Internet Alert

When you’ve been connected to the Internet, have you gotten pop-up windows notifying you that a well-known software you’re using needs to be updated?

If you’re at home (and your Internet connection is secure), generally it’s okay to do the update. However,  it is recommended that you DO NOT update any such software when you’re connecting to the internet in a hotel or in a public wi-fi area – instead, wait until you’re connected at your home or work to update.

Here’s an article from the FBI:

“Malware Installed on Travelers’ Laptops Through Software Updates on Hotel Internet Connections

05/08/12—Recent analysis from the FBI and other government agencies demonstrates that malicious actors are targeting travelers abroad through pop-up windows while they are establishing an Internet connection in their hotel rooms.

Recently, there have been instances of travelers’ laptops being infected with malicious software while using hotel Internet connections. In these instances, the traveler was attempting to set up the hotel room Internet connection and was presented with a pop-up window notifying the user to update a widely used software product. If the user clicked to accept and install the update, malicious software was installed on the laptop. The pop-up window appeared to be offering a routine update to a legitimate software product for which updates are frequently available.”

(This article can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams.)

So, no updating in hotels or at Starbucks or at the public library…any public Internet connection. Wait until you get home. Better yet, don’t ever use the popup window as a link to update software. If you get one, close the window, go directly to the software in question, open the program directly, and see if it notifies you that it needs an update (or use whatever “update now” button it offers).

 

How many Bibles can you carry at once? Digital Bibles

Image courtesy arilem creative commons license

When I was in seminary, my favorite Bible weighed about 10 pounds. Still, it lived in my backpack and made the trek up and down The Hill (and yes, that hill earned its “caps”) to class a couple of times a day. I kept carrying it even after my new puppy chewed most of the hard cover off. It had notes scribbled in margins, colorful highlights, index cards stuck in strategic places…I can still picture it clearly.

However, when I took my first pastoral position after graduation, I quickly realized I needed something much more portable as I did hospital calls and home visits. I couldn’t fit Old Faithful in the much more professional purse I now carried, and when I tried, I tended to knock people unconscious as I swung the packed purse over my shoulder. So I bought a slim, light Bible.

As I moved through years of ministry, however, I often found myself wanting to have several versions of the Bible at my fingertips as I led groups in Bible study or grabbed unexpected blocks of time for sermon prep while I was away from my office. Slim Light Bible wasn’t cutting it anymore, either.

When I owned my first PDA, a Palm Pilot (there’s a blast from your past, eh?), one of the first applications I loaded onto it was OliveTree Bible Reader. OliveTree gave me several versions of the Bible in something the size of a deck of cards and weighing less than my wallet. I haven’t looked back.

The Palm is long gone, but I still have OliveTree on my PC, my smartphone (Droid) and my iPad. It’s available in multiple platforms , and also has commentaries, atlases, Bible dictionaries and Encyclopedias, devotional resources, Bible reading plans, and other “value added” features. The app itself is free, but you purchase each individual Bible or other book; some other features are free. You have the ability to compare versions, highlight, take notes, and so forth. It also syncs across my multiple platforms, so each version I own is available to me at all times.

The OliveTree PC version isn’t the snazziest Bible computer program by any means. It’s basically an expanded version of the mobile app. I don’t actually use it much. If I were reviewing computer software, I’d probably be recommending something else. But for now, I’m just talking about mobile Bible apps, and OliveTree is my app of choice.

OliveTree isn’t the only fish in the digital Bible sea. (What a very biblical metaphor!) There have been several more born since the early days of PDAs. I’ve stuck with OliveTree because I’ve used it for so many years, so I haven’t done a lot of comparison. You should try out a few to see what works for you. All you need to do is google “Bibles for” and whatever you’re using–Bibles for Droid, Bibles software Mac, Bible software PC, Bibles for iPhone, etc.–and see what the options are. Most will allow you free trials, and many are completely free if you’re not overly picky about which versions of the Bible you want available to you. You can, of course, just use a Bible website (I prefer www.crosswalk.com, but www.biblegateway.com is another popular one), but having the actual app will give you access to your Bibles even when you don’t have Internet available.

By the way, a nice feature of having your Bible on a tablet is that you can expand the typeface easily. Helpful for eyes past 40 years old. Not that I’m giving away my age or anything.

Social Media–Keeping Conversation Going

Image courtesy Frankenstein creative commons license

It’s like an eighth grade dance. No one wants to be the first one out on the floor.

