How Old Google Thinks You Are (And How To Be Anonymous)

You know Google, right? Yeah, that big internet company that delivers the best online advertising service in the world. Well turns out they're good at it because they're even better at monitoring you and everything you do online.  They use cookies to monitor your web usage to see what sites you visit. That way they know what ads to show you based on what you may be interested in. 

This is copied from straight from my Ads Preferences section in my Google account:

Your demographics

We infer your age and gender based on the websites you've visited.

Age: 25-34

Gender: Male

Looks like Google is doing a pretty good job (and I'm acting my age when on a computer). Some people may "Hey! That's invasion of privacy!" Well, in all fairness, Google is not the first company to use cookies to monitor you. You know that other service called Facebook? Well let's just say they LOVE it when you use their site and then go around the internet looking at other sites. It's how they make money. That's how a lot of online services make money.

Now before you go running into your parents basement, shutting off the power to your house and start wearing a tin foil hat there are a few things you can do to prevent all this snooping.

1. You Can Opt-Out: If you go to Google's Privacy Preferences in your account you can Opt-Out. To add more piece of mind you can install the Google Chrome plug-in that will keep you opted-out of interest-based ads from all NAI member companies. 
2. Block All the Big Brothers: Use the "Choose All Companies" feature to opt out from all currently participating companies in one step. HERE

If neither one of those options let you sleep better at night, then download Tor. Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.


If you have any other tips, leave them in the comments.

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Grooveshark : Does It Have Byte?

Pandora, Slacker, Spotify, Google Music...these are just a few of your many options out there to stream music to your ears wherever there is an internet connection. Grooveshark is just another player to add to that list of services...or is it?

I've been an avid user of Pandora with some Slacker thrown in there for good measure. The second I received an invite I registered for Google Music and Spotify. Google Music I used once just to test it out and haven't used it since (primarily because there isn't an iPhone app yet). Spotify I've used many times just for the pure fact that it was exclusive for a while in the U.S. and I was part of a select few of my friends who had access; which allowed me bragging rights.

I started using Grooveshark about a month ago just because I heard through the grapevine that it had a wide selection and a lot of people were wondering why it hasn't been shutdown because its use of every user's uploaded music amongst the public selection. Meaning: you upload your music, I can listen to it. This is great because then there is a vast selection of music on Grooveshark that isn't readily available on other services, but it's not so great for duplicate entries and bad music quality. Grooveshark isn't too clean when it comes to metadata since it's mostly run by the users and not governed by the creators. Don't get me wrong, there is tons of information flowing into Grooveshark's servers all the time and it would almost be near impossible to keep it all perfect, but when they don't have their #1 song's album cover art I start to wonder...

Now for listening on the go, they require you to register for their service and pay for mobile listening - but don't worry you can get a 14-day trial to test out all the glory that is Grooveshark.

PROS:

• Pick a song, listen to it.
• Upload your own music.
• Download any song for listening without an internet connection.
• Start listening to music without having to register at all.
• Social media integration.
• Take surveys to gain credit towards a Plus account (great for college students!)
• Listen in browser or via Boxee app, Android app, iPhone app (jailbroken only - kinda a con)

CONS:

•  Some music won't play on mobile app.
• Metadata isn't always correct. Missing album artwork.
• Radio stations aren't always correct (back to metadata being wrong).
• iPhone app crashes quite a bit.
• Not as streamlined and fluid listening (takes a few seconds between each song to buffer if internet isn't blazing fast).

Overall, I like Grooveshark and I want to love Grooveshark, but I can't because of a few hangups that come along with this unique music service. Hopefully they remove these tiny speedbumps because then they'd be the perfect service with limitless possibilities...or I would at least be able to an awesome Dubstep radio station that wouldn't randomly throw crappy punk bands in the mix.

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Posted in: featured,grooveshark,music,stream

Upgrade Your Home Office This Weekend

Chances are you're reading this article right now at your desk (others may be reading from their mobile devices, but this can still apply to you!), and your desk may or may not be cluttered (mine is - BUT I'M WORKING ON IT). The folks at Lifehacker are always showcasing their readers' desks and providing unique ideas to spruce up your desk and provide a clean and refreshing work environment for us "users". Here is an article provided by them that gives an overall look at many ways you can make your workspace a"funspace"; or at least a clean workspace. If you have a neat setup, I'd love to see what you got. Post it in the comments or email it to me to put up.

Click to go to Lifehacker's article

(via Upgrade Your Home Office This Weekend @ Lifehacker)

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Posted in: DIY,lifehacker,office,workspace

iOS 4.1 - 4.3.2 Jailbreak methods Summarized

I know many of you out there are thinking "Man, I love having a jailbroken iPhone/iPod/iPad but I hate having to keep updating it and then re-jailbreaking it over and over." So we often just sit and wait on one iOS through a few updates and then update to the latest one and jailbreak. I'm currently on 4.2.1 (jailbroken) on my iPhone 4 and 4.3.2 is out (with 4.3.3 on the horizon).

So I did a little searching and found that a great figure in the jailbreaking scene has summarized up many different methods to jailbreak the last few iOS updates, and that great figure goes by the name GeoHot. Here's his list with the corresponding iOS firmwares with the tutorial of how to jailbreak them on each computer OS. Enjoy...

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Posted in: apple,hack,ios,iphone,jailbreak

Now This is the Droid We're Looking For | Popular Science

Now This is the Droid We're Looking For | Popular Science

PopSci reader Brian De Vitis's R2-D2 cooler, converted into the ultimate mobile gaming 'droid with eight consoles, a projector and a sound system.
Read more @ source...

