5 Things You Should Never Do Online

• By Neil J. Rubenking
• October 13, 2011 PCMag.com

Leaving yourself open to online trouble is a bad idea. Here are tips to avoid bringing aggravation into your online life

If you walk around New York City staring open-mouthed at the tall buildings, the low-lifes mark you for a hayseed right away. Pickpockets try for your wallet, sidewalk vendors offer great deals on "genuine" Rolexes… you might even get an opportunity to buy the Brooklyn Bridge! Even if you're smart enough not to get taken, you're better off keeping a low profile. The same is true in the online world. There are some things you should just never, ever do. For example:

Never Put Your Email Address in a Comment. Don't put your email address in comments on blog posts. Don't put it in Facebook comments. You may have set Facebook for privacy, but your friends haven't. Don't include the address in plain text on your own Web site; use an image. Spammers send Web crawlers to harvest exposed email addresses and fill your Inbox with ads for Canadian drugs and Russian girls.

Never Respond to Spam. Angry at the spammers? Don't fire off an irate missive. Don't reply with "REMOVE" in the subject. All this does is verify for them that your address is owned by a person who actively uses it. That makes it much more valuable when they sell their list to other spammers.

Never Click Links from Strangers. Got an unsolicited email promising you a free iPad, a vacation in Belize, or something else tempting? Resist temptation! Clicking that link won't get you the prize, but it might well recruit your computer into the latest botnet army. Sure, your antivirus or security suite will probably keep you safe. So in the best case, you get… nothing.

Never Share Your Password. OK, this may sound too simple, too obvious, yet I've seen people do it. "Hey, can I use your [fill in the blank] account?" Sure, it's a good friend asking, but will this person safeguard your security the way you would yourself? Maybe you don't really care about that particular account, but are you sure you haven't used that same password on one, two, or twenty other sites? Sharing is good, in general, but not password sharing.

Never Do Your Banking at the Coffeehouse. Banking over the public WiFi at a coffee house or Internet café is a seriously bad idea. These networks can be ridiculously insecure. The guy at the next table could be using Firesheep to capture your online session. The sinister café owner could be tracking every packet that passes through the network. Save your online financial transactions for times when you can connect to a secure network.

These tips won't guarantee total online safety, but they're a good start. Follow them and you won't look like a yokel.

The 35 Best Free Apple iPhone Apps

• By Jill Duffy
• October 24, 2011

PCMAG.com

If 'free' is the magic word when you're shopping for iPhone apps, this essential set of 35 should be on your list.

I've paid for precisely two Apple iPhone apps out of my own pocket… and one was a fat-finger mistake (my pudgy paws slipped on the "buy" button, and I entered my password without realizing what I was doing). "Free" is the magic word for me. When I hear about a fantastic app for the iPhone, I always check to see if I can find a free alternative that's just as good. Every so often, I'll even find a free one that beats the tar out of the paid app.

Apps are what transform the iPhone from mobile phone to pocket PC. Without them, you might as well be carrying around that old flip phone you had in 2004 that could play an 8-bit knock off version of Tetris. Okay, it would still be better in many ways, but you get the point. We at PCMag spend thousands of hours each year scouring iTunes, speaking with developers, reviewing the best apps we find, and hunting for hidden gems. If there's an app that makes owning the iPhone more worthwhile, we find out about it. And if they're free—hey, even better.

The 35 apps that made the cut for this list are the ones that have shown outstanding performance, have been well received by a variety of technology users, and are free. And "free" means free. No gimmicks, no "membership required." Free. Period.

Missing from this list are apps and features (like Siri) that come pre-installed on the iPhone, although they are certainly not to be overlooked. The YouTube, Maps, and Clocks apps in particular should not be ignored, while the iTunes, Music (formerly called iPod app), and App Store apps typically see a fair share of well-deserved usage, but I suppose you technically paid for them because you bought the phone, so they're not really free. In any case, you don't need to choose to download them, so we're not listing them here.