If you’re using social media for your ministry, are you getting the level of chatter that you were hoping for? In your online discussion groups, is conversation flowing freely or does it feel like pulling teeth? Is everyone seemingly waiting for someone else to start talking?

The reality is, online groups aren’t a whole lot different from face-to-face groups. Generally speaking, people are more comfortable joining in where there’s already a lot going on, than they are putting their necks out to be the first ones. Even those who are most rooting for you, most want your site to be successful, are more likely to talk when you give them someone to talk to.

As a leader or facilitator in your ministry, it’s crucial for you to be involved in your social networks. On the Facebook wall, or in Twitter, or in an online group discussion site, if you’re not present as a real human being, you’re not likely to generate a lot of conversation.

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up from participating in a wide variety of online groups and social networks–some are mistakes I’ve made myself, others are things I’ve learned through reflecting on what I like and don’t like about online groups I’ve participated in over the years.

1. Take the time to learn your social network/group discussion technology. It’s okay to say to folks in your group, “I’m just learning it too!” If you have technophobes in your group, this is a good way to put them at ease. But if you don’t actually learn it and avoid it yourself, that’s the model you’re setting up for everyone else to follow. Spend the time in the help files and checking YouTube tutorials so you can become relatively comfortable with your social media; and do share what you’re learning with others in your group. If you had a question, likely others had the same question. (This would also be a great ministry event–do a training session!)

2. Consider having two accounts: (1) the “official” group account named as the group itself, and (2) your own personal account through which you also post. You can use the #1 group to post meeting announcements and other official business or promotional-type things, and #2 can be your own personal touch–giving people the feeling that they’re talking to a real human being rather than a generic organization. (You could also give other leaders the #1 log-in credentials so that others can share responsibility for posting, plus when leadership changes, the log-in information can pass to others as well. But your personal account stays personal.)

3. Start conversation. Simply posting, “My kids reminded me this morning they only have two weeks left of school–yikes! Anyone have any fun summer plans?” can get conversation going in an easy way. After a bit, you could take the opportunity to say, “We’re taking a family vacation, and then a week later I’m heading off to our women’s retreat!” Nice segue. Another example: You might ask, “I’m trying to plan devotionals for the next couple of months. What creative devotionals have you done or participated in–can you give me ideas?” Then folks feel that they’re also part of the planning of your ministry. (See #5 for more here.)

4. Don’t keep pointing out that no one is talking. You won’t guilt people into conversation, and you just risk making them very, very aware that no one is using your site for conversation. Instead of posting, “Helloooo…anyone out there?”, just post a different question or comment. Eventually someone will pick up on something. Always stay upbeat, positive, and inviting.

5. Try to avoid only posting organizational messages. Facebook pages are often used as promotional tools, which is great. But one announcement after another about events or offerings or whatever don’t encourage conversation. If you want to build community, you should post an equal number of more personal messages. Post a brief description of something you saw on your way to work that morning that reminded you of the sermon you heard in church last Sunday, and then ask others what they may have noticed that day that brought God to mind. An inspirational quote, a favorite Scripture, a funny story about your dog…and asking for others to respond…are all great conversation starters.

6. “Plant” a few others to help get conversation going, but avoid sounding like a clique. Find a few others in your ministry who are comfortable with social media and ask that they specifically help you keep conversation going. However, avoid the inside jokes and insular conversation that can then make others feel excluded from conversation. Make sure the group always seems like one that others would be immediately welcomed into, not something they feel like they’re standing on the outside, peering in.

Overall, the basic idea is: How would you treat people if they came to a party in your home without knowing anyone else there? That’s the same role you want to play in your social media. Be welcoming, hospitable, and keep conversation flowing. Eventually the dance floor will be crowded.

For fun and for spreading the word–Pinterest

I had thought it was primarily for entertainment and, frankly, crafters. I was pleasantly surprised.

Pinterest is an online bulletin board. You find images on the web that you want to remember or share, and you “pin it” to your Pinterest boards.  As a social network, you follow other people’s boards, and they follow yours. You can leave comments on one another’s pins, repin, favorite, and so forth. You can set up as many boards as you want in your profile, each devoted to a different topic. People will choose to follow those boards of interest to them, or all of your boards just because they like you a whole lot; and you do the same in return. You can also post your pins to Twitter or Facebook–it’s a very simple interface, and a whole lot of fun.

