Jan 2012 – Thank You for visiting Tech Geek and More

As we start February, I just want to take the time to say Thank you to everyone who visited Tech Geek and More in January. We are still a small site, and we know it, there are no big heads here, but we continue to grow. January 2012 continued the trend of being our best month ever (according to Google analytics), with over 12,000 visits and over 47,000 page views. The mission of “Technology explained for all” continues in 2012….please check in regularly, and let us know what you think.

Lastly, a very BIG Thank you also goes to those who have been involved with developing Tech Geek and More….. I couldn’t have done this without you.

Alex

(Via Phandroid) BB Playbook users can expect the OS 2.0 update shortly

I know there are a few Blackberry Playbook tablet users out there. According to Phandroid BB Playbook users can expect the OS 2.0 update that will give you among other features
- native email client
- the ability to play Android apps….

The phandroid story can be found on their site (link) BlackBerry Playbook OS 2.0 Update Coming Next Month – Runtime For Android Lets Users Run Android Apps and Games http://phandroid.com/?p=81937 (http://phandroid NULL.com/?p=81937)

Tech Geek and More needs your help – Fund Raising

Since the start of Tech Geek and More, there have been some rules we have tried to live by

Make Tech Simple
Explain things in Normal language NOT GEEK SPEAK
Limit advertisement on the site (including posts)
- Clearly Label any advertisements as ADs or Sponsors
- No ADs mixed in the middle of posts

The reason for these rules is that those are things that drive us nuts when we visit other sites. Simple as that!

Now comes the part where we need to ask for help, due to our limit advertising we are very dependent on donations. We are coming up on some expenses and are currently a little short. We want to continue with Tech Geek and More but need your help to make ends meet.

Let me start by saying we all understand how things our tough, TRUST US WE KNOW. What we are asking is if you can spare any funds, if you cant we understand, but if you can afford a little could you please click on the

Sincerely

Alex

Head of Tech Geek and More

Latest Facebook Scams for week ending 1/27/12

As always, Tech Geek and More would like to thank our friends over at (LINK) Facecrooks.com (http://facecrooks NULL.com/) for the following information. Here are the latest scams seen over the past week on Facebook.

(LINK) THIS WEEK ONLY! $100 Applebee’s Gift Card Giveaway! – Facebook Scam (http://facecrooks NULL.com/Scam-Watch/this-week-only-100-applebees-gift-card-giveaway-facebook-scam NULL.html)

Clicking the link on the Facebook wall post takes you to the following page designed to look like Facebook:

The scammers are hoping that users will think this is a Facebook promotion. If you look closely, you will see that you are on an external website designed to look like Facebook. This is a favorite trick of the scammers. If you ‘Click Here To Begin!’ the following screen loads:

The end game here is a rogue browser plugin. As with Facebook applications, only install plugins / browser extensions from trusted sources. Based on what we have seen so far, this one doesn’t fit the bill. Installing the plugin leaves your system totally vulnerable to the developer. Similar scams have been known to pack malware and viruses. Installing the plugin is definitely not worth the risk to your system. We decided to stop here and advise you to do the same.

Continue reading →

Changes coming to Sprint billing that may allow you out of your plan without paying the ETF/Early Termination Fee (via Phandroid article)

I have had many people asking me how they can leave sprint early without getting hit with the ETF fee. Phandroid just posted information that may help those on a family plan get out of their plans.

“Have a Sprint Family Plan With a Discount Applied? Get Out of Your Contract ETF Free http://phandroid.com/?p=81094 (http://phandroid NULL.com/?p=81094)“

Some of the Latest Facebook Scams (As of 1/23/12)

In a continuing effort of keeping everyone informed, here are some of the more interesting Scams happening on Facebook. The information comes courtesy of the Tech Geek and More friends over at (LINK) Facecrooks.com (http://facecrooks NULL.com/).

(LINK) Hackers Impersonate Security Team on Facebook (http://facecrooks NULL.com/Scam-Watch/hackers-impersonate-security-team-on-facebook NULL.html) – Facebook Scam

In a rather ironic twist of events, hackers are impersonating the Facebook Security Team on the social network. Their modus operandi is simple, ingenious, and one we have warned about several times in the past.

The message reads:

“Last Warning: Your Facebook account will be turned off because someone has reported you. Please do re-confirm your account security by: (link)”

Continue reading →

1/18/12 – The web protests against SOPA and PIPA

Protests All Across the web

Today a large number of web sites (Big and Small) all across the internet are protesting the SOPA and PIPA bills that are current in the congress of the United States. The protests range from sites like (LINK) Google (https://www NULL.google NULL.com/) who have put a black bar across their name

To sites like (LINK) Wikipedia (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Main_Page), which is going “dark” for 24 hours.