If you have more recommendations for more free apps that we at PCMag need to check out, post your suggestions in the comments.—Next: Apps 1-10 >

Drop test: iPhone 4S vs. Galaxy S II

n case you were wondering whether an iPhone 4S or a Galaxy S II would fare better when dropped onto concrete, I'll give you a little hint: plastic tends to survive where glass does not.

We're not saying there's a lot of scientific method here, but it's amusing, and the folks who make these hot-gadget smasheroo videos, warranty provider SquareTrade, keep their sales spiel to a minimum.

They provide a nice service, but if you're really worried about gear breakage, it's probably better to invest your cash in a good protective case. And as SquareTrade is quick to point out, "We don't cover intentional damage like you see in the video."

Spam messages are down, but stay vigilant

By Athima Chansanchai

In a bi-annual security analysis, spam messages are down, but no one should start breathing any easier. 

The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report focused on the first half of 2011 to bring to the surface the dangers often lurking right in front of you as you're going about your daily business on your computers.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

The 168-page tome is bursting with more insights than we could fit in a blog post, but Ars Technica's take-away intrigued us, too: 

In July 2010, 89.2 billion spam messages were blocked by Microsoft’s Forefront Online Protection for Exchange service, which is used by thousands of enterprise customers. By June 2011, that monthly total was down to 25 billion.

The report attributes the dramatic downshift to "takedowns of two major botnets: Cutwail, which was shut down in August 2010 , and Rustock, which was shut down in March 2011 following a period of dormancy that began in January. The magnitude of this decrease suggests that coordinated takedown efforts such as the ones directed at Cutwail and Rustock can have a positive effect on improving the health of the email ecosystem."

While overall it seems like measures like these are working, this is no time to yield vigilance. Taking the pre-emptive step of regularly installing security updates "is one of the most fundamental steps that IT departments and individual users can take to reduce their risk from malicious software."  

The report found that phishers, which traditionally have targeted financial sites, have now turned their sights on social networks, where they "can effectively target many more people per site. Still, the potential for direct illicitaccess to victims’ bank accounts means that financial institutions remain perennially popular phishing targets, and they continue to receive the largest or second-largest number of impressions each month." 

Nearly 30 percent are run of the mill advertisements for everyday household and medicine cabinet supplies — the complete opposite of bringing sexy back. In fact, sexually explicit email only makes up just about five percent of potentially damaging spam messages that were blocked by filters.

Consistent with previous reports, "nonsexual pharmaceutical products" and "nonpharmaceutical product advertisements" together account for the majority of spam messages (28 percent and 17.2, respectively). The third biggest category was the “419” advance-fee loan scams (13.2 percent). These emails were blocked using Microsoft's Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE), which "scans billions of email messages every year to identify and block spam and malware." 

If you want to see what else wants to infiltrate your email, see the pie chart above, which breaks down the kinds of messages that want to grab your attention — as well as your money and your identity.

For BlackBerry addicts, RIM is 'chipping away our faith'

By Mark Milian, CNN updated 4:52 PM EST, Fri October 14, 2011

(CNN) -- The love affair between BlackBerry devotees and their mobile communicators is becoming strained, and some of them made the quarrel very public this week after a service outage.

Fans often discuss the intimate details about why they are attached at the hip to smartphones made by Research in Motion -- the clack-clack of the tiny keys, the feel of the trackball or square pad on their thumbs, the informative indicator light calling out for attention. They affectionately call it the "CrackBerry."

After the recent outage, which RIM says was caused by a server error, some longtime BlackBerry users are writing goodbye letters on blogs, and on message boards operated and frequented by the CrackBerry collective. Richie, a British member of a Web forum called CrackBerry, summed up the concerns, saying RIM has been "chipping away our faith" in the company's ability to satisfy customers.

In interviews with reporters, RIM executives issued apologies, which they also made public in a recorded video, but they avoided questions about whether they planned to offer incentives as compensation for the millions of customers affected by the outage. RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

By comparison, after Sony restored its network this summer following a lengthy outage, the company compensated users of its subscription service, and gave free games and movie rentals to all users.

