A Consuming Experience: How to use Gmail aliases to organise emails and handle spam

I was listening to Leo Laporte's podcast of his tech show from the 16th, and they had a tutorial on transparent desktops (examples here (this is in french, diaporama is a slideshow, fyi) and here which I think are just TOOO kewl :)
P.S. If you do this, I'd love to see the results, and I would even try to post em here. :)
Or we could post a url, if you put it on flickr or some other site.

Now to the purpose of the post. (Did you think I'd EVER get here?????) lol
the url in the topic I found as a result of finding the tutorial on transparent desktops.
"What's a Gmail alias? Well if your Gmail username is "user", then a Gmail alias is an email addresss in the format "user+something@gmail.com". All emails sent to an alias in that format will be received by you at the user@gmail.com account."
Aliases can be a wonderful way to track which are the worst offenders in terms of spam, AND a similar idea could be used for passwords for sites. I read this in some newsletter, and thought it was a superb idea. Read all the details, at the title url, included are links to gmail, as further explanation.

Enjoy!

Ask the Editors: Archive - CNET reviews

Ask the Editors: Archive - CNET reviews

This web site has lots of questions and answers for you.

Joe

Ask the Editors: Clean your LCD without damaging it - CNET reviews

Ask the Editors: Clean your LCD without damaging it - CNET reviews: "I'm wondering, what's the best way to clean an LCD? I contacted the manufacturer, who suggested using a damp cloth, but now my screen is covered with streaks. Is there anything that can clean it and remove the streaks? Is Windex a valid option, or will it harm the delicate screen?"

Once again, click this link for the answer.

Joe

Ask the Editors: The USB 2.0 myth - CNET reviews

Ask the Editors: The USB 2.0 myth - CNET reviews: "If I have a USB 2.0-capable printer, should I go out and buy a USB 2.0 cable, or can I get the same performance using an older USB 1.0 cable that I already have?"

Click this link to see the answer. It might surprise you.

Joe

Wireless laser printers - CNET reviews

Wireless laser printers - CNET reviews: "Don't let cords trip you up when you're making laser prints; check out these printers with internal Wi-Fi."

I love my Laser printer, but it isn't wireless.

Joe

Add MIMO's muscle to your network - CNET reviews

Add MIMO's muscle to your network - CNET reviews: "The Wi-Fi revolution marches on. 802.11g is barely two years old, and already the next generation is starting to emerge in the form of MIMO-enhanced networking gear."

I want to know when I get my gigibit wireless?

Are you wireless at home yet? We are.

Joe

RIP, Pentium 4 - CNET reviews

RIP, Pentium 4 - CNET reviews: "When the Pentium 4 desktop PC processor made its debut in laptops a few years back, it seemed like a match made in heaven."

I though I had a fast laptop! :(

Joe

Desktop computers - Desktop computer hardware - Desktop computer store - CNET reviews

Desktop computers - Desktop computer hardware - Desktop computer store - CNET reviews: "The PC tech on every power user's wish list"

Do you want Intel's new dual-core processor?

Joe

The Buzz Report: The evils of old tech - CNET.com

The Buzz Report: The evils of old tech - CNET.com

What do you do with your old STUFF?

Joe

Insider Secrets: Three things to do with your old PC - CNET reviews

Insider Secrets: Three things to do with your old PC - CNET reviews: "Three things to do with your old PC"

How about turning your old computer into a linux Firewall? Check this out!

Joe

Windows 2000 suffers millennium bug

A flaw in Windows Explorer's webvw.dll can allow an attacker to run malicious code, albeit with significant user interaction. There's no patch, but this TechWorld article does give a workaround that is very easy to do.

Jack

Looking for a Job Online? Beware of Posting Resumes

There are real dangers in posting resumes online. This article at The Register details them and also says that there are online services to mitigate the dangers, if you will avail yourself of them.

Jack

The Infinite Library

Technology Review has a 5 page article about digitizing the world's libraries. It's a very interesting read, though somewhat long. Thought you might be interested. I was.

Jack

RealNetworks fixes 'highly critical' flaw

The flaw affects at least Real Player, and probably some other Real products. Patches are available. Install them immediately if you run any Real products.

Jack

Windows Virtualization to Support Linux

The link above (or others like it) has been sent to me over a dozen times, this morning. I hadn't thought it particulary newsworthy and wasn't going to blog it at all. However; others evidently do, so here it is.

