Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Jared.

If you’re like most people, you’ve never heard of Usenet. You’d probably be surprised to learn that Usenet was the Internet 10 years before the web as we know it even existed.

Usenet is the original social network. The place where the World Wide Web, Mosaic and Linux were all announced.

And now, after more than 30 years, Usenet is stronger than ever.

There are many ways to download on the internet. But none of those ways offer the benefits that the modern Usenet does:

• Uncapped download speeds (as fast as your internet connection will allow)
• Huge Selection (with more than 800 Terabytes of user uploads available)
• Privacy & Security (SSL encrypted connections)

Downloading from Usenet is unlike any other internet download you’ve ever experienced. But until recently, it was too complicated for the novice user.

Thanks to advances in technology, today downloading from Usenet is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step 1. Usenet Server Access

The first thing you need is access to a Usenet server.

This used to be the easy part as Usenet access was commonly provided for free by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or local University.

These days however, if you want full access to Usenet, you are going to have to go through a premium Usenet provider.

While there are a number of providers, there are five things you want to evaluate each provider on:

• Retention – How long do they store text and files on their servers? All of the best Usenet providers are now offering 900 days or more of binary retention.
• Speed – Do they allow unlimited download speeds or are the speeds capped?
• Unlimited Downloads – Can you download an unlimited amount or are there data caps?
• Privacy & Security – Are SSL connections to the servers available?
• # of Connections – 10-12 Connections are all you need. Too many connections can actually slow down the speed of downloads.

The best providers will include all of the above.

Step 2. Newsreader

Once you have Usenet server access, you need a special piece of software so your computer can communicate with the server. This piece of software is called a “Newsreader”.

Image: SABnzbd Open Source Newsreader

Newsreaders have continued to evolve with Usenet itself. There are a number of options when it comes to Newsreaders.

Image: GrabIt Newsreader

Configuring your newsreader can be a bit of a chore. You’ll need the Host Name, Port #, # of Connections and Username & Password just to do the basic configuration.

Today’s more advanced Newsreaders (usually not available for free) will do more than just let you find and download. They’ll also give you the ability to preview a file before you download it. No more wasting time downloading something just to find out it isn’t what you want after all.

Step 3. Usenet Search Engine

Now that you have Usenet access and a newsreader, you just need to be able to find what you are looking for.

Usenet is a vast collection of information. Trying to find what you want by scrolling through the newsgroups could take forever. Without a good Usenet search engine, you are trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Most modern newsreaders can process an NZB file. NZB files give your newsreader directions on where to find files on Usenet.

There are a number of NZB search engines available that allow you to search for whatever you are looking for and then download the NZB file. The better (and more complete) NZB search engines will often charge a fee to access their full database.

NZB Matrix Search Engine

Once you’ve downloaded the NZB file, you can open it in your newsreader which will download the appropriate files from Usenet.

All-In-One Usenet Provider

While downloading from Usenet has become a lot easier over the years, there are still many people that don’t like the idea of having to go to three different places to get Usenet access, a newsreader and search engine.

All-in-one Usenet providers take the hassle out of downloading from Usenet by giving you everything you need in one place.

Still relatively rare, all-in-one Usenet providers are making it easier than ever before for non-geeks to get the full benefits of Usenet downloads.

One example of an all-in-one provider is Binverse.

Binverse gives you Usenet access and an advanced newsreader with search and preview capabilities built right in. And unlimited downloads, uncapped speeds and secure server connections are included with every account.

These all-in-one services make it easy to get started. The newsreader comes pre-configured and all you need to do is plug in your username and password to get started.

Usenet Downloads

Usenet has come a long way in its 30+ years. Now all grown up, the modern Usenet is a massive collection of information that is accessible at blazing fast speeds.

If you enjoy downloading from the Internet, you may want to give Usenet a try. It will be unlike any download you’ve experienced before.