I’ve been on Pinterest for awhile now, mostly pinning pictures of quilts.  I can find pictures of quilts that I find inspiring or I’d like to make, and pin them to my board for future reference. I have several boards in my profile now, mostly revolving around quiltmaking, although I do also have some for travel and books and organizational ideas and other random areas of interest.

As I was debating with myself if I’d write about Pinterest for a blog that’s about using technology in ministry, however, I decided to put it to a quick test and searched the Pinterest boards for “human trafficking” and “poverty.” And I came up with moving and helpful images, quotations, videos, book and website references–much more than I’d expected. I stand corrected. Pinterest has much wider use than just for people interested in crafting, fashion, home design, and the like. It’s a way for you to both get and share information–find things that interest you and proclaim to others issues deep to your heart.

You need to request an invitation to join–which you do simply by going to their website and clicking “request an invite.” It can sometimes take awhile to get the invitation in your email inbox; when I joined over a year ago, it took several days. Perhaps it’s sped up a bit at this point, or it may take longer since it’s even more popular now. I’m not entirely sure why they have this system but I’m sure they have their reasons. Once you get the invitation, however, setting up your account is easy. You may want to start small, with just one or two boards, and then grow as you find more uses for it.

When you pin something from a website, the pin retains the direct link to that website, so the original site still gets credit, and you have room to leave a comment with your pin so you can give props to the site or give a brief statement as to what you like about that pin, etc. If you upload your own photo, you may want to do some photo-editing and place a watermark on the photo to be sure the original ownership doesn’t get lost in translation somewhere along the way. Pinterest also recently added the ability to pin videos from YouTube–a wonderful feature.

Pinterest has very useful help files, and it’s about the most clean interface of any social networking site that I’ve come across yet. Oh, and yes, it’s free.

I could imagine a women’s group all joining Pinterest and following one another’s boards simply as a group-building activity; I could also imagine sharing photos of those ministry areas that are of concern. You can also post your own photos as well, either by pinning them from your blog or website or uploading them directly. Many crafters use Pinterest as a way of publicizing what they have in their Etsy shop; if you’re involved with a handicrafts micro-enterprise, for example, you could easily use Pinterest as another promotional tool.

And, did I mention, it’s fun?

Online Bookshelves

Social networking for bookworms. My favorite thing.

Do you like to read and swap recommendations with friends? Do you want a quick way to check reviews of books in the bookstore before you buy them? What about joining a book club you can attend in your jammies at any time of day or night? You may be in the market for an online bookshelf, also known as a book cataloguing website.

There are several options out there, and each has its own set of features and link-ins to other programs. You’ll need to do some exploring. I have been a part of one online bookshelf community for well over a year now and can attest to the fact that it’s got me reading more, and finding all sorts of new authors I’d probably never have known about otherwise.

This list may not be exhaustive, but here are some of the top contenders in the field.

Goodreads (free) is currently the largest of all the book-related social networking sites, even though it’s apparently (as of this writing) the newest to the fold. This is the one I use, so I’m most familiar with it. It’s very simple to add books–you begin typing in the title and options from their database appear. Click the right one and it’s immediately on your shelf. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can use the Goodreads app to scan the barcode and the book will be loaded to your shelves. You can set up as many shelves as you like to categorize your library; three default shelves are “read,” “to-read,” and “currently-reading.” You have the option to post reviews or give star ratings, and you can get or give recommendations to others. As in other social networks, you can “friend” others or invite people from your address book to Goodreads as well. There are also options to link your Goodreads account to Twitter or Facebook. That Goodreads app for your smartphone that I mentioned above also gives you the ability to add books to your “to-read” shelf on the fly. Having lunch with a friend and she tells you about that fantastic book she just read? Quickly add it to your Goodreads “to-read” shelf so you’ll remember it later. I’ve also used the scanner when in bookstores to check reviews before buying. Goodreads  allows you to search for books in Amazon or other sites so you can price them out and then go to the site of your choice to order. You can join reading challenges or interest groups to be part of online book clubs as well. Goodreads also occasionally has free e-book giveaways, challenges, polls, and other fun add-ins to keep things interesting. You can also easily post your Goodreads book reviews to your own website and plant a widget that will display your shelves.

