Tag: twitter

Identity Theft Protection With Lifelock

On By Michel McDonaldIn AdLeave a comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LifeLock Twitter for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

AmeliaIZEA | skitch.com

My very first experience with identity theft was when I had just turned 18 years old and went to get a job.  The interviewer asked me how long I have been in this country and asked me for my green card.  They did a credit check and that said that I wasn’t me.  I had to schedule a new interview where I had to bring my social security card as well as my birth certificate and my California ID card to prove that I was me.  That was in 1988.  I wrote about this experience in my book.

My second experience was in 2004 when I tried to get our utilities turned on with PG&E, they told me that I had to bring in my ID card and my social security card because according to their credit check, I wasn’t who I said I was again.  This time I asked and they told me the first name was Marsha.

Many years had gone by and I started seeing these commercials where a man was telling the world what his social security number was and daring people to steal it.  That company was LifeLock.  I decided that I did not want my prior experiences to happen again, so I signed up with Lifelock.  I only pay $10 a month and my name and social security number has never been safer.  I have been a member since January 2008.

As a member, Lifelock will send you a credit report every year and they will put restrictions in place so not even you can sign up for a credit card or buy a car without showing proof.  They will send you email and/or text alerts when someone is trying to use your credit.

Here are some interesting and alarming stats.  Households that make $100K per year have the highest fraud rate at 7.4%.  The average cost per person who loses their identity is $1,513.  11.6 million adults were victims of identity theft in 2011 and $18 billion dollars was lost.  6.6% are smart phone users, 6.8% are people who interact with apps in social media websites, 8.2% “checked in” on websites with their smart phone with GPS and 10.1% are LinkedIn users.

How hack-friendly is your password?  If you have a password that is only 6 characters without any symbols, a hacker will figure that password out in .000224 seconds, but if your password is 10 characters and uses a symbol (&%$#@), it could take them 20 days which gives you enough time to change your password every couple of weeks.  How safe do you feel now?  If they can figure out your email password and send emails on your behalf, imagine them stealing your bank account password and draining your account without you even knowing it.

If I were you, I would sign up with Lifelock today.  Check out their website and LifeLock on Twitter.  It’s nice knowing that my credit is safe.

Visit Sponsor's Site

Glowing Review from Marguerite Labbe

On By Michel McDonaldIn Autobiography, BooksLeave a comment

I woke up this morning and immediately turned on my computer so I could check my email while I ate my breakfast and I came across an email from my favorite author Marguerite Labbe.  She posted a review of my book on her blog and I was so beyond excited because I wasn’t sure how people would feel about reading my book, but apparently it’s good.

Marguerite Labbe is an award-winning M/M author.  She wrote those gay vampire books that I love so much starting with  “My Heart Is Within You.”  I really love to read supernatural fiction, especially when they have vampires, ESPECIALLY when they are gay vampires lol.  She really knows how to capture the raw sexuality of two hot gay men better than I have ever even experienced.  Let’s just say that I had to take several bathroom breaks when I read her book.

MargueriteLabbe.com: Diary of a Gay Nerd by Michel McDonald

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Diary of a Gay Nerd by Michel McDonald

“I’ve had a hard time putting into words how I felt when I read Michel’s memoir.  Many parts struck a chord in me from my own childhood, though I was far luckier than Michel was and I didn’t have the added alienation of being gay.  I’ve known Michel for several years now, ever since he picked up my vampire trilogy and we started talking.  In that time, I’ve found him to be a very kind, passionate and determined man.  After reading his memoir I have to add brave to that as well and not just for what he endured and overcame.  To be able to write something like this, with such unflinching honesty, takes a rare kind of person.  Michel doesn’t gloss over his own mistakes, but puts them out there just as baldly as the abuse he went through.

“I am honored to know such a man and call him my friend.”

How awesome is that?  When I first read her book after buying it from Rainbow eBooks, I knew I had to find her on Twitter and tweet her telling her how awesome her book was.  I was surprised that she responded, but equally surprised that she continued talking to me through Twitter.  We have been talking ever since.  I think Twitter is one of the most amazing online services ever invented.

Thank you Marguerite Labbe for writing this review.  I have added it to the Barnes & Noble website btw.

