15 hours ago, I was lying in bed wondering what would have happened if I had dropped that card somewhere. I am normally extremely careful, thanks to an incident involving a lost $10 note as a child (30 years ago, $10 was probably worth around $100 these days). No, there were no incriminating photos on that card. Just family photos. Memories for me and mine only to share. Gone, if the card was truly gone.

Then I thought that I should start using usb encryption software to start encrypting all my stuff. Note to self: encrypt usb drive (all of them!), encrypt external drive, even encrypt flash drive. Gonna check out this USBCrypt encryption software which uses strong 128- and 256-bit AES encryption to protect my drives. Better safe than sorry.

The premise is simple: grow sunflowers to collect sunlight points to plant plants with special abilities which can stop zombies of varying talents from reaching your house.

The hook is after each round, you get a new plant. So the game is always fresh and familiar and you get to keep readjusting your strategy. And just when you are getting bored, the scene changes. Some bonus rounds are added in to up the ante.

My husband who is a huge DOTA fan, son, and I were seriously addicted. And it was all good fun.

Psst… Below is a screenshot with my fave pool round strategy.

I had used it as my website contact years ago but quickly switched to typing the various spam avoidance configurations such as emailaddress[at]yahoo.com, emailaddress[at]yahoo dot com, and even emailaddressNOSPAM[at]yahoo dot com.

But unfortunately, like a locust attack, the spammers were merciless. The ratio of actual emails to spam went from 5:1 to 1:5 then 1:50, and then I called it a day and laid that poor address to rest.

There are few ways around it. If you want people to contact you, especially if you’re an online store, you need a contact form or an email address. The latter is problematic because forms can fail, and many have.

There are programs that can help you hide your email address like A.T.G., aka AntiSpam “Mailto” Tag Generator which basically encrypts the ‘mailto:’ HTML code containing your clickable email address with JavaScript.

Here is an in-depth explanation of how it works. There’s a trial version with a watermark, but certainly worth a buy for $9.99 if you need to put your email address online for any reason at all.

1. Orions

A cross between Heroes of Might and Magic and Magic: The Gathering (both of which I played extensively), Orions kept me up for nights, my hero overthrowing other hapless digital characters and taking over their orions. I built and bought cards to which I used to battle them. Oh pleasure. Go buy this one already if you were a Heroes or MTG junkie like me.

2. Monopoly

When you’re tired and frustrated after a bad day, there’s nothing like beating the pants of some annoying metal avatar like a sumo wrestler or that windmill (that kept beating me repeatedly for some arcane reason but now I rule… yeah). Monopoly rules!

3. The Quest

Do I betray my age when I tell you my fave games (before WoW of course) were Eye of the Beholder (I, II, III) and World of Xeen? Anyway, whatever. They are. Were. The Quest is just like that, but on your iPhone. Go get it already.

Yep, 3 faves compared to Jack’s 12. Tells ya something right?

1. No wall charger!

After years of buying non-Apple stuff, I never knew the iTouch would come WITHOUT a wall charger. It comes with a USB charger to hook up to your computer. So if you’re not on the comp 24/7, make sure you haggle with the salesman to throw in one or wait for a sale. Dang thing costs around US$35!

2. You NEED iTunes

Especially if you don’t have the wall charger and your computer, you’re screwed if you travel. So either acquire the wall charger or you’ll have to lug your comp to whatever exotic destination you go cos you’ll need it to charge and sync your stuff.

3. You NEED a screen protector and protective case

Although the iTouch is beautifully metal, it can be very vulnerable to scratches. So far most packages come with a screen protector and a case (usually silicone, which is safe and not that PVC crap) – both of which would probably cost US$20-35 if you buy them separately.

4. There is no printed manual with your box

You’ll have to troubleshoot online like I did if you need help with anything. So if you have no Internet access, you’re screwed too. You can download it from their website but troubleshooting it took needless hours which could have been better spent.

5. Restarting it requires you to press both buttons (there are only 2 pressable ones)

Press till the Apple pic appears. Then you’d have saved a trip to the Apple service centre.

Final Tip: Before you buy, look out for deals that give you a:

a) Wall charger (in addition to the USB charger that comes in the box)

b) Protective casing (look for PVC-free ones)

c) Screen protector

Happy Podding!

Here are the reasons why I bought it:

1. Unparallelled video and sound

Now, I cannot claim to have tested every model of every brand, but trusty blogs and review sites have rated the Touch the best in video and sound output. My brother even let me test run his Touch (not to be removed from his home) and the video was remarkable.

2. No toxic crap in or on it

Here I mean there are no phthalates, PVC, or any toxic chemical crap in it. Apple has championed the environmental cause and tells you exactly what is NOT in the Touch.

3. It’s so darned pretty

There’s just no arguing with it. Every other design just looks… well… unpretty next to it.

4. Free apps (and games)!

From their app store you can download (legally) free games and other useful apps. And the paid ones are pretty reasonable compared to mobile games.

Those 4 were rather compelling reasons to get it. Next post will cover what to note when you want to buy it.

If you think I may have crossed over, I did promise my Lenovo that I would never ever replace it with a Mac.

Its green theme is easy on the eye. I enjoy the Treehugger blog and also how my faves are listed in a tab. The very smart sidebar, which integrates popular social networking tools like Facebook, Flickr, Digg, YouTube, and Twitter make it a super useful browser to have.

Try it out. I promise you won’t regret it.

Since I am already half-blind, the Large Clock Screensaver is a real lifesaver. It shows you the time, date, and even a gigantic mailbox when you have an SMS.

After installing the app, go to:

Tools -> Settings -> General -> Personalisation -> Themes -> Power Saver -> and select Large Time

For more info, check out the developer Martin Storsjö’s website.

Go check out the Text Area Word Counter by Gina Trapani.

(Source: Blogger for Dollars)