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 The Technology Tailor Newsletter |
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Safety On the Internet: Your PC, Your Pesonal Info and Your Children
(May 27, 2006) |
Surprising World-wide Internet Statistics: A Web site called Internet World Stats offers a surprisingly deep collection of statistics on world-wide Internet use. It's an eye-opening look at the cross-continental digital divide. Consider:
- Internet penetration in the U.S. is 68 percent.
- In Europe, 36 percent of the population has Web access.
- In Asia, that number is 9.9 percent.
- And in Africa, just 2.6 percent of the population uses the Web.
iPod+Nike = Too Much Tech: An upcoming device will connect your Nike shoes to your iPod wirelessly to report your exercise time, distance and calories burned on the iPod screen. It's called the Nike+iPod Sports Kit, and will retail for about $30. It will only work with one line of shoes at first: Nike's Air Zoom Moire, which got for about $100. It's a nice idea, but much like I don't really want a blinking Bluetooth wireless device hanging on my ear, I'm not sure I want one on my shoes. And do we really need our exercise data on our iPod? iPods are for music! And cell phones were once supposed to be for making calls...
Wildly Affordable Web Sites: Rajesh Agarwal joined me all the way from New Delhi, India to discuss how his company, Web Development Factory works with American and British companies to design and develop Web sites at extremely affordable prices. My new Web site was developed by Rajesh and his team, and I believe that I saved 80 to 90 percent on the cost of developing the same site with a similarly experienced local provider. Much more on my experience with Rajesh and how I found him in today's Chicago Tribune "My Tech" column.
Protecting your PC from Viruses & Spyware: Richard Sherman, better known as Mr. Modem, joined me to discuss ways to protect your PC from Internet dangers. Richard puts out an entertaining and extremely valuable weekly newsletter called Ask Mr. Modem. I wrote a Chicago Tribune column about Mr. Modem and his newsletter recently. You can read it here.
Mr. Modem recommends using the free AVG Anti-Virus instead of the larger packaged products from companies like Symantec. Several callers also suggested the free Avast antivirus. For spyware removal (spyware is small applications planted on your computer by Web sites or downloaded programs that track what you do on the Internet), he suggests using one of these tools: Adaware, SpySweeper, or CounterSpy.
Protecting Your Privacy: I was also lucky to interview Andrew Klungness, e-commerce and privacy attorney for Bryan Cave LLP. Andrew discussed the recent theft of 26.5 million veterans' personal records - including social security numbers - from a Veterans Affairs employee. He advised that veterans who may have had their personal information compromised should visit the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Child Safety Online: Finally, Mike Sullivan, the deputy chief of the high-tech crimes unit at the Illinois Attorney General's office joined me for an extremely compelling interview about how to best protect your children on the Internet. He recommends that everyone with kids who use the Internet should visit the Illinois Crimes Against Children Web site for a run-down of potential dangers that children face online and preventative measures parents can take. It's maintained by the Attorney General's Office and is an excellent safety resource. |
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