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Tech News & Commentary
Eddie in Nashville, Tennessee listens on SuperTalk WTN 99.7 FM and is calling via the App asked: “How do those Internet reputation defender type programs work. And how would a person actually remove their negative things from other peoples’ websites? Or does it throw up some kind of block when a person’s name is typed into a search engine. And is there little-known search engines you can use to get around this and find out about a person’s background if they use a service like this to try to hide their background? “
Eddie, Reputation websites work a number of different ways depending on what problem you’re trying to fix.
If you want to just “improve your reputation,” they’ll post articles about you on thousands of blogs based on your job, interests, hobbies or anything else you provide them that you think people may be searching for. That’s supposed to push your current search results down the list so they show up so many pages back from the pain page that most people won’t see them, and will instead see their glowing blog posts about you.
There is no block though, and there is no guarantee that it will work forever, Google and all other search engines change their algorithms regularly, and often do it to avoid the exact tricks that these companies are using, that same “publish junk articles in a blog to increase web presence” is the main trick SEO companies charge a lot of money for to improve their clients standings on web searches.
Their criminal record products work a different way, in that case they try to get a judge to expunge the offenders criminal record, which basically hides it from the public domain. That may work, or it may not, since some sites may be hosting their own mugshots and information created from criminal information that was once available, they may not be hotlinking to your criminal record, they may have their own saved copy of it, and that copy won’t go away so easily.
Needless to say, if these companies are filing any kind of paperwork in court, you can expect to have to pay a fairly large sum, those services probably won’t come cheap.
One other technique these reputation protection services do is monitor the prominent customer feedback sites (for example, for a restaurant, they might watch Yelp! and Urbanspoon) and respond to any customer complaints AS you. It’s pretty easy to tell when that’s being done, because the responses are all pretty generic ones. “Please call our office and we’ll get this fixed for you!” — those sort of things.
But it’s still effective in the eyes of prospective customers to seem like you watch these forums and respond to consumer complaints. Sometimes, they just want to know that you see them and you care!
However, we do want to point out that some sites have begun aggressively removing positive comments from posters they discover are associated with reputation protection services. Yelp! recently took down some reviews when they discovered that the people making them were not actual customers of the business.
So be careful because your attempt to protect your good name might backfire on you!
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Consumer Reports Feature With James McQueen
Your smart phone, much like your computer, will run much better and more efficiently if you take some time to de-clutter it. Not sure where to start? Consumer Reports electronics spokesman James McQueen is here with a couple easy tips.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Listener Michael in Prior Lake, MN recommends: GO SMS, FREE
- “This week, I’ve been using GO SMS PRO it’s a free SMS/MMS app that makes messaging on an Andriod even better than the usual text messaging screen. You can use all the same emoticons as the iPhonies — as Dave calls them — use, which is a keyboard app they download called “Emoji. With Go SMS Pro you can change the look of the texting screen as well as use the cool little emoticons that the “cool” Apple Users use. So, yes this is an app for Andriod users only, but it allows Android users to be just as cool as the iPhoners. The only issue is that I noticed every so often at the bottom of the screen when you’re in the app, a tiny ad appears briefly, but does disappear after a few seconds. The app does happen to be free, so you can put up with those occasional ads.”
• Mark does not recommend: Paper, FREE
- “This week, I’ve been giving Paper, the new app from Facebook, a workout. It seems like I’ve read about this app everywhere, Facebook clearly has a full court press on making us try it. Simply put, Paper is an app that takes your Facebook newsfeed and combines it with some additional sources of information, and packages the whole thing up in a slick presentation. If that reminds you of one of my favorite apps from way back, Flipboard, it should. Because that’s what Flipboard does too, only Paper doesn’t do it as well. Maybe it’s just that Paper is new and it needs to cook some more, but Flipbook just works better. I found it difficult to read through stories on Paper, while Flipbook gives me an extremely simple and cool page turning interface. I found it hard to move between my newsfeed and these other sources in Paper, while Flipboard gives me tiles for each or a combined feed that grabs from all of them. Flipboard also lets me follow magazines which are stories curated by other users, I’ve found some GREAT reads there. And Flipboard brings in not only my Facebook newsfeed but also my Twitter timeline. Needless to say, being from Facebook, Paper has no idea what a Twitter is. So if you’ve been reading about Paper also, my review for you is this–get Flipboard instead. Paper may “unfold” into something beautiful eventually, and the good news is that it’s free so we can always go back and look again later, but for today Paper is a distant second, at least in my book, to the very excellent Flipboard (which is also free, by the way).” — Mark
• Samantha recommends: MyFitness Pal, FREE
- “Lose weight with MyFitnessPal, the fastest and easiest-to-use calorie counter for iPhone. With the largest food database of any iPhone calorie counter (over 3,000,000 foods)”
What are your favorite Apps? Let us know at 800-899-INTO and we’ll feature them in this segment!
- Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details
Guest Segment:
Brent Willis, CEO – Victory Electronic Cigarettes
Jim in Idaho Falls, Idaho and listening via East Idaho News 1260AM KBLI calling in from the app asks us: “I have an HP Computer that came originally with windows vista. I installed the 32 bit windows 8. I was wondering if I would have a faster machine if i reinstalled the windows 64 bit?”
Jim, Vista didn’t require a 64 bit computer, so your computer may have a 32 bit processor in it, you should check that first before even bothering to try the 64 bit installation.
If it does have 64 bit architecture, then yes, it’d be a little faster. You’d get twice the bits per processor cycle (which will make less of a difference than you think, by the way), and you will access to more RAM, but the difference won’t be huge.
Before you do anything, also keep in mind that you will 64 bit drivers for anything you regularly use, so make sure you have those first.
It’s been years and years since any Intel processor was shipped without 64-bit support, however. Since the advent of the Core 2 processor, all Intel chips have been 64-bit. So it’s more than likely that your computer CAN run a 64-bit version of Windows.
The issue is, should it? And that’s a matter of RAM. We would break it down this way. If you have 2GB or 3GB of RAM, you should use a 32-bit operating system. If you have 4GB or more of RAM, you should use a 64-bit operating system. Because a 32-bit operating system can’t really take advantage of 4GB or more of RAM, so you’re losing out on performance if you don’t upgrade.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
John in Durham, North Carolina listens on 680 WPTF calling in asked us: “I like your show and it must be great getting to review and see all new stuff every year. I get ‘This Old House’ through the App Store but recently cancelled because I do not know when they will bill me for an issue. Now I cannot get my back issues when signing into the this old house. The app does not respond to my email address. What can I do. I also bought 128 gb iPad air and the websites I used to use won’t let me in. I do not give up easily and hope Apple fixes this issue soon.”
John, As far as we’ve been able to find out, Apple handles active subscriptions and purchases only, and everything outside of that is up to the publisher.
What that means is that Apple takes care of you getting your issues while you’re subscribed, but whether or not you’re entitled to re-download old issues depends on the rules each publisher sets, and they’re the ones that are tasked with making them available to you, if they choose to do that.
The way that normally works is that a publisher will make you open an account with them, and then using that account let you download old issues if they so choose, but they’re each allowed to run their subscriptions differently.
Most publications seem to be using some kind of third party platform (Magzter for example) to manage their subscriptions, and you normally need to make an account with them to be able to download past issues or sync them all through devices.
This Old House does have a section on Frequently Asked Questions on their site where they state that “Any purchased digital issues or issues available as part of your subscription are yours to keep (Unless you delete the downloaded version from your device).” so there is a good chance that they just won’t let you re-download any issues that you deleted from your library after downloading them while your subscription was active.
As for not being able to open websites, why not? Are you accessing Flash-enabled websites? Otherwise an iPad should not have much trouble opening and using any particular site.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Jay in Green Valley, Arizona listening online calling in to help another listener: “Heard a caller on the show saying he couldn’t find an app that would sync his computer to his mobile device. I have one that I’ve been using for years, called essential PIM. It’s for Android and iOS devices. Includes Calendars, To-Dos, notes. Also syncs all the Essential PIM data to your computer and Android. Hope that helps.”
Thank you, Jay!
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Bits Limited: Mini Squids — Travel-Sized surge protected power strips
Datawind: UBISLATE 7Ci, 7″ Android tablet with Wi-Fi, internal microphone and camera, and expandable MicroSD memory.
Dane-Elec: Mobile Junkie Media Streamer – Stream content from a flash drive or SD card to your Smartphone or tablet. (And, it also acts as a mobile charger!)
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!
Magellan’s: RFID-blocking Ridged Aluminum Wallets – in RED for Valentine’s Day – prevents identity theft with expandable pockets that can hold up to 12 credits cards as well as cash and receipts