Shelfari (free) is now owned by Amazon, and as such, probably its greatest unique strength is that when you buy a book through Amazon you have the option to immediately have it sent to your Shelfari shelf as well, so you don’t have to upload it separately. Otherwise it seems to have the usual features: different ways of cataloguing your books, the ability to join interest groups, reviews, and so forth. Again, due to the fact that it’s owned by Amazon, there are apparently also some intersects with the Kindle, although I’ve not had the opportunity to test that out. I did set up an account in Shelfari to test the import feature from Amazon, and once I figured out where that import feature was, it went quite smoothly.  However, I’m not sure I like the user interface as well as Goodreads, although that may simply be because I’ve been using Goodreads for so long now. I didn’t find the tagging system as useful for categorizing my books as Goodreads’ shelf system, and the homepage wasn’t as easy to navigate. Shelfari doesn’t have a mobile app or barcode scanning feature. I do also have to mention that on the day I was testing Shelfari for this blog post, the site would alternate between being unavailable and letting me navigate one page to the next–it was quite annoying. That may have just been a random one-off thing, but I didn’t have that problem with the other sites at all. Shelfari is ranked one of the top three book cataloguing sites, though (along with Goodreads and LibraryThing), so you should definitely check it out for yourself to judge.

LibraryThing (free to start, paid for increased cataloguing) also provides an opportunity to catalogue your current books and keep track of books you’d like to read. A much smaller social community than Goodreads, you won’t have quite so many opportunities to connect with friends but you will still have access to shared book reviews and ratings, interest groups, the ability to put widgets on your blog showing what books you’re reading, and so forth. The most significant difference between this and the others is that this one is becpmes a paid subscription past a certain number of books on your shelves. (Although it must be noted that the free websites are paid for by advertising, so you’ll be seeing those ads everywhere you go on the other sites. In my experience, however, the ads are unobtrusive and have never bothered me.) Also, LibraryThing does have a nice feature in that, if you input your location, it will list bookstores near you and you can choose your favorites; you’ll then see upcoming events at those stores. There is no mobile app, but you can go to the mobile LibraryThing website from your smartphone or tablet.

aNobii (whose name is related to Latin for “bookworm”), is another free site. I haven’t tested it extensively and, as it’s a smaller community of users, was not able to find quite so many reviews (nor could I find a usable logo to use as a visual aid–sorry). It seems a fairly functional program, and it does have the very useful feature of a barcode scanner and smartphone/tablet app, like Goodreads. My first quick test was to load the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen onto my shelves, chosen only because it popped up on the homepage and was an easy click (although it is a favorite book!). Oddly, on the page for Jane Austen’s version, the first two critical reviews listed were not for Pride and Prejudice at all, but rather for the newer book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. That would seem to be a slight issue. So, as always, I’d suggest that if you’re interested in exploring this site, simply set up a free account and play around for a bit to see if you like it.

Google Books also offers a place for you to find books and add some to your own list, but it’s not nearly as feature-rich as these other sites. And Google is known to launch something, get very excited about it for awhile, and then just start ignoring it when it turns out not to be as popular as they expected. So I didn’t see a lot of evidence of support on the Google Books page.

I’m sure there are other sites I’m missing, or new ones will come along. Explore and find what best meets your needs. But if you’re a reader, I do recommend getting involved with one of them–they’re a great way to be introduced to your next favorite author!

Need Help with Distractions? Go “Cold Turkey”

“Dear Harriette: …I have been playing word games on my phone and my other electronic devices….Without even realizing it, I have been consumed by these silly games….How can I better manage my time? I have actually been late for work because of this.” (Harriet Cole: Sense and Sensibility, Democrat and Chronicle, January 23, 2012.)

Harriette suggested to the inquirer that she write in her date book “appointments” with her games, so to speak, or that she may need to delete the games altogether. But I may have stumbled across another possibility.
I recently read a blog review of a new freeware program named “Cold Turkey,” that has been developed specifically in order to help you stay focused on work. Hmmm. Some days, that would definitely be useful.

Cold Turkey functions purely to block you out of websites or programs or games of your choice for a period of time, also of your choice. Do you have problems resisting following the constant Facebook or Twitter updates during the weekday or when you’re supposed to be out to dinner with your family? Do you find yourself checking the status of your bid on EBay when you should be writing your sermon or working on the budget numbers? What about those Reddit posts when you’re supposed to be dealing with that pesky deadline? And let’s not even talk about Failblog.

