Online Privacy is of great concern to me and to the most of the guys (and gals) reading this article. I have already written many posts about online privacy and many tools to secure your online privacy. I recently came across a consumer alert released by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office. This alert was about a website that can reveal your personal information to anyone who can afford to pay three dollars. This is very true!!!

Spokeo: Welcome the Privacy Killer

For less than 3 dollars ($2.95 per month), Spokeo.com reveals age, address, home phone number, mobile phone number, ethnicity, marital status, religion, politics,  e-mail addresses, social networking profiles, photos, videos and blogs of any individual. Just perform a search for your name and you will be surprised (and shocked) to see the accuracy of the information available on their website. What makes it a bigger privacy killer as opposed to social networks? Well, the guys at Spokeo.com do not need you to signup at their website. This people search engine uses an algorithm to search public databases which are quite very accurate.

What are the authorities saying?

As already told, a consumer alert has already been released by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office.  Here is what the Attorney General mentioned in the consumer alert -

The difference with these web sites is that information from a variety of disparate sources is aggregated, collated, and presented in one place. It’s like pieces of a puzzle put together. The result is that consumers enjoy less privacy, and that is understandably shocking

- Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel

Further, the Arkansas Deputy Attorney General Jim DePriest told ABC News that the reason they singled out Spokeo is they received numerous inquiries from consumers.

Consumers are a little taken aback that this information is available in one place, and they feel that their privacy has been invaded, so we are responding to those fears.

- Arkansas Deputy Attorney General Jim DePriest

How to protect yourself?

After the consumer alert was released and after getting feedback from consumers, Spokeo has added a new feature called ‘one-step opt-out privacy setting’. You can yourself opt-out of their list and this happens immediately.

To remove your listing from Spokeo, go to the following webpage: http://www.spokeo.com/privacy

Running a successful Internet business is more than just learning how to start an online business and making your website. One of the secrets to really successful internet businesses is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing works on the concept of revenue sharing between associated or affiliated businesses. It works like this: you agree to promote the products or services of an affiliated business, and anytime you generate a sale, lead, or click for that affiliate’s product or service, you get paid. It’s that simple theoretically.

If you want to be a successful affiliate marketer, you will need to follow the same basic guidelines as you would follow for any online business. You need to have a good website with good content that generates visitors. Your choice of keywords will greatly affect the level of traffic that you generate for your affiliates. To find out which of your keywords are generating the best rate of return, use your internet marketing tools. If you really want to be on the cutting edge of affiliate marketing, then you should monitor these keywords daily until you are certain that they are working for you. This is called keyword monetization.

Now you have to use those keywords to create effective ad copy for your affiliates. With affiliate marketing, you are likely to get copy from your affiliates. Perhaps you can generate some income using this, but remember, other people are using this same copy. The key is learning how to generate original copy that will make your website stand out against those others who are promoting the same affiliate. You can start by checking out your competitors and noting your similarities. Brainstorm any ideas you have about how you can stand out. Are their less competitive keywords you can use?

It is also important that you choose the right affiliates. You can’t just promote anyone and everyone on your site promote those reliable affiliates whose products and services closely match yours. People who visit your site are more likely to click through to those affiliates whose products and services match their interests.

There are many ways to promote your affiliates, but one of the most effective is to take advantage of blogs and social networking sites, as sites such as these help you establish a more prominent web presence. Social networking sites are quickly becoming the most utilized form of interaction especially for groups of people who are organized around similar interests. Social sites make it very easy for members of communities or fans to share information about their purchases.

A blog is another way that you can stand out as an affiliate. On your blog, you can establish yourself as an authority on the products or services that you promote. You can write reviews or how-to articles. If you can write in such a way that encourages commentary then that is even better. Search engines like sites that have a lot of comments. To even further establish yourself as an authority and outstanding affiliate, you can make YouTube Videos. If you do them properly, videos are a great way to shine your authentic personality!

If you are looking for ways to obtain free music for your music player or your Apple iPod, here is something of your interest -  digitized versions of 78rpm and cylinder recordings. These ancient music records have been digitized and are now compatible with your latest music players and iPods. The best of best, these records are completely and legally free.

How is this music legally free?

Copyright laws protect recorded music only for a period of 50 years after it is put down. This means that tracks from as recent as 1959 can be obtained for free.

