Tame Your Technology - Computer Repair Zone

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I’m slowly trying to move everything I can online at the moment because now that I am travelling quite a bit I don’t want to be tied down to any particular computer or geographic location.

This means things like swapping to web mail rather than a stand-alone mail client and using del.icio.us rather than Forefox standard favorites.

So I’ve been experimenting with Google Calendar to help keep life organised.

What I want to be able to do is access Google Calendar on my PC while I’m working (easy) but then when I’m away from my computer I want to be able to still access it. And this is the problem I have had in the past - one calendar on my cell phone, and another paper version at home. And keeping the 2 in sync can be a real pain.

What I *can* do is log into Google Calendar using the browser on my cell phone, but even running 3G the connection is so slow it’s painful - and I want to be able to make quick decisions. Worse - the data network isn’t as reliable as voice so sometimes I find I *can’t* access the net on my phone.

But now I think I’ve got the solution and it’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

As before, I enter dates and appointments on Google Calander when at my PC. But I have also found and installed a little application on my Windows Mobile-powered Palm Treo that syncs the Windows Mobile calendar function with Google Calendar.

So if I’m heading out for a meeting all day, I just turn on my Treo before I go, power up the synchronization software and - POW! - within moments everything is on my Palm.

This synchronization happens via my phones internet connection so I don’t need to be plugged into my PC in order to carry this process out.

Even better - the synchronization works both ways so if I add some dates at the meeting, I just resync at the end of the day, and my Google Calendar account is updated.

Perfect! Google Calendar will even send me SMS messages ot remind me of upcoming events!

The application I’m using is called OggSync - I’m using the freeware version at the moment but there is a paid version - though to me it wasn’t very clear from their website what the differences were so I thought - why pay the extra?!

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There are dozens of pieces of free RSS reader software available but I personally like Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/) so in this article we’re going to have a look at how to use it.

Once you’ve signed for for a free account we can start to add RSS feeds to our feed reader account.

Many websites these days will either feature as RSS link or an orange RSS button like this one:

Clcik the link or button and you will either be taken straight to an RSS feed, or just as likely you will be taken to a page where you are provided with the RSS feed.

The feed address will look similar to a standard website address.

As an example, our RSS feed here at Tame Your Technology can be found at: http://www.tameyourtechnology.com/feed/

Once you have copied and pasted this address, you simply select the “Add Subscription” link in Google Feed Reader, enter in the feed address and click “Add”.

You will see the articles in the feed filling up the main window and you’ll see the feed name showing on the left hand side of the page.

Any site with some content you haven’t read will show in bold. Anything in normal text is stuff you’ve read. Every time you log into your Google Reader account it will check all the feeds to see what is new, and you can read it all there at that one central location without having to go and visit each site inidividually.

Simple!

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It seems many people are still uncertain of exactly what RSS is, so I thought I’d do my best to try and explain it.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a technology that allows content to be syndicated - that is to legally appear elsewhere on the Internet.

Let’s look at an example.

This blog has an RSS feed, which is linked to in the navigation menu.

Another website or blog can take this RSS feed and add it to their web page.

In doing this, the articles from this blog would appear on their website.

As an example this can be useful for grabbing related news stories from the BBC or CNN websites and putting them on your website. A dog website can thus have the latest news stories related to dogs showing. A useful service for their visitors.

RSS is also free, so they wouldn’t pay to put those news stories on their website, and the BBC wouldn’t pay to have them featured on the dog site.

But there’s something else here. RSS is dynamic. When CNN updates their news with a new dog news story, the websites displaying that RSS feed would also automatically update with the latest news.

Now of course these days we can have RSS feed readers on our own computers or cell phones. You find a website or blog that you like that has an RSS feed, and type that RSS feed address into your RSS reader software.

Now whenever that website or blog adds new content, it will appear in your RSS software without you actually having to go to the website regularly to see if they’ve updated it.

It makes it easy to stay up to date with all your favorite sites and all the latest topics, news and information that matters to you personally, from one place.

That’s right - using your own RSS feed reader is like having your own personalised newspaper or magazine delivered to your computer every day. Nice, eh?

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Using encrypted wifi isn’t the main concern here - it’s using unsecured, unencryted wifi that can land you in trouble.

It has been said several times in the past that accessing the web via an unencrypted wifi hotspot will leave all your personal details floating around for anyone to access. Worse, it also means your computer can be accessed and then infected with viruses etc.

This short guide then will details 4 steps to staying as safe as possible while using unsecured wifi.

1) Use A Firewall

A firewall is a piece of software that builds a virtual wall around your computer and helps to control what moves past it in both ways, thus reducung the chances of a hacker gaining access to your computer and uploading malicious software to it.

2) Use Antivirus and AntiSpyware

Yes, I use both and recommend you do to. A combination will help cover all eventualities incase something *does* slip through your firewall.

3) Password Protect Your Laptop

You’re carrying your laptop around so add some basic password protection (such as setting it up in Windows User Accounts settings) so if someone manages to steal your laptop, your details are still safely locked away inside.

4) Use A VPN

A VPN creates a secure network for you to communicate on and provides the encryption that the wifi hotpsot doesn’t. Whilst such technology used to cost the earth, you can now find VPN accounts for $10 a month or less that will help protect your privacy online.

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I thought it might be useful to actually *see* the differences between Forefox and Internet Explorer, plus how to delete those cookies.

So I put a video together for you.

Enjoy!

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