Okay this time its Twitter! People started receiving emails as if it was sent from Twitter and asking them to login to a website which looks like Twitter (in simple words, phishing email). Here is what Twitter has to say about it.

It looks as though this particular scam sent out emails resembling those you might receive from Twitter if you get email notifications of your Direct Messages. The email said, “hey! check out this funny blog about you…” and then provided a link. That link redirected to a site masquerading as the Twitter front page.

If you didn’t look at the URL of this false Twitter page, then you might not have noticed that it was actually just a page on the domain access-logins.com which was also faking Facebook’s front page. We immediately reported the offending domain (and warned our friends at Facebook). The site is now on OpenDNS’ and Google’s reported phishing lists.

Twitter has also added a message on top of their home page too.

Firefox has already started blocking the website. You can read more about it here. Even afte so many warnings from people and Twitter, it seems some one fellow just logged in

Here is a very interesting story (may be stupid story) for you to think about. Today one of my friend called me and said he was cheated online. He paid $60 for a horoscope report from www.aboutastro.com and he did not get it.  My first reaction was “What the …!!! sixty dollars for an useless report?”. I asked him whether he read any reviews before going for the deal? “Well. No!” was his answer.

Ok!! before writing what exactly happened let me share you one of my experience with online reviews. I own a compaq presario v3225au laptop and before buying this I read reviews about this model for atleast 2 months. I also made sure I was not wastin my money by enquiring about this product with others who own it. Once I was happy with my selection I ordered the laptop and so far I am more than happy with its performance.

Now back to the horoscope story. My friend. who is fond of these astrology stuff, decided to get a paid report about his future from aboutastro.com. He tried out their free report and found it true. So he paid them 60$ for a detailed report and he is still waiting for the report.  He showed me some of the email from an astrologer named Jenna and it ws pretty interesting. All emails were written as if she was his guardian angel and wants him to realise where he was heading (no wonder he fell for it ).

I thought I will give it a try myself. I signed up for a free report. but this time I gave my emil ID as shobankr+aa@gmail.com. Gmail is very intelligent in delivering all emails to this ID to my original ID shobankr@gmail.com Guess what even before I received my free horoscope report. I started receiving emails from doctors all around the world giving me tips to increase my ***** size . these guys were also ready to send free viagara to me. And to add more flavour I also won a lottery of 60,000 pounds from UK national lottery.

I checked the header of all these emails and guess what they were all addressed to shobankr+aa@gmail.com. These guys sold my email ID.

I was 100% sure that aboutastro was nothing but a site owned by a bunch of few idiots who want to earn some quick money.

I did a whois check up for this site and more interesting stuff turned up. The site is registered to some address in France. Did I tell you that these guys had their HO at United States?

Last I did a quick google search for “Jenna horoscope fraud” and landed in a very interesting discussion about this scam!

Atleast I am happy that my friend was not alone

So next time, before making an online deal, make sure you know about the product completely. Oh! BTW did you read about my experience with Indiatimes shopping ?

Here is a list of 52 interesting things you can do with Google other than search!