While this may not sound really interesting for the guys of the generation but it is definitely a good source of free music for those who are interested in classics or those who would like to save every possible cent for an iPad.

In this post, we will see some of the very comprehensive source  of golden classics.

Top Websites to Get Free Music from Archives

Tinfoil

This website digitizes early recorded sounds. It continuously works to turn wax cylinders into digital audio. The website has some of the most fascinating stuffs of the order. For instance, it recently featured digitized version of a recording made on December 31, 1905 celebrating the New Year Year eve of 1906.

Link -  www.tinfoil.com

Stanford University

Stanford University hosts an old as well as a new archive of the ancient recorded music. It has one of the fastest growing library of free digitized music and radio records.

Link – www.sul.stanford.edu/depts/ars
www.lib.stanford.edu/ars

The Open Music Archive

As the name suggests, it is an open-source (collaborative) project which provides digital version of out-of-copyright ancient music. There is quite a lot of genre for which you can get some really interesting tracks. This really is an awesome depot for some really nice music.

Link – www.openmusicarchive.org

The Internet Audio Archive

It is a non-profit organization that collects and maintains a huge historical archive of digital creative product. Besides just the music files, it also stores old news shows, radio shows and concerts.

Link – www.archiv.org/details/audio

University of California

By the economic inspiration from Institute of Museum and Library Services, the University of California Libraries has created a huge collection of digital versions of nearly 8000 cylinder recordings that were held and maintained by the Department of Special Collections. In simpler words, this is a a fantabulous depot for getting deep into the musical archive.

Link – www.cylinders.library.ucsb.edu

Cooking is not an easy thing. Ask my mom or you better know if you are a mom yourself. It has been quite annoying to waste long hours in cooking food. Thanks to modern technology that now simplifies the work of cooking and makes it faster and efficient. There are some really cool gadgets available that can help you cook easily and efficiently. In this post, we will see 5 high-tech gadgets, which when added to your kitchen, can simplify cooking to a greater extent.

Demy

One of the reason people hate taking recipe books in kitchen is that they are not ‘kitchen-safe’. A recipe book may burn when accidently tossed into the oven or may get fazed by splattering of hot oil. Demy, on the other hand, is a recipe reader that is ‘kitchen-safe’. It will not melt when tossed into oven and will also not get fazed by hot oil. Demy is a touch screen companion for every cook who is interested in trying out new recipes every time. It is powered by KeyIngridient.com (probably the best recipe website on the internet) and has capacity to store up to 2500 recipes. With a kitchen-safe recipe reader on your kitchen desk, you are sure to cook your favorite in a very efficient way.

CDN Wireless Thermometer and Timer

Sitting (or standing) long hours in kitchen is definitely not a good idea when it takes quite some time to cook food. Thanks to CDN WT Wireless Probe Thermometer/Timer which provides with facility to get other things done around or in your house while simultaneously cooking in the kitchen. CDN WT Wireless Probe Thermometer/Timer gives you about 100 feet wireless extension for your oven so you are free to do other things while cooking. The alert system of the gadget is quite good. Visual alerts lets you know when the target temperature is reached and 10 minutes pre alert lets you know when your food is almost done cooking.

SensorFreshQ: An electric nose for hygienic cooking

SensorFreshQ can be thought as an electric nose that smells meat for determining the level of bacteria in the uncooked meat. This is an ‘almost perfect’ gadget for those who are very much concerned about hygiene. Besides, it can save you tons of cash which is expended on diseases caused by infected meat. Further, it is also helpful for you to check for old and expired meat before buying.

Electrolux Icon Induction Cooktop

This is the cooktop which ensures fastest cooking. It is so amazingly fast that it can boil water in 90 seconds or speed up the cranberry sauce in a 36-inch induction cooktop. It is 20% faster than other induction cooktops and 70% more efficient than the gas cooktops. This is indeed the best gadget for those who want cooking to be fast and efficient.

The Grill Alert Talking Remote Meat Thermometer

Having barbeque in your garden is a great way of having fun but it becomes quite annoying to stay by the grill for long time as minor distractions may spoil the entire thing. Thanks to The Grill Alert Talking Remote Meat Thermometer which is a handheld device that shouts loud when your meat is ‘almost done’ and when ‘done’.

This is the time when world is getting techie day by day and it is important that you jump into this fray to shape the future of cooking.