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Posted in: DIY,gaming

It Doesn't Get Much Gnarlier Than a Bullet-Time Surfing Video Shot With 52 Cameras [Video]

It Doesn't Get Much Gnarlier Than a Bullet-Time Surfing Video Shot With 52 Cameras [Video]: "

After ten years of bullet-time, you'd think the effect would be completely played out. But you haven't seen crazy surfing shot in bullet-time with 52 Canon Rebel T2is. More »"

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Posted in: canon,photography

How to Create a Portable Hackintosh on a USB Thumb Drive [Hackintosh]

How to Create a Portable Hackintosh on a USB Thumb Drive [Hackintosh]: "

There are tons of awesome live, bootable Linux systems, but what if you need to run OS X? Reader Will shows us how to put a portable version of OS X on a thumb drive and boot it on (most) Intel computers. More »"

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Posted in: hack,mac

KinEmote: Kinect gesture control for Boxee and XBMC media centers now available (video)

KinEmote: Kinect gesture control for Boxee and XBMC media centers now available (video): "

We've seen plenty of Kinect hacks over the last few weeks -- trouble is, beyond the initial wow factor they're just not very useful on a daily basis. That situation just changed, however, with the release of KinEmote, a free public beta that lets Windows users navigate XBMC and Boxee menus using nothing but hand gestures. Better yet, the software is built around OpenNI and NITE middleware from PrimeSense, the company behind the Project Natal reference gear. It certainly looks impressive in the video after the break. Good enough that we suspect many of you will hit up the source link below instead of finishing up your last minute holiday shopping -- hey, Santa can wait, this is progress!
Continue reading KinEmote: Kinect gesture control for Boxee and XBMC media centers now available (video)

KinEmote: Kinect gesture control for Boxee and XBMC media centers now available (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds."

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Posted in: boxee,gaming,hack,kinect

AirPlay video streaming from iOS devices hacked into Macs (video)

AirPlay video streaming from iOS devices hacked into Macs (video): "

Hey Mac home theater users, listen up -- your AirPlay wishes have come true. TUAW's very own Erica Sadun has developed a free (ad supported) 0.01 AirPlayer alpha hack that lets your Mac play host to AirPlay video streamed off of iOS devices. Right, just like an Apple TV and without requiring a Jailbreak. But as long as you're skirting official support anyway, why not install the free AirVideoEnabler app onto your jailbroken iPod touch, iPad, or iPhone to stream video from even more applications than Apple currently allows. Works for us. Everyone else can check the video after the break.
Continue reading AirPlay video streaming from iOS devices hacked into Macs (video)

AirPlay video streaming from iOS devices hacked into Macs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 02:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds."

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Posted in: hack,ios,iphone,mac

Drop Your Cell Phone Minute Plan, Start Using Google Voice

Many have wondered Google's end game when it comes to their Google Voice (GV) venture, and how will it integrate itself with all of their many other services, such as the Android mobile phone platform, Google Docs, Gmail, their Google Apps suite, and finally their core business, search. I myself have contimplated this very subject many times, all with different conclusions spawning from what new product or service was released that given week.

However, recently my thoughts have been focused more on GV and how it will incorporate and embed itself further into their mobile phone platform all in the next few years. The instigation of this theory was brought upon by several factors; including those of comments by executives by several of the major cell phone carriers regarding the disolution of voice minute plans, the recent purchase by Google of Internet based phone service provider Gizmo5, Google's further integration of the GV application not only on their own mobile platform, but also every other mobile device and even the web. All of these tea leaves lead to one given conclusion. Google plans to be one of the first major Voice over Internet Providers (VoIP) to help consumers do away with their cell phone voice minutes plans.

Within the next 2-5 years, cell phone carriers will transtion the majority of its customers to strictly data based plans, doing away with numerical based voice minute pricing. These variable plans will be replaced with varibale data plan pricing, which currently is a flat fee with a few carriers, such as AT&T, with their $30 a month "unlimited" data plan for the iPhone. Basically, consumers will not have to worry anymore about how many minutes they use on their cell phone, but instead, how much data, or Internet traffic they are utilizing between their phone calls, email reading, facebook posting, and overall Internet usage on their mobile device.

It is not by chance that Google has entered the voice market at this time. Specifically, cell phone carriers are currently releasing the infrastrcuture to support Internet speeds faster than the standard home Internet connection, like DSL and cable, but to mobile phones and devices. Internet data over a cell phone tower will soon become faster to your mobile device than the average American connecting to their Wifi network at home or at Starbucks. By accomplishing this great feat of providing massive broadband speeds over the cell phone network, VoIP service providers, such as Vonage, RingCentral, and Google Voice will soon be able to offer unlimited voice plans over mobile phone data networks, bringing down the overall cost of connecting a voice call. In a nutshell, voice calls have morphed over the ages from fixed circuits which need to be switched manually by local operators, to Internet based data, traveling around the world in milliseconds. Voice calls will soon be stereo quality and even accompanied with high resolution video, all through your mobile device.

How far off is this technology? Well, it depends on Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T, and their promises to roll out their WiMax and LTE networks nationwide before the end of this year. Once these networks are rolled out, VoIP providers will be able to provide these same great services over mobile phones, and not use the consumers voice minute plan.

Text (txt) message plans will also be a thing of the past in the very near future, as services such as GV offer free txt messaging via the Internet and data based mobile plans.

In summary, the rapidly increasing speed of data over cell phone towers is bringing with it a massive change in how the consumer pays and monitors their cell phone bill. Very quickly the consumer will need to learn the difference between a megabyte of data, and how it equates to ten minutes of a phone conversation to a friend anywhere in the world, as the cell phone company's will not be tracking their minutes, but yet their data usage.

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Posted in: 4g,android,cell phone minutes,data plan,gizmo5,google,google apps,google voice,gv,iphone,ring central,vonage