Techreluctant.com

This one is new to me. Instead of typing the whole web address (or, as you know, the URL) into your browser’s address bar, you can just type the part that usually goes between www and .com then press Ctrl+Enter. www will be put before what you typed and .com will be automatically placed after it. So if you type techreluctant then press Ctrl+Enter, you’ll automatically get www.techreluctant.com. I think this is one I am going to start using a lot. It works in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, and the new Google Chrome.

Is any email ever private? Probably not. Anything out there in cyberspace sits on a server somewhere and can be accessed by someone else, whether it’s an administrator or a hacker. In most companies, email from the company account and on the company server is considered the property of the company. So that joke you sent out about Santa and the pretty blond could be considered to be the property of your office. Ouch. Or even worse, that email making fun of your boss’s ear hair could be used against you one day. Beware. If you’re sending private emails from work, especially if you wouldn’t want your boss to know about them, always use a web-based account like gmail or hotmail. But don’t think they’re 100% safe either. Anything can be hacked. The rule to remember is don’t  send anything in an email you wouldn’t want the world to see. Scared? Me too. I’m guilty of emails I’d cringe about if they became public but we should all be a bit more careful.

Freecycle is one of those things that is not really a technological thing but would be impossible without technology. At its heart, it is people sharing and helping each other out. The Freecycle network is made up of 4,734 groups with 6,680,000 members all over the world. Its mission is clear, to keep stuff you don’t need anymore out of the landfill and into the hands of someone who’d like to have it. The old truism one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure is a truism for a reason. And so Freecycle was started.

It’s pretty simple. You sign up for a group in your area, you peruse the group for things people are giving away that you might be interested in and if you have something you’d like to part with and think someone else can use, you can post about that on the group. The one in my area, for instance, on one random day I chose, had a dinner table that sits 4-6 which was offered and picked up, a scanner and computer monitor offered and picked up, somoene who was looking for an office chair, and another person who was looking for an old crimping iron (as in 80s hairstyle crimping iron). It keeps these things out of the dump and someone gets to use the things you may just throw away. Or  it may be the perfect chance to get rid of the crimping iron down in that box in your basement. We’re all cleaning up around these days and getting out our summer stuff so maybe there are some things you’d like to offer up. If so, check out Freecycle.org.