Google Analytics: Your Website Future

Google Analytics: Your Website Future

By Jaswinder Kaur: An Online Marketing Expert

Are you aware of the performance of your website in search engines? If not then it’s very important for you to keep an eye on the crucial statistics of your website. So that you can maintain your position in search engine results page. As Google is ruling the search engine world and has the monopoly among different search engines. To make the life of webmasters easier Google is providing Google analytics tool.

How Google Analytics is Helpful?

When we start with the marketing of a website, our main motive is to get good results. Google analytics helps us in this by providing information which is required to get ranked higher in search engines. The most common information which we get through Google analytics is traffic count, on which keywords and pages the traffic is coming, from which part of the world traffic is coming and traffic is coming from referrals or directly from search engines etc. another major benefit of Google analytics is that it helps in keeping a track of the Google ad word campaigns we run for the paid marketing of our website.

How to Use Google Analytics?

Google analytics is very user friendly and easy to implement. By following these simple steps one can implement Google analytics on the website and start tracking the results.

• Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/.
• Register with the required information.
• You will receive a confirmation mail on your email address.
• After confirmation, your Google analytics account will be activated.
• Add your website to your Google analytics account by providing your website URL.
• You will get an auto generated code /script.
• Go to your website and paste this code on the pages you want to keep a track on.
• Now wait for the 24 – 48 hours for the validation of your Google analytics code on your website.
• After the activation of your Google analytics code, you will start getting regular updates on your Google analytics account about the performance of your website.

Features of Google Analytics

The most important thing for a webmaster is to understand the functions and features of Google analytics before start using it. If we are aware of the features only then we can make the best use of this tool. Google analytics user guide and forums are available on the internet to help users to understand the functionality of Google analytics. Google analytics provide its users with some very exciting features listed below.

Keep a Track on Visitors: Google analytics helps you to keep a track on the numerical value of the visitors that are coming to your website. This feature provides us the information as follows.

Total number of visitors
New visitors
Unique visitors
Bounce rate
Time on site
From which browser we are getting traffic
From which search engine we are getting traffic

Traffic Resources: This tool helps in keeping a track on the sources of the traffic and can be informative as follows.

Direct traffic
Search engines traffic
Referral traffic
Ad word campaign traffic

Content Overview: In this part of tracking the user gets an idea of the traffic coming to the content and text area on the website. This can be easily defined as follows.

The title on which we are getting the traffic.
The keyword on which we are getting the traffic.
The page on which we are getting the traffic.
The keyword phrase on which we are getting the traffic
Top landing pages
Top exit pages

Event Traffic: Google analytics provide us with an option of event tracking. This feature helps us by knowing the following information.

Categories attracting traffic
Action taken by the events
Labels helpful in tracking events
Hostnames

Performance Alerts: This feature will be helpful in getting the performance overview based on the time. These are very important as keep the track on overall website performance. We can have different of alerts such as.

Daily alert
Weekly alert
Monthly alert

These all effective Google analytics features guarantee you with the high ranking capability in search engines. By the help of this tool one can have the knowledge about the improvement and improved area of the website. So by working on the various parts of the website after analyzing the performance report, one can easily lead the search engines result pages.

Simple URL Manipulation was used to hack Citibank

Simple URL Manipulation was used to hack Citibank

The theft of approximately 200,000 Citibankcustomer accounts may have achieved by means of a simple manipulation of the Citibank URL. Security experts told the The New York Times that the hackers were able to impersonate actual account holders by using a simple trick.

After logging into a valid account, the URL to the Citi Account Online system contains a string of numbers which represents the customer's account. By changing this string, the criminals were able to easily switch between multiple accounts and obtain private customer information. Using a script to automate this process allowed them to do so hundreds of thousands of times.

The attackers are said to have gained access to around one per cent of the bank's approximately 21 million credit card customers in North America. Details obtained in the attack included customer names, account numbers and email addresses. The hackers did not, however, gain access to the security codes for the credit cards or to the holders' Social Security numbers and birth dates.

