What’s The Best Website To Find Free Electronics

There are several websites that claim to be the best place to get free products; but which one is really the best. After a few weeks of careful consideration, I believe the best service is Lockerz. And yes that is the correct spelling.

It’s really easy to get free products like laptops and gaming consoles on Lockerz. What's better is that you can get these relatively fast without any referrals. For example, a Lockerz user can get a PSP 3000 or an iPod Nano absolutely free in about 26 days if they visit the website each day.

So, you are most likely wondering how this works. To get your free product you need to collect PTZ. The good news is that PTZ can be collected in 3 ways.

The first way to collect PTZ is simply by logging in each day. Each time you log in you will get 2 PTZ. If you are on the Z-list you will get 4 PTZ. So, if you want to get your free product quickly, I suggest you log in each day.

The second way to collect PTZ is by answering dailies. Dailies are basically survey questions. These questions are not at all personal. They are mostly something like “What is you favorite color”. As you can tell by the name, there is one of these survey questions every day. Each time you answer one you’ll get another 2 PTZ. If you are on the Z-list you will get 4 PTZ.

The final way to collect PTZ is a one time deal. Just after you sign up, you’ll get an opportunity to play a game, which is sort of like Pong. The objective is to hit as many coins as you can with your mouse. In this game you can get anywhere from 1 to 1,000 PTZ, depending on how good you are. The bad news about this game is that you can only play once, so you must do your best.

How do I sign up?

The bad news is that Lockerz is invitation only. The good news is that I’ll send you an invitation if you follow my following instructions.

1. Point your browser to YouTube.

2. If you don’t have an YouTube account create one. If you do have an account skip this step.

3. Click the mail icon in the upper right hand corner of the webpage.

4. Click “compose”, which is located on the left side of the webpage.

5. In the To box address the message to “vistarox”, without the quotes.

6. In the subject box type in Lockerz

7. In the message box type in your email address.

8. Click send message.

As soon as I get the message I’ll email you a Lockerz invitation. Please give me at least two days to send the invitation. 

Overpriced iPhone App of the Week: Wolfram Alpha

The Wolfram Alpha iPhone App is so overpriced, its not even funny. It costs a whopping $50. I don’t even think the biggest Wolfram Alpha fans are willing to give up that kind of money, to get a “computational engine” that you can use for free by simply pointing Safari to their website.

The people at Wolfram Alpha are selling this as as a half-priced graphic calculator, with the added benefit that it uses the existing Wolfram Alpha “computational engine”. But even with that wonderful selling point I cant get over the fact that you can get the same thing free by going to their website. Really Wolfram, do you think that the public is so stupid that they will give up their had earned $50, so that they can use a service that they can get for free at the Wolfram website.

Wolfram Alpha rep Josh Dilworth had this to say in an email to Gizmodo:

"How many people will buy it? We're not sure, but looking at the other apps that are $50+, we think that we're of at least comparable in utility and functionality, if not more. And, part of what the company is also doing is making a statement about the non-trivial nature of WolframAlpha's capabilities, and how much the system has matured since launch."

Mr. Dilworth, I'm sure that the Wolfram Alpha app is as good as any $50+ app in the app store, but who is going to buy this app when they can get the exactly same thing in their browser.

Your free to go ahead and pay $50 for this app, but personally I’ll just go to their website. 

How to Win Free Stuff By Simply Searching the Internet

If you are like most people you are probably looking to save a few bucks. Good thing that there are several websites that just gives away things with no strings attached. I scanned the web looking for the best freebie website and I think I found it. Its called Swagbucks. On Swagbucks you can get thousands of items absolutely free ranging from pencils, to laptops, just by searching the internet.

You’re probably wondering how this works. To get free items you need to collect Swagbucks; there are two ways to earn them.

One method of getting Swagbucks is by searching the internet. When searching the internet using Swagbucks search, people will randomly be selected to receive free Swagbucks. Generally people will receive 5 Swagbucks a day just from searching using Swagbucks search. I highly recommend that you use this method. You do not need to be concerned of the quality of the results because Swagbucks Search is powered by Google.

The other method is Swagcodes. Every day a new Swagcode is released which is worth some Swagbucks. All you need to do is find those codes and enter them in the website. You can find daily Swagcodes here.

If you want to sign up for Swagbucks, so you can start collecting your free prizes, click this link.

Google Experimenting With a New Homepage

Google is apparently experimenting with a new homepage to simplify the design of the the popular search engine.

