Favorite Websites: May 2013 Edition

By Joshua Flail

The net is a great resource for useful tools to help with everything from email management to finding a pet sitter. Ripplers are discovering new sites and software on a near-constant basis in an effort to keep up with the latest innovations and IT solutions. So, we’re sharing a couple of our favorite websites each month. Here’s our picks for May:

1. World Time Buddy

Who couldn’t use another buddy, right? Well, how about one that let’s you know what time it is, no matter where your other buddies are located? That’s what the World Time Buddy does. So, you’ll know exactly how late it is in South Asia before inviting your friends in Bangladesh to a Google Hangout. Oh, and this is one buddy that won’t ask you to help them move into a new place or pick them up from the airport. How’s that for a selfless friend? Thanks, WTB. continue reading

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Favorite Websites: April 2013 Edition

By Joshua Flail

The internet is a great resource for useful tools to help with everything from email management to making a grocery list. Ripplers are discovering new sites and software on a near-constant basis in an effort to keep up with the latest and greatest innovations and IT solutions. So, we’re sharing a couple of our favorite websites each month. Here’s our picks for April:

1. Codeacademy
Codecademy is the easiest way to learn how to code. It’s free, interactive, pretty fun, and you can work alongside your friends on the net. People all over the world use it to master everything from HTML basics to combining CSS, HTML, and JavaScript all in one website. The best part (aside from the price) is that Codecademy transforms something that can otherwise be frustrating into a pretty enjoyable learning experience.

2. Websites Like
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Tips for Securing Your Phone or Mobile Device

By Joshua Flail

The same great features that make your phone ‘smart’ also make it susceptible to data mining, viruses and malicious software. If your phone or mobile device isn’t secure and you loose it, or it gets stolen, then your personal information, including passwords, banking details, emails and photos could be used to access your accounts and/or to steal your identity. Yikes.

So, what can you do to make that smartphone a secure phone? Well, lots actually. We knocked our heads together and came up with a list of some important measures you can take to limit the possibility of someone stealing your personal information and data. Read on to get the lowdown. continue reading

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How to Identify Signs of a Spyware Infection

By Joshua Flail

Spyware. Yuck. The very sound of the word puts a bad taste in our mouths. But unfortunately, it’s not going away anytime soon.

Knowing more about the ways in which spyware attaches itself to your computer can help you avoid getting infected in the first place, but even the best security practices can’t prevent every attack. So, identifying the symptoms of a spyware-infected computer is just as important. The sooner you can spot the issue, the sooner you can get help and stop the spread of or damage caused by the infection.

The following symptoms may indicate that the system you’re using has been corrupted by spyware:

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Best Practices for LinkedIn

By Brook Mitchell

Facebook… Check! That’s where I keep up with friends, talk trash when my team wins and get my fix of cute fury animal pics with ridiculous captions.

Twitter… Check! That’s where I get my news, follow celebrities and see what’s trending.

LinkedIn… Well.. I have a page but I never check it.

If this is you, then you are not alone. There are over 200 million members on LinkedIn from all over the world. Of those members, a large portion have no clue what to do on LinkedIn or why they should be, other than that someone told them they should be. The truth of the matter is that LinkedIn can be an invaluable resource if used properly. However, much like exercising, you only get as much out of it as you put into it. She here’s how to work LinkedIn and why…

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AdBlock Plus for Android, Unblocked (Sorta)

By Joshua Flail

As we mentioned last week, Google recently started removing ad-blocking apps from its mobile marketplace, Google Play, claiming that they violate part of its Developer Distribution Agreement. Which is a fancy way of saying that these apps block ads which would otherwise generate revenue for the company.

One of the blocked apps that was yanked from the Play store was the very popular Adblock Plus for Android, and that PO’d a lot of its users and supporters. The Electronic Frontier Foundation went as far as to say that the move shows how “Google is willing to censor software and abandon its support for open platforms as soon as there’s an ad-related business reason for doing so”.

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Favorite Websites: March 2013 Edition

By Joshua Flail

The internet is a great resource for useful tools to help with everything from email management to making a grocery list. Ripplers are discovering and testing sites and software on a constant basis in an effort to keep up with the latest and greatest innovations and IT solutions. So, we’re sharing a few of our favorite websites each month. Here’s our picks for March:

1. Sound Matrix
Okay. The Sound Matrix isn’t a useful tool or a time-saving application… quite the opposite actually. You could easily spend minutes-to-hours on end playing with this unique music generator. But it’s a lot of fun and might just inspire you to become a bedroom musician in your spare time. Click on those gray boxes to start the experience. You can press the spacebar at anytime to clear your composition.

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Why You Should Use a Password Manager

By Homer Bartlett

We’ve talked before about the benefits of using a password manager for keeping track of your passwords. Perhaps the most important reason, that we didn’t get into much before, is how much easier it makes it to use unique and obscure passwords for everything. If you don’t need to worry about memorability you are more likely to use something unique and less likely to use something that is fairly easy to crack.

Why is that important? Using the same password for multiple sites really puts you at risk, particularly if you use it for your email. Make sure you use a unique password for every online service, and then if one of them gets hacked (like this or this), you won’t have to worry about hackers getting into any of your other online accounts. continue reading

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Favorite Websites: February 2013 Edition

By Joshua Flail

The internet is a great resource for free, useful tools to help with everything from email marketing to managing your finances. Ripplers are discovering and testing new sites and software on a near-constant basis in an effort to keep up with the latest and greatest innovations. We thought it would be helpful to share a few of our favorite websites with you. Here’s our picks for February:

1. StokeBox – Any parent will tell you, “kids grow up so fast.” But don’t just take their word for it, just ask to see the little one’s recently outgrown wardrobe. You’ll likely be surprised by how many shirts, pants, and jackets end up in a pile bound for Goodwill within a few short months. Well, for those parents tired of giving away what they just paid good money for, there’s Stokebox, a peer-to-peer marketplace where like-minded members trade forward their best, gently used and outgrown stuff. It’s a kind of worldwide hand-me-down community that’s free to join. Once you’re signed up, you can curate and exchange gift boxes of your best stuff for access to boxes of great things you need from a trusted circle of other members. You can search tags and view descriptive photos to find valuable stuff at super cheap prices. The boxes cost a flat $10, $15 or $20, depending on the size, and the fee includes both shipping costs and the StokeBox service fee. Neat, huh? continue reading

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Beware Scam Invoices

By Homer Bartlett

We’ve seen plenty of fake “renew your domain before it’s too late” letters sent to clients over the years. Busy business people who don’t know or can’t remember their domain registrar often mistakenly pay the invoice and next thing they know their domain has been transferred to the scammer company and if they’re lucky it still works and they’re just paying more than you should have. But sometimes the result is worse.

This week for the first time a client showed me a similar scam, this time for DNS services. It was immediately obvious to me that it was a scam, because we host DNS for the client, but I would wager that lots of people fall for this scam. The “invoice” contains enough valid info (publicly available if you’re reasonably tech-savvy) to make it seem legitimate. And “DNS Services” does include in all caps..

“THIS IS A SOLICITATION FOR THE ORDER OF GOODS OR SERVICES, OR BOTH, AND NOT A BILL, INVOICE, OR STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT DUE.“

But it’s obvious by the layout of the paper that they want it to look like an invoice. First registrar invoice scams, now DNS invoices scams, web and email hosting invoice scams must be right around the corner! If you receive this, or anything like this, do some searching online before you pay it. A quick Google search for ‘”DNS Services” scam” yields several pages of complaints about this company and its tactics. If you’re a Ripple client, of course, just ask us before paying an unfamiliar invoice that appears to be IT-related.

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