New message systems on the cheap for users

New message systems on the cheap for users

By Larry Magid,  Digital Crossroads

Last week text messaging celebrated its 20th anniversary. It was on Dec. 3, 1992, that British engineer Neil Papworth said “Merry Christmas” to a Vodaphone employee via SMS (short message service).

Now, “texting” is the preferred method of communications for a great many people, especially teens who, according to Pew Research Center, prefer text messaging to all other forms of communications But recent data suggest that text messaging may have peaked. In Sweden, where text messaging has long been popular among adults as well as teens, the number of messages has declined during the first half of 2012 from 9.2 billion to 8.1 billion. There are similar declines in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In its place, people are using alternative messaging systems, including services like Kik and WhatsApp that use the Internet instead of the carriers’ SMS systems. With these services, users avoid having to pay carrier text messaging fees and have a wider choice of devices, including tablets, the iPod touch and — in some cases — PCs. Google’s free Google Voice service allows you to send and receive text messages via the Web or through a smartphone app using your phone’s data plan instead of via the SMS system.

Last week Facebook jumped on the SMS bandwagon with a new Android app that will initially be available only in India, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and Venezuela. Facebook’s new Messenger app lets users send messages to friends via SMS for free through their data plan whether or not the friend is using the app and even if their friends don’t have a smartphone. An old-fashioned “feature phone” will do.

What’s particularly interesting about this new product is that users don’t need a Facebook account. You don’t even need an email address.

Instead, you can sign up with a phone number. This is an important point for many people in the developing world who have phones but no access to a computer. And the service dovetails nicely with another Facebook product, “Facebook for Every Phone,” that the company rolled out last summer. That app, which works with more than 2,500 feature phones, allows users to access their friends’ News Feed, their Inbox and even to view and share photos and find friends from their phone’s contacts.

Facebook, which already has more than a billion users worldwide, is anxious to expand its reach even further. When I was in Kenya last year, I learned that people in that country can access Facebook from their mobile devices without having to pay data charges. Most Kenyans have pay as you go plans that require them to pay for data by the megabyte, so being able to “reverse the charges” when it comes to data enables them to participate in what would otherwise be a cost-prohibitive service.

The roll out of this messenger product is part of Facebook’s commitment to mobile. In its third quarter earnings release in October, Facebook disclosed that 604 million “monthly active users” were accessing the service via mobile devices, a 61 percent increase over the previous year. About 14 percent of Facebook’s third quarter income (about $150 million) came from mobile.

The company recently revamped its iOS and Android apps, and just last week unveiled a new photo sync service that automatically uploads photos from a smartphone to a private holding area that users can access via the Web. The service is off by default, but once you enable it in the app, any photo you take via the Facebook app (plus the last 20, you’ve already taken) is automatically synchronized to your account.

But don’t worry about accidentally posting embarrassing photos. Even though the photos are synced, they are invisible to all but yourself until you decide to share them. If you do share them, you can select the audience, which can range from the “public” to friends of friend, friends only, specific friends or lists or even “only me.”

Despite these safeguards, some privacy advocates worry that it will vastly increase Facebook’s access to photos of users and their friends, which often contain location information.

There are also concerns that Facebook could use facial recognition technology to identify people in the pictures, even if users don’t tag them with the names of their friends. Facebook has policies in place to safeguard this data, but there is always the possibility it can be misused in the future either by the company, by governments or by hackers.

Given the vast amounts of other information stored about us by banks, insurance companies, airlines, phone companies, governments and other institutions, I’m not especially concerned about this. But it’s one more aspect of “big data” that consumers and policy-makers need to think about as we move forward.

Disclosure: Larry Magid is co-director ConnectSafely.org , a nonprofit Internet safety organization that receives financial support from Facebook. Contact Larry Magid at larry@larrymagid.com

 Listen for his technology chats on KCBS-AM (740) weekdays at 3:50 p.m.

Read more here

Governor Jerry Brown signs historic community college reform bill

Governor Jerry Brown signs historic community college reform bill

Tri-City Voice

Submitted By Michelle Siqueiros, Campaign for College Opportunity

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law SB 1456 (Lowenthal) - the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012. Under the bill, ALL students will receive the guidance they need to be successful through required orientation and education plans. In a historic move toward equity, colleges will be required to publicly report progress of all students broken down by race and socio-economic status. And, finally, students will have to maintain satisfactory academic performance in order to be eligible for fee waivers.

A focus on improving student success - measured by gaining a degree, certificate or transfer to a four-year institution - will open the doors of community colleges to thousands more students and send more graduates into the work force or on to higher degrees.

For more information visit: www.collegecampaign.org

http://www.tricityvoice.com/articlefiledisplay.php?issue=2012-12-04&file=GovernorEduc+141+++TCV.txt

Bio-Chemist Dr. Lino Gonzalez

Bio-Chemist Dr. Lino Gonzalez talked about his education, background and current work at Genentech labs. This event, which took place at Ohlone College, was sponsored by SACNAS Ohlone College Chapter. Videos part 1-5 are located here >>>

Bio-Chemist Dr. Lino Gonzalez

Bio-Chemist Dr. Lino Gonzalez talked about his education, background and current work at Genentech labs. This event, which took place at Ohlone College, was sponsored by SACNAS Ohlone College Chapter. Videos part 2-5 are located at
http://www.youtube.com/user/profricka/videos


Part 1 (14:34)

What is the fiscal cliff?

By JACKIE CALMES, New York Times

Published: November 15, 2012

Many Americans must be wondering: What is all this about a “fiscal cliff”? And why did it receive so little attention during the presidential campaign?

Well, it’s complicated — the so-called cliff, that is. And most solutions are politically painful. In a rare show of bipartisanship, or mutual protection, both parties ducked the debate until after the election. What follows is an attempt to demystify the issue, which President Obama and the lame-duck Congress now are struggling over, and which may occupy them right through the holidays.

Q. What is the fiscal cliff?

A. The term refers to more than $500 billion in tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to take effect after Jan. 1 — for fiscal year 2013 alone — unless Mr. Obama and Republicans reach an alternative deficit-reduction deal. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who is not known for catchy phrases, coined the metaphor “fiscal cliff” last winter to warn of the dangerous yet avoidable drop-off ahead in the nation’s fiscal path. It stuck.

Q. If we go over this so-called cliff, what happens?

A. Taxes would rise for nearly every taxpayer and many businesses. Financing for most federal programs, military and domestic, would be cut. Many economists say that while annual budget deficits are too high, these new taxes and spending cuts would be too much deficit reduction, too suddenly, for a weak economy. More than $500 billion equals roughly 3 percent to 4 percent of gross domestic product. The Congressional Budget Office has said the result would be a short recession, though some analysts say the measures could be managed so they do less damage. “Slope,” they argue, is a better metaphor than cliff.

Q. Exactly what tax increases are in store?

A. When a tax cut expires, the practical effect is a tax increase. And a slew of tax cuts — $400 billion for 2013 — expire on Dec. 31: All of the Bush-era rate reductions; smaller tax cuts that periodically expire for businesses and individuals; and the 2-percentage-point cut in payroll taxes that Mr. Obama pushed in 2010, which increased an average worker’s take-home pay by about $1,000 a year.

