Chris Pirillo » yahoo

Heaven on Earth – Geek Style

Chris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:33:54 +0000

Heaven on Earth – Geek Style is a post from Chris Pirillo

Reading a thread this evening on Geeks got me thinking. It talked about how if there were Heaven on Earth, what a wonderful place it would be for us Geeks! Can you even imagine? No more slow computers. No malware, nor any need for malware protection. No more parts that go bad, or become outdated in a matter of months. Ah, the life.

Close your eyes for a moment, and picture it. Now – leave me a comment, and tell me what it is you see in your Geeky Heaven on Earth.

When you’re finished, don’t forget to check out what others in the community are up to, as well!

How to Compare Search Results between Bing, Yahoo, and Google

Chris — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:01:38 +0000

How to Compare Search Results between Bing, Yahoo, and Google is a post from Chris Pirillo

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You, much like the rest of the galaxy, are likely using Google as your search engine. But is Google giving you the best results? How would you know unless you compare the results between search engines? Copying and pasting searches into multiple places and manually checking the results across the board is just not going to happen. Who has the time to do that? We need a way that we can easily and effectively make sure that we are each using the search engine that is right for us and our needs.

There’s a website out there that will help surface the truth for you. You may be convinced that Google is the best, but it may not be. The way to find out is to do a Blind Search.

Type in your search terms, and let Blind Search do the work. Then, compare the results columns, and vote for the one that you felt best delivered the content you were looking for. The columns are randomized with every query. The goal of the site is simple: they want to see what happens when you remove the branding from search engines. How will you perceive the results at that point?

Believe it or not, when I did a Blind Search of my own, the best results came from Yahoo. It just goes to show that things may not always be as they seem. Open your mind – and your search horizons.

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What All-in-one Instant Messenger Should You Use?

Chris — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:42:11 +0000

What All-in-one Instant Messenger Should You Use? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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What do you use for your default instant messenger? There are so many options out there, it’s hard to choose since everyone is on different clients. That’s when you should check out an all-in-one. There are several of them out there that work well. Some people prefer Trillian. I use Adium on OS X. There’s one for Windows called Digsby that I can’t stand… but hey, others like it!

There’s a new cross-platform all-in-one instant messaging client available though. Instantbird works quite well on all three main operating systems out there. Best of all, it runs off the Mozilla engine!! Nice, eh?

With Instantbird, you can chat on several different IM environments all at once: Yahoo, AIM, MSN, Google Talk, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, IRC, QQ and XMPP! Yep… IRC. That means you can come chat with us in our live chat room right from within Instantbird!

Did I mention that this client is free as well? The interface is unobtrusive… and very clean. It’s there to let you instant message, and that’s about it. I like that. I get so tired of clients that try to make themselves “look good”… and see them fail miserably.

Download Instantbird and check it out for yourself today. You might just find yourself making a permanent switch.

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How Long Should Yahoo, Google or Microsoft Keep Your Personal Data?

coupons — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:11:03 +0000

How Long Should Yahoo, Google or Microsoft Keep Your Personal Data? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Yahoo announced today that they will be shortening the length of time they keep your personal data. This move makes their length of retention the shortest among any of their peers. Their previous standard was 13 months; a stark contrast to that of Google, who earlier this year announced they would anonymize personal data after 9 months, previously at 18-24 months.

While at first these companies had stated they can’t change how their systems keep personal data, in an about-face and through litigation it had become apparent their systems require change. Viacom’s lawsuit and the court ruling given to Google ordered that Viacom be allowed complete access to personal data; they requested unrestricted access to view every piece of log data YouTube retained. This information included usernames, IP addresses, videos uploaded, videos watched, comments and ratings… basically everything you do on YouTube. Because of the court order Google had no choice but to cough up the goods, regardless of how wrong it seemed. Thankfully, the Video Privacy Protection Act was there to save the day, and Viacom had to reduce their demand.

The EU is putting pressure on search companies to anonymize data at a point no greater than 6 months. Last week, Microsoft responded to the EU and offered up that same challenge to their rivals, stating “…it is imperative that all search companies adopt the same standard to truly protect people’s privacy.”

Important to note – any commitments these companies make about their data retention can be enforced by laws already in place in the United States.

Big deal, what does this mean and why should I care?

Everything you do on the internet is logged. Your searches, page views, clicks, the ads you’ve been served – your internet provider, your IP, the time of day – whatever possible demographic information can be retrieved. This isn’t meant to make you paranoid, but you need to be careful – be aware of the footprint you are leaving on the internet. Not only will questionable searches and websites be logged, you can make your computer susceptible to viruses and malware.

That’s scary. What can I do?

Unfortunately, creating a digital footprint is part of the deal you make when going on the internet. You ask for information and you get it, on the condition that the entity you’ve asked (and possibly others) will take information for themselves. You can reduce your tracks by doing a few simple things:

Delete your cookies and temporary files frequently. Browsers aren’t usually set to delete information on their own; you must give it the instruction to do so. With a few clicks, your browser can do this easily. Something you need to be aware of are the persistent cookies; these are the kind that stay no matter what you do, aside from setting fire to your machine – these may have to be permanently removed by an application designed to do so. A good tool here is knowledge, and finding out which of the sites that you visit are setting these persistent cookies so they are easier to locate and remove.
Keep your browser updated. Don’t give hackers the excuse to get your information. Keep up on any security or software updates for your browser. Case in point – the very recent critical Internet Explorer security flaw that has affected every single version since 5.01 (gee, how did they miss it for THAT LONG?!?). The thing about critical updates is the phrase that defines them. It means simply FIX NOW.
Don’t let your browser store your password! This is persistent information and could be exploited. Instead of using your browser to store passwords, use an encrypted spreadsheet program or an application to store the data. Some users have their application installed on a flash drive that follows them wherever they go.
Read the privacy policy on web sites you visit. Do they log your IP and send you ads based on your location? Do they sell any information from your user account? If you’ve ever wondered why your spam folder or junk email folder is full of… well, junk… you can bet a lot of it comes from the sites you visit who sell your information. Your real-world mailbox isn’t protected, either.

