5 Things to Keep in Mind When Switching Email Accounts

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If you’ve used an email address for a long time, there might come a day when switching accounts might be necessary.

To say the least, this is a real hassle which will require one to make a number of changes. So, with that said, here are 5 things to keep in mind when switching email accounts:

#1: Avoid using your ISP’s email address

Just in case, you are switching from SBC to Comcast, you might feel that you should use the ISP’s address. Refrain from doing so as you’ll face the same hassle when you switch providers again. Instead use a web-based email service that will last no matter which service provider you choose.

#2: Give a month’s time for overlap

If you’ve opened a new Outlook or Gmail address, then don’t cancel the service right away. Take at least a month to get a feel of the new address and to read any new messages that drop into your old email before you’re ready to make a complete switch.

#3: Inform friends and family

Inform your friends and family by sending them an email, using the Address Book, that you’ve changed your address and to make the necessary changes as well.

#4: Set up auto-forward

Some ISPs allow one to auto-forward all emails to a new address. This way, you won’t have to keep checking the email at the old email address every time either.

#5: Update auto-mailers and online accounts

One thing’s for sure: you’ll have to update your Amazon, Twitter, iTunes accounts with the new address manually. That can be a real headache but you’ll have no choice but to carry it out.

4 Steps to Secure Your PC Adequately

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Good security for your PC or laptop requires a bit of effort especially if you want to keep the contents of your hard drive, email, passwords and USB drives safe.

To say the least, it’s important to have a certain degree of security on your system without going paranoid.

With that said, here are 4 steps to securing your PC adequately:

#1: Strong Passwords

Regardless of what people say, strong passwords that are unique, random and long enough are still the best way to keep your digital information safe. For this, the best solution so far is to use a password manager such as KeePass or LastPass. While both of them are relatively neck and neck when it comes to being user-friendly, LastPass can be used to access your data across a number of devices.

#2: Encrypting email

Using a web-based email address instead of an email desktop client (like ThunderBird) might be easier to use. However, it becomes difficult to keep the contents of your email from people who’d like to snoop, not unless you use an OpenPGP public-private key encryption service. You’ll have to create a key pair and a revocation certificate as well.

#3: Go Public

Now let people know that you are using encrypted emails which involves uploading your key to a keyserver where other people can find it. Also, you can publish the public key generated on a blog, personal website etc.

#4: Test it with Adele

Now is the time you can test your encrypted email by creating one which is to be sent to Adele, the OpenPGP email robot. Create one in plain text, and which will make it easier and send it to adele-en@gnupp.de. Make that the ‘Sign Message’ and ‘Attach my Public Key’ options are selected in the OpenPGP menu. Adele will respond in a few minutes informing you as to whether the signing was successful or not.

3 Wi-Fi Security Myths to Discard

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Securing your wireless network remains one of the most important tasks that must be dealt with no matter what you think.

Seeing how vital this is to any business, let’s look at 3 Wi-Fi security myths that must be done away with:

#1: Don’t broadcast your SSID

Every wireless router has a network name (Service Set Identifier) associated with it, and is broadcasted to users within its range to be located by users on their PC or device. While it might seem like a good idea to stop your router from broadcasting this information, there are a number of devices that can see the network name. In fact, hiding it can pique the curiosity of Wi-Fi hackers in the process.

#2: Disable your Router DHCP Server

With this myth, you disable the DHCP server and manually assign an IP address to each device for the reason that devices that aren’t assigned with an IP address won’t gain access to your network. That is hardly true as a hacker can easily find the IP addresses being used by your network and use one of them for a compatible device.

#3: Limit your router’s IP address pool

Since every device in the network will be assigned an IP address by the DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) server, the idea that limiting this pool of IP addresses will secure your network because you can control the number of devices by this method. That’s hardly true for the reason mentioned above.