Also, 28 million taxpayers — about one in five, all middle- to upper-income — would have to pay the alternative minimum tax in 2012, raising their taxes more. That is because Congress has failed to pass an inflation adjustment, as it usually does, to restrict the number of taxpayers subject to the alternative minimum largely to the affluent.

Q. What spending would be cut?

A. An emergency unemployment-compensation program is expiring, which would save $26 billion but end payments to millions of Americans who remain jobless and have exhausted state benefits. Medicare payments to doctors would be reduced 27 percent, or $11 billion, because this year Congress has not passed the usual so-called “doc fix” to block the cuts, which otherwise are required by a 1990s cost-control law.

The biggest cut would be $65 billion, enacted across the board for most federal programs over the last nine months of fiscal year 2013, from January through September. This cut, known as the sequester, was mandated by an August 2011 budget deal between Mr. Obama and Congress that ended their standoff over raising the nation’s debt limit. In that deal, they agreed to reduce spending by $1 trillion over 10 years and to identify an additional $1.2 trillion in savings by January 2013. If they fail to agree on the second installment — as is the case so far — the automatic cuts will kick in.

Q. Why did the parties create such a fiscal and economic threat?

A. It was part intentional, part coincidental.

The intentional: Since Ronald Reagan’s administration, with mixed results, presidents and Congresses have occasionally mandated a self-imposed future crisis to force themselves to agree on unpopular tax and spending actions. In that spirit, the idea behind the August 2011 deal was that Republicans would so greatly fear the military cuts, and Democrats the domestic spending cuts, that they would negotiate a deficit-reduction alternative by the Jan. 1 deadline.

The coincidental: The measures from the 2011 deal are set to take effect at the same time as the changes to jobless benefits, the alternative minimum tax adjustment and the Medicare “doc fix,” and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts — a confluence that the two parties did not fully expect back in August 2011. The nation will also reach its debt ceiling in January, creating additional uncertainty. Accounting maneuvers by the Treasury Department could push that deadline to March, but Mr. Obama wants a debt-limit increase as part of any deal, adding another item to the agenda.

Q. Can’t Democrats and Republicans agree on anything here?

A. They actually agree on a lot. Neither side favors the sequester, an expanded alternative minimum tax or Medicare cuts for doctors; the issue in preventing those outcomes is where to find offsetting savings to avoid adding to annual deficits. And both parties want to extend all of the Bush tax cuts for 98 percent of taxpayers — on income below $250,000 for couples and on income below $200,000 for individuals.

Their main disagreement is a familiar one: the Bush rates on income above that, for the top 2 percent of taxpayers. Mr. Obama campaigned against the rates in 2008 and in 2012. In December 2010, when the Bush tax cuts originally were to expire, Mr. Obama reluctantly agreed to extend all of them for two years in exchange for Republicans’ support for the temporary payroll tax cut and extended jobless aid. This time, he swears, is different.

Q. If the president extended all the Bush rates once, why wouldn’t he do so again for the right concessions?

A. The economy was weaker in 2010, and so was Mr. Obama. Republicans had just triumphed in the midterm elections, taking control of the House. Now Mr. Obama is fresh off re-election, and Congressional Democrats have gained seats. He vows that he will not allow the top tax rate to stay at 35 percent; a return to 39.6 percent would raise about $1 trillion over 10 years. Chastened Republicans have suggested they would support higher revenues, but only from limiting tax deductions for high-income taxpayers, not from higher rates. Mr. Obama has not ruled out a compromise that would limit deductions as well as setting the top rate above 35 percent but below 39.6 percent.

Q. What now? Might they really reach an impasse?

A. No one knows. Despite market jitters about that outcome, Democrats suggest that they are willing to let Jan. 1 come and go without resolution unless Republicans relent on the top rate. That could simply be bravado, to make Republicans blink. A Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll this week found that a majority of Americans would blame Republicans for failure.

Q. Is there a best-case outcome here?

A. Many budget experts and economists are hoping for a two-part deal. The first part would extend many of the tax cuts and repeal the automatic spending cuts to avert the changes scheduled after Jan. 1. But it would be contingent on the second part: a framework for reducing projected long-term deficits by overhauling both the tax code — to raise revenues — and entitlement programs — chiefly Medicare and Medicaid, whose rising costs in an aging population are unsustainable. Those overhauls would preoccupy Mr. Obama and Congress through 2013 and perhaps 2014.

Such an agreement would set specific targets for new tax revenue and spending cuts to reduce deficits by about $4 trillion over a decade, giving Congress and the president more time to work out the details. If they failed to do so, presumably other automatic changes might be in store as an enforcement action — setting up yet another looming deadline.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 16, 2012, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Demystifying the Fiscal Impasse That Is Vexing Washington.

More info >>>

How to manage your flight connections

By Ed Perkins

Tribune Media Services

Posted:   11/08/2012 11:09:01 AM PST

I recently reserved flights on United from my home airport, Medford, Ore., to New York, with a connection at San Francisco. My connection was a bit more than an hour, so I thought I'd be fine. But a week before departure, I started checking the on-time performance of my flight from Medford to San Francisco. I quickly found that, out of the seven days before departure, that flight would have made my connection only once -- the other days it was either delayed an hour or more or canceled outright.

Accordingly, I called United and asked if it could transfer me to an earlier flight, which it did, fortunately without any extra fee.

So instead of leaving Medford at a civilized time of 10:11 a.m., I had to get up at 5 a.m. for an 8:11 a.m. flight, leaving me with a boring 3½-hour wait at SFO rather than the convenient 65 minutes I had originally booked. But when departure day finally arrived, that wait shrunk substantially. Our early flight was held up on the ground for an hour and a half before leaving, so we actually arrived with a bit less than two hours to connect. That cushion was appreciated, given that most United Express flights and code-shared flights on US Airways at SFO now use the US Airways gates in Terminal 1, and connecting travelers have to schlep on shuttle buses to United's primary gates at Terminal 3.

The net result was that I made the connection comfortably. And to cap the story, I checked the arrivals board before getting on the New York flight; sure enough, my original flight from Medford had been canceled.

The purpose of this story isn't to pat myself on the back for being such a smart traveler; it's to illustrate that connections are among the most frustrating elements of air travel -- and given today's air travel, that's quite an accomplishment. My story is by no means unique; many of you face the same challenges.

Here's how to manage your itineraries to avoid the worst problems:

- Avoid connecting entirely. Where possible, get a nonstop flight, even if it costs a bit more. And if you normally use a smaller airport that lacks nonstops to your destination, consider driving to the closest hub that does offer nonstops rather than flying. Medford is a tough case; driving takes five hours to Portland and at least six to San Francisco. But anytime you can drive to a hub airport in three hours or less, drive. As an advantage, you'll probably find lower fares.