1. Browse the classics without opening a book
   With Google Book Search, you can flick through books from the comfort of your home .
2. Never wake up your Australian relatives at 3am again
   Use Google Search to make sure you don’t rudely awaken anyone the next time you make a call. Type ‘time’ followed by the location, and midnight disruptions will be a thing of the past.
3. Convert £ to Yuan instantly
   Going someplace nice? Type the currency you want to convert into the search box to find out how much it’s worth in another currency.
4. See the Cerne Giant in your bedroom
   Visit some of the world’s most famous and unusual places on Google Earth. You can search for places you know or visit the Google Earth KML directory to make new discoveries.
5. Automatically save every draft of your wedding list/seating plan
   Google Docs automatically saves every version of your document so you never have to worry about losing a valuable draft again.
6. Flight arrival and departure times in real time
   With Google Search, you can enter a flight number and get updated information on when the flight is arriving or departing.
7. Say ‘I don’t speak Italian’, in Italian
   With Google Translate, type the word or phrase you want to translate and select your languages to receive your translation.
8. Are you big in Uzbekistan?
   With YouTube Insights, you can find out what countries your viewers are from and also get additional information like viewer demographics.
9. Settle trivia disputes in the pub
   Settle a bet in the pub with Google Search on your mobile. Access all the information on the web without needing to be in front of your computer. Go to Google search on your mobile by typing m.google.co.uk into your mobile phone browser
10. Watch your favourite YouTube clips in high-resolution
    If you have a fast internet connection, you can change the setting in your YouTube account to always play videos in high definition when available.
11. Stargaze on a bright sunny day, or on a cloudy afternoon
    Amateur astronomers rejoice. With the Sky feature in Google Earth, you can stargaze at any time of day or night. View everything from supernovas to entire constellations, complete with information on what you’re looking at.
12. Get directions when you’re on the move
    Taken a wrong turn? Use the My Location feature of Google Maps on your mobile to figure out approximately where you are. No GPS required. It’s also handy if you want to get directions from your current spot without typing in the address. *Available for most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices.
13. Find out who’s free for lunch without asking
    Struggling to figure out when everyone’s free for a get together? With Google Calendar, you can add the calendars of friends, family and colleagues to your own calendar, and your only problem will be agreeing on a restaurant
14. Keep your family videos in the family
    Keep family videos private by using the privacy setting on YouTube videos.That way, only the people you want to see your videos are able to.
15. Know not only when the FTSE moves, but why
    Stock prices go up and down. Google Finance pairs financial charts with related news of the day. So you can see what happened and why, when you’re reviewing your portfolio.
16. Find local cinema times
    Get big-screen showtimes on your little screen. Type the movie you want to see and your postcode into the search box to get current times and locations. If you need ideas on what to see, you can type the word ‘film’ and your location to see what movies are playing in your area.
17. Make your homepage YOUR homepage
    Personalise your homepage by adding your favourite content to iGoogle. If you want to give it an extra special something, you can also add designs by well-known artists.
18. Inspiration, insight or information for your essay, dissertation or thesis
    Begin your research with Google Scholar. Search hundreds of different journals, universities, books and other sources from the comfort of your favourite armchair.
19. Turn your email into a conversation
    Instead of emailing back and forth, you can reply to an email by chat instead with Google Mail. Your conversations are automatically saved, so you can revisit them just like email.
20. Show your kid where the Komodo dragon lives
    To see where the endangered species of the world live, use Google Earth’s ARKive layer to display their locations and important facts about them. *Download required.
21. Go back to work without going back to the office
    Never be without that important file again. With Google Docs, all your documents are saved online. So no matter what computer you’re using, or where in the world you are, you can pick up where you left off
22. What Coleridge actually wrote was…
    To avoid misquoting the greats of literature, use Google Book Search to check those famous lines, word for word
23. Have your daily schedule sent to you every morning
    Stay on top of your schedule by setting up Google Calendar to email your agenda to you every morning. You can also set up text reminders to your mobile phone.
24. Map out the local sights for visiting friends
    With My Maps, you can add your own information to a Google Map, such as descriptions and photos, and share it in an email, instant message, or on a web page. It’s a great way to help out-of-town guests find their way, show a favorite route to your running club, or plan your next family road trip.
25. Share your YouTube favorites on the bus
    Liven up your commute with YouTube on your mobile. Search for videos, browse categories or sign in to your account to view your own videos or favourites. Go to YouTube on your mobile by typing m.youtube.co.uk into your mobile phone browser.
26. Get the latest weather forecast for Hyderabad, or anywhere else on Earth
    Taking a trip or going for a stroll? Find out the weather before heading out by typing ‘weather’ and the location into the Google search box.
27. Search the web Elmer Fudd style
    Feewing Wucky? Google Search Preferences lets you choose the language you want to see when you use Google. In addition to many of the world’s popular languages, you’ll find a few fun ones, like Elmer Fudd and Pig Latin.