Brain Produces Natural Painkillers When Socially Rejected

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By Phineas Upham

We know what happens to our feelings when someone rejects us; they get hurt. But what happens in our brains when someone rejects us? A new study reveals that the brain produces natural painkillers when an individual is socially rejected, Science Daily reports.

According to a study published in Molecular Psychiatry by a team from University of Michigan Medical School, the brain not only produces natural painkillers during social rejection, it produces more of it if the individual has more resilience. According to the article, the team used a brain scanning system to track the release of a chemical in the brain during social rejection while online dating. The article states that the study focused on the same area of the brain that responds to physical pain. Prior research has shown that when an individual experiences physical pain, their brain dampens the pain signals by releasing chemicals called opioids into the area between neurons.

“This is the first study to peer into the human brain to show that the opioid system is activated during social rejection,” David T. Hsu, Ph.D., a research assistant professor of psychiatry and lead author of the paper, told Science Daily. “In general, opioids have been known to be released during social distress and isolation in animals, but where this occurs in the human brain has not been shown until now.”

Hsu also told the paper that the personality of the participants had a lot to do with how much opioids were produced by the brain. According to the article, the people who scored high on the resiliency trait test were able to produce more of the chemical during social rejection. What’s more, participants with the most opioids produced in the brain reported being in a better mood than the other participants.

Read more: www.sciencedaily.com

Phineas Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phineas Upham website or Facebook page.

Understanding Mercruiser sterndrives

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For a novice, there can be an overwhelming amount of Mercruiser boat parts and accessories to choose from. Of course, it’s important to know what each part is for and what it does. Let’s take a look at Mercruiser sterndrives for a better understanding.

Sterndrives are a form of engine that uses both inboard and outboard components. They are notable in their appearance, as the engine is positioned just ahead of the boats transom, while its outdrive is completely outside the hull.

The mechanics of the sterndrive actually have their origins in the First World War, when the Isotta-Fraschini was introduced with two propellers rotating in opposite directions. Then in 1948 Mercury Marine merged a racing car’s engine to the lower section of an outboard motor. The result was an outboard motor that could out power anything available at the time. Nowadays, companies like Mercruiser have made these engines commonplace.

These engines are steered by moving the outdrive; there is no rudder attached. The outdrive can be switched out with compatible engines of appropriate power. This gives the user a variety of choices in terms of power and control.

Sterndrives revolutionized the way boats were powered over sixty years ago. Today they have become commonplace, but the adventurous are always looking for ways to up the ante in terms of speed and power.

Paying The Provider, Providing the Payer

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By Ted Dhanik 

So a company wishes to promote their product or services. Paying for a large advertisement in a newspaper or periodical can be quite expensive, and there still remains the question of whether the potential customers are actually getting the chance to see the company’s message or not. When dealing with online advertising, banner ads can still be catered to a website that relates to the product. But even then, the potential for the public to gloss over them is still there. However, there is a way to create that extra push that can get website providers to help feature your ads.

Pay– per– click advertising creates a relationship with the web providers that feature a company’s ads. Basically, the website featuring the ad gets paid for each click on the link to a company’s website. In many ways, this sort of advertising relationship is mutually beneficial. The company that is marketing a product or service may spend money for each potential customer. However, the payment is quite low, in the nature of a few cents, which is relatively little for the amount of future or existing customers that will visit the site. And through these payments, most websites become self sustaining with the placement of a few embedded ads. Not only can this ensure that your ads will be seen, but that those who run a website will do what they can to make sure your ad is seen.

It is the nature of this agreement: you pay the provider and the provider supplies the payer.

Ted Dhanik has provided this information for the benefit of you and your business. When looking into advertising solutions, Ted Dhanik is the consultant you need to help your business grow. Visit Ted Dhanik at his website to see what solutions he has in store for you.

