall loads click the ON button and hit OK at the bottom.

Quick Note: The Windows firewall can be manipulated by malicious software programs if they were designed to do so.  Windows firewall has a exceptions area in the control panel that allows ports to be opened through the firewall when necessary.  If you’re going to use Windows firewall for protection, make sure you check the exceptions list in the control panel regularly to ensure no malicious programs have opened ports that you are unaware of.

Use Anti-Virus Software
While this isn’t as big of a concern for Mac or Linux users, viruses are still a major problem on the net for everyone who is connected to it.   Installing some basic anti-virus software can make sure that these problems are kept to a minimum with your computer.  While there are commercial packages such as McAfee and Norton available, I do not prefer to use them.  Over the years I have found these programs to be bloated and severe memory hogs when installed on personal computers.  Instead there are many lightweight and free anti-virus software programs available for you to take advantage of:

• Clam Anti-Virus – Very light weight anti-virus package.  Free but does not include real time scanner.
• AVG – Slightly larger than clam anti-virus, but does include real time scanner and link scanner.
• Avast! – Another free anti-virus software package with real time scanner.

Use A Different Browser:
Let me first start off by saying that Internet Explorer has gotten significantly better over the years in terms of security, however there are other browser software packages that have not had nearly the amount of security problems that IE has had over the years.  If your going to continue using Internet Explorer, upgrade it!  Use Windows Update and make sure you have at least version 8 of IE installed on your computer.  Anything less than version 8 is simply being irresponsible.

With that being said there are other major web browsing software packages available that work just as well if not better then IE.  Personally I have not had any problems, other then visiting Microsoft Websites, where I can not use an alternative browser.  Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are excellent alternatives to Internet Explorer.   Chrome specifically uses much less memory then IE does and seems to out perform IE in terms of speed without much effort.

Keep Your Computer Spyware Free!
Spyware and Malware is one of the worst things to ever be made on the internet, possibly even worse then email spam.  The largest problem with spyware is that it tends to multiply on your computer at an alarming rate, most of the time without your knowledge or consent.  Once you have spyware installed on your machine there typically isn’t much that can be done about it.   You can try scanning your machine and using a removal tool to get rid of it, however that doesn’t always work.  The best practice is to try and stop it before it gets installed.  Safer Networking makes an excellent free utility called SpyBot Search & Destroy that scans your PC and removes installed spyware programs.

SpyBot also comes with a great little utility program called TeaTimer to help eliminate spyware from being installed on your computer.  TeaTimer will prompt the user when a program, or website, is trying to modify system files or windows registry settings.  This is a great form of protection if you actually pay attention to it.  The general idea is that you will deny the program access to modifying the registry if you’re not purposely installing a software program.  This will stop a program in the background of your computer from installing itself without your knowledge.

Use Windows 7:
As much as I might personally dislike it, Microsoft Windows is the dominate operating system for personal computers.  In Windows Vista, Microsoft decided to catch up with other operating systems and start requiring “Elevated” administrator permissions to install and remove software from the machine.  They called this new feature UAC, User Account Control, and it was horribly annoying and poorly implemented in Windows Vista.  The reason this feature was added was so users would be prompted when major changes were being made to the system and its settings, much like the TeaTimer program mentioned above.  In Windows 7 the UAC feature was vastly improved and is now an extremely useful tool for the less educated user.  If you can afford it and your PC is powerful enough to handle Windows 7, I would very much encourage you to upgrade to it.  If you are unable to do so then Tea Timer is a excellent alternative.

Quick Note: Recently I had a number of friends all get infected with a spyware program from a website that stole all of thier website passwords and emailed them back to the program creator.  This gave the spyware creator access to all of their personal information.  I was the only one not infected because Windows 7′s UAC blocked the installation on my computer.  The other users were all using Windows XP and Vista and were all up to date on their Windows Updates.

Conclusion:
As you can see it doesn’t take a lot of extra effort of knowledge to be safe while browsing the internet, however it can be extremely costly if you refuse to take precautions against potential internet dangers.  By taking the time to implement the tips mentioned above,  you can almost eliminate the bulk of the threats on the internet.

Spread the knowledge and Browse Safely!
After a previous article I wrote got so much attention, I created a new Facebook page on Web Safety to notify users when I write about internet safety issues.  If you would like to be notified about new internet safety articles as they are made available, then become a fan of the Web Safety Facebook page.  Twitter users can also follow me on twitter to receive notifications about new articles and blog postings.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are interested, you can pick up the album at Amazon.com.

Videos like this one are why we love the internet.  This really is Internet Gold!  Ralph, please go sign a movie deal for this because it really does look great! A big thanks goes to the people over at FunnyorDie for making this.

