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How to sync your Gmail accounts
In this video, CNET Editor Natali Morris shows you how to get your various Gmail accounts synced.
Web sites help keep your job skills sharp
Safety issues aside, only three things are required to be happy in your job: do interesting work, get paid fairly, and get along with your boss. I can't help you with the last one, but if you're not happy with the work you're doing or your salary, one possible solution is to learn new skills that will translate into more challenging and financially rewarding work.
Tongue-in-cheek suggestions for avoiding the ax Any employment-related advice on the Web or elsewhere has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially when it comes to generic recommendations about successful … Read more
6 ways to use public Wi-Fi hot spots safely
Places like Starbucks, neighborhood cafes, Barnes&Noble, and universities are all jumping on the "free Wi-Fi" bandwagon--hey, it's trendy. As a result, more of us are connecting to these networks without realizing the security risks.
But did you read the fine print? Wi-Fi hot spots are unsecured networks that hackers like to take advantage of. Everything--including your data, account information and passwords, Google searches, and finances--can become available to the hacker who wants it badly enough.
So before you pay your bills or write your genius business plan at the local cafe, get to know these … Read more
How to: Take back your privacy from data brokers
Data brokers, data harvesters, people finders: whatever you call them, they roll up a huge amount of real and deduced information about you to create a dossier on your life that anyone can buy or even browse for free. While the nuggets of information about you are already out there, the way these sites aggregate it makes a lot of people feel very invaded. Watch this video to see how you can opt out, to a degree, then use the links below to start taking back your privacy.
Opt-out tools:
Spokeo PeopleSmart Pipl Peek You (e-mail link): Include the PeekYou.… Read more
How to watch CNET TV on your Roku box
How to print on the go with Google Cloud Print
Today's smartphones allow a user to pack a ton of processing power and productivity software into a pocket. A printer, on the other hand, is usually not so portable. Fortunately, you don't have to drag your printer on the road with you because now you can send your documents to it with Google's Chrome browser and Cloud Print service. In this CNET How To video, we show you how to use this software and your Android, iPhone, or BlackBerry smartphone to print on the go.
Pump up your iPod's sound for $60
Gary Ali has hand-built well over 8,000 Portable Pocket Amplifiers since 2004. He now sells the Version 2 model, the PA2V2, for $60, and that price includes shipping charges (he's in Toronto). I chatted with Ali by phone yesterday, and he seemed like a really nice guy.
His site, Electric-Avenues.com, is basic in the extreme, and lacks the usual shopping cart buttons and simplified ordering instructions. It doesn't state the PA2V2's price, so that was the first thing I asked Ali about. He explained that he likes talking to his customers one at a time, … Read more
Highlight messages sent only to you in Gmail, Outlook 2010
As your e-mail inbox fills up, it can be difficult to distinguish the important messages from the ones you can read later--if at all. One way to help identify personal e-mails from impersonal ones is by the number of recipients. By highlighting messages sent only to you, you're less likely to miss mail requiring your immediate attention.
Last November I described how to merge multiple e-mail accounts and organize them by using filters and labels. This can help shuttle less-important messages out of your inbox and into folders you can peruse at your leisure.
But not all the non-filtered … Read more
Back up or transfer your iTunes library--free!
Want to back up your iTunes library and/or transfer it to another PC? iTunes itself has a backup option, but it requires blank CDs or DVDs. Bleh.
CopyTrans TuneSwift will back up your iTunes library to the media of your choice (including network folders, flash drives, and external hard drives), or let you transfer it to another machine--Windows or Macintosh.
(Just to clarify, TuneSwift itself is for Windows only, but it includes an option for transferring iTunes libraries to Macs. Pretty neat!)
The program will cost $20-30 when the next version is released, but right now you can get TuneSwift free of charge. … Read more
Android Market online: If your app never downloads
Google wasn't the first mobile platform provider to introduce an online app catalog, but its Android Market Web store is the first to offer seamless over-the-air installation.
Using the online Android Market is fairly straightforward. Apart from some initial hiccups everyone encountered when the Web store first launched, it takes just a few mouse clicks to wirelessly download both paid and free apps without craning over your smartphone screen or straining your peepers.
However, those early frustrations are telling. Scrambling to test the online Market just after it launched, I had no problems selecting apps to download, but several … Read more
