7 Must-Have Social Apps for Android

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Social apps for Android" class="size-large wp-image-7448" height="353" src="http://www.dailybits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/android-social-networking-apps-510x353.jpg" title="android-social-networking-apps" width="510" /><br /><br /><h2><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.katana">Facebook for Android</a></h2>Everyone’s on Facebook, and in spite of the fact that many users are getting sick of it, there is not much in terms of alternatives at the moment. So yes, Facebook is probably one of the first social apps for Android you will want to install. And yes, it is free.<br /> <h2><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twitter.android">Twitter for Android</a></h2>While there were (probably are) many iOS users who prefer to use other clients to access Twitter, the Android app is actually rather good. This means that you do not have to go on a hunt for the best Twitter app for your Android phone. Just go with the default client, and you’ll be good. <br /> <h2><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joelapenna.foursquared">Foursquare for Android</a></h2>Have the need to become mayor of every joint you frequent? Want the world to see what you’re up to all the time? Then you absolutely must have Foursquare and use it every time you go somewhere. In all seriousness, Foursquare can help you discover a lot of places, so it still is a good app even if you don’t want to check in at places and broadcast it.<br /> <h2><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instagram.android&hl=en">Instagram for Android</a></h2>There used to be a time when Instagram was the sole playing field of iOS users, and when the developers finally released an Android version, the user populating exploded like nothing else. Take photos, even crappy ones, using your phone and share them online. That’s what filters are for. Do try to vary your stream a little and not fill it up with what you just had for lunch or dinner.<br /> <h2><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adaptiveblue.GetGlue">GetGlue</a></h2>GetGlue is the king of social apps for Android when it comes to sharing what you’re watching. And if you like getting stickers and badges for your viewing habits. <br /> <h2><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp&hl=en">WhatsApp Messenger for Android</a></h2>Perfect for those who have an always on or unlimited data plan. You’ll not have to use your text messaging credits with this app, as long as your friends have it installed it as well. You can even gloat and say it’s free for Android while iOS users have to pay for it.<br /> <h2><a href="https://imo.im/android">imo Messenger for Android</a></h2>Integrate Yahoo Messenger, gTalk, ICQ, and whatever other IM platform you use and access them in one app with imo. <br /> With these seven social apps for Android, you have your social life covered from practically all angles.<br /></div>

7 Must-Have Social Apps for Android

Unknown 2 03:16

Facebook for AndroidEveryone’s on Facebook, and in spite of the fact that many users are getting sick of it, there is not much in terms of alternatives at the moment. So yes, Facebook is probably one of the first social apps for Android you will w… Read more »

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Digital Spell-checkers Killing Words?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Spell-checker" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6244" height="510" src="http://www.dailybits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/spellcheck-510x510.jpg" title="spellcheck" width="510" /><br /><br /> Language is dynamic. That is one line that I have said one time too many, but no one can really deny its veracity. Whatever language you look at, it changes over time, with words dying and being born all the time. <br />But did you ever think that software that we take for granted may be contributing to the death of some words? This is what researchers found out after conducting an analysis of digitized text. The text featured languages such as English, Hebrew, and Spanish, and they dated from 1800 to 2008. Thanks to the digitization efforts of Google, the researchers were able to get hold of the materials for analysis.<span id="more-6243"></span><br /> The conclusion is simple and may also be cause for alarm: the death rate of words has seen a considerable increase. Even worse, it seems that the birth rate of new words has not increased significantly!<br /> One reason that the researchers have highlighted is the use of <a href="http://spla.us/zetCbv" title="Franklin Spelling Corrector">automatic spell-checkers</a>. You know, that tool that many of us rely on to catch the misspellings that we tend to make. While I have to admit that I rarely rely on the grammar suggestions, spell-checkers come in very handy especially if you have a long writing day ahead of you. You may have been the regular spelling bee champion in your school, but that doesn’t mean you do not make mistakes hammering on your keyboard. To be honest, a spell-checker is helping me out right now so I don’t have to waste time deleting and retyping words!<br /> The problem is that in the era of digitization, automatic spell-checkers seem to contribute to deleting misspellings (which is not really a problem) and less common variants of words (now that can be a problem). With this going on for years and years, it is easy to see how words can disappear from the vocabulary of this generation and the next.<br /></div>

Digital Spell-checkers Killing Words?

