Gmail is hands-down the best web-based email service on the net. Gmail has completely revolutionized the way I look at my inbox. I manage all of my email from my personal Gmail inbox, including the many TTB emails I receive almost daily. At this point, I cannot imagine a program I could use to manage my email any more efficiently.

Perhaps you are the Gmail master and maybe you can share a little more than what I can, but I have put together some tips and tricks to help you love Gmail even better…and get the ladies—–>

I am going to start off with two Firefox plug-ins that I find a great help:

• 1. GmailThis is an excellent browser bookmarker that lets you quickly forward highlighted text on any webpage via Gmail. Very simple!
• 2. Gmail Search – search your Gmail account directly from the Firefox search bar. This can be of great help for people who search for messages, like myself.

Some of these, I am going to recommend GreaseMonkey that allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript:

• Google Reader Integration is a complete integration of GReader into Gmail.
• Label Colors changes color menu labels to make them stand out better. Absolutely love it!
• I cannot tell you how many times I have actually “attached” something, but didn’t actually attach it. Attachment reminder helps reminds you to attach a file to your Gmail, based on whether you have the word attach (‘ed’, ‘ment’, PFA, etc) in the body.
• GmailTo is a code that forces all “mailto” links to open in GMail. This is great if Gmail is the only solution you are using. It is not recommended if you use an email client on your machine to send mails.

I am also going to let you in on some things you might now know. It took me a while to find out about these features, but I have a small excuse. I was using a client for a good while, until I got tired of using an email client that did not give me what I needed. Take a look at these:

• If you are sending a Word document or Excel file as an attachment, Gmail lets you easily open it in Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
• If you use iGoogle, try Gmail gadget. I use iGoogle to bring together a lot of the information I care about on the web. I’ve added the Gmail gadget to my page to get a preview of my Inbox, which never seems to be empty.
• Most people know that you can chat with your contacts in Gmail if they’re using Gmail too. But there are some features that make chat particularly useful in the context of using your email, like replying by chat. You know that dot beside the sender’s name? If they are online and they have sent you an email, you can reply by chatting with the person. The neat thing is that Gamil actually archives the conversation as an email so you can look it up later.

There are so many more tips and tricks and I hope I have given you some that you didn’t already know about. In other words, I hope this was helpful to you. Feel free to educate us on others that were not mentioned above. We are always willing to learn more here at TTB!

Google is a powerful tool. Most of the time, most users are restricted to using Google as a search engine, and looking at pages on the internet Google has allowed or encouraged you to see, but there is a darker side to Google – “Google Hacks.”

Google hacks are strings of code entered into the search box that will access information that was never intended to be available to the general public. Some enterprising hacker has discovered which particular string of search parameters will provide normally restricted information.

There are many hacking guides, written by hackers. Unfortunately, most of these guides are written for the already initiated and assume a level of knowledge far above the typical user’s. Loosely translated this means they are a, really boring and b, impossible to understand.

The other problem I came across looking for usable hacks is that the hackers are far more comfortable talking to a machine than a person which makes the instructions even more difficult to follow. Here is an example:

Webcams

These hacks allow access to any unprotected web cam camera connected to the network.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF024HYU36I&feature=related[/youtube]

This one is courtesy of systemeror11 and he has a selection of other video tutorials on YouTube. I have taken the liberty of collecting a selection of links and rather than trying to follow the tortuous instructions, just click one of these links to try some of them out.

intitle:axis intitle:”video server”
inurl:axis-cgi/mjpg (motion-JPEG)
inurl:view/indexFrame.shtml
intitle:”Live NetSnap Cam-Server feed”
allintitle:”Network Camera NetworkCamera”

inurl:view/view.shtml
liveapplet
inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=
inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=Refresh
intitle:liveapplet

inurl:axis-cgi/jpg
intitle:”live view” intitle:axis
intitle:liveapplet inurl:LvAppl
intitle:”EvoCam” inurl:”webcam.html”
inurl:view/index.shtml

intitle:”Live View / – AXIS”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS 206M”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS 206W”
intitle:”Live View / – AXIS 210?
inurl:indexFrame.shtml Axis

inurl:”MultiCameraFrame?Mode=Motion”
intitle:start inurl:cgistart
intitle:”WJ-NT104 Main Page”
intext:”MOBOTIX M1? intext:”Open Menu”
intext:”MOBOTIX M10? intext:”Open Menu”

intext:”MOBOTIX D10? intext:”Open Menu”
intitle:snc-z20 inurl:home/
intitle:snc-cs3 inurl:home/
intitle:snc-rz30 inurl:home/
intitle:”sony network camera snc-p1?

intitle:”sony network camera snc-m1?
site:.viewnetcam.com -www.viewnetcam.com
intitle:”Toshiba Network Camera” user login
intitle:”netcam live image”
intitle:”i-Catcher Console – Web Monitor”

Although, if you try too many of these in a single session, Google will cut you off and show you this message:

Who says censorship is dead?

Passwords

There are many hacks that will also provide improperly protected information such as plain text passwords in Frontpage.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOy7dUEJA0&feature=user[/youtube]

Search: “# -FrontPage-” inurl:service.pwd

There is also an interesting hacking tool that allows these king of searches without having to learn strings of parameters such as these. It’s called, appropriately enough, “Google Hacks,” and is available for download here. Google Hacks is a compilation of carefully crafted Google searches that expose novel functionality from Google’s search and map services. For example, you can use it to view a timeline of your search results, view a map, search for music, search for books, and perform many other specific kinds of searches. You can also use this program to use google as a proxy.

If you are worried that your own system may be vulnerable to these or other hacks, Sourceforge has some good advice on testing your vulnerability and protecting your self here.

There are also a range of books available from Amazon, some of which are actually readable. There is a selection at the bottom.

Happy Hacking!

Here is the list of books mentioned above:

Should you unlock your Apple iPhone or not, that is the question on every iPhone owner’s lips these days, and more than likely every potential iPhone owner’s as well.

Despite the proliferation of companies offering to unlock iPhones, if fact, some companies seem to have been set up recently with the sole purpose of unlocking iPhones, Apple recently threw a spanner in the works.

Apple warns that anyone who attempts to unlock their iPhone runs the risk of finding their phone irreparably damaged. They said that modified iPhones would become “permanently inoperable,” once Apple updates were installed.

Apple denies “doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked,” although this smacks of pre-planning to me.

It does make me wonder what Apple think they are playing at. Selling the phone off the shelf without a mobile contract and apparently setting the hackers a challenge by claiming the iPhone as unbreakable? Combined with releasing it with a single operator in both the US and European markets, it seems to me there was no other outcome.

Still, the question will have to wait until someone’s hacked phone dies before a decision can be made. Will it or won’t it? Watch this space. If your hacked iPhone turns in to a very expensive paperweight, please let me know in the comments section.