My Book is Coming Soon…

On By Michel McDonaldIn Autobiography, BooksLeave a comment

I have finally published my book.  It will take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours for it to be reviewed before it will be ready for sale so I would count on January 6th as my official publish date.  Keep your eyes crossed for that one.

I had a hard time getting an author picture because we just couldn’t find a good location to take it, so I recycled a picture from 2005 lol.  I know it’s cheating but it’s a really good picture.

Of course it will be in black and white in the paper book and on all e-ink e-book readers, it will be in color in the color e-book readers, tablets and phones.  I am just happy that I didn’t have to pose cause I really don’t like to fake a smile when someone can’t figure out how to push the button.

You have no idea how much anxiety I had to push the “publish” button.  I finally just clicked it and covered my mouth with both of my hands as if I accidentally clicked it.  I spent seven months working on it, it’s now or never.

So my new website for the book www.diaryofagaynerd.com is up and running with a picture of the book along with buttons to click to buy the book, to follow me on twitter, like me on Facebook, to get a GetGlue sticker and to come here, although only three buttons work because I have to get the links when the book has been published.  I will be offering a GetGlue sticker, but I have to wait for the book to be on the GetGlue site first.

You know how anxious you are on Christmas eve, or the day before your birthday, or the day before you go to Disneyland?  Yeah… that’s me right now.

Publishing My Book

On By Michel McDonaldIn Autobiography, BooksLeave a comment

The time has finally come for me to announce that my book is FINALLY FINISHED!

Seven months of hard work has finally paid off.  Not only have I learned how to write, but I have also learned how to grammar… wait no that’s bad grammar!  But seriously, my grammar has greatly improved, compared to when I started writing anyway.

The only thing that is preventing me from publishing my book now is an author picture.  I don’t want to publish it until I can get dressed up in my gay uniform, that being my “Legalize Gay” t-shirt that I got from the Human Rights Campaign from when I volunteered with them a few months ago at the gay pride here in Bakersfield.  Although I am not set on that shirt as being the only thing in the photo, I may bring a dress shirt.  Who knows, I may combine them and wear the dress shirt unbuttoned on top of the Legalize Gay shirt.  We’ll see.

I was going to use my own domain xanapus.com as the hub, but decided to buy a new domain name www.diaryofagaynerd.com with links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Rainbow eBooks, GetGlue, Facebook, Twitter and here.  Of course I’m paying every month for 1 single html page lol.  That doesn’t seem fair since I have a lot of space over here, but whatever.

Oh I mentioned GetGlue, yeah I haven’t really talked to them yet but I sent a tweet to one of the GetGlue people that I know.  I want to offer a sticker for my readers.  I already have the sticker made, I just need to give them the file so they can give it to people when they check-in.  Although I don’t know if a lot of writers offer stickers for books, maybe I’m the first.  Wouldn’t that be awesome if I were?  How cool would that be?  I’m a GetGlue pioneer LMAO.

So I will just focus my energy now on getting that picture so I can publish it.  Hopefully tomorrow, but no promises.

I do have future plans for another book, actually a series of fictional stories about my character Xanapus from the game EverQuest.  Of course I won’t be able to write about Norrath, I will have to make up my own fantasy world.  That will just make it more fun to write if I make things up as I go.  I will probably start the first story with a short story to make sure I know how to write fiction, of course I will be taking a course on writing fiction first.  It was one thing to write an autobiography because I didn’t have to make anything up, a story based on one single character living in a world that doesn’t exist yet is going to be the difficult part.  If I can write a short story with one little tiny quest, then we will see if I have what it takes to write a 200-300 page novel, 8 of them in total to be exact.  Yes, I am aiming high lol.  Don’t hold your breath…

Until tomorrow when I have more news about the book that I already wrote…

Nail Polish for Men

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog1 Comment

If you are a man and you wear nail polish, you are either a goth kid, a rock star or a drag queen.  However, the time has come when all men, no matter what their profession can start wearing nail polish.

A friend of mine on Twitter has been tweeting a link for this new nail polish for men called Alphanail.  It’s a play on words, you know like Alpha Male but nail since it’s nail polish for men.

I think this is kinda cool because I have wanted to wear nail polish for years.  In fact, it was just 2 or 3 days ago when I was talking to someone about how unfair it is that women get all the cool accessories like all the make-up and nail polish and purses etc.  Why is it that men can’t get all of those things?