-Check your flight's history. If you can't avoid connecting, check on your first flight's on-time record. You have two approaches:

1. Airlines are supposed to post average monthly figures for each flight, showing the percentages of times it was delayed or canceled. When I checked, Alaska, American, Southwest, United and US Airways all provided links to that information for each flight display; I couldn't find it on Delta, but it must be in there somewhere. The problem with this system is that the data are not current: In mid-October, figures show for the month of August.

2. FlightStats (flightstats.com) provides both current (same-day) information and historical compilations for most domestic flights. You can also slice and dice the data almost any way you want. To remove duplication from the display, click the "omit codeshares" button.

- Pad your connecting time. Today's typical published minimum connecting times leave almost no slack for any minor glitch. Official times for domestic-to-domestic flights can be as little as 30 minutes.

Supposedly, any connection your airline books compensates for connecting times. But those can be misleading: In United's case, for example, connections at Boston, Chicago, Houston, Newark, N.J., and San Francisco involve inter-terminal shuttles, some requiring exiting and re-entering security, and many international airports require terminal transfer outside security.

Most airlines' official contracts allow you to pad your schedule up to four hours at connecting airports and, if schedules allow, an extra hour or two can mean the difference between making and missing a connection.

 Read more>>>

Ohlone SACNAS Team at Graham Elementary School

Home security

Home security

SF Chronicle 10/07/2012

Have good deadbolts on all your doors? Strong latches on your windows? Do you always lock your doors and windows? Have a barky dog?

If you can answer "yes" to the first three questions, you're way ahead of most when it comes to home security - and get bonus points if you have the dog. Because most burglars enter homes through unlocked doors or windows or by forcing open locked ones, even the most basic measures of protection will greatly improve your security.

The odds of your home being burglarized are actually quite low: Only about 1 in 50 U.S. homes is broken into each year. But over time, the odds can turn against you. And given the financial, physical and psychological damage that can result from a burglary, it makes sense to do more to become more secure.

In addition to having good locks on your doors and securing other entry points, other simple steps include setting up lighting systems and improving your own habits (consistently locking doors and keeping track of keys, having someone pick up newspapers and mail when you are away and keeping valuable items out of sight).

Another option is to buy a home alarm system and pay to have it monitored. There is evidence that these systems do make a difference: Homes with security systems are about one-third as likely to be burglarized as homes without them. Although part of the difference no doubt has something to do with the home's location and other protections in place, electronic alarm systems clearly matter - the discounts offered by homeowners' insurance companies to customers who have them attest to their effectiveness. But while an alarm system will improve the security of your home, it may not be worth the cost if:

-- You live in a very low-crime neighborhood.

-- Your house is well-secured physically (with locks and other measures).

-- Someone almost always is at home.

-- Your neighbors will keep an eye on your house and call the police if they notice anything suspicious.

-- You possess little of substantial value that could be stolen and have good insurance coverage.

-- You don't worry much about break-ins.

-- Children, houseguests, or others are likely to frequently trigger false alarms.

-- The hassle of setting the alarm and avoiding false alarms might make you avoid using it regularly.

If you decide to go the home alarm system route, Bay Area Consumers' Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org rated local installers for service quality and price - and found big differences on both measures.

Choosing a good installer is essential to making sure the system is effective, convenient and unobtrusive; minimizing false alarms; and controlling costs. Some companies are twice as likely as others to obtain top service quality ratings from their surveyed customers.

Have several companies come to your home to propose system designs and quote prices. Some will be much better than others in designing a system that meets your needs conveniently and at a reasonable cost. Even for the same basic design, you will find substantial price differences. For one particular job, Checkbook's shoppers got quotes ranging from $1,304 to $4,961.

When pricing a system with a central station monitoring, take into account the cost of monitoring. Some installers will lock you into using their monitoring services for several years. Checkbook found monitoring costs can vary substantially: from $999 to $1,359 for basic landline monitoring for three years. If you already have an alarm system, keep in mind that with most systems you can switch monitoring companies if you find a better deal elsewhere.

Editor's note: The Chronicle is partnering with Bay Area Consumers' Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org, a nonprofit consumer group that rates various types of local service firms and professionals, to help you find the best services in the Bay Area. Chronicle readers can find Checkbook's full article, with advice on home security, choosing an alarm installer, price comparisons, do-it-yourself tips and - for the next four weeks - use Checkbook's ratings of Bay Area home security companies for free, at  

http://www.checkbook.org/interactive/homesecu/other/bay/article.cfm

Read more >>>

Personal Finance: Protect valuable files for disaster

Personal Finance: Protect valuable files for disaster

By Claudia Buck,  cbuck@sacbee.com

Published: Sunday, Sep. 16, 2012

When it comes to keeping important papers in a safe spot, insurance agent Gary Hatano vividly remembers one client's solution.

While visiting the home of a retired military veteran, Hatano asked to see a copy of his life insurance policy.

"He said, 'Hold on a minute' and went to his refrigerator," recalls Hatano, a Farmers Insurance agent in Folsom. From the bottom of the vegetable bin, the retiree pulled out hisinsurance policy, neatly wrapped in aluminum foil.

While a tinfoil packet under the refrigerated carrots may not seem like the most sophisticated solution, Hatano said he couldn't argue too much with his client's intentions. In a fire, the packet presumably wouldn't burn and everyone in his family knew exactly where it was.

We should all be so wellprepared. From torrential floods in Louisiana to blistering California wildfires, this year's weatherrelated calamities are a reminder that events beyond our control can strike anyone, anytime, anywhere.

If a natural disaster hit your household, would you be ready? We all have important paperwork that we want to safeguard: insurance policies, loan papers, marriage or divorce documents, even the vaccination records of our kids or pets.

Not to mention all our personal family photos, videos and music sitting on our computers.

Knowing what to grab in case of a hurried evacuation could prevent the loss of irreplaceable family mementos, as well as documents that could be tedious and timeconsuming to replace. Here are some options:

Grab-and-go binder

Having a grab-and-go box or binder can be a lifesaver. Think of it as a onestop spot to keep all your key documents. It can be a binder, a file box, or anything portable enough to carry on your own.

Hatano, the insurance agent, says he keeps a documentfilled binder hidden at home. It contains copies of all his family's crucial paperwork: property records, bank accounts, names of key professionals (financial planner, attorney, banker, insurance and real estate agents). There's also a copy of his trust.

"Trying to recreate all those copies would be a nightmare," said Hatano, who also considers the binder a helpful resource for his wife, in case something happened to him.

The binder does not contain originals of those documents, however. Originals should be kept in a safe deposit box, a fireproof safe, at an attorney's office or with trusted family members, Hatano advises.

Makin' a list

Another essential safeguard: a household inventory.

In the event of filing an insurance claim, "It's hard to remember what you have," said Perry Ghilarducci, a Sacramento CPA who heads Avaunt Ltd. He recommends keeping copies of receipts, warranties, serial numbers and appraisals of your household valuables.

You can record a video or simply make a roombyroom list of appliances, furniture, electronics, books, clothing. And don't forget the backyard and garage.

Websites such as www.InsureUonline.org, sponsored by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, have easy tips on creating a household inventory. There's also a Home Inventory Guide on the California Department of Insurance site, www.insurance.ca.gov.

