Today, using your last name followed by your favorite year just doesn’t always cut it.  So how does one stay safe?

Firstly, don’t use words out of the dictionary to form a password.  Rather, make your password seem like a bunch of gibberish.  Create an acronym instead, or write out complete gibberish as a password (of course, make sure you wrote down this gibberish BEFORE you attempt typing it.  THEN, take that piece of paper you wrote your new password on and HIDE IT!) If you create a password with words, it’ll be easier for any hacker or hacking program to figure out your password.

If the above is too difficult, then try making your password complex.  Use upper AND lower case letters, numbers, and if applicable, use symbols like !, #, $, or %.  The longer and more random the password, the better.

Do not use your first, middle, and/or last name as your password.  If a hacker knows your name, it’d be no sweat to get to your account.

If the website you are subscribing/signing up to requires a security question just in case you forget your password and need to “reset” it, don’t use answers and questions that everyone might know.  Also, I find that if your answers are longer, your password will be that much harder to be obtained by a hacker.

Try changing your password from time to time.  I’m not saying to do it every day, but maybe every few months or so.  I try to change my passwords every 4 to 6 months.

Don’t use the “AutoComplete” features.  When you do this, your password is stored on your computer and will leave you more vulnerable to having your information stolen.

Lastly, do NOT use the same password for every single thing.  Using the same password for everything is an easy habit to get into.  Yes, it is a lot easier to remember, but it’s much more dangerous.  If a hacker gained your password from one website, what would stop them from using the same information on another?

“I think I get it, but how can I tell my password is safe?”

If you followed the suggestions above, you should be fine – but if you would like a second opinion, check out http://www.passwordmeter.com/ aka “Password Strength Checker.”  This website offers a simple, free service that allows one to check the strength of his password.

Just visit the website, type your password in, and the webpage automatically checks the strength of your password.  Your password is never stored or saved, so not only is it a FREE service, more importantly, it is a SAFE service.

So, be sure and check out http://www.passwordmeter.com/

Stay safe!

What Do You Think?

How do you stay safe on the internet?  What methods do you use to make your password strong and safe?  Whatever you have to say, I want to hear about it!  Leave your thoughts below in the “Comments” section, or send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David

It’s a company called Stardock.  These people have come up with possibly the most wonderful programs I have ever used.  Using their products, you can change virtually anything on your XP/Vista machine.  Allow me to show you a few that I thoroughly enjoy.

Firstly, CursorFX.  This Product comes in two versions, a demo and a full version.  The demo alone, however, lasts forever and comes with alot of features.  What this software does is allow you to create or download animated, 3D/2D, just-plain-awesome mouse cursors.  You can choose virtually an unlimited ammount of cursors, and with the full version, you can add effects and sounds to them for any action they perform such as clicking sounds and trail effects.  My personal favorite cursor is the Finger.  No not the middle one, the pointer one.  It is a 3D hand with it’s finger pointing outwardly; when you click, the finger moves down as if it were pushing a button; in place of an hourglass, the hand roll taps its fingers from pinky to pointer; when hovering over a link, the finger points upward and “taps” the link repeatedly.  That’s right, it’s 3D and animated!  There are many others like this, and if you are a graphic artist or have pictures you’d like to make as cursors, you can do it with CursorFX!

Second is ObjectDock – This unique little gadget has taken the place of the common taskbar.  It is a nice dock that has animated effects and beautiful icons for various items.  It’s something that is difficult to explain, so you should just go and visit Stardock and see for yourself what it can do.  It makes accessing programs alot easier AND has a great look and feel to it.

Next is ObjectDesktop – this comes with ALOT if you buy the full $70 version.  This is a great deal because ObjectDesktop comes with alot of separate programs and allows you to use each one to their full capacity.  Now, I don’t have all of these programs, so I’ll show you a few that really catch my eye and are fun to use.

1.  WindowBlinds – This program allows you to completely redo the look of nearly every aspect of Windows.  You can do this by downloading skins for free from WinCustomize.com OR by creating your own if you have the “Bundle” version which comes with SkinStudio.  You can change your taskbar, start menu, scrollbars, and much much more with this handy little program. 