Unknown 0 03:10

 Language is dynamic. That is one line that I have said one time too many, but no one can really deny its veracity. Whatever language you look at, it changes over time, with words dying and being born all the time. But did you ever think that soft… Read more »

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Top Radio Apps: Listen English-Hindi Songs on Android, iPhone on the Go

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h2>Best Smartphone Radio Apps for Listening to English Music, Songs</h2><h3>TuneWiki</h3>It is among the popular radio apps for smartphone users, which streams video and music files from places like YouTube and from your memory card along with connecting with a number of TuneWiki users all over the world. It is different from any other radio application in couple of ways. For instance, users could get to see lyrics for all the songs and could be easily synched to music even for the songs that are saved in your memory card. TuneWiki accesses Shoutcast network pertaining to radio stations that helps you to find a huge amount of music genres. In this way, TuneWiki apart from connecting to a number of radio and FM stations acts more than a radio application. It could be downloaded for free.<br /><strong>Links</strong>: <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.tunewiki.com/apps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">Tunewiki Apps</a><br /><h3>Last.fm</h3>It is among the smallest size radio application (1.7 MB) meant for smartphones. It helps you in browsing your favorite radio stations, and artists’ recommendations along with creating some new stations in no time. A number of new artists could be added over your profile, which helps in expanding your possible recommendations. By carrying some huge amount of artists and countless of genres, this radio application is competent enough to quench your thirst for any music flair. Hence even the most demanding souls enjoy listening to their favorite music over Last.fm.<br /><strong>Links</strong>: <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.last.fm/download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">Last.fm Apps</a><br /><h3>Spotify</h3>If you are sick of listening to the same old music all the time then consider Spotify a handy tool to expand your horizons for music. All you need to do is to load any song, artists or playlist of your choice and then hit the button of Radio and this application will produce a highly personalized radio stations list as per your music type. It is compatible to all the smartphone devices including iPhones, Windows phone, Symbian, BlackBerry, Android based phones, etc. Though it comes for free, but to enjoy some incredible features you need its premium subscription.<br /><strong>Links:</strong> <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.spotify.com/int/mobile/overview/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">Spotify for Mobile</a><br /><h3>Pandora</h3>It is basically Pandora website’s natural extension, which comprises of 400 plus musical features simply designed to conform your musical zest. It comes for free, but for this you need to bear a number of ads appearing over your screen. This simply goes off if you subscribe it by paying 36 dollars. Then you could access a wide range of additional features like availing increased amounts of skips per day along with enjoying a wide range of custom skins that enhances your smartphone’s feel and looks.<br /><strong>Links:</strong> <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.pandora.com/everywhere/mobile" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">Pandora for Mobile</a><br /><h3>TuneIn Radio</h3>It is among the free radio applications, which could be used for all the major smartphone devices and tablets like <a class="vglnk" href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1311&_nkw=ipad+3rd+generation&_sacat=See-All-Categories" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>iPad</span></a>. It helps you in connecting to a number of radio and FM stations. With the help of TuneIn Radio, you can stream more than 70,000 radio stations not only local ones but all across the world along with the feature of rewind or pause in the live streams. You also have the option to browse a number of radio stations by country, language, genre, etc. Though it’s free, however, upgrading to the premium ones gives you enough additional features for enjoying incredible music.<br /><strong>Links</strong>: <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://tunein.com/mobile/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">Mobile Apps</a><br /><h3>Others</h3><a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.slacker.com/everywhere/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title=""><strong>Slacker Radio</strong></a>: You could find 100 plus preprogrammed radio stations at this application and thus making your smartphone an incredible handy machine to enjoy music of your taste. Slacker Radio is BlackBerry’s product, which help you in personalizing radio stations or select the one that comes configured via the music experts. You can create your own radio stations on the fly along with sharing the biographies of musicians and album reviews. It comes for free.<br /><a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.ourstage.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title=""><strong>OurStage</strong></a>: This radio application is among the unique, handy and super hip kind of tool to enjoy incredible music. You could find a number of fresh platforms related to new music, fans, unsigned bands and indie music. OurStage helps you in rating different music piece with the features of thumps up and down.<br /><br /><h2>Top Android, iPhone Apps to Listen to Hindi, Bollywood Songs and Tracks</h2><a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.saavn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title=""><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saavn</span></a> is the best Bollywood and Indian music listening experience, online and on the go. It gives you access to the largest music library anywhere. Our millions of songs, albums, and playlists, include the best of Bollywood, bhangra, bhajans, ghazals, and more, with new releases added every day.<br /><strong>Links:</strong> <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/saavn-music/id441813332" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">iPhone</a> | <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saavn.android" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a><br /><a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://gaana.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title=""><strong>Gaana.com</strong></a> is a free music streaming service launched by Times Group. With a library of close to a million songs, the application offers users music from a wide range of genres from the oldest Hindi films hits, world music, regional and folk songs to the latest Bollywood chart toppers. <a class="vglnk" href="http://gaana.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>Gaana</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a> became India’s most visited music streaming site within the first 4 months of its launch and has consistently held that position ever since. Its designed entirely in HTML5 to support any tablet and large screen smartphones.<br />Others in the Indian music streaming space, are <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.musicindiaonline.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">MusicIndiaOnline</a> and <a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.raaga.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="">Raaga</a> being two of the more popular contenders for the best.<br /></div>