What seems to be happening with these groups is that the user who lost their phone creates a new Facebook group entitled “User’s Lost Phone”.  Once the group is created the user then sends a notice to all of their Facebook friends letting them know about the lost phone and subsequent data loss.  In this message the user also asks them to join the new group and post their phone number so the address book data can be rebuilt.  All the Facebook friends then try to help the user out by accommodating the users request.  At this point all of the Facebook friends are all simply happy that they aren’t the poor sap who lost their cell phone.  All of the parties involved then live happily ever after?  right?

Well if they did.. Then I wouldn’t have anything to write about today.

Herein lies the problem with the above situation.  Many times the user who lost their cell phone ends up not setting up the group to be private and inadvertently broadcasts all of their friends phone numbers to the world.  This can easily be seen by doing the following Google search…

As you can see, that simple Google search returned 653,000 public Facebook groups that are about user’s lost phones.  On each and every one of these groups, you can find phone numbers posted by any number of users.  Talk about a stalkers dream eh?  Maybe a bored teenager looking for someone to prank call?  Even worse yet, this could be used by malicious users to get cell numbers to TXT message and run up unsuspecting user’s cell phone bills.  After all many users still do not have TXT messaging plans and pay per message.

Even if the user does mark the group as private you still should not participate by sharing your information.  If a Facebook group is marked as private, that simply means that only the group members can see the information that is posted to the group.  Marking a Facebook group as private does not restrict who can join the group.  So at the very least you are still sending your phone number to everyone who is currently, and who could be in the future, a member of the group.

What to do in this situation
This particular threat is very easy to spot and avoid.  If you happen to see one of your friends create a group  like the ones mentioned here, do not post your contact information to the group.  Instead simply use email or the Facebook “Messages” system to send a private message to the user with your phone number and contact information.  You should also be sure to send them a link to this post to help educate them about their misguided and potentially harmful ways.

If for some unfortunate reason you happen to be the poor soul who has to rebuild your address book, do not use a Facebook group to accomplish this task.  Instead post a message to your wall informing your friends about the situation and ask them to send you the information using a private message.  When doing so also be sure to remind your friends NOT to post their phone number or other contact information in the comments section on your wall.

Spread the knowledge and Browse Safely!
After my last article about a Facebook safety issue got so much attention, I created a new Facebook page on Web Safety to notify users when I write about internet safety issues.  If you would like to be notified about new internet safety articles as they are made available, then become a fan of the Web Safety Facebook page.  Twitter users can also follow me on twitter to receive notifications about new articles and blog postings.

The general idea is to come up with an idea that many unsuspecting users will get behind, like the idea of Facebook charging its users, and then letting the number of group members rack up.  Once the number of members gets to an acceptable level for these groups, the founder will then send out messages to all the users that contain links to outside websites offering more information about the “issue”.   Finally when the members go to visit the site, their computers get infected with malicious software programs designed to cause the user grief and to use thier computer as a conduit for sending spam.

Facebook has already stated that they have shut down some of these groups in the past for implementing these practices and will continue to do so in the future.

The best thing to do if you are already a member of this group would be to go remove your affiliation with this group as soon as possible.  You can do this by logging in to Facebook and then going to the groups page.  There you will find a link that says “Leave Group” under the group’s logo.  By doing so you will no longer be a member of the group and will not see the malicious links when the group decides to send them out.

About Facebook Charging Users
As far as the topic of Facebook Charging its users in the future goes, it’s not likely to happen.  Facebook has already stated that they have no intention of charging the users to use their service.  What they are not telling you is that they make more money per month from you being a free user then they would if they charged you.  Facebook makes its money from the ads, such as the one to the right, that get displayed in the interface while your browsing around their site. Since they have 400+ million users to display those ads too they have many marketing firms willing to purchase them.  If Facebook was to charge its users to access the site, they would have less users to market the ads too and would lose more users & money then they would make from the access fees.

If you see any of your friends or family joining a group that mentions Facebook charging users, send them a link to this article and educate them.  For that matter use the Facebook “Share” button at the top of the article now and preemptively educate all of your friends and family!

** Update 4-27-2010 ** - There has been a huge response to this article.  At this point the article has been shared on Facebook over 500 times and continues to grow.  This has shown me that more articles on web safety are definitely needed in the future.  I have started a new Facebook page about web safety and will be posting more articles like this in the future.  Become a fan today and get automatically notified via Facebook of the new articles when posted.