Once you’ve installed Cold Turkey, you tell it which sites or programs to block, and for how long. Then it does just that: it won’t load whatever you’ve asked it to block. Trying to foil it by going through a backdoor will give you the punishment of being blocked for two weeks! It’s like being put in technological time-out. You can’t even uninstall the program until whatever time limits you’ve imposed on yourself run out.

The website states that Cold Turkey is the “strictest, merciless” program out there;  “like your parents, on steroids.” Indeed.

I haven’t downloaded it to test it out myself. After all, quite a bit of my work life relies on the Internet and if I suddenly needed to check something on one of our Facebook pages in order to finish writing the article I was in the middle of, I’d want to throw my computer out the window if I’d blocked myself from it.

On the flip side, though, I’ve seen several young adults of my acquaintance post on their Facebook walls that they were deleting their Facebook account because they were too “addicted” to it. I always feel that deleting the account entirely is a bit of overkill–especially because in several cases that was the only way I could be in touch with those folks! Instead, perhaps they should try Cold Turkey to keep themselves off Facebook for a few days, then allow themselves to check their walls and friends’ walls, then go back off…sort of a weaning process. And Cold Turkey could have been the answer that our letter-writer to Harriett needed to keep her from losing her job over word games.

And for those of us who just need to stay focused during the work day? Block it until lunch, then block it again until you go home for the day. Simple enough.

So, while I’m not specifically recommending Cold Turkey as I haven’t tried it out myself, I am letting you know about it, in case you have decided that your goal in 2012 is to spend a more reasonable time on social networking sites. You might find it helpful.

(Do you use Google Chrome? You might want to check out this extension as an alternative to Cold Turkey: http://lifehacker.com/5780575/limit-visits-to-time+wasting-web-sites-and-give-your-willpower-a-break.)

Goal-Setting Revisted–Astrid

I promised in the last post that I’d come back to Astrid, a to-do list with a social networking twist. Mind you, there are lots of websites and such that allow you to share tasks with a group. This is just the newest one I’ve run across and it shows a lot of promise, as well as a couple of nice features, so I figured it was worth posting about.

Imagine that you’ve had a team or committee meeting and there is a long list of action items, or to-dos, that have been assigned to various team members that need to be accomplished within a certain time frame. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to create a task list that’s shared among members, with reminders of deadlines, and each of member having the ability to update when they’ve completed something, so the whole team can stay on top of where you are in the process? I know I’ve dreamed of such-a-thing!

I’ve explored a few of these, and we’ve talked about them in past blog posts, but this time I’m reviewing one that is nicely cross-platform and pretty user-friendly, and free. Which is always the topper.

Astrid is available as a website, as well as apps for Droid and iPhone–and they all talk to each other. To me, that’s the biggest plus: If you have a team that you’d like to share task lists with, this is a good option. Those with smartphones can access the lists mobile-like, those without can simply use the website.  Setting up an account is free, as are the apps. There is an add-on app, Astrid PowerPack, for $3.99 that allows for slightly larger widgets, the capability of adding tasks by voice, voice reminders, and “priority support” (in other words, you go closer to the front of the line for tech support). But you can get a lot done with the free version.

You can set up your account as a stand-alone account, or by using your Google or your Facebook account, thereby also letting you synch tasks there as well. For example, if you have a personal goal of running a marathon and set up tasks such as, “Run 3 miles,” for certain dates, you can post when you’ve accomplished those to your Facebook wall to get encouragement from others. You can synch with Google Tasks using the mobile Astrid; they’re working on making that available on the website.

I set up all three versions–my website account, the app on my Droid phone, and the iPhone app on my iPad. They synched to each other remarkably quickly–sometimes immediately, sometimes I’d have to close out of the app or refresh the web page a couple of times.

I had my daughter test out the social side of it. I sent her an invitation, she accepted and sent me a friend request (I was surprised it wasn’t automatic, given I’d sent her the invitation in the first place), and then I had to confirm her as a friend. Once we got through that, I was able to assign her a task (I resisted assigning “clean your room” or “make your mother happy”). She received an email notifying her she’d been assigned the task and she had to confirm her acceptance. At that point, the task disappeared from my task list and appeared on hers. I could, however, still access the assigned task from her name on the “People” link on my dashboard, so in that manner you can still see all tasks that have been assigned to others. I also received a notification through my mobile apps that she had completed her task. I’m a little less sure about whether an entire team could see the entire list of tasks, or only those activities specifically assigned to them. I didn’t test that part out. The person who set up the tasks and assigns them can always access all the tasks.