And don't forget your cellphone. Especially when so much of our personal life resides in our handheld devices, you don't want to be stranded if your phone gets lost, drowned or burned. Keep a card ideally laminated in your wallet with a list of important numbers, everything from your kids to doctors to the financial and professional contacts you might need in an emergency.

Back it up

Whether it's your home or office computer, a backup is essential. A simple hard drive that automatically backs up everything stored on your computer is the first line of defense. But if it's damaged in a fire or flood, all your family, financial and business files and photos could be wiped out.

To better protect your hard drive, a California company, ioSafe ( www.iosafe.com), manufactures a series of hardy protective "safes" for computer hard drives that it claims are waterproof and fireproof, whether submerged in water for three days or burned in intense flames up to 1,500 degrees for 30 minutes.

It's essentially a second hard drive that plugs into a USB port, acting as a tougher twin to your computer's own hard drive.

"It's for the things your insurance can't replace: your family photo albums," said Robb Moore, CEO of the Auburnbased firm. "What would you grab as your house is burning? Your family photos and videos are the most compelling."

Akin to an airline's black box, the hard drive boxes are shown in online videos being dropped off balconies, burned in barbecues and run over by tractors. Starting at around $249, they can be found at Fry's, Best Buy or online.

Others are migrating to storing computer data online in the socalled "cloud," using backup systems that aren't sitting on their desktops.

Ghilarducci's firm, for instance, provides online document storage for its tax clients.

"It's a virtual file cabinet, if you will," the CPA said, noting that clients can log in, using a personal password, to retrieve their tax documents whenever needed. Clients are encouraged to use the access to scan and upload other financial documents mortgage, insurance, household inventories, for instance for their eyes only.

For his own office computer and personal laptop, Ghilarducci says he's looking at companies such as Carbonite ( www.carbonite.com) that automatically back up computer data to an online data storage center.

Safeguarding your possessions doesn't necessarily have to be a hightech solution. As ioSafe's CEO put it: "Do something to protect yourself against natural disaster."

Even if it's as simple as a zipclose bag or a dashoutthedoor binder.

WHAT TO TAKE ALONG WITH YOU

If disaster strikes, the California Society of CPAs says you should leave home or work with copies* of these documents:

• Birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, wills or trusts, military discharge papers and other important "life event" documents

• Property titles

• Social Security cards

• Passports

• Insurance records

• Credit card numbers and contact information

• Automobile pink slips

• Medical records, including prescription numbers

• Passwords and user names for bank accounts and websites you frequently use

• Phone numbers and addresses of relatives, friends, doctors

• Federal and state income tax returns for past three years

• Receipts for highend purchases (jewelry, art, hightech equipment, etc.)

• Bonds/stock certificates

• Household inventory

*Originals should be kept in a safe deposit box or fireproof safe.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved

Read more here

Travel: Credit card, frequent flier changes portend problems

Travel: Credit card, frequent flier changes portend problems

By Ed Perkins, Tribune Media Services, Posted:   10/04/2012

You'll soon be facing two new reverses in your ongoing struggles with travel suppliers. Although the preliminary indications are relatively obscure, they presage possible big new developments in the next few years. You need to start planning now.

Paying with plastic

Allegiant Air has quietly initiated a new way of treating plastic. Its all-up fare displays now feature a "debit card" price; if you want to use a credit card, you pay an extra $4 per flight regardless of the base price. The fine print still lists a higher base fare, then subtracts a $4 "debit card discount," but the net effect is the same: You pay $4 more to buy with a credit card than with a debit card.

What's going on here? Airlines would like to avoid the fees that credit card issuers charge. For Internet purchases like airline tickets, industry reports say those fees are roughly 2 percent of the transaction cost. Debit card fees are lower, about half that figure. Even a 1 percent difference represents lots of dollars on the multibillion dollars in airline revenues.

The reason for Allegiant's use of a "debit card discount" rather than "credit card surcharge" stems from a bit of Orwellian logic: Contracts between the card systems and merchants specify that merchants can't add credit card surcharges to nominal list prices, but they are allowed to give "cash" or "debit card" discounts.

So far, none of the other "usual suspects" airlines has introduced such pricing. But, as I've often noted, nothing catches on in the airline business as fast as a bad idea.

As consumers, you have a big stake in the outcome to this battle. Credit cards provide some important benefits that debit cards do not:

-Legal protections, such as charge-back laws, apply to credit cards but not to debit cards.

-Debit cards typically do not provide such ancillary credit card benefits as rental-car collision protection, other types of "insurance," and warranty guarantees.

-Debit cards typically do not award miles, points or cash discounts.

-Credit cards allow you to repay a purchase over extended time periods, while debit cards deduct a charge from your bank account immediately.

As this battle develops, I expect to see some blurring of the distinctions and the addition of some benefits to debit cards. In addition, independent payment systems such as PayPal will likely play a much bigger role. For now, however, you just need to keep watching developments -- and to decide on any given transaction whether to pay more for a credit card buy than with a debit card.

Frequent-flier devaluation

Delta Air Lines has reduced the miles it awards for travel on "unpublished" fares, including student, consolidator, group and similar fares. Mileage earning will run from the standard 100 percent to as low as 25 percent, depending on the fare class.

Unpublished fares in the Asia Pacific region are exempted due to some contract fine print.

I suspect this is the first of many such devaluations. When American started the first frequent-flier program, the spread between the highest and lowest fares was much less than it is now, so earnings based on miles flown made some sense.

Now, however, my belief is that most airlines would prefer to base earnings on amount paid or the equivalent, rather than miles flown.

Foreign lines and some smaller U.S. lines, which established programs much later, adopted this system. I think the giant U.S. airlines will try to follow as quickly as the public relations impact will allow.

The clear conclusion: Miles and mileage programs don't improve with age.

Read more >>>here

Being prepared for emergency is no joke

Being prepared for emergency is no joke because today is the day before

By Dr. Kate Scannell  

Contra Costa Times/Oakland Tribune contributing columnistmercurynews.com

Posted 9/29/2012

I have a friend who is always preparing for "the worst." He owns every imaginable kind of insurance policy for himself and his beloved cat. I could live several years off the disaster provisions he has stored in his Chevy's trunk ... or his garden shed ... or his hallway closet ...

September is his favorite month because he gets to celebrate two favored occasions: "National Preparedness Month" and "International Talk Like a Pirate Day." He recently asked me (again) whether I had gotten my act together (finally) and prepared a "landlubber's survival kit for the next merciless squall." Yarrgh.

I acknowledged that his advice was both rational and practical. I'd had personal encounters with floods, fires and earthquakes. I had known patients who suffered through mudslides and pandemics, friends who lived through Katrina. And still, somehow, I remained unprepared for the next Big One.

My friend was partly to blame -- or so I told myself. But his über-preparedness overwhelmed me, and I could not fathom how to duplicate even a fraction of his complex planning. Despairingly, I resigned myself to fate and to the sustenance potential of two calcified energy bars in my car's glove compartment. I also made sure that I possessed all of my friend's contact numbers.

