How I helped Bob in a contest with a cron job…
/usr/bin/wget -q http://allstateagencies.com/BobEttensohn/Welcome
Did you win Bob?
This phrase “The Robert Walker Effect” is not on the internet for Google to find. So now it is here.
[Turning and uh-oh into an ah-ha…. ]
Several years ago we had 3 different laptops crash and lose all of their data in marketing. The “last straw” was Michael R’s. Using Retrospect backup software, Nancy’s old laptop, and a couple of large external hard drives, we set up a system that would back up the “My Documents” folder and “Desktop” of anyone who wanted backing up. Runs like clockwork. It is very addictive to get the “You’ve been backed up” message each day. Over the years it more than paid for itself by recovering Mark P, Russel, Mark H, and Anne’s data. This week, Michael R’s laptop crashed again (he who started all of this.) We were able to restore 20,000+ files to his new laptop.
The challenge was that I.T. sets our laptops to go to sleep after 20 minutes of being idle. We needed the laptop to stay awake all night as the files were restored. The video here shows the solution. An oscillating fan, two rubber bands, and two paperclips. Thanks to our legal council, Tori, for the rubber bands and paperclips!
TECH TIPS: Ask Kim Komando
Ever wonder just how much information about you is contained in corporate databases and on the Internet? Here’s a hint. It’s much more than you think.
If your telephone number is published, a simple Google search can turn up your home address, phone number and a map to your front door. Everyone knows that. But there are other databases and sites that contain intimate details of your life.
Specialty reports let potential insurers check your prescription history. Retailers can view your purchase returns history. And your employment and rental history are also online.
This information may be incorrect. It can haunt you when you apply for a job, credit or health insurance. So, it’s a good idea to do a background check on yourself from time to time.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you request free credit reports once a year. You can also request a report if you’ve been denied credit based on information it contains. And, you can request that any errors be corrected.
Credit reports
Credit reports are widely used to verify your credit-worthiness. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are the three main reporting agencies. You can request your free report by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. You can request reports from all three agencies.
Maybe it is related to the holiday season, buy the comment spam on Mac5 blogs has increased. In the past, automated spam was blocked with some special code I installed. I know there are businesses in poor countries that have rooms full of low-paid labor doing all kinds of things to manipulate Google searches. Manually posting comments with links is one such strategy
I have made some changes in the spam protection settings that will, I hope, intercept this new wave of spam. The example shown here was a spam that was caught in early December. It was caught for two reasons: 1) Too many links in the comment and 2) the IP address of the commenter was listed on a spam notification service. I have turned up the scoring to be more aggressive.
Our friends and family should not get blocked when we are not including links. And even if we include links will typically get posted because we get positive credit with a known email address. Let’s hope the spammers don’t figure out our email addresses.
After much research, I decided to get the iGroove SXT by Klipsch. Someone described it as “Bose at half the price.”
The iPod Touch has become a well used device in our household. It basically acts as a small wireless tablet that floats around the house but mainly lives in the family room. I’ve been watching a growing collection of games that the kids download. Other apps used frequently:
The challenge was keeping the Touch charged. It has long battery life, but it is awkward to hook up to one of the other computers in the house to charge, in part because each Mac wants to sync the iPod.
I went looking for a docking station, perhaps one that could sit next to our stereo and plug into it. I had a hard time finding a solution. There were mixed reviews on whether various docks would work with the newest “Gen 2” iPod Touch. So when I read about the iGroove on Apple’s website, I decided that was the one.
I was able to pick an iGroove up at Best Buy for the same price as the Apple Store. Now we have a great sounding, compact speaker system that can play streaming music from Pandora. Listening to my “Banjo channel” right now. (Bluegrass.)
Order yours today on Amazon!
Note: Also works fine with the several Nano’s in the house as a charging / play station.