28. Fill in web forms with one click
    Chances are you’ve entered your personal details on websites more times than you can count. With Google Toolbar’s AutoFill feature, you can enter all of that information once, and the next time you encounter a web form, just click the AutoFill button and your information will be entered automatically.
29. Add comments directly into your videos
    With YouTube annotations, you can add speech bubbles, comments or spotlight a particular section of your video to make sure your audience gets your message. For more information, visit http://uk.youtube.com/t/annotations_about
30. Star or label important emails for easy reference
    Google Mail makes it easy to locate important messages in more ways than one. Star or label your messages so you’ll be able to easily find them again
31. See tomorrow’s storm coming a thousand miles off
    Try your hand at weather forecasting by using the weather layer in Google Earth to see when the next storm is coming. *Download required.
32. Multiply 27,334.56 by 21.3 without a calculator
    Use the built-in calculator in Google search to solve maths problems, as well as units of measure, conversions, and physical constants. For the full range of possibilities, visit our instructions page: http://www.google.co.uk/help/calculator.html
33. Tart up your holiday snaps before sending them out to mates
    Make your next holiday slideshow for your dinner guests more interesting. Use Picasa to turn your images into black & white or sepia, or add captions and visual effects.
34. Read a newspaper written in a language you don’t speak
    Browse a foreign website by entering the URL into Google Translate to convert it into the language of your choice. Please note that Translate is only available in some language pairs. We’re adding more as fast as we can.
35. Learn a new skill in a minute
    Watch instructional videos on YouTube to learn new skills, from badminton to the piano. Search for the topics you’re interested in or browse the ‘How-to & Style’ section.
36. You are here. The pub you want is there
    Use the My Location feature of Google Maps for Mobile to figure out approximately where you are. No GPS required. Once you know where you are, you can also search for nearby places to go. *Download required. *Available for most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices
37. Work on the same document from four corners of the Earth
    With Google Docs, people can work on the same document at the same time, without sending attachments back and forth, or merging changes.
38. Know when to take the high road or the low road
    Customise your route with Google Maps. Use features like the ‘avoid highways’ option to tailor your directions.
39. Make yourself feel better - convert your weight from pounds to kilos
    Use the built-in calculator in Google search to convert your measurements. For more possibilities, go to http://www.google.co.uk/help/calculator.
40. Translate your website into 13 languages with a single line of code
    No hablo Espanol? No problem. Add the Google Translate gadget to your website, and visitors can view a translation of your site by choosing their language from a list. Please note that Translate is only available in some language pairs. We’re adding more as fast as we can.
41. Glam up your YouTube channel
    Give your YouTube channel the red carpet treatment it deserves. Pick a new colour combination, add a border, or include your own background images.
42. Find the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything
    You could meditate under a waterfall for the answer to life. Or try typing it into Google Search and see what you get.
43. Find the email in the haystack
    Tired of trawling through 1,932 important emails to find the really important one? Google Mail automatically groups email replies in a single thread, and you also can search by name or keyword to find what you’re looking for.
44. DJ at your friend’s party…take your playlist with you
    Leave your record bags at home and take your laptop to play a set at your mate’s party. YouTube’s QuickList feature allows you to add videos to your playlist with just one click.
45. See the effects of climate change for yourself
    Add KML files to Google Earth to see a variety of information geographically displayed, such as the predicted effects of climate change or what country an unusual species calls home.
46. Survey your mates to conclusively agree on the best film of all time
    Settle a friendly debate amongst your friends by using Google Docs to create a survey. Email it to your friends and Google Docs will automatically update with their responses.
47. Be famous for 15 seconds, minutes or days
    Could you be the next YouTube star? Upload your latest video and spread the word.
48. Travel as the crow flies, or go right around the houses
    If you prefer the scenic route, use the draggable route feature in Google Maps to change your course and your directions will automatically update to reflect your changes.
49. Work on your online documents even when you’re offline
    With the offline feature of Google Docs, you can work on your documents on a plane, at the beach, or in a land far away. Your changes will be automatically saved online the next time you sign in.
50. Love this video? Don’t miss the sequel
    Make sure you’re in the know when the latest videos are released by your favourite YouTube stars. By subscribing to their channels, you’ll receive an update as soon as they add new videos.
51. Preserve instant message conversations
    Google Mail automatically saves all your instant messages, so you can refer to them later on. Of course, there are some you may not want to keep around. In those cases, simply take the conversation Off The Record, and it won’t be saved.
52. Add a YouTube player to your website
    You can create a custom YouTube player to play your own videos, or your favourites from others, on your website. You can also embed individual videos by copying and pasting the embed code next to a video into your website.