2.  IconPackager – I really like this one.  The full version is only about $10 but there is a free shareware version available.  It allows you to replace hundreds of common icons with new, sleek, amazing icons.  Trust me, the icon packages you can download are amazing.  If you get the IconDeveloper program, you can even make your very own!

3.  ObjectBar – If you have Vista, you know about the sidebar it comes with, well why settle for just that one look?  Why can’t XP users have the same bar or an even cooler one?  Well they can now!  And why just have one when you can have 2, 3, 4, or a billion?!  That’s right, you can have your own custom bars where ever you want on your desktop, each with a beautiful, sleek design.

4.  LogonStudio – This is a FREE program, but it also comes with ObjectDesktop.  This allows you to customize your Windows Logon experience.  You can download skins for your logon screen at WinCustomize.Com, OR use the included editor and make your own!

ObjectDesktop has ALOT more to offer than just the above 4; each program comes with several skins/presets to choose from, but you can always visit www.wincustomize.com and download as many as you’d like.  And, if you buy the full versions, you can always create your own!

So why wait any longer?  Make your computer’s look and feel reflect YOU, get your custom cursors, icons, sounds, docks, logon screens, and more at www.stardock.com

What Do You Think?
What do you do to customize your OS?  Is there another set of programs like the ones Stardock has to offer for Mac Users as well?  Have you designed your own skins/cursors/icon packages and would like to share them with me?  I would love to hear from each and every one of you!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I look forward to hearing from you!

Take it easy,
David Crandall

1. PixelToolbox

PixelToolbox is an 8-bit image editor for creating small 8-bit images, icons, patterns, and cursors. Now, the images you use do not have to be 8-bit; PixelToolbox converts them for you. To top it off, it’s got the option to have a transparent background. If you miss this feature, you’ll wind up with a cursor or icon with an ugly, square, white background – and who wants that?! If you don’t mind 8-bit graphics for your icons and cursors, this is a great product, and REALLY easy to use! You can use existing images that you may have – OR – you can draw your own as if you were using Paint. It’s really fun!

2. @icon sushi

I’ve been looking for a program like this for a long time. It creates high quality 32-bit icons with or without a transparent background. All you need to do is save your image as a jpg, png, bmp, psd, exe, icl, or dll file with an image size no greater than 256×256 pixels and it will do the rest. You have to import more than one image, for some odd reason – but the feature I find quite great is you can make an icon set. So, say you had a folder somewhere on your computer designated for each member of the family – you could literally design a custom icon for each folder and save that set as one .ico file. I was amazed at how easy it is to use – and honestly, when it comes to making icons, I prefer it over PixelToolbox by far. Use this to make desktop icons or your favicon.ico icon for your website – and it will have a great quality look.

So, below are the links to get to these great, free programs:

PixelToolbox

@icon sushi

Be sure to download these free programs right away, they’ll help you customize the look and feel of your PC!  I’m on vacation in Oregon right now, so me writing this article for you means these MUST be awesome programs.

What Do You Think?

Do you like these programs?  Got any questions about how to use these programs?  Know any other cool, free programs like these?  Whatever you have on your mind, let me know about it!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I look forward to hearing from you!

Take it easy,
David Crandall

Google Calendar is amazing. I’ve always seen it and have heard about it, but I never took the time to try it out. When I tried it out, I was really surprised to see what all it had to offer.

You have to have an account with Google to use it, but don’t worry, it’s easy to set up and it’s free as well.

Once you set up your account and logon to the Google Calendar page, it has a calendar waiting for you to use.  You can set up multiple calendars for multiple uses, like a private calendar and a public calendar, or a calendar for each member of the family.

You can set it up to receive notifications by e-mail, or text/SMS on your cell phone, when an event is added to the calendar, when changes/cancellations/responses to invitations are made, and daily notifications to update you on your schedule.  You can also get reminders by text/SMS or e-mail a certain ammount of time before the event is supposed to happen.  This is great, not only can you have your whole schedule on your cell phone, but you can be notified event by event right on your cell!

If you have GoogleDesktop with the Google Sidebar, you can add the Calendar Gadget that will retrieve information from your calendar straight to your desktop.  I tried this out, and the only downside to it is, in expanded view, the calendar is still too small to see all days of the week.  Every time you use the calendar you have to manually expand it to show all the dates.  To avoid this hassle however, you can make it show a list of the events/appointments you have scheduled on your calendar – rather than the actual calendar itself.