On the negative side: I dislike the fact that you can’t get real information about Astrid from their website until you sign up for an account. There is no obvious “features” link from their homepage. I found it, though, so here’s a direct link. (You can get to it from their homepage if you scroll way down to the bottom and click “About” under Company, but how intuitive is that?) I’m also not as clear, as I said above, as to whether everyone could see all tasks or not. That would have to be tested in a group setting.

I did get a kick out of the fact that when I had ignored a task in Astrid past it’s due date, the next time I opened the app it had the little Astrid creature telling me, “if you had done this task already, you could go out and play now.” I always like a sense of humor in my apps.

If you’ve been looking for something like this, I think Astrid would be a good option to try out, anyway. Maybe your team could decide to use it for six months and then review. It takes a little while to get used to something, after all.

If you do use Astrid, give us your review; If you use something else, let us know what it is and what you like/dislike about it. Share the wealth of your knowledge with others!

Goal-setting websites and apps

Perhaps I should have posted this in December to get ready for the annual resolution-fest of January, but I only recently became aware of some of these so better late than never.

New Year’s Resolutions are a bit of a toss-up. There are those who make them faithfully every year; others poo-poo them as useless, empty promises that never get upheld and so should never be made in the first place. For me, personally, I kinda dig being able to start afresh every year. The problem with the resolutions isn’t something inherent to making resolutions themselves; the problem lies in whether (1) said resolutions are realistic and (2) resolutions have a plan.

I’m not going to deal with whether your resolutions/goals are realistic–that’s for you to figure out! But the planning part? That I can speak to.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish,” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). Wishing–fun, but rarely effective. Planning can actually help you achieve a goal.

I’m a fan of goal setting in my personal life as well as professionally. (If a committee doesn’t have goals, they’re only about having meetings. If you don’t know what you’re working towards, why take the time to meet in the first place? But I digress. That’s a topic for a different blog.)

I have recently been playing around a bit with a website and companion app for personal goal-setting, named Mindbloom. I haven’t fully committed to it yet–I’m still in the testing stage to see if it meets my needs. But it made me do a quick check for what other goal-setting apps are out there.

Here’s a short article that outlines five “best” goal-tracking services according to one source–most are for personal goals, but one is also for team goals (although it reportedly can be adapted for personal goals).

Don’t want to read the article? Here are the sites it mentions:

• Lifetick
• Mindbloom Life Game (This is the one I’m playing with)
• Goalscape
• Milestone Planner (this is one that’s aimed more at groups)
• Joe’s Goals (simple, no frills, sufficient unto the task)

It also gives kudos to a sixth option, 43 Things, and then references a rather bizarre little program currently in beta that threatens to blackmail you with a compromising picture on Facebook if you don’t achieve your goal by your deadline, Aherk. You upload your own compromising picture. Your friends vote via Facebook whether you’ve been successful or not–and their vote determines if that picture goes public or not. I’m really pretty sure I’m not into blackmailing myself, so I won’t be testing that one out anytime soon.

There’s another website/app I’m playing with a bit named Astrid. I’ll save that review for another blog post. It has definite possibilities for group work.

Do you use a goal-setting app or software program to help keep you on track? Let us know!

News Aggregator Apps

I do still read the newspaper on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes I even watch the evening news. But frankly, I get most of my news now through news aggregator apps on my phone and tablet. I like to follow topics that don’t usually show up in my newspaper and on the evening news, so news aggregator apps (sometimes also referred to as news readers) are a great way for me to stay on top of global issues. An aggregator collects articles from a wide variety of sources on whatever topics you choose into one location so it’s easier for you to stay on top of what’s going on.

In this post, I’m not addressing Google Reader or Google news alerts on the PC because I believe I’ve mentioned those enough. You know I recommend those already! Now I’m addressing “apps,” specifically, mobile news aggregators for smartphones or tablets.

There are whole bunches of these apps out there and the vast majority of them are free, so my recommendation is that you download a few different ones to see which ones work best for you. But I’ve fallen in love with one that I wanted to make sure you knew about.

My favorite Apple-based app (iPhones, iPads) is Zite. Zite looks for topics that you’ve identified as of interest to you and presents them in a very clean magazine format.