The new design hides all content except to Google logo and the search, the other content only will appear when the user places their mouse over the webpage. Surprisingly the experimental design completely removes the Google Search and the I’m Feeling Lucky Buttons, which can be an issue for users who don’t know they can press the enter key to search.

Check out the demo below, and voice your opinion!

Bill Would Give President Obama the Power to “Turn Off The Internet” During a Cyber Emergency

A revised version of a bill first introduced this spring would give the president the power to disconnect private sector computers (or servers) if there is a “Cyber Emergency” This basically means if the bill is passed the president can shut down any website based in the United States.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

Section 201 of this bill also suggests that government will have the power to regulate critical private networks.

Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defence and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government.

There has been lots of debate over this bill. Some are calling the bill “vague” and others say it is essential to protecting the nations digital infrastructure. What do you think of this bill? Post you comments below.

Twitter Crashes, Again!

Yet again Twitter’s servers crashed, this time at around 11:45 am PDT. Twitter members reported server time outs and 3^rd party applications were not able to access the service.

On Twitters blog, employees said that the service had some issues for around 10 minutes.

"Responding to site downtime. We're working to recover from a site outage and will update as we learn more."

Twitter was back up and running again, approximately 36 minutes later.

In the past, outages were a common thing, because Twitters small servers could not keep up with the massive traffic, but the outages became less common as Twitter became more popular. This outage is particularly interesting because Twitter is still recovering from a denial-of-service attack last week. The attack was aimed at a Georgian activist blogger, but ended up crashing Twitters servers for several hours. There are rumors that the attack came from the Russian government.

Bing Gains Market Share in July

The web analyst firm, StatCounter, released its analyst today, and it shows Microsoft’s Bing gaining slightly in market share.

Last week, Microsoft and Yahoo reached a deal to redirect all Yahoo Search traffic to Bing, which essentially means that Yahoo’s and Bing’s market share are combined. Combined, Bing/Yahoo increased market share 1.09%, up from 19.27% in July. Google’s market share shrunk slightly in July from 78.48% to 77.45%.

StatCounter’s number are based on an analysis of 1 billion search engine referring clicks.

Google Adding Physical Markers to Famous People’s Favourite Locations

You may soon see a real, physical Google map markers everywhere around the world. Google has asked famous people to share their favourite spots with them, Google will then place a marker at the location.

These markers will have an icon and plaque to identify them. If I was famous enough to have the opportunity to place a marker somewhere, it would be the CN Tower to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I love that tower.

Alleged Chrome OS Screenshots Leaked

Another set of unverified screenshots of Chrome OS has been leaked to the internet. An Engadget tipster says most applications run on the internet. Picasa runs locally for photo and movie viewing, and the "System" tab displays the contents of SD cards and digital cameras. Though this image is probably fake, it is interesting. The screenshots are below, tell us what you think by commenting below.

China Gets iPhones Early, But Wi-Fi is Disabled

China Unicom will likely be selling an iPhone sooner than expected, but it will not have Wi-Fi capabilities.

The Government of China, which controls the 3 major cell phone networks in China said in the past that it objected to Wi-Fi in phones, perhaps because it's harder to sniff local packets than ones drifting through a wide-area network.

According to unconfirmed reports, China Unicom plans to sell a GSM based iPhone, but its licence is for something where Wi-Fi is blocked. As TradingMarkets.com puts it: "Apple has to cancel the Wi-Fi function without changing other components."

The good news is that, China has been waiting for the iPhone for a long time and they are finally getting it now. I just wonder how adept the Chinese jailbreakers will be at reactivating that Wi-Fi.

Stream Zune Songs to your iPhone

Gear Live has found a clever way to stream Zune Pass songs to your iPhone. Why would you do that. Zune Pass gives you an unlimited amount of songs for about $15/month. The issue is that they don't play natively on the iPhone.

You first need to set up Orb on a Windows based computer to transcode, on the fly, your already downloaded Zune songs. Then you can listen to all of your songs (not just 16GB or 32GB of them) wherever you have internet access. It works well on 3G and Wi-Fi but EDGE is too slow for full quality music. For a full guide on how to do it click here.

Web Slices now on The Unofficial Windows Blog

Web Slices is one of Internet Explorer 8’s best features. It allows you to take a slice of web and view it with one click. This capability is now available here, on The Unofficial Windows Blog. Now when you want to read our latest post all you need to do is click one button. We have made it really easy to set up. Here is how to do it:

1. Navigate to: www.theunofficialwindowsblog.blogspot.com

2. Click the Web Slice button in the Internet Explorer Toolbar

3. Click “Add to favourites”

4. To read the latest posts click the blogger icon:

Is Windows Installing Updates Without Your Permission?