Source : http://www.google.co.uk/landing/thingstodo/#tip22

I hate to write this article as you know there are reasons for restrictions to certain sites in office or school. But I receive lot of emails and calls from friends asking me whether there is any way to access personal emails (gmail, hotmail etc) from office. Here is a trick  to access gmail from office or school.

Google rolled out a massive change to iGoogle last week. The “full canvas views” allows iGoogle users to expand their widgets across the entire page. What does this mean? You get a better view of a widget. Here is an example of an expanded view of “To do list” iGoogle gadget.

So how does this help in accessing Gmail from office. In earlier version of iGoogle, The gmail gadget shows  a preview of Gmail Inbox. In “Full view canvas” view this little gadget gets enough space to show the entire email content. Whats more you can even reply or forward the email. What’s more interesting is that this works even in office/schools where gmail is blocked.

The Full canvas view is rolled out only to US users. If you see your old iGoogle page, dont worry. Just got to www.google.com (and not your country specific iGoogle page) and open your iGoogle.

I am sure you must have enjoyed watching the mr techo funny video. But there is an important security lesson for us to learn in that video. “Always lock your system when you leave“.

During our college days we used to play tricks with our friends by changing the desktop wallpaper to a screen shot of some message box (usually the display properties window). Its fun to see them click “ok” or “cancel” again and again.

This is not a joke when it comes to professional environment. You are responsible for everything that is done from your PC. Be it changing wall paper or some serious stuff like sending out emails. Dont forget that sending out an email is as serious as signing a contract.

Jeff at coding horror wrote an interesting post about locking your PC before leaving.

Easiest and fastest way to lock your PC is to press the Windows key + L. If you think this is old fashioned? then you can use your USB to lock PC when you step away. Here is a list of more software which makes locking PC more interesting.

Do you have any funny experiences to share?

Anothe important lesson is “Have a very good head hunting/HR team“

How many times have you banged on the table after sending an email to the wrong person? Well if you are using outlook to manage your emails you can set a simple rule to avoid recovering emails after sending it to the wrong person, a rule to delay all your sent messages. If you don’t know how just follow these simple steps.

1. Open outlook

2. Click Tools -> Rules and Alerts

3. Click New Rule

4. Under “Start from a blank rule” click “Check message after sending” and click Next

5. Click Next in the next window and click yes in the confirmation box.

6. Select “defer delivery by a number of minutes“. Enter the number of minutes by which your sent messages should be delayed.

7. Click ‘Finish”

There may be some instances where you want outlook to send the message immediately. Just add an exception to this rule may be for a sepcific character in the subject or body text

Now a days Internet has become a home to spam. Millions of spam bots crawl the web daily to find email addresses and then bombard them with Spam Emails thus destroying their efficiency and creating problems for users. The best solution to this is to get a temporary or disposable email inbox which automatically expires after a certain time period.

Want to know more? check it out : http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/05/27/top-20-temporary-and-disposable-email-services/