Citibank says that it first discovered the break-in at the beginning of May during a routine check. The company has since reported it to criminal investigators and says it has stepped up its security. Citibank has not yet announced who it believes is responsible for the attack, but the security expert who talked to The New York Times on condition of anonymity, says that he presumes they are from Eastern Europe.

How do you go about sharing online a screenshot or a video file

How do you go about sharing online a screenshot or a video file or an mp3..any file from your desktop? Yeah, I know, there are tons of ways for sure. You could use Opera Unite for instance to share big files, CloudApp on Mac is an option, for private peer-to-peer sharing we’ve got iSender (or Sendoid as they call it now)..there are definitely a number of ways.

But how to do it in the quickest possible way, and also have it uploaded publicly for everyone to see? I think this app called SimpleShare, that works in conjunction with Box.net is the solution.

You’ll need a Box.net account, so go and grab one. The free account gives you 5 GB of online storage with a 25 MB file size limit, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Lets see how to use this tool to quickly create and share stuff like screenshots, screencasts etc on the web.

Installing and Setting Up SimpleShare

Step 1. Visit the SimpleShare page and download the software. It has got versions for both Windows and Mac (sorry Linux folks!).

Step 2. After you’ve downloaded it, run the setup and install it. Same old steps. You know the drill.

Step 3. Once it is installed, it’ll ask for your Box.net login credentials. As I mentioned earlier, you will need a Box.net account to get it working because that’s where your files – that you want to share online – get stored. So grab a 5 GB free account there and enter the login details.

Step 4. Take a look at the Preferences tab. Check or uncheck options as you wish. It also shows windows keyboard shortcuts (I’m on a Windows PC) at the bottom for taking screenshots and screencasts.

Once you are done, click on Save and exit out of it.

Using SimpleShare to Create and Share Images, Videos, Screencasts.. All Kinds of Files

A small box.net icon should appear in your system tray where you’ve got the system clock and other tiny icons.

Right-clicking on that icon gives you options like draw region, grab full screen, upload file and record video.

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Whenever you capture a screenshot or record a video using those options (or the keyboard shortcuts shown previously), the tool starts uploading it automatically and notifies you when it’s done uploading. It also copies the URL directly to the clipboard for quick sharing.

There’s also a Share with Box option added to the mouse right-click menu and this can be used to quickly share just about any file from your computer.

Viewing Your SimpleShare Uploads in Box.net

Keep in mind that the uploads are publicly viewable. Now, they can get deleted automatically if you have that option checked in the preferences, but if you prefer to manually delete them later, you can go to the Preferences, and click View Folder under SimpleShare Uploads.

It will open your Box.net account in a browser tab and show the files you’ve uploaded.

There’s a dropdown menu for each file that provides a number of options for working on that file.

Overall, this is certainly a useful file sharing tool that cuts down time taken to manually upload the file to a service and then sharing it. There’s also the URL shortener option that uses goo.gl to shorten the file preview page URL after it has been uploaded. You may want to enable that in the preferences.

Got opinions? File sharing tricks? Lets hear them in the comments.

laptop security software

If you travel often with your laptop, it’s important that you have an anti-theft or tracking software in place in case your laptop goes missing. We covered a number of such tools, including both software and devices like Bluetooth alarm, in our popular laptop security software post. One of the tools mentioned was Prey, a software that can trace and locate a stolen laptop (or even a desktop for that matter).

Today, we will talk in detail about Prey and how it works. It comes in both free and pro versions, and luckily, the free version is decent enough (read “has essential features”) for everyone of us to install and use.

If you own a laptop, I’d take a step further and say that this is a tool you must use.

Lets see how it works.

Installing and Setting Up Prey’s Anti-theft Solution

Step 1. Download the Prey software and install it. It works on all the leading operating systems including mobile operating systems like Android.

Step 2. After the installation is done, you need to configure its settings.

Step 3. It’ll detect if you are running it for the first time and ask you to set up the reporting method. Click on OK.

Step 4. The Prey Configurator window opens up to help you set up the reporting method and other things.

Step 5. It gives you the choice between Prey+Control Panel or Prey standalone. Their web based control panel is neat, so I recommend that you go with that.