Apple iPad is the talk of the town and “guess what?”,  it is a ‘Slate’. Welcome to the future of computing where slates will take over the usage of laptops and PCs. The day is very near when usage of ‘Slates’ will set in and we will see the departure of PCs and laptops. I was just struggling with this view last night when I came up with certain thoughts supporting “why Slates will take over the usage of PC and laptops?”. In this post, we will see 5 quite good reasons that will support my view.

1. Cloud Computing: No need of heavy hardware resources

The evolution of Cloud computing is one of the major factor that I see as a promoter of Slates’ usage. Cloud computing, in simple words, refers to the ability to store files, documents, programs, etc. remotely on a web server instead of storing it locally. This means that you can use whole lot of applications and functionalities without having to store anything locally on your system. This further means that you can get a system that is light on resources and yet can support your high-end application needs. Such system would be highly portable.

With cloud computing gaining popularity and various companies offering hard drive space on cloud, ‘Slate’ users can gain all the features of full-fledged PC on a very portable  device – ‘Slate’. You can have a high capacity hard disk at a web place and use it for the tasks that you commonly do on your computer. Some people say that Slates aren’t for gaming. For them, I would ask them to have a closer look to web. See how Farmville attracts 84 million members. Yes, web gaming has taken over most of those high budget casual games that find hard to sell a million copies.

2. Apple: The Giant is bent on creating a ‘Slate Era’

Apple is a giant and its products are due an unusual fan-fare. With over 2 million iPads presold within a week, there is an immense attention on this new device. Further, with the established presence of Apple Appstore which is loaded with millions of apps and games, it is sure that the consumers won’t ever feel a shortage of content and programs for their new device.  Apple is trying to be the first one to enter post PC era and monopolize it. Apple’s vision about technology is very clear to me. The guys are trying to bring the technology in the form where it can be swiped, touched and interacted with. This is vision is destined to power the ‘Slate Era’.

3. Say Hello to ‘Slates’: Say Hello to ‘Easy Life’

I see Slates as a means to simplify lives. Slates can simplify professional life to a great extent. While doing so, it will also better the life of those who depend on those professional services. For instance, an airplane pilot has to carry loads of stuffs like maps, manuals, flight times, schedules, coordinates, etc. With a simple and easy to carry Slate, the pilot can store everything in one small device and work efficiently and simplify live – his as well as ours.

4. Touch Screen: People like touching technology

As according to an article published at CNET.com; the use of touch-screen mobile-phones is growing at an enormous rate. Here is what the article tells about the rate at which ‘touch-screen phones’ are being adopted:

Touch-screen phone adoption grew by 159 percent between August 2008 and August 2009, according to ComScore. The firm also found that by the end of August 2009, there were 23.8 million users with touch-screen mobile phones in the United States alone.

- Don Reisinger, CNET.com
November 3, 2009

This gives a clear indication that public is largely accepting touch-screen devices in their daily lives. People are trying to eliminate use of physical keyboard and trying to maintain a purely interactive approach with technology.

5. Close competition means more options for users

Though Apple is leading the way to the ‘Slate era’ but this doesn’t mean that the users have no other option than the Apple iPad. Other new players such as – Neofonie WePad, Dell Slate, HP Slate, Notion Ink Adam,  JOOJOO, etc. are jumping into the fray.  This means that a wide segment of slates will be available in the market very soon. This will provide users to pick the right one suiting their choice and their budget.

That’s some quite good points Aditya but what’s the bottomline?

Well,the bottom-line is quite obvious and is quite good. Slates have the potential to literally kill the modern computing era that you (we) know. The basic architecture of computer has stayed quite very same since the late 1970. The hardware has changed from time to time lowering its cost day by day but the basic architecture of the machine has remained the same and the human-machine interaction has not changed since the past 40 years or so. This seed has already been put into user’s mind and they are reaching out towards the new model of human-machine interaction where the technology can be touched, felt and swiped. Tomorrow’s computing is better. Tomorrow’s computing device are ‘Slates’.

It is a fact that we have several of emails and social networking accounts. To share them all with a fellow twitterer or a Facebooker is quite hard, especially on Twitter where there is a limit of 140 characters and would require you to send 5-6 tweets or direct messages for sharing all of your web contact info. It always take hell of my time to summarize my contact info and share it on social networks. Further, social networks are not quite safe a place to share your contact information so openly. So is there a way I can share my all the web contact info in a shortened and secured way? Yes kids you can (sort of).