Top Radio Apps: Listen English-Hindi Songs on Android, iPhone on the Go

Unknown 0 22:46

Best Smartphone Radio Apps for Listening to English Music, SongsTuneWikiIt is among the popular radio apps for smartphone users, which streams video and music files from places like YouTube and from your memory card along with connecting with a nu… Read more »

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Users Can No Longer Download Videos From Youtube

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">A portion of the Youtube’s Terms of Service says :<br /><blockquote>You may access User Submissions for yo<img align="right" alt="Users Can No Longer Download Videos From Youtube" border="0" height="97" src="http://www.snaphow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/UsersCanNoLongerDownloadVideosFromYoutube.png" style="display: inline; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px;" title="Users Can No Longer Download Videos From Youtube" width="300" />ur information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the YouTube Website. You shall <strong>not copy or download</strong> any User Submission unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the YouTube Website for that User Submission</blockquote>I wasn’t aware of that ToS clause listed above. So downloading YouTube videos now become as illegal like Torrent? Hard to believe that YouTube could close all the holes to downloading (there used to be so many ways to <em>download youtube</em> videos).<br /><strong>NOTE</strong> : Although most youtube video download tools are not working. <strong>Zamar’s Youtube Video Conversion Tool (</strong><a class="ext-icon-6" href="http://www.zamzar.com/url/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title=""><strong>Link</strong></a><strong>)</strong> seem to be working fine, but it takes twice the time (convert+download).<br /><strong>UPDATE</strong> : <strong>Video Download Helper for Firefox (</strong><a class="ext-icon-6" href="https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/3006" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title=""><strong>Link</strong></a><strong>) </strong>is working too. This is because it capture the video directly from the webpage</div>

Users Can No Longer Download Videos From Youtube

Unknown 0 22:44

A portion of the Youtube’s Terms of Service says :You may access User Submissions for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the YouTube Website. You shall not copy or download any User Submissi… Read more »

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Best Safe Sites to Play Quality Flash Games Online Free