Social Plugins
Social plugins are the new Facebook tool that web designers can use to integrate your Facebook account into their websites.  As a web designer I can see some of these tools being very handy to use on a website.  Facebook made it very easy for web designers to implement these tools and in most cases a simple copy/paste is all that is needed.  This helps ensure even the most novice of designers will be able to use them.  Unfortunately, it also means that they can also easily configure them to share too much of your information.  Since these tools were only released this week, it may be some time before you start seeing some of them online.  Here’s the rundown on each one:

Like Button
The “Like Button”  is a very simple social plugin.  According to Facebook it “enables users to make connections to your pages and share content back to their friends on Facebook with one click”.  I tested a couple of these out myself today and sure enough, that’s exactly what it does.  The only problem is that it didn’t confirm with me that I actually wanted to click the button, it also didn’t prompt me to login to Facebook when I clicked it.  Yet later I found the following on my Facebook wall and on a friends news feed:

While on that particular instance I don’t mind… What if I accidentally clicked that button?  Since I didn’t get a confirmation or login box, all my friends might have gotten a message that I liked something that maybe I didn’t want them knowing I was looking at.  Who knows what that might be.. but you get the drift.  Now to take this a step further, the Like button on the Conversion Marketing website now says the following:

Great!  Not only do all my friends get notified of this, but now my picture and name are on this site!  Fantastic!  Here’s the good news on this one.  Upon further investigation, your picture and name only show up when one of your friends also visits the same page.  If a random stranger visits the page, they aren’t actually there, it would simply say that “85 other people like this”.

So you might be asking yourself how you can protect yourself from this?  This one is simple, when your done playing on Facebook.. click the logout button.  If you do not click the logout button then you are still considered logged in to Facebook until you close all of your browser windows.  Also make sure that when you are logging in to Facebook that you don’t check the box that says “Keep me logged in”.  If you are not logged in to Facebook, this button doesn’t work and would prompt you to login before posting to your wall thus providing us with the “confirmation” step we want.

** Note: Don’t confuse this button with the Facebook “Share” buttons that you typically find on blogs.  An example share button can be found at the top and bottom of every one of my posts.  These share buttons prompt you to confirm that you want to share the content with friends and provide you with a chance to add a message when doing so.  The share buttons are safe and you should feel free to use them.  Especially on my site!

Like Box
The Like box social plugin can be used by designers to link their Facebook page to their normal website.  This shouldn’t be confused with the Like button I just mentioned above.

Facebook allows users to create “Pages” on their site the represent real life objects such as companies, artists, and products.  Users could then find these on Facebook and “Become a Fan” of the object.  This created a relationship between the user and the page, allowing the page’s updates and news to be displayed to the user in their news stream.  As a designer I thought this was great because it allowed me to announce new products or services for my company and get that information to the users who we already had a relationship with. As a user you were able to keep up with all the need to know information that the company or artist was releasing, which was also great because you were a “Fan”.  Now Facebook has changed these “Become a Fan” buttons to “Like” buttons to make it feel like a more light weight relationship between the user and the fan.  Apparently Facebook thinks we are all stupid.  I know I can’t count the number of times I was staring at the “Become a Fan” button and thinking to myself.. “Well, I like the company.. but I am not sure I would call myself a fan.  What to do, What to do.”  Hopefully your getting the sarcasm.. because I am laying it on pretty thick.  Back to that “Like” box..

So the Like box allows designers to link those pages from their normal websites with more functionality and a little more ease.  Since, you know, all those “Become a Fan” and “Follow us on Facebook” buttons spread across the web simply were not good enough and apparently not getting the job done.  The like box looks similar to the “Like” button but instead of creating a one time link in your feed about a piece of content you liked on the web, it creates a relationship between you and the company, artist or product you happen to be looking at.  That’s not a big deal except again there is no confirmation and no login box.

Now imagine the damage that this could cause if web designers decide to try and fool you..  Lets say I am browsing around on the web and get sent a link to a video about cute puppies.  This video might just happen to be hosted on the Aryan Nation web site.  Not really paying attention to the site I am on.. I watch the video and think its funny.. after all it is about cute puppies!  I go to click the “Like Button” to share the videos with others and get confused because there is a “Like Box”.  I click the wrong button and all my friends and family get a message saying I am now a fan of the Aryan Nation and White Power movement.  That’s not good.

They simply could have left the wording alone as now they will simply be confusing users.  To make matters worse, this new little plugin also has options to allow the site to display the profile images of it’s fans on the external site.  Now before the changes these pictures would show up on the Facebook pages where you had become a fan.  That wasn’t a big deal because it’s still on Facebook’s site and by uploading the picture, and by becoming a fan on the company, I basically gave permission for them to display it there.  However, that was only on Facebook’s own site.  Now, based on the example above, my picture could end up on the Aryan Nation website for all to see.  I didn’t sign up for that!