Clean Out Your Inbox to Increase Productivity

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Posted by: Phin Upham

In a recent blog post, Financial Times columnist Tim Harford quoted efficiency expert Merlin Mann, who says that there are only five things that a person can do after reading an email: delete it, reply to it, take action yourself, delegate actions to someone else or hold off on taking any actions. Because of this, Harford recommends moving all emails out of the Inbox as soon as they are read. They can either be deleted or moved into a “To Do” folder that has tasks that need to be completed.

The reason for doing this is more than just cosmetic. According to Harford, leaving old emails in your Inbox essentially turns it into your To Do list; this means that anyone who sends you an email effectively puts an additional item in your To Do list as well. Cleaning up the Inbox relieves this pressure and allows you to control your list of action items.

Read the full blog post at: http://timharford.com/2013/09/3180/
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Phin Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or Facebook page.

How to Find (and Replace) Faulty RAM

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It goes without saying that a defective RAM can cause lots of problems. Some of these include Blue Screens of Death, reboots, freezes and frequent crashes too.

In fact, if you are using a memory-intensive game or application and these issues occur, bad RAM will most likely be the cause for this to take place. However, it would be a bad idea to assume this and try and fix the problem according to this assumption.

However, if you are sure that a bad RAM is truly the problem, then you will have to identify the bad module as the next step.

For this, one can use a free, diagnostic tool called MemTest86 which can loaded on both a CD as well as a USB drive. Both these versions are bootable, and once installed on either type of removable media, you can run the test.

Now before you do that, shut down your computer, unplug the power cable and open your laptop or PC. If you’re not sure how to do that, then look through your user manual for help.

Next, remove one RAM module. Now close your computer and run the memory test at least three times. It will take at least an hour to do so.

(You might have to go into Setup because of the change in RAM before you run the test, and while you’re there, check if it is showing the right amount too or else make the right changes.)

Repeat this process for all the modules too see which one is faulty and replace it with a new module.

Different Marketing Channels

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By Ted Dhanik  

There are many different marketing channels a business can use to promote itself and products. Below are listed a few of the most popular and well known ones.

Television and Radio

Ah, the classic time of television and radio marketing channels. This is a great way to communicate a business brand and presence into large masses of audience viewers. It is true that channels are getting smaller viewing numbers as the shows are getting more specific to audiences. But television is still one of the best ways to reach the most people in the shortest amount of time. This holds true for radio.

Display Marketing

This refers to the marketing ads seen online, either ads that require a potential client to click on them to go to another page, or the banners listed on the sides or top of a website. It also refers to the ads that show up in search results. This form of marketing is great to reach localized, specific traffic that is interested and more likely to buy the product or business that is being promoted. Because it is highly specialized and specific, this type of marketing requires extensive research on its audience to be effective. However, the results are undeniable and almost immediate.

Facebook Marketing

A new addition to the marketing world and the biggest competitor of display marketing, this consists of the ads shown in the newsfeed of a Facebook account user. Similar to television and radio ads, the ad itself is not specified or directed to a certain user in any way. Actually, the channel it is using, Facebook, dictates which ads get shown and where. This marketing channel is popular because of the amount of views and traffic advertising it gets.

Guest post provided by Ted Dhanik, CEO of engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik focuses on high-performance marketing solutions for his clients. Ted Dhanik offers his wisdom on display marketing in his professional blogs.

New Daniel Dennett Book Explores Scientific Side of Philosophy

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By Phineas Upham

Daniel Dennett has little use for “navel-gazing” philosophers or people who are unwilling to accept criticisms of their own philosophical methods. This blunt approach to philosophy is in full display in his recently published new book “Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.” As recently profiled by The New York Times, Dennett is unafraid to cross swords with other philosophers whose work he considers to be too fluffy or prone to intellectual flights of fancy.

Readers of “Intuition Pumps” won’t find long descents into hypothetical scenarios and broad-stroke assumptions. What they will find is the work of a philosopher more prone to use science to explain the working of the mind. In fact, it’s this type of approach that has occasionally put him at odds with some of the other major philosophers of the era.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com

Phineas Upham Phineas Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phineas Upham website or LinkedIn page.