Another cool feature is the embed option.  You can embed your calendar into your own website or blog easily.  You can adjust the size, features, some colors, etc., and it will automatically generate a code that you can copy and paste into your web page/blog.

There are other ways to share your calendar if you choose to make it public, like RSS, iCAL, and a public accessable HTML code so people can embed YOUR calendar into THEIR webpage/blog.

There are more features to this neat calendar.  So if you want a calendar that notifies you by text/SMS and/or e-mail of your upcoming events, that you can embed into your web page/blog, that does so many things I can’t even list it, then you should head on over to the Google Calendar webpage and create your calendar.

What Do You Think?
Do you like Google Calendar?  Do you know of any cool, free calendar apps, or just cool, free apps in general?  Got a question on how to use the Google Calendar?  Let me know!!!  Send your thoughts to david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David Crandall

GoAnimate is free and easy to use.  They have a pretty decent selection of premade characters settings, props, sounds, special effects, and actions to choose from.  You can even import some images and sounds of your owns to use if you want to do your own voice overs or add your own background music, or use the stuff other people have imported!

When you’re done editing your cartoon, you can embed it to your blog/myspace/webpage, or get a URL to send to all of your friends.

It’s hard for me to describe everything that you can do with GoAnimate, so here’s a cartoon made with GoAnimate:

Pretty neat, huh?  And what’s great is you don’t have to do all the hard drawing and work involved in animating.  So if you’ve got a storyline and want to put some life to it….for free….then head your creative self over to www.goanimate.com and create a free account

What Do You Think?
Do you enjoy GoAnimate as much as I do?  What are some of the cartoons you made?  Do you know of any other cool websites/web-apps?  Let me know!  My e-mail is david@funkytower.com and I would love to hear from you

Take it easy,
David

I have to admit, this app is really cool.  Originally for the MAC, this free software was made to give users the top of the line, beautiful desktop backgrounds for their desktop.  The desktop backgrounds are made by top of the line designers from various design fields.

You’re free to create an account with Desktoptopia (optional) so that you can design and upload your very own desktop background.  However, not all desktop designs will be submitted because Desktoptopia demands high quality.  If you don’t believe me, visit the Desktoptopia Gallery to preview the wide range of desktop backgrounds they have.

After downloading and installing, you can choose to have Desktoptopia to run when you login to your operating system (on startup), you can choose what categories you would like your desktop backgorund pictures to be from, and how often they change.

It’s really cool.  They even have backgrounds for the iPhone.  How that works: I’m not really sure – I don’t have an iPhone.  I would guess this is a feature for the Mac Version, as the Windows version is still undergoing BETA testing.  I’m using it right now, and it works great on my Vista machine.  The only issue I have is when running, you have to open it from the task bar, you can’t use the shortcuts in your start menu, your desktop, or anywhere else you may have a shortcut.  Otherwise, this product works great and I haven’t had an issue with it.

Overall I really enjoy this app.  I’m the kind of person who leaves his computer on most of the day, so the beautiful graphics on my desktop is a really nice touch.

So swing on over to www.desktoptopia.com and download your copy of Desktoptopia!

What Do You Think?
Do you use, enjoy, or dislike Desktoptopia?  Know of any other cool apps you’d like to share?  Have you created some cool desktop backgrounds that are featured on Desktoptopia and want to share how you did it?  Whatever the case may be, I want to know about it.  So, send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy
David Crandall

Well, she doesn’t, really.  This effect is all thanks to PhotoFunia, a website where you can implement your photo into some other pretty interesting photos.

Have you ever seen those pictures where someone puts someone’s face on, oh let’s say, a monkey?  Well usually you’d have to get some sort of software for that.  Well, not this time.

PhotoFunia has a nice variety of pictures to put your own photos on top of.  You can put your face on the monalisa, have your photo on a billboard or large city building, on a dollar bill, the cover of a magazine, in the hands of Paris Hilton….this list goes on and on.

The great thing is this:  It’s free and you don’t have to make an account!  All you really need to do is go to PhotoFunia.Com, choose an effect, upload a photo, and you’re pretty much done!  From there you can save it to your desktop or anywhere else on your hard drive, or you can have it hosted on ImageShack so you can embed it to your myspace, blog, or website!