So what do you do about this one?  That’s easy.  Just like the “Like Button” make sure you are logged out of Facebook when your done using it.  Also make sure you know who’s is doing what with your information.  If your going to become a fan of a company or artists.. go check their site and make sure they aren’t displaying fan pictures on their site.  If they are, go back to Facebook and remove that fan relationship.  Show these companies and artists that it’s not ok with you that they are displaying your picture, and linking to your profile, on their sites.  To take it a step further you might even want to send them an email telling them you would want to become a fan but don’t want your picture displayed on their site.  Maybe they will get the hint and turn that feature off.

Activity Box
Here’s another little gem that Facebook added for web designers to use.  It’s an widget box that allows the website to display all the the social activity that has happened on their site from the other Facebook plugins.   This could be anything such as liking a piece of content, becoming a fan, or simply commenting on a page.  The box then displays your name, picture, and links to your profile to let everyone know that you are being active on the site.

According to the documentation for this plugin, the box will automatically personalize itself for the user who is viewing the site by placing action’s by their friends at the top of the list.  The remainder of this list is simply random strangers.

So once again we have a plugin that displays my name, shows my picture, and links directly to my profile for random strangers simply because I liked a piece of content on the site.  I can just see a stalker type using this to find new prey to harass online.  Granted that’s not going to happen to me personally as I am not cute enough to be stalked.. but it could happen to someone who is.

The best way to block yourself from this one is to be careful about which buttons and plugins you’re clicking on websites.  Also change your privacy settings on the Facebook website to only show your comments, likes and other items to only be shown to friends.  This will help protect you from being chosen as one of the random strangers.  If you don’t want your picture and profile being linked from any external sites, then don’t engage in any of the social media actions, likes and comments, on the sites that use these new activity boxes.

Other Social Plugins
All of the other social plugins that Facebook announced actually look fine.  The other ones all require the websites to specifically require your permission to use or they are obvious enough that you can tell what you are doing.  These are things like comment boxes, login boxes and other general nonsense.  Some of the other plugins also have options for linking to your profile and displaying your pictures on external websites, which I also see as an invasion of privacy, however you do have to perform an action on the website and “Allow Access” to the application before it happens.

Instant Personalization
This is where Facebook definitely crossed a line.  The Instant Personalization program is a new partnership program with Facebook where select websites can instantly personalize their content based on your public Facebook information.  As of right now there are only 3 websites that can offer instant personalization, they are Yelp, Pandora Radio, and Docs.com.

Here’s an example of what I mean by personalizing the content online based on Facebook information.  Lets assume you went to Pandora to listen to some online radio.  Pandora will now, in the background, go back and check with Facebook to see what music you listed on your Facebook profile and customize a radio station to your preferences.  As if that isn’t bad enough, it will also check the music that your Facebook friends listed on their profiles as well and use that information to further customize your playlists and offer you suggestions of other types of music you may like.

Now for the worst part, as a Facebook user you were automatically signed up for this service.  That’s right.  They didn’t even bother to ask you if that’s what you wanted to do, they just signed you up for it.  To protect yourself and to opt-out of this wonderful new feature, simply login to Facebook and go to “Account” – > “Privacy Settings” -> “Instant Personalization” where you will fine a setting to turn this off.  Unfortunately that doesn’t fully do the job.  The setting will only turn off the feature if you access one of the instant personalization websites, not if your friends do.

To make sure your information isn’t used when your friends visit these sites, you have to login and specifically block these applications from being able to access your information.  To do this you have to go to the Facebook page for each application and click the “Block Application” link on each one.  After all Facebook didn’t want to make it too easy for you to do.  I do want to make it easy for you however, so here are the links to each application:

• Yelp Application
• Docs.com Application
• Pandora Application

Each of those links will take you directly to the Facebook page where you can block the application.  If Facebook adds any more of these personalized websites in the future, you will also have to go specifically block those as well.  Hopefully Facebook will not be adding too many sites as “Instant Personalization Partners” in the future.

Open Graph API
Facebook also announced this week that they setup a new website for web designers to simply the interface for them to access Facebook user information.  This can be used by Facebook applications or by external websites to further customize your browsing experience for you.  The nice thing about this API is that each application must specifically request your permission to access your profile information.  The bad thing is the amount of information that’s actually available through this API.

Here’s something to think about.  If you have ever played any games or taken a quiz on Facebook then you have likely authorized an application to access some, if not all, of your profile data.  These applications now have simplified access to even more of your data via this new API.  All of the following is available through this new API:

• Profile Information
• Friends List
• Your Wall
• News Feed
• Photo Albums (With links to the actual pictures & tags information)
• Books List
• Movies List
• Notes
• Videos
• Groups
• Events

Those are just some of the information that is available via the API.  For example here is a link to the API call for some of my information.  As you can see some of the information is available to the public and there’s an entire list of things that are available to developers.  If a developer happens to get your permission to access your API information, they can get some very detailed information in a very easy to use format.

