Monday, November 14, 2016

Stay Safe on the Forgotten Side of the Internet


The Unknown: Always stay away from websites that you don't know anything about. A lot of websites that you haven't heard of before could be a program where when you click on the link it automatically downloads something to your computer or phone. The downloaded program could be malware. Malware is software that is intended to damage your computer so stay away from it at all costs. Some websites could also be what they call screamers, or knockers. Screamers are exactly what they are called. Once you have clicked on the website and the window opens a loud scream with a spooky image pops up. This is intended to scare the user and is normally targeted towards younger users. Knockers are a little bit more harmless. Knocker websites are normally blank and after 1 second or so a realistic knocking sound is heard. These websites are extremely effective towards users who are using headphones. Its purpose is to confuse and to even maybe scare the user into believing someone or something is knocking on a window or wall near them. Both screamer and knocker websites can also be viruses which then could download malware to your computer. Websites can also try to trick the user into a scam of some sort. Stay clear of this by using common sense. If something sounds too good to be true then it probably isn’t true. Always double check a URL if you don’t know exactly where it leads to. Some URLs can be very similar to normal websites such as google. An example of these scam URLs could look like https://www.gooogle.com/ or http://www.g00gle.com.

The “Deep Web”: When searching through the “Surface Web” you might come across something saying the “Invisible Internet,” “Invisible Web” or “Deep Web.” All these terms mean the same thing. I will be using the “Deep Web” to describe it. The “Deep Web” makes up 96% of the internet as a whole. The “Surface Web” is the internet you are very familiar with. The only way to access the “Deep Web” is through an onion browser. The most common onion browser is “Tor.” Going to the “Deep Web” is not a difficult process. You simply need to install and use “Tor.” It can be fun going through the “Deep Web” but you have to be careful on what links you click on. The “Deep Web” can lead to many illegal sites that you should never go to. While searching through the “Deep Web” you are also prone to much more scams and malware downloaders. If you choose to search through the “Deep Web” make sure you know exactly what you are clicking on. One wrong move and you might have to kiss your computer goodbye.
Social Media: Every social media platform has some sort of privacy setting that you can set on your account. If we use Facebook as an example they have the setting for private accounts. This means that only your friends can see your account. Some random who is online cannot look at your details unless they friend you and you accept it. Always make sure you know who you are befriending or following. Don't just go all willy-nilly when accepting friend requests. Click on the person account that sent you a friend request and confirm that you know them in real life. If you don't want to make your account private, make it so that your account doesn't have everything about you. For example don't put your home address or your personal phone number on your account. Anyone can see that information and potentially use it in bad ways.

Do You Think Before You Speak?

Cyber-bullying is something no one should ever go through, because you never know what else they could be going through. Negativity is a horrible thing, and we do not want any negativity, we want positivity! Here are some videos why it is wrong:

This is a video that I have seen before that has the effects of cyber-bullying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PZ_Bh-M6o
Cyber-bullying can lead to bad things, not just for the victim but for you as well. This can lead to the victim’s parents getting involved, and press charges on you!

Next, why would you hide behind a screen and say something mean, if you couldn’t say it to their face? No one likes it.
If cyber-bullying persists, the victim could become emotionally scarred and very depressed, and it makes them not want to go to school. It could leave them so emotionally scarred, that they will have suicidal thoughts, and maybe even commit suicide because they can’t take it anymore

These are the rates of suicide of people being cyber-bullied:
One more thing, if you wouldn’t want someone saying something horrible to you, don’t say it to someone else. Please think before you speak.

My Dictionary.com Review

Dictionary.com

            
            Dictionary.com is a great app that many people use on their phones. This is a great app to have in school because it will help you on those tough words that are giving you a headache and will give you a definition on the spot. Even better it even has a thesaurus. But what really makes the app great is that you can use it without being on the WiFi.

Extras

            
            So Dictionary.com has some extra stuff to do/look at and its great adds some fun to leaning. One of these extras is the Word of the Day that shows up and has you learn something new every day. They also have a cool option to see what others are searching in the area and see what a popular word to learn is. Another extra part to this app is that it has a blog on it that shows over 800 fun language topics.

