***Originally posted on my old lockergnome blog @ lockergnome.com/texastony .***

Time to go right into the meat and potatoes of this subject so here we go.

1: Don’t use simple passwords.  I used to use a password that was very easy to remember such as names or phone numbers.  I have even caught people doing this very thing and have constantly reminded them that the easier a password is for you to remember, the easier it will be for someone to figure out.  The best thing to do is to create a complicated password that only you will remember.  Also, make sure to write it down or use a password manager like 1Password or keepass (keepassX if you are on a Mac).  This will make it easier for you to remember passwords and if you use a password manager, you can then copy and paste that password into the password field when you need to.  Also you can use that password manager to generate passwords.

2: Do not use a “universal” password.  This also makes it easier for people to figure out because once someone has figured out your password to one site, they will likely try to use that same password on different sites that you use.  The best advice is to use different passwords for all the different sites that you use.

3: Avoid creating simple answers to security questions.  As we all know, there are methods of accessing your account should you forget your password, usually in the form of security questions.  Remember, the easier you make the answer, the easier it will be for someone to figure out.  The nice thing is that you can put anything into that answer field when setting up your security questions, so what I like to do is make up a jumbled alphanumeric mess that I only know.

4: Change your passwords regularly.  The longer you keep a certain password means that it gives more time to the individual trying to figure out what it is.

I hope that this helps because I find this to be a serious issue that people need to be aware of.  No, I am not saying to be paranoid about it, but be more aware of what could possibly happen.  This is your life we are talking about anyway.

Ever since I got my Mac back in February, I have been playing around with the plethora of Mac apps that are out there and came across a really good one called Xslimmer.  This program trims the size of the apps installed on your Mac by deleting unnecessary languages and code from binaries.  I have been using it now for about 3 months and on my initial use, I was able to reclaim more than 3GB of disk space.

The really cool feature of Xslimmer is Genie where it will search for all the apps you have installed and determine which ones can be “trimmed down”.  It also has a blacklist feature which lets you know which apps cannot be modified.

Xslimmer is free to try and $12.95 to buy and I think is a must for anyone that owns a Mac, especially a Mac with a lot of apps on it.

Link: Xslimmer, The Apple Blog

Source: cnet

It is really funny when you see some of your favorite web apps go down.  About the most that I do that depends on “cloud” computing is email.  I am currently using Apple’s MobileMe and it hasn’t been all that bad; however, the launch of the service has been very rough and the service was not fully ready to come out when it did.  All I can say is I am glad that they decided to give people a free subscription extension to everyone using MobileMe so they at least still have my business.

I came across a new TWiT episode that mentioned a blog for the 10 worst web glitches for the year thus far so I thought I would put it out here for everyone.

With things like this happening it raises a very good question.  Can we really trust cloud computing, putting all of our information out on the internet?  There are people who lose money when internet services go down.  Anyway, this is just from the standpoint of an average joe user so what do you think?

~Tony

Well, my experiment uploading a video on to YouTube using iMovie was a success so here is the finished product.

Also here is a link to my YouTube channel.

Source: Yahoo!

Yet another reason why it sucks to be behind the times.

Wow, I have no idea what retard put together this list of sci-fi films together, but damn.  They say it’s a list of the top 30 rated by Yahoo! users but somehow I think that something is wrong here.  Anyway, you be the judge.  I may not have a top 30 but here are some of my favorites that either got left out or are just out of order.

Star Trek 2, 4, 6, or First Contact are nowhere to be found on this list.

Star Wars (the original trilogy that is) should have never been rated below Iron Man.  Sorry but it just shouldn’t.

WHERE THE HELL IS BLADE RUNNER?!

I’m sorry but the Incredibles, WTF?!

I also hate it how all 3 X-Men movies made it on there.

2001: A Space Odyssey is also missing.

Ok, I know I’m nitpicking but it does raise the question of whether or not this was really put together BY Yahoo! users.  Somehow, I don’t think so.

Source: Yahoo!

Source: Yahoo Tech

Wow, 8 people out almost $1000 for an iPhone app that just says “i’m rich”.  How stupid!

I used to do this as a regular thing on Snapvine but I am going to do it here so enjoy.

Deep Kitsch by Dzihan & Kamien