Today, however, I am newly optimistic about disaster-readiness after stumbling across a "National Preparedness Month" community fair on my way to lunch. Display tables neatly contained manageable information and realistic advice that emboldened me to begin my personal planning. I collected a few safety checklists and survival tipsheets, along with an order form for emergency supply kits.

Still, it was a casual conversation about my friend with a young woman named Angela Nak who stood behind the FEMA tables -- and, well, turned the tables for me.

"A lot of people get overwhelmed when they think about disaster preparedness," she knowingly offered. "But I tell them that it doesn't have to be too complicated, and that it doesn't have to be accomplished all at once." An "overwhelmed" person like me could work toward preparedness through gradual but consistent planning over time. And no matter how far one got by the time a disaster struck, still, they were one roll of toilet paper or a bar of soap luckier than the day before.

This down-to-earth advice about conceptualizing preparedness as a stable mind-set throughout the year -- rather than a "things-to-do list" tackled within a day -- helped to shift me into action mode.

Nak subsequently introduced me to her supervisor, Randy Brawley, who is a Preparedness Analyst and Planning Officer with FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management System). He reinforced her message that, "For folks who feel intimidated by the cost and amount of preparations required for a major catastrophe: Start small and keep it simple."

From time to time throughout the year, common household items or "dollar store" purchases -- first aid supplies, a flashlight, personal hygiene items, canned goods -- could be put aside in constructing an emergency supply kit.

Still, Brawley emphasized that "being prepared" entailed more than compiling a "kit." It also meant that people knew how to access critical information during an emergency, and how to follow an actionable plan that upheld personal and public safety. He offered these three additional steps:

1) Be informed -- Stay up to date about emergencies that can happen in your community and learn how to protect, prepare and respond to those emergencies. For example, FEMA Region 9 in Oakland maintains an active discussion board at www.ready.gov/pledge. Once registered, any Bay Area resident may join the forum and stay current on the latest from FEMA.

2) Make a plan -- Talk with the members of your household and establish meeting places, and discuss each member's workplace and school emergency plans. Even people living alone should identify an out-of-area contact who will serve as the reporter for those concerned about them.

3) Be involved -- Participate in preparedness organizations such as the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT.) or a Citizen Corps Council. Residents may locate a nearby program by visiting www.citizencorps.gov

Brawley underscored the sizable benefits that could be generated by taking such simple steps toward preparedness. And, as a practical matter, he encouraged people to focus on accomplishing one of them just to get started. An excellent source for further information could be accessed at: www.ready.gov

Fittingly, FEMA's slogan for this year's preparedness campaign is: "Today is the day before -- Are you ready for tomorrow?" And today (or, maybe, the day before?) I can legitimately answer: Aye, matey -- I am on me way! I am one tube of toothpaste and two cans of tuna closer to my goal.

Kate Scannell is a Bay Area physician and syndicated columnist. She is the author of "Death of the Good Doctor" and "Flood Stage."

Read more here 

California's community colleges staggering during hard times

California's community colleges staggering during hard times

Demand is up but funding is down for California's community colleges. Many students are shut out of needed classes, making it harder to get their degrees or transfer.

By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times

Marianet Tirado returned to Los Angeles Trade Tech community college this fall, optimistic that she would get into the classes she needs to transfer to a four-year university.

Of the courses she wanted, only two had space left when she registered in May. She enrolled in those and "crashed" others. In one of those cases, she lucked out when the professor teaching a political science class admitted additional students. But she couldn't get into a biology class because she was too far down on the waiting list.

If the math and English courses she needs aren't offered next spring, she may have to push back her plans to apply to San Francisco State, UCLA or USC.

Her mother is puzzled that Tirado may spend three or four years at what is supposed to be a two-year college.

"Because that's what we think community college is," said Tirado, 24, a journalism major who lives in Watts. "It's hard to explain to my mom that I'm trying to go to school but the courses are not there."

This is the new reality for Tirado and about 2.4 million other students in the nation's largest community college system. The system is the workhorse of California's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which promised affordability, quality and access to all.

In reality, the state's two-year colleges are buckling under the stress of funding cuts, increased demand and a weak record of student success.

The situation can be seen on all 112 campuses — students on long waiting lists, those who take years to graduate or transfer and others so frustrated that they drop out. Most of them enter ill-prepared for college-level work. Eighty-five percent need remedial English, 73% remedial math. Only about a third of remedial students transfer to a four-year school or graduate with a community college associate's degree.

"We're at the breaking point," said Jack Scott, who served as chancellor of the California Community College system for three years until retiring this month.

"It's like a nice-looking car you've been driving for several years: It looks shiny, but the engine is falling apart," said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president of Long Beach City College. "The wheels fell off the Master Plan 20 or 30 years ago. We're finally feeling the results because we have enormous needs for our educational system to produce qualified workers, and we're playing catch-up now."

The consequences of not meeting those demands are huge: About 80% of firefighters and law enforcement officers and 70% of nurses embarked on their careers in community college. By some estimates, California will need 2.3 million more community college degree and certificate holders by 2025 to meet the demands of employers.

President Obama has described community colleges as a major engine of job growth and set a goal of graduating an additional 5 million students by 2020. But in California, home to a quarter of the nation's community college students, those efforts are hampered by the state's budget crisis.

The colleges also play a vital role in the state's higher education system, preparing students to transfer to University of California and California State University campuses. About half of all Cal State graduates began at community colleges.

California's community colleges started early in the 20th century as offshoots of high schools. Gradually they became separate junior colleges with a state-appointed Board of Governors.

The idea was to offer free classes to high school graduates, people looking for job training and those who just wanted to take a music, art or language class on a neighborhood campus.

Classes were free until 1984. At $46 per unit today, they remain among the least expensive in the nation. About 44% of all current community college students qualify for fee waivers based on income.

The system has experienced explosive growth, peaking at about 2.9 million students in 2008-09, while funding grew to about $5.8 billion last year from $200 million in 1965.

Community colleges have three main sources of revenue: state funds, property taxes and student fees. State aid accounts for 61% of the system's budget.

State funding has not kept pace with enrollment growth. Funding per full-time student has declined from a peak of $6,400 in 2000 to about $5,000 today. Course offerings have been slashed by almost a quarter since 2008, and enrollment has dropped by 485,000 students since then.

The community college system is divided among 72 districts run by locally elected boards of trustees, which control their own budgets and the hiring and firing of staff.

Four affluent districts — Marin, Mira Costa, South Orange County and San Mateo County — collect so much revenue from local property taxes and student fees that they don't qualify for most state aid. Still, with declining property taxes in recent years, they're not immune to cutbacks.

Many other college districts that depend on state aid are in more serious financial trouble. They have been forced to dig deeper into their reserves or borrow money. The 90,000-student City College of San Francisco appears to be in the worst situation and faces potential insolvency.

Campuses are cutting counseling and tutoring and dropping winter and summer sessions, trends that officials say could accelerate if voters reject a November ballot measure that would temporarily raise the state sales tax and the state income tax for high earners.

With a 3.6 GPA out of high school, Eduardo Vargas could have gone to a four-year university but chose East Los Angeles College because it was more affordable. During his first year, he was unable to register for any of the high-demand classes he needed for his business administration major.

