New phishing warning Click to see a larger image

I've written several tips on phishing in the past. You can see them here. Last week, Safari 3.2 was released that offers some new protections against phishing.

As a quick recap, phishing is a when a malicious website tries to make you believe it is a legitimate website. For example you might get an email "from your bank" telling you that there is a problem with your account and that you need to click this link in the email message to fix the problem. The link in the email doesn't really take you to your bank, however. You are instead taken to a website that looks very much like your bank's website. This malicious look-alike site will try to get you to enter your bank passwords, credit card numbers, etc. If you fall for it, you have given private and important information to thieves who will no doubt do you harm. (Find out more about phishing by reading the other tips referenced above or by reading about it in Wikipedia.)

What is new in Safari version 3.2 is that every time you go to a website, Safari does a quick check to make sure that website isn't on a list of known phishing sites. If the site is on the list, Safari puts up a warning box with a red border across the top letting you know you are about to go to a malicious site. The default button is "Go Back".

Will this new feature of Safari always protect you? No. You will get the warning only if you are trying to go to a known phishing site. New phishing sites are popping up all the time. Therefore you still need to be diligent and on the lookout for phishing. The other tips I've written in the past outline ways that you can identify phishing.

Related Items: Phishing | Safari

Free iPod offer Click to see a larger image

For a long time, I've seen ads online for free iPods, iPhones, other electronics, dinners, etc.

So what is the scoop on this? Well, I always figured it was a scam of some sort, but I never knew the details. Then I ran across this article from the San Francisco Cronicle that gives the full scoop on a "Get a Free Laptop" scam.

The article itself is interesting reading, but here are some of the highlights:

• First off, you will never get that free thing they are offering.
• You have to give tons of personal info about yourself including home address, phone number, and SSN.
• You have to sell out your friends to get them to give their info as well.
• You have to jump through all sorts of complicated hoops and fill out tons of forms.
• Your information is then sold to dozens of marketers who will fill your inbox and mailbox with junk mail.
• It is pretty much impossible to opt out of these marketing emails once they start.

In other words, by trying to get a free iPod, iPhone, laptop, lunch, whatever, you are going to get yourself into a whole mess. Stay away.

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If you have an Apple iPod nano (any generation) or an iPod touch (2nd generation only) and you enjoy running, power-walking, or even just long walks, Apple and Nike have partnered to create the Nike + iPod Sport Kit ($29 list), which consists of a shoe-mountable sensor and a receiver for your iPod nano.

The sensor mounts in special Nike + running shoes, but there are instructions in the comments of the link below on how to use the sensor with any running shoe. The receiver plugs into the bottom of your iPod nano or touch. The two communicate and feedback is shown on your iPod screen. Feedback includes your pace and distance run.

When you sync your iPod, the information from your runs in uploaded to a Nike website where you can get even more information about your training.

There's lots more to know about the Nike + iPod Sports Kit. Learn more about the Nike + iPod Sports Kit at the Apple Store.

Be sure to read the comments at this link because there is lots of practical information about using the Sports Kit.

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Burn to CD Click to see a larger image

The built-in photo printing in iPhoto works very well and the prices are quite reasonable. The only drawback is that your prints are delivered by mail so it could be a week or more from the time you place your order and the time you receive your prints.

This tip explains how you can copy your pictures from iPhoto to CD. Most drugstores and discount stores have kiosks where you can print photos directly from a CD.

As a side note, you always want to deal with photos in your iPhoto Library from within iPhoto itself. Don't go messing around inside the iPhoto Library from the Finder. Trust me on this one. It is so important that starting with iPhoto '08, Apple made the iPhoto Library a lot harder to get into.

Before you are ready to burn to CD, you need to decide which photos you want to print.

1. Create a new album called "To Print".
2. Drag the pictures you want to print to the To Print album.
3. Make sure the To Print album is selected and choose Share / Burn from the menu.
4. Insert a blank CD. You may get a dialog box that pops up that says "You inserted a blank CD..." If so, click the Ignore button.
5. A panel will appear above the bottom tool bar. You will see how much space will be used on the CD and how many items will be burned to the CD. You can also change the default name of the CD to whatever you like. NOTE: If the number of items says "1" and you have more than one photo in the To Print album, that means that you have selected one of the photos above (selected photos have an orange border around them.) Just click on the grey space around the photos to deselect.
6. Click on the Burn button. The disk will burn and then be ejected from the drive.

Here is some information about printing at a drugstore or discount store

• In my testing, the staff at the photo centers are generally helpful if you have questions.
• "One Hour" prints doesn't necessarily mean one hour. At Walgreens at 8pm on a Wednesday, I got my prints in five minutes. During busy times you might wait longer than an hour.
• Some photo centers offer specialty items such as Magazine Covers or Baseball Cards that Apple does not offer through iPhoto printing.
• According to the photo center tech at Walgreens, a 24-hour Walgreens offers 24 hour photo developing as well. Handy if you ever find yourself needing prints at 2am.
• You can also upload your pictures directly to Walgreens or Walmart through their website and pick up the pictures later at the store. See this tip for the details.

Please note: I am not endorsing Walgreens as a location to have prints made. I did however get good service and good quality prints from the store I visited. Your experience may vary.

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Front Row click to see a larger image

Front Row is a media player application that is quite attractive and useful but very hidden away and almost ignored by Apple in their marketing.

If you have an iMac or an older MacBook you got a small white remote control with your Mac. (Remotes are a $19 add on feature for MacBooks now.) You may well have tossed that remote off to the side when you unpacked your new Mac not knowing what the remote was for.

Pressing the Menu button on the remote brings up Front Row. If you don't have a remote, you can also access Front Row by pressing Command-ESC on the keyboard.

Front Row gives you one stop access to all of your media: Movies, TV shows, Photos, Podcasts, and Music. You control Front Row by pressing the up and down buttons on the remote or the up and down arrows on the keyboard. The Play button on the remote selects menu items. Pressing the Menu button takes you back a step.

Front Row is most useful on an iMac with a large screen. You can use the remote to control Front Row from across the room. The menus and text are large and meant to be read from afar. All of your media automatically plays in full screen.

The best way to discover all that Front Row can do is to activate it and play around with the menu items. You will find iTunes previews and movie trailers tucked in with all the rest that Front Row can do.

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