To make matters worse on this one the information is presented in a way where it could be exported to an external database once someone has access.  So If I was a malicious website developer and wanted to gather information about my website users, I could deceive them into giving me Facebook API access and then transfer that information into a private database away from Facebook.  This way if the user ever decided to revoke my application’s privileges to their information, I still have historical data in my own database copy to use for whatever I wanted.  You starting to see how this could be a bad idea?

So to protect your information from this API, you need to go double check your privacy settings on Facebook and make sure you know exactly what information is being shared with “Everyone”.  Also go through your list of authorized applications and remove any of those that you don’t want to have access to the information listed above.  In the future also make sure you know exactly what applications you are authorizing to access your information.  On each access request the application must tell you specifically which types of information they need access too, read those and make sure you understand them before clicking approve.

Conclusion
Personally I think we could have done without many of the new tools and changes.  Facebook is trying to become the social center of the web and is compromising user privacy while doing it.  I think that Facebook information should have been left on Facebook’s website where it belongs and where the users have the most control over it.  There have been reports of users, including Google Engineers, closing their Facebook accounts because of these changes.

If you’re concerned about the changes that Facebook has made and you want to warn your friends about it, then use the Facebook Share button at the top of this article to post a link to all of your friends.  The button will prompt you to confirm before posting a link on your wall.

That was a huge mistake.  After getting 10 minutes of time in front of the new device, it was very clear to me… I had to have one of these!  Yes folks.. I am weak!  Put something shiny in front of me to play with and I must have one!  Funny thing was that one of the other employee’s I had previously had a conversation about the iPad with was also at BestBuy, playing with an iPad.  She agreed that after getting a few minutes with the device, she wanted one too.  Immediately we checked with one of the sales reps working in the store and of course.. they are out of stock.

After spending a couple of days trying to source one from multiple retail outlets and CraigsList, I gave up and ordered one online direct from Apple.  Then last night, I stumbled across a “In Stock” notification on Best Buy’s website.  I made some calls to verify stock and drove across town only to have them sold out when I got there 20 minutes later.  I had that location check the stock at some other locations and was able to secure one over the phone at another location, which they weren’t supposed to do.  This is one of those times when you are thankful that not all employee’s follow “company policy” all of the time.

So now I have one.  A shiny new iPad wifi edition with 64GB of storage.  After getting a chance to use it off and on for the last 24 hours, here is how it actually breaks down in all the categories that actually matter:

Look and Feel
The device is no different then a iPod touch or a iPhone in this regard.  The operating systems are almost exactly the same and all of the buttons are located in the same spots.  The screen on the iPad certainly is larger and there is no way your going to fit it into your pocket.  With that in mind, looking at the online specs you might get the impression that the screen is too large.  That is not the case.  Once the iPad is in your hands, it’s easy to hold on to and seems as if it’s just the perfect size.

Weight
The iPad weighs in at a minor 1.5 pounds.   This is great when compared to a laptop or a net book.  It’s not too heavy but certainly has enough weight to it that you don’t feel like you are going to snap the device in half.  The 17″ laptop I normally carry around is about 7.5 pounds, so this is a huge improvement over that.

Screen
The screen resolution on the iPad is nothing short of amazing.  When reading a book or watching a movie the picture is just incredible.  I could easily see using the iPad to watch a movie  or read a book during a flight or a commute (when you’re not the one driving).  The picture while watching Disney/Pixar’s Cars looks just as good as it does on Blu-Ray on my Sony Bravia 52″ Television.

Applications
When looking online at Apple’s site, I got the impression that the iWorks applications were going to be included with the iPad.  This is not the case, they are available for you to purchase in the iTunes Application Store, but they didn’t come loaded on the device.  The applications that do come default on the device are Safari (a web browser), Email, Contacts, Calendar, iPod, Videos, Pictures, Notes, and YouTube.  These are exactly the same applications that come loaded on the iPod touch when I purchased that.  In the iTunes store there are many applications available for the iPad, many of which are free.  The paid applications mainly cost between 5.99 and 9.99 for good quality programs.  There are some applications that have not yet made a iPad compatible version, however the iPod/iPhone versions do seem to run on the newer device.  The only problem with these programs is that they open in a iPod sized window and don’t make use of the nice large screen you just paid for.  There is an option to blow them up to nearly full screen but typically they don’t look good when this is done.  With that in mind every one of the apps I really wanted to use today had an iPad version except FaceBook, hopefully they will get that fixed sooner then later.