Several reports say that Windows XP and Windows Vista are installing updates, at system shutdown, when the user configured the computer to ask to install updates first.

This Windows Secrets article explains it all. The problem comes up when Windows is configured to use Automatic Updates either to (Vista terminology here) "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them" or "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".

Now every tech know-it-all you talk to will tell you that you should have automatic updates set to “Install updates automatically”. There have been times when Automatic Updates shut down internet access to Zone Alarm users, but that is rear and the risks outweigh the benefits. People in the aggregate are better off installing updates automatically.

Scott Spanbauer in Windows Secrets explains what might have happened. The June 9th update was a rather large update. which addressed 10 updates and 31 vulnerabilities. Microsoft Knowledge Base explains how some problems can occur when a traffic is heavy on the update server. 

Spanbauer puts forward one possible avenue for users who really want to avoid this problem:

If you consider it important to research patches before they're installed, one possible workaround involves selecting AU's option 2 or 3. Then, run Microsoft Update (a superset of Windows Update, both of which require IE) and specify every patch to be installed or not installed -- every time you plan to shut down or reboot. Running Microsoft's updater should eliminate any queued downloads that might install unexpectedly.

This doesn't seem quite right to me in a few ways. First, neither Windows nor Microsoft Update on Vista use IE, but they do on XP. Second, I have at least one system where running Microsoft Update does not eliminate queued downloads, and in fact Microsoft Update fails in that case; I have to let Automatic Updates proceed. Third, this sounds like a major pain.

Windows 7 RC Download Deadline is August 15

Microsoft will turn off Windows 7 RC downloads on August 15 2009.

The download program closes August 15. After that, you won't be able to get the download, but you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one," Microsoft employee Stephen Rose said.

Microsoft released the final public preview of Windows 7 on May 4. At the time Microsoft said that Windows 7 will be available through July and changed its policy when there was an overwhelmingly high amount of downloads.

Windows 7 will be launched on October 22 2009.

Windows 7 RC will not expire until June 10 2009 and will shut down at two-hour intervals starting March 1, 2010.

Testers who still use Windows 7 Beta will experience automatic shutdowns much sooner than Release Candidate users. You need to move to the RC and fast," a Microsoft employee said.

People who want to download the Windows 7 RC can do it here.

Microsoft Releases Office 2010 Teaser

Like big shot Hollywood studios Microsoft is trying to generate buzz around its next version of Office by releasing an exciting trailer. 

Microsoft posted a movie trailer that teases Office 2010 and added a “behind the scenes” button that pokes fun at recent leaks of Office 2010.

The "actor" being interviewed on camera likens the leaked preview to him being seen without his make-up and with a virus all over his face.

Microsoft quietly launched the website in April and has got lots of hits. Microsoft is not releasing any numbers. On the site is also a button to sign up for a technical preview of Office, which is slated to begin next month. For those who want an earlier peek, here are some screenshots.

Ballmer Says Search is Microsoft’s Biggest Mistake

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was asked if he could just have one do-over Ballmer said, "I would probably say I would start sooner on search."

For a few years now Ballmer has been talking about search and has said that Microsoft needs to put more effort into it. The Yahoo deal last year did not work out so now they are trying Bing.

Microsoft’s Bing Does Good for a Second Week in a Row

Its still early in the game but Microsoft’s new search engine managed to hold onto its second place spot in the search engine market share.

Bing’s market share is up about 3 percentage points from where Microsoft was at pre-Bing in terms of both number of searchers and total query share. That is about a 1 percent gain from both categories in its first week.

For the week of June 8 to 12, Microsoft's search engines were used by 16.7 percent of those doing searches and accounted for 12.1 percent of all queries, both up 3 percentage points from where Microsoft was at before Bing's launch.

"It appears that Microsoft Bing has continued to generate interest from the market for the second consecutive week," ComScore Senior VP Mike Hurt said in a statement. "These early data reflect a continued positive market reaction to Bing in the initial stages of its launch."

Microsoft launched Bing at the beginning of the month, after a lengthy development period and months of internal testing.

For its part, Microsoft seems to recognize it is still very early. The software maker has declined to comment on the market share gains.

More Morro Screenshots Leaked

A Windows enthusiast blog on Tuesday posted what it says are leaked screenshots of Microsoft's upcoming free security software, code-named "Morro," which is due for public beta release soon. Today another set of screenshots were leaked.

In November, Microsoft announced that they would no longer be selling or supporting it’s failed anti-virus software, Windows Live OneCare.