Step 6. You’ll need to sign up with them and enter your login credentials.

Finally, it’ll mention that the device is set up and being tracked.

Now, lets see how its online control panel looks like and what are the options it has to offer.

Getting Familiar With Prey Control Panel

You can visit control.preyproject.com and login with your details.

You should find your device listed there. Click on the device image or on its name to check the options.

There are a number of settings, all well explained when you hover the mouse cursor over the question mark beside each of them, that help Prey to trace and locate your stolen computer.

As you see below, it starts with Missing?, which is what you gotta do and click on Save changes when your laptop does go missing (I hope you never have to use this option). There’s also the frequency of reports thing that indicates the time intervals between consecutive reports.

If you scroll down on that page, you’ll find two columns: Information to gather and Actions to perform. Under actions to perform, you can set up alarm, alert, lock the computer or even delete data remotely. The tool can gather information like location, nearby Wi-Fi hotspots etc.

It can also get screenshots of the session, and automatically take a picture of the thief using the laptop’s attached webcam.

There are more settings to be found if you click on Settings at the top navbar of that page. These are basically notification settings that you can customize.

Finally, if you want to set up Wi-Fi autoconnect through Prey, then you’ll have to visit the Prey Configurator again (that’s installed on your computer), and there click on Manage Prey Settings and check WiFi autoconnect.

There are obviously some caveats, like what if the computer never connects to the internet after getting stolen? Well, there’s nothing much you can do in that case because most of the anti-theft software are dependent on the assumption that the computer will connect to the internet or be in the vicinity of a wireless hotspot so that it can be tracked.

Simplenote is a free web-based application

With so many thoughts and ideas, people scramble to put them to paper so they aren’t forgotten. Some prefer the good ol’ Moleskine notebook, but it can be awfully inconvenient when it gets lost or if you’ve left it at home. Instead, a lot of people are looking to the cloud for keeping their notes synchronized, and accessible via phone or computer. (It’s probably a lot more difficult to forget a phone than a small, thin notebook.

Simplenote is a free web-based application where you are able to write notes and save them. Sounds simple enough? Its beauty is its position in the cloud, which means that you have the ability to share and access your notes from anywhere with an internet connection. And its simplicity – it is completely text based, which could prove to be a nice escape for some who find themselves trapped in the advanced features that most of the note taking tools these days have.

It also has a lot of other neat features, such as a version tracker that keeps track of previous versions of your notes, and other standard ones such as tags for organization and a ton of storage.

Here are some ways to use Simplenote:

• to do lists and reminders
• a grocery list that you share with your family
• notes from a meeting or a class
• a draft for a blog post
• brainstorming
• keeping a journal
• lists of movies, restaurants, or books
• any kind of text

Want to get started with Simplenote? Firstly, all you need to do is create an account using your email address. You will then be greeted with this screen. I’ve highlighted the key components of this home screen.

Clicking the + icon creates a new note.

The tags are located at the top of the note, and are essential to sorting notes and finding the right note at the right time. Use keywords that you know you’ll remember!

This panel is how you reach many of Simplenote’s features.

The trash bin is to delete your current note. You can find the notes you’ve trashed by typing Trash as a tag.

The clock icon is to see previous versions of your note. I really like this feature, as a lot of desktop notepad apps do not have it at the moment. This Version History feature sets Simplenote apart.

The third icon from the left is to publish or print your note. This means that your note can be shared via URL and people can read your note.

Once you choose to publish it, Simplenote gives you a URL where you can access it. You also have the option of making your note private once again.

Your note can’t be edited when it’s published, and appears in a very clean and simple page. I wished that instead of an advertisement there, it would be a profile picture and a username. Nonetheless, the page still looks good.

Lastly, there’s the i icon. This simply gives more information about the note. It gives you the approximate word and character count, and allows you to pin it to the top of your notes.

The real beauty of Simplenote is its accessibility. Simplenote has a lot of clients available for download: ranging from Windows to Mac, to apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android-powered devices. There’s also an unofficial version for the Blackberry.