This fall, he enrolled in honors classes — political science and statistics — because fewer students meet the requirements, so they're easier to get into. Even with an added speech class, he doesn't have the required 12 units to be considered full time.

"I look at the time frame it's going to take me to transfer to San Jose State and it's probably two more years," said Vargas, 19, of Monterey Park. "It's not that important anymore if I get a high-paying job. I just want to get my master's and be stable. Society needs an educated workforce, but it's going to have to invest more in education."

A study by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that, over the course of their careers, high school graduates earned an average of $25,900 per year compared with $33,000 for those with a community college degree and $45,400 for those with a bachelor's degree. (The figures are expressed in 1999 dollars.)

College leaders have begun to narrow the mission of two-year schools, focusing more on job training and preparing students to transfer.

To help move students more quickly through the system, the Legislature and Board of Governors recently approved measures that would set systemwide registration priorities, including preventing students from repeating courses to improve their grades and giving first choice to students who bolster their chances for success by participating in orientation and academic assessment programs. For the first time, students would have to maintain satisfactory grades to continue to qualify for fee waivers.

Keith Richardson, a 47-year-old former security guard, is trying to complete a degree in electrical construction and maintenance at L.A. Trade Tech. He hopes to graduate next spring so he can become a union electrician, but he's not sure he can get the classes he needs.

"I've got it all laid out and I just need a big break and the classes — and that's the hard part," Richardson said.

The vocational classes, taken by Richardson and more than 800,000 others statewide, are funded at the same level as other academic courses — even though they can cost twice as much to provide. Scott, the former chancellor, said these costlier classes should be funded at higher levels. Some campuses, he said, have even been reluctant to add technical or vocational classes because of the cost.

Last spring, Santa Monica College proposed a controversial two-tier tuition plan to allow students with means to pay higher fees for sought-after classes. Officials said those students would be able to move through the system more quickly, and the added revenue would help fund additional classes for everyone else. But the college abandoned the idea after Scott warned it could violate state education laws.

Ultimately, community colleges must consider bold steps, such as shifting resources from less populated regions of the state to areas with larger numbers of young people and combining some smaller districts, said Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, a nonprofit association of the state's community college districts.

"I think we're finally at the point where the majority of districts … have to realize that the landscape has changed," Lay said.

Tirado, meanwhile, took classes at both Trade Tech and East Los Angeles College last spring to fill out her schedule. This time around, she may need to find a biology class at another community college during the winter session — if she can find a campus still offering winter classes.

"Sometimes it's very discouraging to have to go through all of these obstacles to get an education," Tirado said. "But if we see it that way, we're not going to succeed."

carla.rivera@latimes.com

This is the first in a series of occasional articles about the challenges facing California's community colleges.

 Read more here

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

iPhone 5 orders topped 2M in 24 hours

 iPhone 5 orders topped 2M in 24 hours

The Associated Press

Orders for the new iPhone 5 topped 2 million in 24 hours, more than double the amount of its predecessor over the same period.

Since Apple started taking iPhone 5 orders on its website at 3 a.m. EDT on Friday, buyers who have a two-year service agreement with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon Wireless have been able to order the phone for $199 (16 gigabyte model), $299 (32 GB) or $399 (64 GB model).

Apple said Monday that while most orders will be delivered on Friday, demand for the iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply. As a result, some of the devices are scheduled for delivery in October.

The Cupertino, Calif. company's stock added 1.2 percent, or $8.50, to close at $699.78 on Monday.

The iPhone 5 represents the first major revision of the iPhone's screen size since the first model was introduced in 2007. The new iPhone has an elongated screen _4 inches (10.16 centimeters) measured diagonally_ that allows room for another row of icons and lets widescreen movies fit better. The calendar will now show five days at a time instead of just three. Previous iPhone models had 3.5-inch (8.89-centimeter) screens. The new phone is also thinner and weighs less than previous models. It can operate on LTE cellular networks and sports a new processor and updated software.

T. Michael Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said he believes the iPhone 5's "differentiated form factor versus the iPhone 4S" and other improvements should drive strong iPhone 5 sales. The record advanced orders on Friday and through the weekend caused Walkley to revise his previous prediction that Apple would sell 6 million of the new iPhones by September 29. He now believes "Apple could ship 9 million to 10 million" in that time, he told investors in a note on Monday.

Janney Capital Markets analyst Bill Choi said Apple's announcement Monday "suggests iPhone 5 is running well ahead of iPhone 4S." In a note to investors, Choi reaffirmed his earlier expectation that Apple will sell 7 million to 10 million iPhone 5s by the end of September.

It won't be easy for Apple to top the breakneck sales pace set by previous iPhones. Apple said last year that it sold over 4 million iPhone 4Ss just three days after its launch on October 14. That launch occurred less than two weeks after the death of Apple's iconic founder Steve Jobs and as the iPhone 4S went on sale, scores of Apple devotees were still mourning him with candlelight vigils and impromptu memorial ceremonies outside of Apple stores across the globe.

The iPhone 5 will be available at Apple's 356 U.S. stores starting Friday. Each customer who makes a purchase at an Apple store will be offered free personal setup service, which will help them customize their device.

The phone will be available in more than 22 countries on Sept. 28.

Aside from Apple stores, the iPhone 5 will be available at Apple's website as well as through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, some Best Buy, RadioShack, Target and Walmart stores and certain Apple authorized resellers.

Earlier Monday AT&T Inc. said it set a sales record for the iPhone 5, with customers ordering more of them than any previous iPhone model on the first day of orders and over the weekend.

Read more here

Community colleges no longer a place to find yourself

Community colleges no longer a place to find yourself

By Tammerlin Drummond, Oakland Tribune Columnist

Ever since 1960, California's community colleges have been required to admit any state resident 18 years or older who has a high school diploma or the equivalent.

It doesn't matter if an applicant has a 1.0 or a 3.0 GPA. There is no requirement that he or she submit SAT scores. No personal essay, letters of recommendation or laundry list of extracurricular activities.

The idea behind California's Master Plan for Higher Education--signed into law by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Sr. -- was that a college education should be accessible to everyone.

The good thing was since pretty much anyone could get in, people who were motivated but couldn't afford a four-year school could take courses at community college and later transfer into the CSU or UC systems. Many were the first in their families to be able to pursue a college degree. Immigrants could come to community college to learn English. The schools offered remedial skills to students who had been awarded diplomas from California public high schools without being able to read or write at anything remotely resembling college level. There were vocational courses, certificate and associate degree programs. Then, there was the fun stuff for lifelong learners like painting, language and exercise classes. Seniors often got to go for free.

The bad thing was, anyone could get in.

A few years ago, I taught a beginning news writing class at Laney College in Oakland for two semesters.

Very few of my students showed up regularly or turned in assignments. I couldn't figure out why a number of them had even bothered to enroll. Earlier this year, I signed up for a video production class, also at Laney.

There were half a dozen young men who sat in the back of the room, loudly disrupting the professor's lecture, week in and week out.

Again, I wondered, why are these people here taking up valuable space?

There are students like these who go from class to class with no goal in mind.