I don’t really know what Per Schmitz was thinking about when he conceived the idea of bringing something like DooID but I am sure that he certainly knew what was on my (or other social networking junkies’) mind. I am thankful to Per for this wonderful web app named DooID. Lets have a quick peek at this new web 2.0 app.

Sharing your web contact information is made easy using DooID which provides you a single URL for all your web contact info. A simple address such as http://www.dooid.com/aditya will contain all your web contact info (social networks and email addresses), a nice and neat tagline, a simple 350 characters bio and your picture – it is all in one single place contained under one single URL.

DooID is sure to gain success as every social media enthusiast and social networking junky will be looking forward to gain his/her web contact virtual card. So if you haven’t already signed up, act now and get one at DooID.

Oh yes, there is also an option to go pro. It is a nice and cool way to show off certain of your other social networking fancies with add-ons and cool layouts. But it is good enough for business people who would like to use features such as iPhone version of their contact card or would like to use email form so that their visitors may contact them without knowing their email address or would like to personally brand their contact card. So am I going pro? No, not anywhere sooner because I may not use it much. It would be used just for sharing my contact info on social networks. But in case I start using it on a regular basis, I would definitely go pro.

Get a web2.0 contact card for yourself at www.dooid.com

Its been days that I held some sort of giveaway of some paid software for you. So I want to take this time out and announce a giveaway. As far as I know, most people coming to this blog are tech and media enthusiasts. Therefore this giveaway is for media and tech enthusiasts who play around with videos and media files. The giveaway item on the list this time is WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe, a 50 bucks mega deal. Lets see what this application is all about and how you can gain a copy of this software for free.

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe builds in 160 video codecs and 50 audio codecs (a clear indication that this software is definitely a big deal).  Further, it can easily support Multi-track HD video such as BDAV, M2TS, MKV, AVCHD, HDTV and MPEG-TS video movies without using any third-party codecs. It also supports converting all the HD and HD-Camcorder videos, to both portable and console players – such as iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Zune, PDA, Blackberry, Nokia, Android, Zen, etc. Another good thing about this application is that it supports multi-CPU and hyper threading thereby giving you up to 5 to 15 times the video converting speed.

The main features of WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe:

• The first video converter that supports converting Multi-track HD video such as BDAV, M2TS, MKV, and AVCHD. You can freely choose audio language track and video track.
• Built-in 160 video codecs and 50 audio codecs, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe can convert between all popular video formats such as M2TS to AVI, MKV to AVI, MTS to MP4, MOD TOD to MPEG/DVD, OGG, WMV, FLV, MOV, etc. Without assistance of any third-party codecs you can easily adjust audio/video parameters such as image resolution and video quality.
• Support BDAV, TrueHD, M2TS, MTS, MPEG-TS Aduio/Video, a definitely useful feature when making a digital copy to backup your Blu-ray videos.
• WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe supports Multi-core CPU and Hyper-threading, which can offers you up to 5x‐15x real time converting speed.
• Convert Panasonic Canon Sony HD-Camcorder videos MOD TOD MTS to AVI MPEG MP4 and other most popular video formats, so that you can burn it to DVD and edit the video in Windows Media Center.
• Help you convert videos to the video formats which can be uploaded to YouTube, Myspace Video, Metacafe, or You-Blog, etc.
• Have numerous presetting profiles to satisfy all your need. And the entire adjustable parameter settings enable you to make your own profile.
• Extract audio tracks and save as MP3 music file. Extract single frame as JPEG or BMP picture. It can make your video converting experience have much more fun.
• If your player can’t properly play some videos, or you have some corrupt video files, it will auto mend these incorrect data, such as the Video Aspect Ratio, and also you can set it manually.
• Supports both Portable Players and Console Players such as iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PS3, PSP, X-box, Zune, PDA, Blackberry, Nokia, Android, Zen, etc. WinX Video Converter Deluxe give you the easy way to play your favorite videos anywhere and anytime. With the auto-setting tags in the video, you can easily check the original video name and artists’ name in iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

How to get WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe for free

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe normally costs $69.95 but as a part of limited time special offer, you can get it from the official website (www.winxdvd.com) for just $49.95. However, you can also get that big deal app for absolutely nothing (FREE) by simply commenting here. Yes, you get it right. There are no catches. The only requirement is that you need to comment on this post (in the comment box below) and express your willingness to grab this application. That’s it. Just comment here and say that you would like an application. A comment like – “I need one” will also do.