Bored to look at the same wallpaper often?

Bored to look at the same wallpaper often? And lazy to change it too? Here are some applications that will supercharge your wallpaper at no cost – from wallpaper rotators for your desktop to mobile, we’ve got it all covered. If you like this article, do share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter by using the buttons on this page.

So, here’s the list:

1. Switch Between Local or Downloaded Wallpapers With John’s Switcher

John’s Backgrounds Switcher puts your desktop background on steroids. This is by far the ultimate wallpaper switcher for your Windows computer. Sitting in the system tray, the application changes the desktop wallpaper at specific intervals. It can download photos automatically from Flickr, Facebook and a few more sites.

Describing its feature set would would take a few hundred words, so we’ll leave you with a screenshot. You can download the application from John’s site.

2. Put News Stories And Blog Posts As Desktop Backgrounds

Go to this page and type in a topic of your choice (be it Obama or iPhone) or choose a news source (there’s everything from Washington Post to Macworld). Download the .theme file from the site, and apply it.

On applying the theme, you can see that your desktop wallpaper displays a blog post from the news source you had chosen. Right click and choose ‘Next Desktop Background’ and the wallpaper will now display the next article from the same source as your wallpaper.

3. Change Wallpapers Only During Boot

If you think John’s Background Switcher is an overkill, try Wallpaper Rotator from 100dof. You choose a folder or a subfolder containing pictures and also specify the style – tiled, centered, or stretched.

The application will load itself every time your computer boots, change the system wallpaper, and then exit. It doesn’t drain your computer’s resources, because it doesn’t run in the background constantly.

4. Change Wallpapers Based On The Weather

How cool would it be if you could judge the weather outside based on your desktop wallpaper? Weather Desktop Background lets you do just that. You first specify your location from the application’s settings. You will then have to choose images for 31 different weather conditions that the software displays.

The application will alternate between all of these wallpapers based on the temperature. If you fail to specify an image for a specific condition, only default text describing the weather will be displayed.

5. Download Wallpapers Based On Keywords And Rotate Them

Pulse is a neat application that downloads wallpapers from the internet based on keywords you specify and rotates them automatically at specific intervals. You can also use it to set the downloaded wallpapers as backgrounds for the Windows login screen.

Downloaded wallpapers can be autodeleted after a set number of days. There are two wallpaper providers that Pulse uses right now – wallbase and rewalls but things might change in the future.

Bonus: Check out Wallpaper Juggler that downloads wallpapers fitting your screen resolution from InterfaceLIFT.com

6. Rotate Wallpapers In Your Android Phone

Okay, we’ve covered enough desktop applications so here’s one for Android. Wallpaper Changer lets you switch backgrounds in your Android phone at specific intervals. All you need to do is pick photos from your Gallery that you’d like to have use as wallpapers.

You can also make the wallpaper change every time you unlock the screen. There’s also a widget that the app comes with which you can use to manually switch between wallpapers. WebLiveWallpaper does the same thing, but it could fetch images from the internet as well.

7. Get New Bing Wallpapers Weekly With The Bing Dynamic Theme

Bing may not be your search engine of choice, but the wallpapers on the site are adored by many. Upon popular demand, Microsoft has made available Bing Dynamic, an RSS-based dynamic theme for Windows 7.

Every week, the theme download and updates your desktop background with two wallpapers from Bing.com.

8. Search Wallpapers Fitting Your Screen Resolution Using Google Or Bing

Google Image Search lets you search for pictures based on their resolution. You can just type in a keyword and pick the image size from the panel on the left of the page. Alternatively, you can use the imagesize: operator to specify a resolution that the resulting images have to match.

Bing fares better, because it can automatically detect your screen resolution and show you matching pictures. Just go to Bing Image Search, type in your keyword and choose Size > Wallpaper from the sidebar.

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That’s pretty much it. If you know of any more software that enhances your desktop wallpaper, let us know in the comments.