Why these bills are such a concern

The following information comes from the site OpenCongress.org

PROTECT IP Act in the Senate

“Establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be “dedicated to infringing activities.” The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court”. (From LINK OpenCongress.org (http://www NULL.opencongress NULL.org/bill/112-s968/show))

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House

“This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infringement. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have “only limited purpose or use other than infringement,” and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. This bill combines two separate Senate bills — S.968 (http://www NULL.opencongress NULL.org/bill/112-s968/show) and S.978 (http://www NULL.opencongress NULL.org/bill/112-s978/show) — into one big House bill”. (From LINK OpenCongress.org (http://www NULL.opencongress NULL.org/bill/112-h3261/show))

Where can you get more information about these 2 bills

(LINKS)

100 Law Professors oppose Protect IP Act (http://freedomforip NULL.org/2011/07/06/100-law-professors-oppose-protect-ip-act/) – From Freedom for IP (Freedomforip.org)
Act Now : This Bill Seriously Screws with the Internet (http://www NULL.publicknowledge NULL.org/e-parasite-stop-online-piracy-act) (SOPA) – From Public Knowledge (Publicknowledge.org)
H.R.3261 – Stop Online Piracy Act (http://www NULL.opencongress NULL.org/bill/112-h3261/show) – From Open Congress (OpenCongress.org)
S.968 – PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (http://www NULL.opencongress NULL.org/bill/112-s968/show) – From Open Congress (OpenCongress.org)
Stop the Internet Blacklist Legislation (https://wfc2 NULL.wiredforchange NULL.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173) – From the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org)
What is Protect IP and SOPA (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VxPQ320jBLc) (Video) – From Lockergnome (On YouTube)
End Piracy, Not Liberty (https://www NULL.google NULL.com/landing/takeaction/) – From Google

Getting in touch with your Representatives in Congress

If you visit a site like (LINK) Project VoteSmart (http://votesmart NULL.org/) and enter your address on the top right,

you can get a list of information from the President to your local ballot measures.

If you click on the + next to Congressional (or whichever area interests you), you will get information like Office, First Election, Next Election, and Most Importantly Contact Information.

If you disagree with these bills and want to protect your freedom of speech, please contact your local Representatives in Congress and let them know that they need to vote against these bills if they want your vote in the next election.

How to read ePub books on a Kindle Fire

A friend of mine got a Kindle fire for Christmas (as I’m sure millions of others did to). One of the things she discovered is that the Kindle Fire does NOT recognize or open eBooks that are in the .ePub format. Personally I think its strange that Amazon would not include ePub format in the kindle reader as ePub books seem to be one of the most common eBook formats (at least based on what I see when surfing the web). My friend was disappointed as she already had a large collection of ePub formatted books that she was hoping to load on her Kindle Fire.

So that’s where todays post starts, “How to do get the Kindle Fire to recognize an ePub book”? Lets start with the following, “What eBook formats can you read on the Fire”? The answer is ……….(Insert Drum Roll here)………List from Amazons (LINK) Kindle Fire Page (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.com/Kindle-Fire-Amazon-Tablet/dp/B0051VVOB2)

Content Formats Supported
Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8.

Of the formats listed – Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, DOC, DOCX, are the eBook formats. So what do you do if you want your ePub file on the Kindle. You need to get conversion software for eBooks that will allow you to convert your ePub file.

The one that we found is called (LINK) Calibre (http://calibre-ebook NULL.com/). (From the Calibre site)

E-book conversion

calibre can convert from a huge number of formats to a huge number of formats. It supports all the major e-book formats. The full list of formats can be found here (http://manual NULL.calibre-ebook NULL.com/faq NULL.html#what-formats-does-app-support-conversion-to-from)

The conversion engine has lots of powerful features. It can rescale all font sizes, ensuring the output e-book is readable no matter what font sizes the input document uses. It can automatically detect/create book structure, like chapters and Table of Contents. It can insert the book metadata into a “Book Jacket” at the start of the book.

The best part about the Calibre software is that its FREE! You can download the Calibre software on their (LINK) download page (http://calibre-ebook NULL.com/download) . Calibre is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and also in a portable version, which means you can put the files on a USB drive and run the program on any pc without actually installing the program.

How to convert ePub to Mobi (preferred by Kindle)

Continue reading →

Some of the Latest Facebook Scams (As of 1/13/12)

(LINK) GUY TOUCHES 1000 BOOBS!!! – Facebook Scam (http://facecrooks NULL.com/Scam-Watch/guy-touches-1000-boobs-facebook-scam NULL.html)

With the headline of “Yo! hahaha can happen to anyone! GUY TOUCHES 1000 BOOBS!!! This scam is part of a growing trend of scammers using Flickr to peddle their malicious links. This is probably done to bypass Facebook’s filters.

Continue reading →

Another Facebook Scam – $100 Texas Roadhouse Gift Card

Scams seem to be a daily event on Facebook. Just ran into another scam on Facebook today, this one posted (like usual) on the wall of someone in my friends list. The person in question didn’t even realize the post was there. The post which showed a message of “I love chipotle” was for a $100 Texas Roadhouse Card.

When trying to figure out if something is a scam, always look for the small mistakes. Scammers don’t usually go to any of the places they talk about or they would know better, in this case Chipotle and Texas Roadhouse are not the same place, they don’t even serve the same type of food. Continue reading →