Now the first time I used it, the app moved a little slow, but the second time, it worked great.  I think the first time, the website probably had alot of traffic or something.

At any rate, this is a fun, free, no-account-needed, web application that you can use to edit your photos in ways that can entertain your friends and family…or scare them away   Whatever the case, go to www.photofunia.com and you’ll be having fun in no time!

What Do You Think?
Do you know of any cool web applications that you’d like to share?  What are some photo’s you’ve created using PhotoFunia?  Got any questions?  Whatever you have to share with me, I wanna know about it.  Shoot me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David Crandall

OE-CAKE! is demonstration software for 2D-based multi-physics simulation.
In a way similar to drawing images using paint software, users create objects and can see them move according to the laws of physics.
This software supports various physical materials with real life properties such as fluids, gases, rigid (hard) objects and elasticity (soft) objects as building blocks.
Users can combine these objects to create and play with more complex objects and mechanisms such as cars, gears and moving dolls. Users can also attach pictures and photos to objects and change their shape, break them apart, or melt them.  – OctaveEngine

Really, OECake is kind of a fun toy.  With it you can select properties like water, fire, etc, and set them on fire, pour them on a wall, and just do all sorts of things with it.  It’s kind of a “fluid simulator.”  It’s really hard to describe, so here’s a video I found on YouTube of someone using it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U8em-t6RKo

You can see them taking the different properties and drawing them as if they were using Paint, and then moving them around with their cursor.  One thing the video doesn’t show is if the machine you are using has an Accelerometer installed on it, like the MacBook, you can shake your machine and make the contents move around!  It’s truely interesting and fun! 

Here’s a list of the properties you can use:

1. Water
2. Wall
3. Rigid
4. Spring
5. Elastic
6. Brittle
7. Rigid Axis
8. Mochi
9. Rice
10. Powder
11. Gas
12. Viscous
13. Tensile
14. Dense
15. Light
16. Fuel
17. Fire
18. Heater
19. Cooler
20. Inflow
21. Outflow
22. Jet
23. Snow

Wow, that’s alot of properties you can use!  You can also import textures and backgrounds to mess with.  This seems odd, but this app actually makes Physics fun!  I can honestly see this app on the iPhone in the future, but we shall see.

Until then, if you’re like me and you enjoy fun little apps like this, go online to http://www.octaveengine.com/en_casual/oecake/ and get OECake!  Trust me, you could be sitting there for hours having fun with this thing.

What Do You Think?

Does OECake make physics fun or what?  Do you know of any cool apps that involve, or don’t involve, physics?  If you know of any cool apps, I want to know about it!  So send me an e-mail at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David Crandall

That’s right, now there are websites where you can edit and save your photos without having to download any software at all, and best of all, it’s free.  Ah, yes, our favorite word – “Free.”

It’s called FotoFlexer.  With FotoFlexer, all you do is upload a picture, and get started.  It’s really easy to use and there are alot of things you can do with your photos.

You can crop them, rotate them, adjust the color, add a plethora of effects, add text, layer photos on top of photos, blur and sharpen them, distort them in various ways, and more! 

Don’t worry if you make any mitakes, because you can undo anything as you go along.  If you undo too much, you can redo anything you’ve undone.

Once finished editing your photo, click save.  When you do this, it will ask you to log in or create an account, so if you don’t already have one, create one.  Don’t worry, all it asks for is your name and e-mail, so it’s really short and simple.  After that, it will ask you where you want to save it.  On the left hand side, you can select “My Computer” to save it to your computer, “FotoFlexer” to save your photo and work on it later, or the various other options to add it to a webpage like Myspace.

That’s it!  It’s a really handy tool and very well made.  Best of all, it’s free and easy to use.
So if you can’t afford high end photo editing software and don’t want to go through all the hussle and bussle of figuring out where find free software and installing it, do yourself a favor and visit www.fotoflexer.com

What do you think?

Do you think FotoFlexer is a great tool for editing photos online?  Do you know of any other cool, free online apps that could come in handy?  Whatever you have to say, I want to hear it.  Let me know by writing me at david@funkytower.com

Take it easy,
David