ShowMeBlog

Google Will Give You Money to give up your privacy

“In the midst of outcry over the changes in Google's privacy policy, the search giant has announced that it will start paying some users to share their search history as part of a new project dubbed Screenwise.

Search Engine Land reports that people who sign up to be on the Screenwise panel will receive a $5 credit on Amazon for installing a browser extension that allows all of the data from their Chrome browsing to be collected. Participants will get an additional $5 for every three months of participation up to one year.Fine print on the Screenwise landing page states that after a year the terms of payment could change.

Google was vague about what details the members of its "panel" would share. "As a panelist, you'll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them," Google said…”      The Huffington Post

What is Schemer?

“Google has a new product that you’ve probably heard of sometime in the past few days. It’s called Schemer, and it’s a guide to finding you things that you can do now, or add to your bucket list for later. But in a crowded market that is only getting more so every day, does it measure up? Read on to find out.

The first thing that you need to know is that Schemer is in an invitation-only beta right now. The next thing to know is that recommendations are only listed for a few select cities, and all of those are in the US thus far. But Schemer did at least get a list of recommendations for things that you can do from anywhere, such as “Buy a Kindle” or “Alpha test more Google products”. See where this is going yet?

So when you sign up, you’re asked to fill in your locations. Yes, that’s plural. This is one place where Schemer is doing something very right. If you’re planning a trip, you can input the location of that trip and find activities that you might not have considered otherwise. If I were to place a bet, I would say that much of the data comes from Google’s somewhat-recent acquisition of Zagat, a company famous for its travel guides.

But that Zagat info isn’t alone. Far from it, in fact. Google has a load of partners with which it is working to provide more diverse suggestions, and that’s another area where Schemer actually does excel. For instance, if you’re a foodie then Food Network has a list of suggestions such as eating carrots with homemade tzatziki sauce, among others. Explorer types might find suggestions from National Geographic, for example, to be more appealing…”   Apps – Part of the Next Web Family

 

  OK gang here is a link that will let you skip the beta waiting list to join Schemer. 
I think I only got 20 of those free openings.  Not sure what sort of message you get after they are gone.  But check it out if your interested.

Google Ad Perferences

  The following story is at the Huffington Post:

  “Google Ad Preferences Thinks It Knows Who You Are, What You Search.” 

“Here's a fun one.

There's an option in your Google account that displays your Ad Preferences page, which lets you see who Google thinks you are and what you're interested in.

If you're an avid Googler, then you probably use the search engine many times a day to find for driving direction, movie times, stock tips, local weather, cooking recipes, sweet deals on shoes and more. Based on what you've searched, Google makes inferences about your demographics and uses this information to show you relevant ads as you use Google products online…”

 

  OK before you all break out in a cold sweat and start to move to the woods with no connection to the grid here are the Ad preferences for me (and you all know how wild and crazy I am right).

“Your categories

Below you can review the interests and inferred demographics that Google has associated with your cookie.

Arts & Entertainment - Online Media - Webcams & Virtual Tours

Arts & Entertainment - Visual Art & Design - Photographic & Digital Arts

Computers & Electronics - Consumer Electronics - Camera & Photo Equipment - Cameras & Camcorders - Cameras

Internet & Telecom - Web Apps & Online Tools

Law & Government

News - Politics - Campaigns & Elections

Online Communities - File Sharing & Hosting

People & Society - Social Sciences

People & Society - Social Sciences - Psychology

Real Estate - Timeshares & Vacation Properties

Shopping

Travel - Tourist Destinations - Beaches & Islands

Your demographics

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

Age: 45-54

Gender: Male”

EMail from Virgin Mobile about data speed reduction

“Here at Virgin Mobile, our mission is to deliver an outstanding customer experience. Sometimes that
means making difficult choices in order to provide the best possible service to the greatest number of customers.
To make sure we can keep offering our Beyond Talk Plans at such great prices, we're putting a data speed reduction in place for anyone who uses over 2.5GB of data in a month.
How will it work?
Starting March 23, 2012, if you use over 2.5GB of data in a month on your Beyond Talk Plan:

• Data speeds may be reduced to 256Kbps or below for the rest of your month. During this time,
  you may experience slower page loads and file downloads and lags in streaming media.
• If data speeds are reduced, they will return to normal as soon as your next plan month starts.
• If you'd rather not wait for your new month to start, you can restart your plan immediately through
  My Account.