Book Reading
This deserves its own section as this will be a major use for this device.  Apple has come up with it’s own iBooks app (free to download) that you can use to purchase books from the iBooks store at reduced rates.  Amazon, the largest book dealer on the planet, also has a Kindle application for the iPad to use with their Kindle book store.  After using both of these applications for a minor period of time, I like the iBooks app more.  The main reason I like it more because it has more eye candy built into the app.  The Kindle application by comparison seems very plain, however Amazon’s ebooks are cheaper and they have a much larger selection of books available.  These are the things that really matter.  I just wish Amazon would add a bit more eye candy to the app so there won’t be any way that Apple can gain any ground on them in this category.  There is also a Marvel comic book application available for those of us that aren’t into novels…  these also look amazing on the string.

Ease of Use
The iPad interface is extremely easy to get comfortable with and use.  I could easily see the most novice of users, or even my mother, being able to use it with ease after just a few minutes of playing with it.  (Side Note:  isn’t it amazing how quick us tech/geek guys are to throw our mothers under the bus when it comes to technology?  My mother has a Droid and a data plan and plays on FB while at the tire store.  There’s something wrong with that picture too.)  While each application may be a little different, they all pretty much share a similar look.  Also since the entire system is controlled by the full touch screen..  moving around on the iPad is a breeze.

Pitfalls
Well.. it can’t all be great can it?  There are a few downfalls that I have found while using the iPad.  Here is a little combined list of the pitfalls of the iPad, some of which I have found and some which others have complained about.

• No Flash: Not really a problem for me personally yet, but no.. there is no flash support on the browser.  Most people will probably not run into a problem with this but almost everyone needs to bring it up as a pitfall.  Apple has pretty much made it clear that they won’t be fixing flash on the device.
• No Back side Camera:  Thats right, there is no camera on the back of the iPad.  This means you are not going to be taking pictures of your friends using the device.  This isn’t really a problem for me as I can’t realistically see holding up the iPad to take a picture.  It’s a little large for that.
• No Front side Camera:  This one does actually kinda suck.  Apple it would have been nice to have a webcam type camera on the front of the iPad to use for video conferencing over the web.  This is really the only use I could see of a front side camera, but video conferencing on the iPad would have been fun to play with.
• No Multi-Tasking:  This ones a little tricky.  It works.. and Doesn’t.  The iPad wont let you run two apps at once.  You can run one app and then close it and open another.  That’s it.  Many people complain about this because they want to listen to the Pandora (online radio) app and browse the web at the same time, or something similar.  Well you can listen to music (via the iPOD app) and browse the web at the same time.  So it seems as if your using two Apple apps you can multi-task but you can’t if the apps come from a third party.  This is said to be getting fixed in the next operating system upgrade due out later in the year.
• Weird Wifi:  Many users, including myself, have had some problems with slower wifi connections or some quirky wifi issues while using the device.  I was able to fix my issues by changing the channel my wifi router used to broadcast it’s signal.  Many users however are complaining that a device at this price level (that was specifically built to use wifi) shouldn’t have ANY problems with wifi.  While I kind of agree with them, Apple has already acknowledged the problem with the wifi and has stated they will be releasing a fix for it.

Bottom Line
In the end.. after one day I give the iPad a big thumbs up.  It’s fun to play with and extremely easy to use.  There certainly is a place in the market for such a device.  I can also see it having some very practical uses.  If your going to pick one up, I would suggest you also invest in some screen covers and a carrying case for it.  After shelling out that kind of cash the last thing you want to do is scratch the screen or drop it and crack the casing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s just fantastic isn’t it!  You can see Family Guy Sundays on Fox at 9/8c or get the Family Guy DVD’s at Amazon!

Over the past few years I have watched Sprint Cup racing, the Nascar governing body has placed been fairly aggressive about punishing drivers who have stepped over the line on the track.  It was made clear at the beginning of this year that Nascar would be changing it’s stance on aggressive racing.  Nascar is trying to provide the fans with what they want by allowing drivers to police themselves more on the track.  They want to allow the drivers to race harder and perhaps trade a little paint with another driver on the way to the win.  After all.. This does make for more exciting races and some of the best finishes.  I don’t think there is a problem with that at all, however I do think that Nascar might have stepped a little too far back in some situations.

Last Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway had a very blatant incident where I think Nascar should have stepped in and served up a little more severe punishment.  On Lap 41 the No. 99 car of Carl Edwards was trying to move down the track and was unintentionally hit by the No. 12 car of Brad Keselowski.  This caused Edwards to fly up the race track and wrecking both the No. 99 car and the No. 12 car of Joey Logano.  Both of these drivers went directly back to the garage and this effectively ruined both of their racing days.  This really wasn’t too bad of a incident and certainly nothing out of the ordinary for a race.