I looked at the prices for the nail polish for men and well, I don’t know what nail polish for women cost but these are $10 each.  If you buy 3 you get 2 things of nail polish remover called clean slate included for $29.95  and free shipping for orders over $30.  I guess that’s not a bad price.

They have matte and metallics.  I personally wouldn’t like matte too much, I think I would prefer the shiny metallics but I might change my mind if I saw how the matte looked, then again who knows for sure.  But I do like the names of the matte colors like “Burnin’ Rubber”, “Smoke”, “Concrete”, “Cocaine” and “Benjamins”.  Ok um… cocaine?  LOL that one is too hilarious.  “Hey what color is that nail polish” “Oh it’s called cocaine” LOL.  Too funny.

Then the metallics colors are cool too.  They have “Celtic silver”, “Midnight”, “Deep Ocean”, “Gasoline” and “Pirate Gold”.  I like that.  Gasoline.  And what’s even more ironic is that 1 tube of it costs more than 1 gallon of actual gasoline.

You have to see it in action though, they have a video on how to apply the nail polish and here it is:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujPBA2HKPus&feature=player_embedded

I like that it’s a pen with bristles unlike the typical nail polish that women wear.  You click it to make the nail polish come out then start putting it on.

Anyway, I probably won’t be buying this because it’s a bit on the expensive side for me and I’d probably never wear it but if you have the money and the guts I say go for it.

*note, this is not an ad, only an opinion.

How We Can Save “V” From Being Canceled

On By Michel McDonaldIn Aliens, TV, V3 Comments

I am sad to announce that V has been canceled.  (insert crowd booing and the sounds of children crying here)

I found out this morning, well, just a few minutes ago really.  I was tweeted by Ilana Rapp who happens to be the person who spearheaded the campaign to bring V back to tv after 25 years.  She made my dream come true and for that I bow down to her.

Unfortunately, ABC canceled it due to not enough viewers.  How could anyone not watch this awesome show?  But, there is a way to bring it back.  Letter writing.  Why not emails?  Because they can be diverted to a spam filter and they can also be deleted.  A huge bag of letters will prove that V fans are serious about getting their show back.

We waited for 25 years for it to come back and only got 2 seasons and now they are canceling it because of bad ratings?  It’s just not fair!  I heard that Syfy already stated that they are not currently interested which really sucks because when V came back on the air, SyFy had marathons with the original V.  So to have them say they are not interested is very confusing to me.  It is a science fiction based television show, how can they not be interested?  It makes no sense.

You know what, I had actually written to them years ago telling them that I would love it if they brought V back.  Not just to run the old series again but to also turn it into a new series.  Of course I never heard back from them.  Little did I know Ilana Rapp was already working hard to make it happen.

If you love V, and how could you not, please join the 16,784 (and growing) people on the Project Alice facebook fan page and get involved to get this show its 3rd season that it deserves.  I waited for 25 years for this show to return to the air and to have it get canceled like this really upsets me.  So please, help get this show on TNT.  They know drama!

Here are some links:

 

Acer and Samsung Chrome Netbooks Announced

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, CR-48, Google Chrome3 Comments


I saw the news this morning on Twitter from Editor for PC Magazine Lance Ulanoff:

Google: ACER introing netbook-sized ChromeBook #$349. Samsung’s ChromeBook: $429 for Wi-Fi Avail June 15. #io2011

I was way off on the price.  I figured that since the Google Chrome OS is a browser-based only computer that they would sell a Google Chrome OS Netbook for $150-$200.  I never thought they would sell as high as they are.

Chrome OS Site also reports the specs for the Samsung netbook along with other pictures of the netbook from different angles.  The Samsung Chrome OS netbook will sell in WiFi only for $429 and 3G for $499.

I have been using my CR-48 Google Chrome OS netbook since mid December when they first started shipping and I love it.  I still use my desktop computer but only for things that I can’t use my CR-48 for like photo editing with Gimp, balancing my checkbook via Microsoft Money and playing Lord of the Rings Online.  My CR-48 has basically become my default computer for everything else, as it was supposed to be for the pilot program.

I cannot say that I agree with those prices because you can get a netbook for the same price with Windows installed and be able to install software that you want on it to do everything my desktop computer can do.  The Google Chrome OS is internet only.  You can get the internet on a Windows netbook so why pay that much money?