Netflix has offered small discounts to customers affected by technical troubles.

Despite RIM's lack of public comment, an AT&T customer in Cleveland wrote on the CrackBerry message boards that he received a credit on his bill when he called to complain about the outage.

RIM customers still holding onto their faith in the company should pay close attention to a conference being held in San Francisco next week. The pressure on BlackBerry from competitors is mounting, and RIM's promised next-generation models, with dual-core processors and large touchscreens, are overdue.

A CrackBerry forum member, posting under the alias N8star, says he is giving up his BlackBerry Torch 9850 "after years of being treated like a battered spouse by RIM," he wrote. His wife urged him to switch to an iPhone, and he says he will acquiesce.

Jim Kerstetter, the executive editor for technology website CNET, published an editorial on Thursday titled "RIM, you're dead to me now." He writes that he has defended BlackBerry, despite the lack of multimedia features, but that the recent outage has spurred him to switch phones and operating systems.

RIM still has a comfortable hold on corporate buyers, who snap up large orders for employees. Security experts tend to trust BlackBerry more than other smartphone platforms.

However, even tech departments in companies are becoming more lenient on this policy. David Hurst, who was waiting in line to buy an iPhone 4S for his wife at a store in Atlanta, said her company "has finally approved for her to switch from BlackBerry to iPhone, and her BlackBerry is just falling apart."

In the now crucial mobile-consumer market, Google and Apple both lead BlackBerry in sales, a trend expected to continue into the crucial holiday shopping season. A combined 69% of smartphone buyers say they plan to get either an Android phone or iPhone, while only 8% indicated that BlackBerry was at the top of their shopping lists, according to an NPD study from this summer.

RIM is "struggling to compete against Apple and Android," NPD analyst Linda Barrabee said in a phone interview. "The outage comes at a really opportune time. ... You've got, during the same week, the availability of the iPhone 4S."

Among the dedicated Apple followers who lined up outside stores around the world to buy the new iPhone on Friday, some reluctant people waiting at stores told CNN that they were there because they believed BlackBerry was too far behind the technological curve.

Outside the Apple Store in Los Gatos, California, a few spots behind Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in line, Karol McBrian held a spot for her son. She is a longtime BlackBerry user, but she said she is changing allegiances. She will be inheriting her son's iPhone 4.

Teresa Sparks, a 41-year-old nurse in Atlanta, waited in a line across the country from McBrian to buy her iPhone, which will replace a BlackBerry. She is especially excited about Siri, the voice-assistant technology that Apple has promoted heavily. "I don't know who made it; I don't care," she said. "I just want the personal assistant."

CNN's Umika Pidaparthy contributed to this report.

5 Reasons the Amazon Kindle Beats the iPad

Gadgets - SCITECH

By Blake Snow

Published October 09, 2011

| FoxNews.com

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Amazon looks to have a strong holiday season with its new Kindle Fire tablet.

The Kindle Fire is burning up the charts.

Purported pre-sales of the newly announced Kindle Fire by Amazon suggest the tablet is on track to outsell the iPad in first-month sales. If accurate, that’s big -- really big. So far, competing brands have done nothing to rival Apple’s splash nor dominance of the growing tablet market. The Fire is the first real competitor. 

Apple iPad sales are as brisk as ever, of course, but there’s plenty of reason for the excitement surrounding the all-new, color screen, touch-enabled Kindle Fire. To borrow an Apple word, it’s different. But it’s also similar enough to the iPad that a lot of consumers might view it as a worthy alternative -- indeed, something better.

Related Slideshow

Let the Tablet Wars Begin: Best (and Worst) of 2011

From Androids to Apples, from Samsung, RIM and more, 2011 will be the year of the tablet. 

1. Eye-popping affordability. At $199, the Kindle Fire sells for less than half the price of the iPad, which starts at $500. So for every entry-level iPad bought and sold, you could buy two and a half Fires. That alone is turning heads, especially since the previously released and uninspired iPad clones have tried to charge as much as Apple for a much less desired product.