Meanwhile, students who are trying to get their act together can't get into the classes they need to graduate or transfer because they're full.

In the 2009-2010 academic year, 133,000 entering students found themselves in that boat.

Community colleges still can't reject applicants. But if a student can't get into any of the classes he needs, it's the same as being turned away.

Over the past four years, state budget cuts have ravaged California's community colleges to the tune of $809 million.

There are 24 percent fewer classes system wide and nearly 500,000 fewer students -- 2.4 million currently.

Meanwhile, demand has never been greater with so many people out of work and seeking retraining.

There has been a push in recent years to hold community colleges accountable for student progress and to weed out individuals who are not seriously pursuing any kind of degree or certificate.

The Board of Governors, which oversees California's community colleges, decided earlier this month to start rationing classroom seats.

Starting in 2014, priority registration will be given to two groups:

1) incoming students who have completed an academic assessment and have an education plan for earning enough credits to transfer to a four-year-college or university, getting a vocational degree or learning English. 2) Returning students with no more than 60 credits.

Veterans, active-duty military personnel and foster youth move to the front of the list, followed by low-income and disabled students.

Lifelong learners move to the bottom of the list.

The mantra now is getting students through the system as quickly as possible.

Gov. Jerry Brown faces a very different set of circumstances than his father.

Senate Bill 1456, which is now on his desk, requires, among other things, that students make academic progress in order to be eligible for a fee waiver and that students to be assessed and develop an education plan.

One thing is for sure. The old days of being able to hang out and find yourself at community college until you figure out what to do next are over.

Posted:   09/17/2012 04:03:05 PM

Tammerlin Drummond is a columnist for the Bay Area News Group. Contact her attdrummond@bayareanewsgroup.com or follow her at Twitter.com/Tammerlin

Read more here

How to plug online ID leaks

How to plug online ID leaks

By Claudia Buck,cbuck@sacbee.com

Published: Sunday, Sep. 2, 2012 , Sacramento Bee

When it comes to online identity theft, it's a minefield out there. Every day, some cyber crook is devising new ways to sneak into our online accounts and pilfer money, or just our sanity.

And computer hackers are getting better at it, becoming increasingly sophisticated in their methods and targets.

"In the last five years, the bad guys have gotten as good as or better than the good guys," said Robert Siciliano, security expert with McAfee, the Santa Clara-based online security company.

Since 2005, about 560 million consumer medical, financial and personal records have been breached by hackers who broke into databases of numerous government agencies, hospitals and companies, from General Motors to Twitter. That's according to the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

No one is entirely safe, say online security experts.

"Based on the massive amount of information that people give away (online) and the staggering number of security breaches that occur each year, it's inevitable you're going to become a victim," said Adam Levin, founder of IdentityTheft911, a security breach consulting firm.

But there are ways to toughen up our defenses against online identity theft. Here's some advice:

Beef up passwords

Too many of us use the same, wimpy passwords, whether it's for banking, shopping or socializing. If just one account gets hacked, they're instantly all vulnerable.

Passwords should never be: a dictionary word, a sequence of numbers/letters (i.e. 45678 or abcdef) or anything that's personal (your kid's name, dog's name, anniversary).

Instead, they should be: at least 8 characters, a mix of upper-/lower-case letters, a combination of letters and symbols (#, &, $, etc.)

Try to make it something you can easily remember. Use the first letter of each word in a favorite phrase or song title, for instance. If you're on a site like Amazon.com, suggests Levin, include the letters AZ.

Too many passwords to remember? Use a password manager, which stores multiple passwords in an "online safe" where you only need one password for access. "They let you randomly generate strong passwords for all your accounts and store them securely," says Joanne McNabb, chief of the state's privacy protection office.

McNabb said there are free versions: KeePass (for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android and iOS), Password Safe (Windows) and Keychain (Mac).

Skip the quizzes

"What dog are you?" "What Michael Jackson dance move are you?" "Could you survive the Hunger Games?"

All those trivia quizzes, polls, surveys and personality tests that populate the online universe may be perfectly benign. Or they could be a cyber crook trying to assemble puzzle pieces of your identity.

"You have to look at the information elicited through those quizzes as components to a nuclear weapon," said IdentityTheft911's Levin. "Many of these personal factoids are harmless on their own but when combined, they create a mosaic of your life" that can be used by hackers.

His advice: Don't indulge.

Answer with caution

When signing up for online accounts, we're often required to answer selected security questions: your first pet, favorite color, mother's maiden name, high school mascot. But if someone wants to break into your online accounts, every answer they need could already be out there via social media.

Instead, use fake answers that you'll remember or repeat the same answer to every question: "Dog," for instance.

Don't click

You get an email from a friend, who wants to share a link to a cute video, political commentary or an intriguing story.

Problem is: It might not really be your friend, but an impostor. Or your friend may unwittingly be sharing an infected link that could worm its way into your computer.

"Don't click links in the body of an email. Ever," said McAfee's Siciliano.

If it's a work colleague who said she's sending a link or if a company you've signed up for is sending a confirmation link, it's probably OK. For everything else, "just hit 'Delete.' "

Social media savvy

There are ways to reduce your risks while still enjoying online socializing, notes McNabb. Among them: never post your email address or your full birth date (especially the year). Lock down your account so it's viewable to "friends only." Don't accept friend requests from people you don't know.

And while Facebook isn't the only social media venue, its 800-plus million users make it a giant target for hackers. Facebook itself has a "Bug Bounty" that pays $500 and up to anyone who pinpoints security holes before they're used by hackers.

Facebook's website has security notes for parents, teens and everyone else on how to report hacked accounts and other online mischief, such as "Please send money" scams.

Those privacy tips are yours to heed.

Palm of your hand

Your mobile phone can be a source of cyber intrusions, either by downloading apps infected with viruses or clicking on texts/links that try to con you into disclosing financial or personal information.

At the very least, McNabb says, everyone should use a password on mobile phones.

And don't click on the "Save my Password" feature, says Levin. If your mobile device lands in the wrong hands, that feature could provide instant access to everything stored on your phone.

Check your accounts

Although he freely uses his credit card online, Siciliano says he carefully scrutinizes his monthly credit card statements. "If you're not looking at your statement frequently, the next thing you know you're paying for dinner of a cyber-thief."

Same for your credit reports. Every adult is entitled to a free, annual credit report from each of the three credit reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax). Check yours to ensure that no fraudulent accounts have been set up in your name.

"Monitor what's going on; either pay for a monitoring service or look (online) at your bank and credit card accounts every day for fraudulent activity," said Levin.

If your financial institutions offers it, sign up for online or text alerts of suspicious account activity.

Get security patches

Update your computer with the most current anti-virus and anti-spyware security.

Most newer PCs will do automatic updates, but if you have an older PC that requires manual updates, it may be time to upgrade. "You should be in at least Windows 7 or the latest version of Mac software. … You shouldn't be driving a Ford Pinto," Siciliano said, noting that older browsers and operating systems are often targets of hacker attacks.