The photo is a screenshot of what I see when I open the app–to the left are a few highlighted articles, to the right are the sections I’ve set up. You simple click on a section to read the articles in that section.

Zite offers several categories from which you can choose for your sections, or you can enter keywords to create your own sections. As in any readers, it can be tricky to figure out the right keywords to get what you want. For example, the section labeled “Gender” towards the bottom of my section list is my attempt to get articles related to global issues facing women and girls without putting in a ton of sub-categories such as trafficking, girls’ education, and so forth. I’ll have to keep playing with it to get the kind of articles I’m looking for. But Zite helps with that–it learns your preferences and gets “smarter” over time.

You have two options when you read an article: on the web, or in Zite’s reader format. I almost always choose the reader format because it’s much cleaner. You’re not dealing with all the sidebars and adds and such that show up on the average website. The reader only shows you the article itself, but links in the article still connect to the web.

The menu you see on the right can be shrunk so it’s out of the way–I took a screenshot while it was open so you can see the options for continually fine-tuning Zite to your preferences. Every time you read an article, you can click yes or no to the question, “Did you enjoy reading this,” then you can request “Give me more from” the website the article is on, or by choosing from topical options below. You can also easily tweet the article, post it to Facebook, email it, and several other options. The more often you use these menu options, the more Zite learns about your preferences to send you the articles you’ll most want.

Another thing I love about Zite is that it stays current–in other words, if you miss several days of checking it, it doesn’t notify you that you have hundreds of articles waiting for you, that you then have to remove from the queue in some way to bring yourself up to date. It will only show you the most recent articles. I always feel so obligated and overwhelmed when I see the little “368 new articles” notice! Zite is guilt-free.

Unfortunately, Zite is not currently available for Droid. I tested out Google Currents, advertised as being similar to Zite, and is available both Droid and Apple (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) formats.  It didn’t meet my needs. Rather than being able to set up topics you want to follow, you’re only able to choose news sources. To get articles you would like in your news feed, you have to know what sources are most likely to give you those articles. I found the interface rather clunky as well.

Nope, on my Droid phone, I still use the “News” app originally loaded on the phone when I bought it. It’s pretty no frills, but I can do the keyword thing and fine-tune articles I like. I’m still looking for something here that is closer to Zite, so I may have more to post later on.

To find a news reader that works for you, use your favorite search engine and google phrases such as “news reader” or “news aggregator” with the name of your gadget-of-choice, or “news reader reviews,” or other similar phrases. New apps are being developed all the time so it’s always worth a quick check to see what’s available.

Your smartphone needs protection too: Spam is everywhere

Image courtesy Vince Lamb creative commons license

Did you know that spam is now estimated to comprise 80 to 85% of the world’s email?

Spam is annoying at best, but it can be dangerous at worst. And we need to be aware of it no matter how we’re accessing email or the Internet.

I’ve addressed this before, but it bears repeating. Smartphones and other mobile devices (tablets and iPads, iPod Touches, anything that can go on the Internet) are as vulnerable to viruses as your computer is. Additionally, spam is everywhere. You may have even noticed that you can get spammed on your Facebook wall. Twitter, Tumblr…spam is ubiquitous.

So, no matter where you are and what you’re doing electronically-speaking, you need to be wary of posts or ads that promise free items (iPads aren’t typically given away!), with a shortened URL–web address–that redirect users to another page. That “cool application” that lets you see who is looking at your Facebook profile? Doesn’t exist. Don’t download anything you don’t know for sure is safe; don’t click on any links if they don’t look like they actually came from your friend. The usual rules always apply.

Also–keep track of your phone and password-protect it. Here’s another interesting statistic: One firm estimates that there are about 800,000 smartphones being left in the backseat of taxis every year. They can fall out of purses and pockets pretty easily, so make sure you’ve got a good password on there, and always give yourself a pat-down before you climb out of that taxi! Lay hands on your smartphone so you know it’s leaving the cab with you!

Here’s a great article on the most common spam attacks on Facebook: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/22/facebook-scams-hacks-attacks_n_864906.html#s281412&title=Clickjacking. (And yes, this is an OK link–I just put it there. But you should always have an anti-virus software active anyway!)

By the way–start keeping an eye out. Seems the first quarter of the year is prime target for phishing emails pretending to be the IRS to get your personal information. The IRS won’t email you. If you get something like this, ignore it, or call the IRS directly (don’t use any numbers or other contact information in the email in question).