2. A lot more content. Content is king. And iPad may be king of the apps, but Kindle Fire bests it considerably by volume of content. The Fire will have immediate access to the 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books already available on Amazon’s easy-to-browse virtual shelves. 

Apple doesn't cite how many TV shows or songs are available, but the number appears to be far less in annecdotal searches.

Want to rent instead of buy? There’s an app ... er, a solution for that, too: 10,000 movies and TV shows can be streamed instantly. Those numbers are huge, and growing everyday.

3. Free storage. If you want to take all your content with you, the entry-level iPad and its puny 16 gig storage drive leaves a lot to be desired. You can buy more, but it’ll cost you. Which is why the Fire’s sales pitch -- free cloud storage for all your Amazon content -- is so enticing, especially since Amazon is already the no. 1 digital bookstore, the no. 2 mp3 store (behind Apple), and high on the list in other categories. 

For content you don't buy from Amazon, there are about 6 gigs of free space on the Fire to do with as you please.

4. Democratized apps. One of the biggest knocks on the Apple AppStore is that it’s a closed system—if Apple doesn’t like your stuff, no app for you. One of the biggest knocks on the Google Android software powering nearly every other tablet out there is that it's too open—you’re required to sift through a lot of junk to get to the goods. 

The Kindle Fire hopes to bridge that gap with the Amazon Appstore, which remains open like Android, but only makes available the very best and most popular apps from the open market. The result: More free apps without the hassle, the best of both worlds approach.

5. Easier to hold. The 10-inch iPad is a lot of fun, but hard to handle with one hand due to its weight and size. The 6-inch Kindle reader, on the other hand, is a lot easier to hold. With only one hand, you can hold it for several hours without fatigue. The new 7-inch Kindle Fire promises the same: capable of being held with one hand, lighter than the iPad, and a lot more portable.

All of those pros don’t come without sacrifices, however. The Fire’s screen is 3” smaller than the iPad, which might not make it as ideal a device for watching movies or playing HD games (that’s to be seen, though). Furthermore, the Fire lacks a lens and microphone, so it won’t be able to snap photos, shoot video, or accept video calls.

But for $300 less, those are things I bet a lot of people can live without.

The Kindle Fire goes on sale Nov. 15 for $199.

About the author: Blake Snow is a freelance writer, media consultant, and proud owner of both the iPad and 3G Kindle. He lives in Utah with his family. Contact information and clippings can be found on his website: blakesnow.com

Honoring Steve Jobs

Artists Mourn Steve Jobs

To artists, Steve Jobs was more than an icon; he was an enabler. Here we check out nine of our favorite tributes from artists around the world

By Sara Yin PCMag.com

Steve Jobs may have been an icon, mentor, and inspiration to those in the tech industry, but for living artists and designers, he was a god.

Say what you will about Jobs, but it's hard to argue that he not only inspired fellow designers but enabled them. From Apple's bitmap-based MacPaint in 1984 to Final Cut Pro 10.0.1 in 2011, Jobs changed their lives, kickstarted budding careers, and forever changed how artists work and perceive their work today.

"First Apple memory: Macpaint on a mac classic at a computer store w/ my dad. drew an oval w/ a brick pattern fill. i'm still doing that. =)," tweeted Boston Globe designer Martin Gee.

"Every creative person on this planet has used Steve Jobs #Apple products to inspire or create. True Visionary. Artist. #RealityWeaver," tweeted director Randall Thorne.

It's no surprise, then, that shortly after news of his death broke late Wednesday, we saw an outpouring of artistic tributes to the inventor who left us far too early.

Pictured above is perhaps the most recognized piece of Steve Jobs tribute art, which spread like wildfire late Wednesday. The logo was designed by 19-year-old Jonathan Mack from Hong Kong, a design student who tweeted later that the design had even landed him a job offer.

Click on the slideshow to see nine more of our favorites. For more on Jobs, see PCMag's reflection on his life and career and our tribute page, where you can leave your thoughts about the iconic Apple leader.