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>1. <a class="vglnk" href="http://playfirst.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>PlayFirst</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a></b><br />This site has a large selection of "dash" games like Cooking Dash, Hotel Dash: Suite Success, and SpongeBob SquarePants Diner Dash. There are also RPGs like Dream Chronicles and Jewel Quest Mysteries, as well as arcade-style games such as Egg vs. Chicken.<br /><b>2. <a class="vglnk" href="http://bigfishgames.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>BigFishGames</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a></b><br /><img alt="Best Sites to Play Cool Online Flash Games for Free" src="http://media.snaphow.com/images/free-games-online.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Best Sites to Play Cool Online Flash Games for Free" /><br />This site proudly touts itself as "100% Safe and Secure…No Viruses…Ever." Players can pick from a wide variety of puzzle games (Wordz, Flip Words 2, etc.), strategy games (Maze Stopper, All My Gods, etc.), and adventure games (Treasure Seekers, Surface, Virtual Villagers, etc.).<br /><b>3. <a class="vglnk" href="http://games2download.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>Games2Download</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a></b><br />It’s billed as "one of the Internet’s top destinations for safe and virus-free game downloads." Board game lovers will appreciate Scrabble, Monopoly, Boggle Supreme, and Risk 2. The site also boasts the latest versions of Bejeweled, Airport Tycoon, and Dirt Track Racing.<br /><b>4. <a class="vglnk" href="http://southwindsgames.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>SouthWindsGames</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a></b><br />This is an Argentina-based site that promises no viruses, adware, or spyware, though its game selection is somewhat limited. The only games offered at the time this article was written are Simplz, Inner Quest, Dylo’s Adventure, and two versions of Airport Mania.<br /><b>5. <a class="vglnk" href="http://addictinggames.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>AddictingGames</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a></b><br />The name says it all, and they’ve got plenty of ways to get you hooked. Choose from strategy games like Jelly Escape and Dragons of Atlantis, action games like Bomb Diver and The Amazing Spiderman, shooting games like Discount Mayonnaise and Polygon Apocalypse, and even games that cater to the fairer sex.<br /><b>6. <a class="vglnk" href="http://newgrounds.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink"><span>Newgrounds</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a> </b><br />Once you’re done with the games on this site, you can even download a movie. But it’ll take a while to explore all of the sports games (New Star Soccer, Wonderputt, etc.), skill games (Pogo Swing, Fall Damage, etc.), rhythm games (Beat Wizard, Shred Master, etc.), and RPGs (Cardinal Quest, Legend of the Void, etc.).</div>

Best Safe Sites to Play Quality Flash Games Online Free

Unknown 0 22:41

1. PlayFirst.comThis site has a large selection of "dash" games like Cooking Dash, Hotel Dash: Suite Success, and SpongeBob SquarePants Diner Dash. There are also RPGs like Dream Chronicles and Jewel Quest Mysteries, as well as arcade-style games… Read more »

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Know About Windows Phone 8

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="post-attachment"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8103" height="401" src="http://tech-ehow-com.blog.ehow.com/files/2012/11/lumina.jpg" width="590" /> </span><br /><br /><span class="post-attachment">Microsoft recently unveiled the final build of Windows Phone 8, completing the recent trifecta that includes Windows 8 and the Surface tablet. I haven’t been able to play with the operating system – not even during hands-on demos of the Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X. Still, there’s a lot we already do know. Here’s what you should expect. </span><br /><strong>A refreshed user interface</strong>. Windows Phone 8 offers a refreshed user interface. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to resize the home screen live tiles among three difference choices. If you like, for example, You can create smaller, more compact icons and bunch together four apps in the space that one icon used to occupy.<br /> Consequently, the home screen appears to allow for much greater customization. You can, for example, create a row of four small icons for Twitter, Facebook, Foursqaure, and text messaging. That’s a great row to have at the top of your home screen for quickly accessing social networks without having to scroll down a list. The smaller icons, unfortunately, don’t come to life as the larger ones do, however.<br /> <strong>The best hardware yet</strong>. Windows Phone 8 supports NFC for sharing files between two devices, higher resolution displays, dual-core processors, and much more. What’s this mean for you and me? You can expect the best Windows Phone devices that have hit the market. I’m already impressed with what I’ve seen so far.<br /> Nokia has the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 in the pipeline, both of which offer beautiful industrial design. The Lumia 920 is the company’s flagship device and includes fun features such as wireless charging — never before seen in Windows Phone devices — a first class PureView camera for stunning photos that appear to be excellent even in low light conditions, support for AT&T’s 4G LTE network in the United States, and much more.<br /> HTC also has a flagship device up its sleeve and I’m torn between it and Nokia’s phone. The HTC Windows Phone 8X (it’s a lengthy name), offers the same 8-megapixel camera and imaging technology found in the One X. In particular, I love the wide-view front-facing camera that allows you to turn the camera around and pack more people into a shot. It also has a totally redesigned body. HTC actually rebuilt the device so that the battery sits next to the screen, instead of at the far back of the device. This allows the company to include a larger battery while keeping the phone relatively slim. The phone also offers NFC, a dual-core processor and a large display.<br /> <strong>Color</strong>. Color is finally back, folks. Nokia’s device will launch in a variety of colors here in the United States, including yellow, red, and cyan. HTC has also revealed that both its Windows Phone 8X and its Windows Phone 8S will come bathed in a bunch of colors that run the gamut from neon yellow to a beautiful dark blue. Sure, you’ll be able to grab a plain black Windows Phone 8X, but I’m incredibly excited to see Microsoft and its Windows Phone partners move away from the old monochrome hues and finally breathe life back into smartphones.<br /> I have no doubt this will help folks gravitate toward Windows Phone 8 devices on store shelves. Seriously, how can you avoid not picking up and not playing with a neon yellow phone?<br /> <strong>Affordable price points</strong>. Several sources have suggested that Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 devices will come in around the $99 – $149 price point, which is great; most high-end smartphones these days cost between $199 and $299 with a new contract. It’s possible that the final launch prices will be at the $199 level, but I think Microsoft and its partners will be aggressive enough to get these phones in people’s hands.<br /> Windows Phone 8 will hit with a bang. Between Samsung, HTC and Nokia there will be six initial devices in the United States, but I’m expecting Nokia to push a few others (notably, the Lumia 922 and Lumia 822) to Verizon Wireless, too.<br /></div>