Will it affect me?
Based on your activity for your last plan month ending in December, you shouldn't be affected.
If you continue to use the same amount of data as you did in your last plan month, you should not see
your data speeds reduced. Just to give you an idea, in order to hit 2.5GB, it's about 400,000 Mobile
Internet page views, about 90,000(!) emails (without attachments), 91 hours of streaming music
or 20 hours of video clips*.
This will not affect your ability to text or make calls with your phone.
How will I know if my data speeds have been reduced?
If you reach 2.5GB of data in a month, you will receive a text message letting you know your data speeds
will be reduced for the rest of your plan month.
By putting this data speed reduction in place, we're making sure we can deliver the same quality service
you've come to expect from Virgin Mobile. We hope you understand.
Thank you.
Virgin Mobile”

MegaUpload Shut Down

  I checked out MegaUpload a year or two ago for some reason.  I think I had a large file that I wanted to send to someone and it would not fit via eMail.  So I used MegaUpload.  So I looked around their sites. 
  I saw that you could download movies.  Some of the movies were just out in the theaters right then.  But everything I saw about how the site operated sent warnings to me.  They had the feel of not being honest and being a hacker site.  I felt that you could not use their site for long without getting a virus or something worst on your computer.  I never went back to them.   I forgot about them.

  Well they got taken off line and all of their sites were taken off line.

  “Megaupload is an online Hong Kong–based company established in 2005 that ran a one-click hosting online service of the same name, along with its sister services. The site was shut down by the U.S. Justice Department on January 19, 2012 during an investigation into alleged copyright infringement,[3][2][4][5] leading to what activist group Anonymous calls "the single largest Internet attack in its history"…”

   

  Well yesterday Russ came into my room and was upset and mad.  I said what is wrong and he said they shut down MegaUpload.  I did not know he knew about the site or used them.

  Here is Boogie2988 from YouTube  and what he has to say about the MegaUpload shut down.

 

  I think MegaUpload needed to be taken down.  I know Russ will not agree with me and I know that many of you will not agree with me.  I could tell from a very little bit of time looking at MegaUpload that they were dirty.  In fact after I looked at their site I made a special point to do a complete virus scan.  I never make a special effort to run it I let it do it in the background.  But after looking at that site I ran it special.

Google AdSense update

  Google AdSense did their update of accounts on the 7th of the month. 

  This last month I was having one hell of a month.  I was surprised and shocked.  I watched the earnings each day and for December I had estimated earnings of $157.57 for the month. With what was due for the past few months I was expecting to get about $240.00 this month.

  Then today when they updated my page I saw this message:

 

“A payment will not be issued this month. Your unpaid earnings prior to January 1, 2012 was calculated to be $96.27. Payments are issued within 30 days after the end of the month in which your unpaid earnings reach $100.00.”

 

  So I was thinking that they just failed to notice that $157.57 and that they would catch it at some point today and the earnings would correct.

  It did not happen.  So I went to their help files and did some digging and found the following:

“Estimated earnings, which are used in your reports, typically reflect close estimates of your recent account activity. These estimates are intended to give you a rough idea of your recent account activity as soon as possible, but do not necessarily reflect the amount you will be paid.

Finalized earnings, shown on your Payments pages, are accurate earnings amounts that include all revenue you will be paid for valid clicks. Once our records are processed and verified at the end of each month, finalized earnings are posted to your Payments page.