It was fairly clear from the replay’s that Edwards tried to come down the track and Keselowski simply did not provide Edwards with any give on his track position.  This caused Edwards to come across the hood of Keselowski’s car and caused the wreck.  Even Edwards said that it didn’t look like it was Keselowski’s fault when shown the replay after being released from the care center.  Well apparently Edwards changed his mind on that statement by the end of the Race.  150 Laps later in the race, Edwards team was able to fix up his car and put him back on the track to gain some more points for the season.

On Lap 323 of the scheduled 325 laps in the race, Keselowski was firmly in the 5th position and set to have a pretty decent finish with only 2 laps to go.  This is when Edwards decided to take revenge on Keselowski.  With both cars traveling at over 190 mph Edwards pulled up to the left rear panel of Keselowski’s car and blatantly turned into his car.  This simple act of revenge by Edwards caused Keselowski’s car to spin, sending it airborne and having it completely destroy Keselowski’s car and his day.  All of this happened on the front stretch right in front of the grandstands where thousands of fans were sitting.  Here is a video of the wreck…

Click here to view the embedded video.

This isn’t the first time there have been problems between these two drivers.  Back in the 2009 race at Talladega Super Speedway the roles were reversed and Edwards was the one flying through the air.  The big difference though.. Keselowski didn’t cause that wreck on purpose:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s fairly apparent in the video of Talladega that the two were racing hard and Keselowski had moved under Edwards to pass him on the final lap.  Edwards then tried to block Keselowski and moved down across the nose of Keselowski’s car when there simply was no room there for him to block the pass.  If Edwards had continued to drive straight to the line then it would have been a very close finish and the No. 99 team wouldn’t have had to piece back together their car at the end of the race.

It was so clear to Nascar at the Atlanta race that the wreck was caused on purpose that they immediately told Edwards that he was parked for the balance of the race, a whopping 2 laps.  Edwards was also notified that he needed to report to the Nascar trailer to speak to race officials.  On his way to the trailer Edwards was interviewed and asked about the wreck being intentional.  Edwards comment was “His car went airborne, which was not at all what I expected”.  Later it was posted online that punishments would be handed out on Tuesday 3/9/2010.  That was yesterday.

So what did Nascar in their infinite wisdom due to punish Edwards for intentionally wrecking another driver and causing fans to be in some level of danger?  They put him on probation for 3 races.  Wait.. What?  Probation? WTF Nascar!

Edwards intentionally spun another driver causing them a top 5 finish, costing them thousands to fix the car, and putting fans in danger.  All he gets is probation for 3 races?  A Nascar Representative, mentioned in this article, stated that parking Edwards for balance of the race was a large part of his punishment.  WHAT?  You parked him for 2 laps where he only had the possibility of gaining 3 additional points for the season.  So his entire punishment is 3 points and probation?  Nascar you have failed!  You have failed to properly punish a driver for doing something completely stupid on the race track!

So Nascar.. Where are we going to draw the line?  If someone wrecks someone else on the last lap to get the win.. is that ok?  Do we still just get probation?  The white flag would have already been waived so at the time of caution the race would end and the wrecker would be in first place.  What about if they need tires and wreck someone so they can get a caution and pit?  Still just a probation?  Do they get parked for that?

Seriously Nascar, where are the fines?  Where is the suspension?  I can understand wanting to stay out of it and letting them race harder..  That’s fine.  I look forward to that.  However when it is intentional there has to be some sort of punishment!  That punishment must be more severe then a 3 race probation.  If it’s not, then every 4th race I want to see a driver dump the leader on the last lap to get the win.  Apparently nothing will ever happen to them if they do!  Except the fact that they will win every 4th race, be #1 in the standing and win the championship at the end of the year.  Seems like good racing strategy to me.  As long as the driver or the crew chief can count to 4, wouldn’t want to do it while on probation, they can win the championship!

As for Edwards, he was 100% in the wrong here.  I can understand being frustrated that he had a bad day and didn’t get a good finish.  Too bad man.. Thats life.  It’s clear by looking at the replay that Edwards came down the track too early and that Keselowski simply did not give him any room.  Keselowski however is not required to provide any room for Edwards in that situation.  Edwards is the one that screwed up, not Keselowski.  I wouldn’t have lifted and given him the room either, why?  Because we are out here to race.  If Edwards wants to be mad at someone about the lap 41 wreck.. maybe he should be talking to his spotter.  Isn’t the spotters job to tell you that someone else is already occupying that space and that you are not going to fit?  I think so!

Personally I think that Nascar should have suspended Edwards for 3 races.  Since they didn’t do it, Roush Fenway Racing should suspend Edwards!  The guy needs to be parked for doing something so stupid.