Know About Windows Phone 8

Unknown 0 22:36

 Microsoft recently unveiled the final build of Windows Phone 8, completing the recent trifecta that includes Windows 8 and the Surface tablet. I haven’t been able to play with the operating system – not even during hands-on demos of the Lumia 920… Read more »

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BlackBerry is Back

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="post-attachment"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8615" height="400" src="http://tech-ehow-com.blog.ehow.com/files/2013/02/bb10.jpg" width="590" /> </span><br /><br />RIM has just announced the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, both running the fresh, new BlackBerry 10 OS, and I’ve gotten some hands-on time with them. But before I dig deeper, I should note that RIM officially changed its name to BlackBerry. BY chnaging the corporate name to the name of their most famous product, it’s a sign that RIM is trying to change the way it’s perceived and alleviate any confusion related to its branding.<br /> So what can you expect from RIM – I mean BlackBerry’s — new devices? Let’s start with the Z10. It’s going to launch in the United States on Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. It packs a 4.2-inch touchscreen display with a 1280 x 768-pixel resolution, 2GB of RAM, a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz, an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p video, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat over BBM Video and more.<br /> <span class="post-attachment"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8616" height="442" src="http://tech-ehow-com.blog.ehow.com/files/2013/02/q10.jpg" width="300" /></span>The Q10, meanwhile, will launch on (at least) Verizon and AT&T, although we don’t yet know when. (The Z10 is expected in March, and the Q10 should land in April). It offers the full QWERTY keyboard you’ve grown to know and love from RIM, as well as a smaller 3.1-inch display with a 720 x 720-pixel resolution. It’s equipped with a faster 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage (expandable to 64GB), microHDMI-out, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, an 8-megapixel camera and a 2-megapixel camera for front-facing video chat.<br /> Both phones support 4G LTE networks and HSPA+, which means they’ll run on the fastest networks offered by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.<br /> So is BlackBerry (sorry, RIM) back? Well, it’s too soon to tell.<br /> Personally, I’m worried that the devices might be coming too late. Keep in mind that despite the launch, you can’t go to a store and buy one. Plenty of analysts had expected the device to launch immediately, but even after months of delays, we’re still waiting. In addition, the prices might be too high (I’m expecting in the $199 range). BlackBerry needed to price the devices below iOS and Android’s flagship phones in order to garner consumer attention. Microsoft took this approach, and it seems to be working for them, at least to a limited degree.<br /> On the other hand, you can certainly expect plenty of exciting new features. NFC (near field communication) will allow you to tap your phone to another BlackBerry to add a new BBM contact. BlackBerry Hub is a new central interface for notifications. There are 70,000 applications (including plenty of big name apps) already available, and BB10 ties in with all of your social networks. There’s a lot of good here, but BlackBerry needs to make sure consumers see it.<br /></div>