The giveaway starts today (as soon as this post is published) and ends on March 21, 2010 at 2 pm IST (Indian Standard Time). 20 winners will be randomly selected (using random.org) from those who comment here  and will be given away the license codes to WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe.

So don’t wait. Just go ahead, comment and grab a genuine license to WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe application worth $50.

Please share this giveaway with your friends by tweeting this post or posting to social bookmarks. This is not required but will be appreciated.

You can also get an invite for Silentale by commenting on this post – Simplify your social web communications using Silentale: 100 invites for giveaway

And the winners are:

Here are the 20 randomly chosen winners for the giveaway:

License code has been sent to all the 20 winners via email.

If you have won but you did not get your copy of  WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe, please contact me.

The pace at which things come and go in this tech world is amazing. Fingerprint lock came to computers a decade ago and now is the time to switch to a techier option. The latest development in computer security thingy is KeyLemon, an application that makes your face your computer password.

How good would it be to sit in front of your computer, look into your webcam and voila: you have logged into your account!! Not just this application logs in to your account using your face but also performs regular check to make sure that you are the one using your computer. If the face of the person sitting in-front of the computer changes, it automatically logs you out. Another good thing is that in case your laptop gets stolen by someone, this application will take photo of the person using it.

On top of all these, FireFox users can use KeyLemon to log in to their social networking sites (like Twitter, FaceBook, etc.) using their face as their password.

The application is not free and it does cost $19.95 for purchase. However, considering the functionality and security this application provides, it is worth those twenty bucks. You can enjoy a free 30 day trial before purchasing.

Download 30 day free trial by clicking here

Purchase KeyLemon (use my affiliate link to help me buy cheese burger)

The credit of this post goes to Daniel, a TechRavings.info reader. He sent me an e-mail informing that AnyPDFTools is giving away PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3 (worth $30) for free until March 1. During this period anyone can grab a genuine key to this wonderful utility for absolutely nothing.

As about this application, PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3 is an easy-to-use application which is especially designed for converting PDF files to Word documents (.docx or .doc). The good thing about this application, which web converters often lack, is the ability to retain images, fonts, layouts and hyperlinks of the original file. In short, you can convert a PDF file into a fully formatted and editable Word documents in less than a minute using PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3.

Features of PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3:

• Support encrypted PDF files conversion
• Support Microsoft Office 2010 and Windows 7
• 3 conversion modes—Batch, Partial, Right-click conversion modes
• Preserve text, layouts, images and hyperlinks in an editable Word document

To get a genuine key to PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3, all you need to do is enter your e-mail address and your first and last name. Go to AnyPDFtools.com for getting a genuine key to PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3

Nurphy is a new service which aims to redefine online conversations by providing a new and fresh way of sending e-mails, instant messaging and public messaging. They provide a clean layout where people can send out messages using a web-based interface on their computers or mobile phones.

I came across Nurphy yesterday. Their tagline says to provide the easiest way to have an online conversation. This statement looked very promising and I decided to give it a try. Finding their tagline promise come true in the very first test, I was greatly amazed. I wasn’t required to do any sort of registration to use Nurphy. I simply logged in using my twitter login credentials and I was ready to send out e-mails and messages.

The person receiving your messages via their service need not have an account at Nurphy. Your messages can be replied by following the instructions contained in the e-mail. Following this instruction is pretty easy as the only thing you need to do is reply to the e-mail you received from Nurphy by placing your comment in the allocated space. Further, there is no limitation of characters while sending out or replying to a message.

There is no doubt that the service is extremely well executed. However, I personally would not like to use this service on a regular basis. It is not that I do not like the service but it is due to the fact that I never felt that the medium and the applications I am using for instant messaging or sending out e-mails are not cumbersome. I think it is more on personal choice than the necessity to use this Nurphy.

While the guys at Nurphy mainly focus on creating online conversations easy; they are also, in a way, trying to compete with social networks like Twitter and FaceBook. They provide you an option to follow others. This is very similar to what twitter offers. But as for the social network part, I feel that Neil and Paul have a long way to go.

Try Nurphy