The good and the Bad

            
            Alright so we’ve been over some of the cool things and the basics of the app but what are some good or bad parts from having this app? Well there isn’t much bad to the app in my opinion but others say some words of the days are random and pointless such as, “The word of the day is "Yom tov" Who needs to know this? Not even a word.” ~Android User. People also like to complain about the app having a lot of ads but I never seem to have as much as a problem because when I use this app to help me with homework I either get zero ads or one ad at most but that’s looking for 10-20 words. But here’s what another android user said but it’s a good response, “Love It! Love the fact that it saves word searches (recent search) even if favorite word is not checked. Love that if need arises, pronunciations are a finger tap away. This app is used for my tablet exclusively; only wish it was an automatic search while reading a book but that is an easy adjustment. Also, recent word searches can be sent to your email, clipboard or about any other method for future reference and built right in. As far as this reader is concerned this is one of, if not the best app out there.” If that’s not enough to get you to download the free app for extra knowledge then I don’t know what app you should use.

Conclusion

In other words I think this is a good app with a lot more than just a definition of a word. But there is a lot more to check out on the app I’ll add their description of the app for the last caption. That’s my review hope this was a helpful review on Dictionary.com and helps you decide if you want it.

Dictionary.com Description


Dictionary.com is the leading free English dictionary app for Android – with over 2,000,000 definitions and synonyms.
This app works offline – you do not need an internet connection.
In addition to the trusted reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, this app includes:
• Word of the Day – learn a new word every day
• Audio pronunciation – hear every word
• Voice search – speak to search
• Translator – get translations for over 30 languages
• Blog – explore over 800 fun language topics
• Slideshows – fascinating facts about language
• Quiz widget - test your vocabulary with Word of the Day quizzes
• Word origin - find out interesting etymologies
• Favorite words and search history – never forget the words you learn
• Spelling suggestions – get help with how words are spelled
• Local lookups - see which words are being searched near you
• Advanced learner’s dictionary – special content for ESL, EFL and English learners
Want even more? You can add to your app with our in-app purchases:

• Encyclopedia
• Slang Dictionary
• Idioms and Phrases
• Example Sentences
• Medical, Science and Rhyming Dictionaries

Or you can get all of this additional content and remove ads for one low price with our Premium App.

Do You Know How to Take a Screenshot on Your Computer?

Do You Know How to Take a Screenshot on Your Computer?
By:  Kyanna

        
  1. Look for the Print Screen key on your keyboard, it might be labeled as  PrtScn.
    1. Sometimes it is shared with the system request button often seen as SysRq and in the row of three next to Scroll Lock and Pause - Break.

  1. To capture the entire screen, which is everything you see on the screen, including all the open windows, you press the PrtScn button.
  2. To capture just the active or foremost window, press Alt+PrtScn.  
    1. Alt keys are on each side of the space bar.

  1. The screenshot will be placed in your clipboard so you can paste.
  1. Next, open an image editing program like Microsoft Paint then select Paste or you can hit Ctrl+V to paste the image into the program.
    1. It also works in Google Docs, Google Slides, Word, and PowerPoint.  


    If you want to attach it to an email; Go to the File menu then choose Save As and save the image to a folder then you can attach it to an email.  

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Tiny bits of goo - the scoop on URL shorteners

Some URLs are long and ugly. Have a look at the link for this Google Form:


Could you ever write that on the board? Of course not.

Problem solved with a handy tool: the URL shortener. URL shorteners take a long URL and make it into a shorter URL alias that directs to the desired web page. It makes your URL easier to say or write on the board, like - tinyurl.com/eddress or goo.gl/aqvOcL.

Here are three commonly used URL shorteners and they all work the same way. Copy your long URL, navigate to one of the links below and paste your long URL into the URL shortener. Optionally, Tiny URL and Bitly allow you to create a custom alias.
tinyurl.com
bitly.com
goo.gl

Tiny URL: TinyURL is the granddaddy of URL shorteners. What I like about TinyURL is that no login is required and you have the option of creating a custom alias (if it hasn't already been used by someone else). If you can't create a custom alias you will get a shortened URL with random numbers and letters. What I don't like about Tiny URL is that no login is required so I have no way to track my shortened URLs.

tinyurl example


Bitly: Bitly is another no login required URL shortener that will give you an alias that contains random letters and numbers. If you want to create a custom alias, however, you will need to create an account. But - because you are logged in you can keep track of all of your shortened URLs.

Goo.gl: Because I am always logged in to my Google account my "go to" URL shortener is goo.gl. Goo.gl is easy to use and I can view a list of the URLs I've shortened. Here's one shortened URL:

goo.gl url example

What I don't like about goo.gl is that I can't create a custom alias. Best of both worlds for me? If TinyURL married goo.gl and had a URL shortening child that allowed me to create custom aliases AND see a list all of my shortened URLs.

Top ten, five or three...

If you search for best URL shortener the above three are in just about every list. No matter which one you choose, URL shorteners are a handy tool for whenever you need a link that's easy to say or write in the board!