For more security tips:

• "Staying Private in Public," state Office of Privacy Protection,  www.privacy.ca.gov

• "Social Networking Privacy: How to be Safe, Secure and Social,"  www.privacyrights.org

• Facebook's "Family Safety Center,"  Facebook.com/help/safety

Read more here: 

How to manage your bulging email inbox

Tech Savvy: How to manage your bulging email inbox

There are many simple steps you can take to cope with the flood of email that is expected to increasingly pile up in your inbox.

by Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2012

I lost my entire day to email yesterday, and I bet you've had days like that too.

Recent studies found that the average employee spends a third of her workday dealing with email. On average, people receive 110 emails a day and double that in the office. It's a huge time suck, and it's expected to worsen as more people use email to communicate.

But you don't have to succumb to the digital deluge. There are many simple steps you can take to manage the bulging inbox.

The first big step is to fend off superfluous email. For instance, if you don't want to know what your Facebook friend is doing at the moment, change your notification settings by clicking on the arrow at the top of the screen. Click on "account settings" and then "notifications" on the far left of the screen. Click on Facebook and uncheck all the little boxes such as "tags you in a photo."

And if you're tired of newsletters and unsolicited emails from retailers, unsubscribe from them. There is usually an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the emails. Click on it and tell them not to send you any more.

You can also tell your email system to send certain emails directly to the trash bin so you don't have to look at them. In Outlook you can do this by right-clicking on the email, clicking on the junk mail tab and adding the address to "blocked senders list."

What to do with emails you want to keep and read?

Create an email filing system. One way is to create a folder called Old Email and move your entire inbox into it at the end of each day. You can still access the emails in this folder, but they won't distract you each time you open your inbox to see new messages.

Mark Hurst, author of the book "Bit Literacy," suggests you also create a To Do folder and move the emails that require action into it.

"The method is very simple: Separate your to do's from the rest of your emails, so that you can work from a to do list, rather than an inbox," which wasn't designed to manage workflow, he said.

You might also consider subscribing to an email management service such as SaneBox that automatically prioritizes your email. SaneBox costs $5 a month and leaves only the emails it thinks you need to see immediately in your inbox, while gathering the remaining emails in another folder.

The service will send you an email (yes, another email) with a list of the other emails you have received throughout the day.

"The average inbox has only 42% that are important and 58% that are not important," said Dmitri Leonov, a vice president at SaneBox. "Our users move things around a lot, but the split almost always remains the same."

Finally, be smart about the emails you send. Use the phone to conduct business that requires a lot of back-and-forth discussion. Remember, the more emails you send, the more you receive.

deborah.netburn@latimes.com

Read more >>>

11 things to do with your old iPhone

11 things to do with your old iPhone

AP by by BARBARA ORTUTAY, 09/11/2012

NEW YORK -- In case you haven't heard by now, Apple is unveiling its latest iPhone on Wednesday. That leaves the question: What should you do with your old one?

The new phones will join some 244 million iPhones sold since the first one launched in 2007. Some have been lost or stolen. Some of us are still hanging on to our old gadgets in some futile attempt to resist the constant upgrade cycle that technology companies are forcing on us.

But it's fair to say that millions of iPhones are languishing in desk drawers or gathering dust. Here are a few things to do with yours to keep it from meeting that fate once you buy the iPhone 5.

1. Give it to your kids so they stop taking yours

Every parent, aunt and uncle knows that no toy in the history of toys has ever been as appealing to a kid as an iPhone. They are shiny, they have games and grown-ups use them for important things. More importantly, they are either off-limits or doled out in limited quantities as a reward for, say, sitting still for a minute. Load up your old iPhone with games and give it to a deserving child in your life.

2. Or to your mom so she can finally see the light

Alternately, if a Luddite adult has been thinking of taking the plunge into the world of smartphones, your old iPhone may help him or her get over the hump. If you have an iPhone 4 or 4S, you might also find someone who's still hanging on to an earlier model and give them the gift of an upgrade. You may just buy a friend for life (or at least until iPhone 6 comes out).

3. Use it as a teeny-tiny iPad

You'll be able to watch videos, send email and search Wikipedia for random facts to end cocktail-party disagreements with your decommissioned iPhone - as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection. There's even a camera, which means you can avoid being that guy (or gal) at the concert who's turning heads for taking photos with an iPad.

4. Donate to charity

Several charities accept old phones for donation, though it's worth remembering that these groups likely won't physically give your old phones to people in need. Rather, they work with phone recyclers and sell your donated phones to them.

A nonprofit group called Cell Phones for Soldiers will take your "gently used" phone and sell it to recycling company ReCellular. It will then use the proceeds to buy calling cards for soldiers.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence works with another recycling group in a similar manner. About 60 percent of the phones it collects are refurbished and resold. The money goes toward supporting the coalition. The remaining 40 percent of the phones are recycled, according to the group's website. It pays for shipping if you are mailing three or more phones.

There are a few more suggestions from New York's Department of Environmental Conservation at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8818.html

5. Alarm Clock

Do you still use that old radio alarm you bought for your college dorm room in the 20th century? Join the 21st century by turning your old iPhone into an alarm clock. Hide it in a different spot in your bed each night for an added challenge.

6. Sell, sell, sell!

Join the eBay hordes and sell your phone for a few hundred bucks if you can. There will likely be a flood of the gadgets soon after people start getting their new phones, so it might make sense to wait a little.

A company called Gazelle, meanwhile, will make an offer for your old phone based on its condition, your phone carrier and other information. A 32 gigabyte iPhone 4S on Verizon Wireless, for example, was recently going for $237 if it's in good condition and $90 if it's broken.

http://glyde.com/  also offers to help you resell your old phone. A recent check showed the above 4S getting roughly $325 to $350 after fees are deducted - provided there is a buyer. A "speed sale" that guarantees to sell it in seven days will get the seller slightly less money.

7. Trade in at GameStop

The video game retailer offers cash or store credit for old iPhones (along with iPods and iPads). The service is only available in stores and not online. A 32 gigabyte iPhone 4S on Verizon will get you up to $335 in store credit or up to $268 in cash.

8. Stream music

Stick that baby in a speaker dock, spring for a Pandora subscription ($36 per year) or Spotify ($10 per month) and bam, you have a stereo.

Or try SoundCloud. Although it's meant to let you create and share music with people, it's also a good place to listen to DJs you like or discover new ones. TuneIn, meanwhile, will let you listen to online radio stations playing music, sports, news or talk shows.

9. Keep as a backup in case you lose your fancy new one.

Nearly one-third of cellphone owners have had their gadgets lost or stolen, according to a recent survey from Pew Internet & Pew Internet & American Life Project.

10. Use as a camera

At its core, a decommissioned iPhone is a hard drive with a camera. Snap photos with it. No Canon needed. You can also use the iPhone to move photos and other files from one computer to another.

11. Recycle with Apple

Apple Inc.'s own recycling program will give you an Apple gift card if it is determined to have a "monetary value." A 32 gigabyte iPhone 4S with some light scratches but in good working condition was recently estimated at $280. That's higher than Gazelle, but you'll have to spend the money at Apple. The company also accepts broken phones for recycling but you won't get any money for them.

More info >>>