Do you have ideas on how to keep your information secure? Do you know of a great application or tool that will help others in doing this? Don’t keep it a secret, let us know!

How Do You Get Your Questions Answered?

Chris — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:23:53 +0000

How Do You Get Your Questions Answered? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When I have a question that I need an answer for that cannot be attained by Googling… I tend to throw the question out to my network of friends. Some of you may use answering services, such as Yahoo Answers. Thanks to ScottyG for sending in this top ten list on ways to get good answers from Yahoo.

It may sound strange, but do not make the title too descriptive. If the title is too descriptive, many people will not even open the question to take a look at it. Almost all of my most answered questions have titles which are not overly descriptive.
Spelling goes a long way. It is much easier to read a correctly spelled question than one with spelling and grammatical errors.
Do not include huge chunks of conversation in your question. Keep it informative but informal.
I recommend using bullet points and a summary of the question. This is an easy-to-read format.
Look for answers with good ’sources’. Remember, Wikipedia can be edited by anyone so it is not always true.
Do not use the ‘add details’ option to have a chat with answerers. Many questions end up with a flood of added details.
Don’t put ‘a quick 10 points’ in the question or title. If you do this, you will get a lot of short, rushed comments rather than longer, detailed answers.
Do not post the same post many times in a short period of time. The Yahoo community WILL ignore your question if you do this!
Do not put ‘title says it all’ in the question. Questions can seem quite ambiguous on the Internet, so further details will be needed.
As soon as you have the answer, pick the best answer straight away. If you are a courteous user, your questions will be answered much faster.

What other answering services do you use? Let us know your favorite ones, and why they’re the best.

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Will Microsoft Buy Yahoo?

Chris — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:06:14 +0000

Will Microsoft Buy Yahoo? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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This video was recorded on the night of the big announcement that Microsoft had made an offer to buy Yahoo. I opened the phone lines, and one of the first questions that came in was “Will it really happen?” That’s a darn good question…

I personally think Yahoo would be crazy to pass up the offer from Microsoft. Yahoo is losing ground, and can only gain by getting stronger. They need to work with someone who can put power and money behind them. Yahoo is already planning to lay off at least 10% of its workers in the near future.

Of course, Google is still going to be a powerhouse. At the same time, by buying Yahoo, Microsoft could provide some much needed competition. Yahoo has an excellent foundation. Having the money and name from Microsoft behind them, they can really go much further. In my opinion, Microsoft will likely be able to take a page from Yahoo, and learn from some of the excellent things that Yahoo has done in the past.

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Secure Email

Chris — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:47:12 +0000

Secure Email is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – RychenCop, on a Civilian Police Assistance Training Team in Baghdad, Iraq writes: “I have been using Gmail as my main email service while stationed in Iraq. My question is how secure are online email services?”

Before I get into this answer, let me take the time to shout out a THANK YOU to RychenCop, and all the other service men and women overseas. Because of what you do, I am free to do what I do.

As far as Gmail goes, it’s definitely about the best Web mail service out there. Not only is it free… it works. It’s fast loading, the threaded conversations are much easier to read and navigate, and the keyboard shortcuts embedded on the page make the entire experience faster.

Yahoo! mail has a new version coming soon. It features a tri-pane view, which absolutely rocks. It also has tabbed browsing within email, integrated chat and text messaging, and even better contact management. This is also free, just like Gmail. There will, of course, be a pro version.

For security with your Gmail, I suggest using https:// at the beginning when typing in your address to Gmail. Notice the S at the end of http? That makes you log in via the Secure Socket Layers (SSL). This provides layers of security to allow you to transmit your information over an encrypted connection. If you’re happy with Gmail already, this is the route I would take. Why change email providers when there is no need to?

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Amazon WebStore vs Yahoo Stores vs eBay

Chris — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:17:06 +0000

Amazon WebStore vs Yahoo Stores vs eBay is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – When it comes to these three online marketplaces, there really aren’t a lot of differences. When deciding which site is right for you, you’ll need to decide on which features are important to you, and do your research as to what is available.

The biggest advantage to using an online marketplace vs selling something in a newspaper (for example) is that you have an entire transactional system on your side. There are ratings and feedback for vendors, so that you can build your reputation. The three sites we’re discussing each have small differences that make them unique. You will need to decide what you want things to look like… your description, your photos, and your titles. Check the features available at each of these sites. Also, make sure you check out what services and protections they offer to their vendors. Just as there can be jerks out there trying to steal from you by selling crap items, there could also be people trying to rip you off as a buyer. Hey… it’s possible! Always protect yourself, and do your research.

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Gnomedex Diamond Sponsorship

Chris — Wed, 24 May 2006 20:29:58 +0000

Gnomedex Diamond Sponsorship is a post from Chris Pirillo

Microsoft is this year’s Gnomedex Diamond Sponsor. We’re involving various departments, and Ponzi has a handle on all of that. I’m not sure if they’re going to be announcing anything this year or not, though. We certainly couldn’t be doing Gnomedex without the support of them and other top-level sponsors (like Yahoo!, who’s come in at the Gold level). More top-level sponsors will be announced soon… as well as a few other surprises. If you haven’t yet reserved your ticket, I wouldn’t wait too much longer.

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.