What do you think?  Did Nascar deal with this correctly?  Should Edwards be sitting out for a few races?  Should Roush Fenway Racing or Edwards be paying some fines in points or cash?  Let us know in the comments below!

Linux has been around for several years and I have tried using it as a desktop platform many times in the past.  Each time having the system fail in one way or another.  Sometimes these failures were technical and other times they were simply because the platform was not user friendly.  Either way it has been at least a couple of years since I last tried to switch to a more open source platform like Linux.

For those of you who don’t know, Linux is a operating system that is an alternative to Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OS.  There are many different distributions of Linux each with their own setup, but all based on the same underlying system core called the Linux kernel.  What makes each distribution different is the philosophies of system setup, software to include and update/release schedules.  For the most part though you can get the same software on all versions of Linux with a few exceptions.

Like I mentioned previously, I recently decided to give Linux another try.  This time I decided to go with a new distribution that I have never used before called Ubuntu.  The idea behind the Ubuntu distribution is to create a user friendly desktop platform for the masses based on the gnome desktop manager.  HUH?  That’s probably more then you wanted to know.  The important part of that is “Ubuntu” and “User Friendly Desktop Platform”.  So Lets see how they did…

During the install I was prompted with a few basic questions such as my timezone, keyboard layout, default language and my name.  Seems simple so far.  The install process also asked about how I wanted my hard drives setup/partitioned and being a advanced user I set them up manually.  For the beginners there was a simple “use entire hard drive” option they could choose.

Upon answering all the questions and giving the system a password for my login, it proceeded to format the hard drive and install the Ubuntu system.  There was a total of five screens that asked questions during the install and it worked very similar to a wizard setup screen in Windows.  This is great to help make it easy to convert the less advanced users from Microsoft.

Once the installation was complete the system rebooted and I was prompted to login with the user name and password I setup during the installation.  When I was finally able to enter those correctly (too many passwords in my head), the system dropped me to my new Linux desktop.

After the desktop loaded I looked around and was very surprised to find that all of my hardware was configured and working perfectly.  At this point I took a couple of minutes to poke around the system and menus to familiarize myself with the platform.  I was amazed at what I found.  All of the software a basic home user would need was here pre-installed on the system.  This is what I found:

• Calculator Application – Not a great program but it’s invaluable when missing.
• CD/DVD Creator – CD and DVD burning software ready to go.  Burn data or music directly to discs.
• Screen Shots – Allows you to take a picture of whats on your screen and save it.
• Text Editor – Equivalent to notepad in windows.  Stupid program but I use it everyday.
• F-Spot Photo Manager – A photo album program to organize and keep track of digital images.  The rise in popularity of digital cameras make this handy.
• GIMP Image Editor – Much better then Microsoft’s paint program.  More between the Paint Shop and Photo Shop programs.
• OpenOffice.org Drawing – Another image editing software.
• XSane image scanning software – Scan pictures and documents and save them on your computer.
• Dictionary – A computer based dictionary software.  This will be handy!
• OpenOffice.org Office Suite – Word, Excel & Power Point equivalents.
• Movie Player – A video file player.
• Sound Recorder – Record sound into your computer.
• Firefox – A web browser.  Better then Internet Explorer.
• Evolution – A email client similar to Outlook or Thunderbird.
• Pidgin Internet Messenger – A instant messaging client that can connect to Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, IRC and Jabber networks.

Wow!  Look at all that.  It’s everything a normal person would use for day to day activities.  This is great!  From this point I starting setting up my personal options for software I have used before such as Pidgin and Firefox.  Once I was done I continued to play with the system and use it for my day to day work activities.  In fact I am writing this post using Linux right now.

I must say I was very skeptical about moving to Linux when I starting thinking about it a week ago.  After all I have tried many times in the past and it never turned out good.  However this time it doesn’t seem so bad.  So far I have been able to find everything I need with a couple of clicks of the mouse and everything seems to be extremely user friendly.  I have installed a couple of extra pieces of software such as TweetDeck and Adobe Acrobat and even those installed with no issues.

At this point I can see no reason why I couldn’t continue to use this as my work desktop.  Really I can’t see a reason why I couldn’t load this on my home desktop that my wife and I share.

For those of you that want to try Linux on your machine but are too scared to make the jump, Ubuntu has a nice live CD that you can use to demo the OS.  Download the installation CD for Ubuntu from their site and record it to a CD.  When you reboot your computer with the CD in the drive select the option that says “Try Ubuntu with out installing on my computer”.  It’s certainly worth taking a look at.

What are your thoughts on using Linux as a desktop platform?  Do you think its close enough that the masses could easily use it as a Windows replacement?  Leave your comments below…