Microsoft says that Morro will be available in the second half of 2009. OneCare will be continued to be sold until June 30 2009.

Morro will be compatible with Windows XP, Vista and the upcoming Windows 7.

When OneCare launched 3 years ago it managed to make a dent in the security industry due to lower than normal prices.

Morro Screenshots Leaked; Will it be Cloud Based?

A Windows enthusiast blog on Tuesday posted what it says are leaked screenshots of Microsoft's upcoming free security software, code-named "Morro," which is due for public beta release soon.

Neowin.net has three screenshots apparently obtained by a secret source. Morro is said to be tested internally by Microsoft

ZDnet is reporting that Morro will be cloud based.

"Instead of scanning every file or network packet as they arrive into the computer from the Web or an external device, it creates a virtual tunnel between your incoming Internet pipe at the back of your computer to a Morro data center, which scans every byte and packet for malware," writes ZDnets’s Zack Whittaker

In November, Microsoft announced that they would no longer be selling or supporting it’s failed anti-virus software, Windows Live OneCare.

Microsoft says that Morro will be available in the second half of 2009. OneCare will be continued to be sold until June 30 2009.

Morro will be compatible with Windows XP, Vista and the upcoming Windows 7.

When OneCare launched 3 years ago it managed to make a dent in the security industry due to lower than normal prices.

"With a number of free products already available, McAfee has experienced more than three years of global growth. On a level playing field, we are confident in our ability to compete with anyone who might enter the marketplace."McAfee said.

 

"Microsoft isn't going to change the business dynamic. Freeware is really about customer acquisition," Dave Cole, Symantec's senior director product management. "Norton offers trialware as a means to secure customers and even freeware vendors such as AVG, Avira, and Avast recommend upgrading to their payware solution for more complete protection. The reality is that shareware and freeware vendors have been in the market for 20-plus years. The freeware space is crowded and Microsoft is just joining the fray." Symantec said

 

 

And this from Justin Priestley, senior vice president of consumer sales at Kaspersky Lab Americas: "Right now, Kaspersky Lab offers free access to our antivirus detection technology through our Web site, allowing consumers to scan their systems or suspicious files...and for the foreseeable future, that will be the extent of our no-charge offerings."

Here are the leaked screenshots obtained by neowin from an anonymous tipster. Morro is currently in testing and is subject to UI changes.

Setup a Windows Media Center TV Signal

The very first thing most people would do when getting a new Windows Media Center PC is watch TV on it.

This guide will show you how to setup your TV signal and TV guide.

In this guide I’ll set up one digital (HD) antenna and programming guide for my area. Setting up a cable or satellite connection will be similar to this guide.

Setup TV Signal

1. Start Windows Media Center (WMC) by going to the Start orb, All Programs, and open Windows Media Center.

2. Navigate to Tasks, and select settings in WMC.

Note: Once WMC is running, navigating WMC with a Windows Media Center Remote Control is the best way to experience WMC. You could also use your mouse to point and click or your keyboard’s arrow keys to move around and the spacebar to select.

3. Select TV.

4. Select Setup TV Signal.

5. Select Next in the Set Up Your TV Signal section.

6. Select Yes, use this region to configure TV services if the Region is correct and then select Next.

7. WMC will download up-to-date TV setup options for your region.

8. Select to Configure my TV signal automatically in the Automatic TV Signal Setup section and then select Next.

9. WMC will scan for Cable, Satellite, and Antenna signals.

10. If everything goes well WMC will pick up your connection(s). If everything is right, select Yes and then select Next.

11. Let’s set up the Program Guide by selecting Next in the Programming Set Up Guide.

12. Select Yes when WMC asks you if you want to use their guide.

13. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the Terms of Service, select I agree, and then select Next.

14. Enter your ZIP code and then select Next.

15. The programming guide for your ZIP code will be downloaded from the internet.

16 When the download is complete, select Next.

If you’re using a digital antenna it’ll give you the option of adjusting your antenna and programming guide.

Select Next.

04 The next screen shows you all of the channels you could catch according to the programming guide you just downloaded.

WMC will scan for every channel listed in the guide and tell you the signal strength of each. Uncheck each channel with a low signal so they don’t show up in the programming guide. You can also use the signal meter to adjust the antenna. Checked off channel are continuously scanned and updated for signal strength. Click Next when you’re done.

18. That’s it! Select Finish and you’re done.

19. Click the green button on your Windows Media Center Remote Control or click the green orb in the top left corner of the WMC screen to go back to the main WMC screen. Go to TV + Movies, select guide.

10. Select the program you want to watch and you’re in business!