Steve Ballmer says Microsoft's virtualization technology will support Linux. Hardly a shock, that. Microsoft is not dumb, after all, and a virtualization technology that ignores such a large part of the market would flop for sure. Some folks see this as a big blow to Microsoft, but I don't. They're just accomodating reality. They probably wish they didn't have to, but that's life. Trust me on this: worse things have happened to MS. This is nothing.

Jack

Got DNS problems? Check this out.

http://support.open-rsc.org/root_cache/

Here's some open DNS servers. There are links on the page for many different OS's on how to change your DNS server. I put one of these servers on every computer I own. Just in case my ISP's Server goes belly up. I'd suggest pinging all and choose the one that has the lowest time.

Problems With Open Office 2

As a fan of OOo (Open Office.org) products, I was dismayed to see this. The debut of v2 will be delayed until at least June or July of this year.

A number of problems are detailed at the link above, including lack of developers and the large size of the code base. (Something MS Office users know well.) Also mentioned is the fact that Sun employs most of the developers (with Novell/SuSE employing some) and controlling the code base. Some of the code is very old and needs updating, too. So it's not a series of trivial problems.

I've been running the v2 beta here and can testify it has a ways to go before it approaches real usefulness. For now, I use the current production version for anything that matters.

Jack

Security Watch: Why you should ditch Norton AntiVirus - CNET reviews

Security Watch: Why you should ditch Norton AntiVirus - CNET reviews: Remember I sell NOD32 the Anti-Virus that works! http://AlaskaJoe.com/NOD32

Joe

The Real Deal: Keep deleted cookies from sneaking back and spying on you - CNET reviews

The Real Deal: Keep deleted cookies from sneaking back and spying on you - CNET reviews: "Keep deleted cookies from
sneaking back and spying on you"

Joe

Show Us Yours: Submit your setup - CNET reviews

Show Us Yours: Submit your setup - CNET reviews: "Submit your home-office setup to Show Us Yours, and you could win a Microsoft Optical Desktop Elite."

Joe

Opera 8 Debuts

The newest edition of the Opera web browser is out. As per usual, there is a free, ad-supported version, and a paid-for one without ads.

This version is supposed to render faster and have much improved security (two areas where Opera has always excelled) and some new features. Check it out.

Jack

Symantec Releases Beta Anti-Spyware Software

Symantec has released a public beta of an anti-spyware app which they plan to include in their Internet security suite. Now I wonder if they'll fix the AV next.

Jack

Teenagers want computer security lessons

The Register has a summary of a Security Focus report on the subject. Very interesting read.

Jack

In Apple, Microsoft OSes, search is on | Tech News on ZDNet

In Apple, Microsoft OSes, search is on | Tech News on ZDNet

Companies' new operating systems--Tiger and Longhorn--bear a resemblance. But just who copied who?
Joe

� Why Comcast is chasing DNS outages | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

� Why Comcast is chasing DNS outages | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com
Comcast's recent multi-hour outages are the result of trying to support millions of customers on inadequate DNS infrastructure. Phil Windley wants to know: What does your DNS look like?

Joe

SCO Gives Sun Blessings to Open-Source Solaris

Now this was a weird start to my day. I'm sure all will eventually become clear, but I was certain SCO and Sun would have a big fight over this. Guess I was wrong.

Jack

Microsoft Gets Thin (Clients, that is)

Bink.nu has an announcement of Microsoft's two new XP derivatives. Designed for "thin" client use, they accomodate older, less capable hardware with a limited feature set. They are intended to serve in environments where workers do only a limited set of tasks on their computers.

Check it out.

Jack

Community Has Concerns Over Linux Kernel Development

eWeek has a story this morning about the direction(s) taken by Linux kernel developers. New features are being added at a fantastic rate and there is some concern that enterprise support is being slighted in favor of desktop functions. It's a short story with enough detail to stimulate thought and give some insight into how the kernel development takes place.

Jack

Adobe buys Macromedia for $3.4 billion

There will be a lot written about this in the next couple days, but this is the first notice of it I saw.

I can hear the bloatware jokes now..........

Jack

OC Podcast

http://www.oncomputers.info/mp3/2005/mp3/04-17-05.mp3
This is the On Computers podcast for 04-17-2005. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.
ftp://ftp.media.videotex.us/oncomputers/2005/mp3/04-17-05.mp3