BlackBerry is Back

Unknown 0 22:24

 RIM has just announced the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, both running the fresh, new BlackBerry 10 OS, and I’ve gotten some hands-on time with them. But before I dig deeper, I should note that RIM officially changed its name to BlackBerry. BY chnaging … Read more »

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Spam is Down, But You Still Need to Protect Yourself

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="post-attachment"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8518" height="400" src="http://tech-ehow-com.blog.ehow.com/files/2013/01/mail1.jpg" width="590" /> </span><br /><br /><span class="post-attachment">You know the drill: Every time you open your email program, you need to wade through a dozen spam messages for every useful, important, or personal email. Wait – that certainly used to be true, but are we still being overrun with spam? </span><br />My personal experience tells me no. In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed a significant drop in unwanted mail. There was a time when I might have had more than a dozen pieces of spam waiting for me each morning when I first turned on my PC, and more would flow in throughout the day. This morning I had just one piece of electronic junk mail. And that’s pretty typical.<br /> Apparently it’s not just me. Security company Kaspersky recently published its 2012 Spam Report, and their surprising conclusion is that spam has hit a five year low.<br /> <span class="post-attachment"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8519" height="225" src="http://tech-ehow-com.blog.ehow.com/files/2013/01/spam-graph.jpg" width="300" /></span>Why on earth would the volume of spam be going down, not up? After all, a few years ago analysts predicted that by 2012, people would be able to fill Olympic-sized swimming pools with the spam they got every morning. What happened?<br /> There are a few reasons that spam is declining, at least in the short run. First of all, spam is down because there’s less payoff in sending it. Anti-spam protection is virtually ubiquitous now, with pretty much every email app and webmail service using spam filtering to block the majority of junk mail before it even reaches you.<br /> Moreover, Kaspersky contends that spammers are moving from annoying you with unsolicited email to taking advantage of inexpensive advertising – banner ads, context-based advertising, and social media ads, just to name a few.  In fact, travel and tourism spam has virtually disappeared from the face of the earth, replaced by electronic coupon services.<br /> All that said, spam isn’t gone completely – if nothing else, we all still get spam for illegal products, phishing mail, and other fraud. In other words, illegal stuff will continue to be sent via spam. Or, as my tautologically inclined daughter would say, “illegal stuff is illegal.”  So how can you protect yourself from spam and minimize the amount of junk piling up in your inbox?<br /> <strong>For starters, be sure that you are indeed using a spam filter</strong>. In most cases it’ll be on by default, but some programs and webmail sites require you to throw a switch to enable automatic filtering.<br /> <strong>Take care of your bacon</strong>. A lot of mail that you might think of as spam isn’t unsolicited at all – it might be newsletters you’ve signed up for or mail from a store you have an existing relationship with. That kind of mail is sometimes called bacon, and it’s easy to deal with. You can unsubscribe by following the link at the bottom of the message, and that’ll get it out of your life quickly and easily.<br /> <strong>Never respond to unsolicited email in any way, shape, or form</strong>. If you get mail for a store or site you don’t already have a relationship with, don’t follow a link or try to buy something. Just throw it away. And remember that it might be a phishing attempt. So my usual advice holds: If you get mail from your bank asking you to log in, don’t click a link in the message. Instead, type the bank’s address into your browser manually.<br /> <strong>Run some sort of anti-malware software</strong>. Whether it’s a free program like <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5201" target="_blank">Microsoft Security Essentials</a> or <a href="http://www.avg.com/us-en/homepage" target="_blank">AVG Internet Security</a>, or a commercial app like <a href="http://usa.kaspersky.com/" target="_blank">Kaspersky Internet Security</a> or <a href="http://www.symantec-norton.com/Norton_AntiVirus_p126.aspx?par=goo_us15906170808_norton+antivirus&par1=en_us_norton_antivirus_promotion&gclid=CKC6lde-_LQCFct7QgodvWUA3g" target="_blank">Norton Antivirus</a>, this is your last line of defense if you accidentally trigger malware in spam.<br /></div>

Spam is Down, But You Still Need to Protect Yourself

Unknown 0 22:14

 You know the drill: Every time you open your email program, you need to wade through a dozen spam messages for every useful, important, or personal email. Wait – that certainly used to be true, but are we still being overrun with spam? My persona… Read more »

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