If you’re seeing a significant difference between your reporting estimates and your finalized earnings, it’s possible that your account has been receiving a high percentage of invalid clicks and/or impressions. If you believe this is the case, please visit our Help Center topic regarding invalid clicks for more information.”

 

So what they are saying is that the “estimated” amount of $157.57 was not correct due to invalid clicks and that the correct amount was $13.49 for the month.  That amount would be about what I have been getting for the last few months. 
So I suspect that there have been “invalid clicks.”
  I think I just did a blog post on ShowMeBlog or Howard’s Notebook about the people that were being kicked off of Google AdSense.  I seem to remember posting about it.  There are hundreds if not thousands of them.  Many of them post YouTube videos about it.
  So if I am getting invalid clicks I am surprised the I have not received a warning or that I have not been kicked out of the Google AdSense program.  Maybe I can expect an email one of these days.

  So Google AdSense is not working for me.  I was thinking that at last it was working for me.  I got about six blogs and I put advs on them and I did stuff like putting a big banner across the top and a small one at the very top right column.  I attempted to find tune everything and I was thinking at last I have found the correct way to make a few dollars but I was wrong.  All the work I did and I made zero improvement.

Google AdSense and YouTube

  I do not blog to make money.  I am not sure why I do blog.  Just the way I am and have always been that sort of a person.  When I was a teenage I was doing a weekly radio program that was being broadcast on shortwave radio and I was putting out a monthly club publication called “SWL.”  I put out 500 copies each month for years.

  So I don’t blog for money.  I been blogging since 1982.  Believe me I have spent a LOT of money on software and hardware over the years.  I would love to just have the money I spent on modems.  The money I spent on computers would make me a rich man.  I would have to become a Republican.   

  Since I am on a limited income I would like to bring in now a little money to help out with the cost of hardware and software. 
  For the first time I am starting to bring in a little money.  It is from Google AdSense.  Which is sort of funny since they kicked ShowMeBlog off the program for having porn on here.  You did not know we had porn?  Neither did I.   Truth is I kicked Google AdSense off here after they made demands.
 
  I am starting to make money from Google AdSense and it is all from YouTube.  They made a change in the design of YouTube and I am not sure if that has anything to do with it but it looks like right now I am making about $100.00 a month.  In the past I made $15.00 or $25.00 a month.  Right now the commission from Google is $166.00 and I still have 12 days to go in this month.
  The little commission I get from advertising I like to spend on hardware or software. I always have a list of things I would like to get with extra money.  Most of the stuff is on my Amazon Wishlist. 

 Check out the wish list above.  Yes, I had the Blue Microphone and I gave it to my son.  But I would still like to have the Blue Yeti USB microphone.  As you can see from the wish list I am a Buzz Lightyear!  I loved “Toy Story.”  
I am using a laptop as my computer but would like to have a desktop.  Yes, I have a $1,151.00 office desk chair on my list.  Hay, it is a “wish” list.  I would never spend that much on a chair.  I think however that I spend, now, half my life in bed and half in this computer desk chair.
  I am a big movie fan and just two of the movies that I love are “Flashdance” and “Blade Runner.” 
  You will see some radio scanners on my wish list.  There again I can not count the number of scanners I have had over my life time and I spent a lot of money for them.  One handheld scanner saved my life back in the late 1970s.  My next scanner and it is not on the Amazon list would be the Radio Shack PRO 107iScan handheld scanner.  It has a new way of scanning sort of like an iPod.  You don’t worry about putting a list of channels to scan you put in play list.
  Yes, I have two robots on my wish list.  I do not have a wife or girl friend so one of them is a “female” robot.  (No, not a sex toy.)
  I have a bike on my wish list but I am not sure how smart that is now.  I feel pretty good but I feel dizzy all the time.  (I think it is the blood pressure medications.) Plus after I fainted at Walgreens and hurt my foot and was in pain and limping for weeks I hate to think what might happen if I had an accident with the bike. Also I was a bike patrol officer for a year or so when I was a hospital security officer and I miss it.  It might not be a good idea for me to have a bike.  Fort Worth has a citizens on patrol program and you can patrol on foot, in your car or on a bike.  If I had a bike I could see myself getting stupid and joining the program. 
  What I should get is an exercise bike and I got one on my wish list.  What I need is one that I have to ride in order to run my computer.  I wonder if any company has come up with something like that?  Or one that you have to ride for x amount of time in order to open the door to the ice box. 

  What I might get with my Google commission is the Motorola Triumph for the Virgin Mobile service.  I have a Samsung Intercept at this time.  I would pass the Intercept on to my grandson.  The Motorola Triumph is $300.00 (on sale now for $239.99) and is a little better than the Intercept. 

  I have the book “Final Exit” on my “wish” list. 
I hope I will not need it but right now I think I may not need it for a few years.

chuckmarasco

  I woke up from a nap and went to the CNN web site.  Well I attempted to go to the CNN web site.  You can see above that I got redirected each time to the site of “chuckmarasco.”

I was sent to the above site a couple of times.  I can now get to CNN.
I guess it is time to run the anti-virus software.

Shockwave Flash Crashes in Google Chrome

  I have been a fan of Google Chrome for a long time.  I blogged here in ShowMeBlog about having to give up on Chrome and use Firefox.
  Google Chrome was crashing ALL THE TIME.  I would get the message “The following plugin has crashed:  Shockwave Flash.”
  I did a search and I found that tons of Chrome users were having the same problem and that it had been happening to many for years. 
  You would think the Chrome people would go on 24 hour emergency fix this problem right now mode.  But nothing was fixed.

  I gave up on Chrome.  I went back to Foxfire and used IE but I just did not like any of them.  I wanted a working version of Chrome.

  I think I found a site that has a fix for Chrome crashes.

  The site is:  TechLogon.Com 

“…However, if Firefox or a similar web browser is (or has ever been) installed on your computer, then you have likely also installed the standalone version of Flash for Firefox and other web browsers – and this would include Chrome!

Therefore Chrome tries to use two versions of Flash Player – its own version built into Chrome and the standalone Adobe version you installed for Firefox/others. Having both versions active often causes ‘the following plugin has crashed: Shockwave Flash’ error message because they may conflict with each other…”

  They go on and tell how to fix the problem.  I did the fix and it appears to be working right now.
  So I am back, right now using Chrome, and I got my fingers crossed.
  I got a feeling however that I am going to do something with Firefox or IE and get the problem back.
  I love Chrome so much that I might be willing to remove Firefox and IE from my computer to make sure I keep the fix.

  I also found a great looking site FileHippo.Com 

  I should stay away from the site however because they list the latest versions of software.  I am stupid and always download the newest software versions and I install beta versions.  That is not a good idea but I can not stop myself. 
  I see there is a Thunderbird 9.0 Beta 2 version.  I see there is a Google Chrome 17.0.938.0 Beta.  Why or why did I find this site? 

My son .. my son…

  My son has a two year degree in electronics and computers.  He spends all his time playing games on the computer.  Yesterday he decided to get a new better video card and a new power supply for his computer.
  He went to BestBuy and got the “new” video card and the power supply.
  When he got the video card home it did not appear that it was new.  But he was in a hurry to upgrade his computer and get back to the games.
  Well he put them in his computer and then his computer would not work.  I do not know if the power supply was the problem or if the video card was the problem or if it was my son that was the problem.  But now he has no computer to play his games.
  He does have a laptop computer he can use to get on the Internet.
  
  I am not sure what he is going to do.  I have blogged before about BestBuy.  You never want to buy anything from them if you think you might have to take it back.  I have had problems with them.  I know lots of people that have had problems with them.
  Never buy anything from BestBuy if you might need to return it or if you need service from them.