It’s a great operating system, I just don’t think it’s that great that you would pay $500 for it.  I think that they will go down in price eventually so I would wait until they are a more reasonable price.

iPad Only Newspaper “The Daily” Starts Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

I am fortunate that I was able to wake up early this morning and that Darrin watches Fox News all the time so that I was able to watch this news story in the living room about “The Daily” for the iPad while eating my Honey Nut Cheerios.

Rupert Murdoch has announced this new app for the iPad that will give you your news every day for only .99 cents a week or $39 per year. That works out to just .14 cents per day. Remember when the newspaper was just .25 cents a day? You just load the app in your iPad and you get everything that you would normally get in your newspaper and then some.

Although, I wonder if it has any of your local news and features like local obituaries, classifieds, comics and things that are happening in your city, not just around the country and the world. If this replaces the newspaper, what will happen to all of those other cool features that came with the newspaper?  What about the coupons?  Will those just end up coming in the mail instead?

Well, besides losing local news, I envy anyone who has an iPad because it’s really cool and well worth the $39 per year price. They have news articles just like you would see in your newspaper but the exception is you also get color pictures on every article and sometimes even video instead of an image.

Here is a quote from VentureBeat.com where you can read the full story at:

“The Daily is not an island,” they said. You’ll be able to share stories on Facebook, Twitter and via email. You’ll also be able to record audio comments. The app features a built-in web browser, and certain pages also include Twitter feeds. There’s also an apps and games section to The Daily, which will link you directly to the iTunes Store.

The Daily will update throughout the day with breaking news as it happens so if you are at work and something is going on, you will know about it if you just so happen to be looking at it at the time.

I am not fortunate enough to own an iPad so this will be something that I will dream about for a very long time, at least long enough for the iPad to go down in price anyway. It looks like something that Darrin would find very useful where he can save tons of money and waste less paper since he loves to read the newspaper every day. Maybe he can charge an iPad for himself so he can get the Daily. It would be way easier than a new computer which he needs desperately anyway. Also he pays the same price per month that the iPad Daily charges per year so that’s something to think about.

If you have an iPad, let me know how the Daily looks. You get 2 weeks free thanks to Verizon so you have plenty of time to test it out.

My Chrome Apps and Extensions

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, CR-48, Games, Google Chrome, TwitterLeave a comment

I am really enjoying Google Chrome these days. This is my Google Chrome front page. As you can see I have a few apps and unseen a few extensions.

The apps that you can see are pretty cool. The top ones are what came automatically in the browser and the rest I added. If I can’t use programs on my desktop then I gotta find a way to use them on the browser only laptop.

Typically when you are given things in a new product, the first thing you do is get rid of the junk you don’t want. Well, I did get rid of something. There was an icon for a Poppit game from Pogo but when you click it, it loads the Pogo website with the Pogo logo but the game never loads. So screw it, it’s gone lol.

Entanglement is a really cool game and I like to play it so I kept it. I’m not very good but I’m just a beginner. You gotta start somewhere right?

The Gmail and Google Talk ones I can do without but I’m not going to get rid of them if I may need them one day. Instead of using those, I downloaded the app LiveGO . It allows me access to MSN, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo and AOL/AIM all in one web page. For Facebook MSN, Gmail, Yahoo and AOL, it allows me to get access to my inbox and IM. It doesn’t have MySpace or Skype and I really wish they would get Skype on there so I can use the webcam. The IM’s have the webcam button but it says Coming Soon when you mouse over it. Hopefully they will get that up and running soon. For now I can use Google Talk to video chat, although I haven’t had the opportunity yet as I still don’t have any Gmail friends in all the years I’ve had Gmail.

TweetDeck is great. I’ve used that for Twitter on my Desktop so I now use it on the laptop in browser format instead of the installed version my desktop has. I actually like the browser version because the program takes forever to load and the browser loads instantly.

Autodesk Homestyler is such a cool one. You get a measuring tape and measure the rooms in your house and add rooms in the program according to the measurements. Ok I don’t needthis but it’s neat. I can add furniture to each room so I can make decorating decisions. I’m not a decorator but Darrin is so he can use that.

Google Books I added because I’m a book-worm. Although I have a Nook so I don’t need that but I was using it to look up books. I may get rid of it if I need the space though.

Todo.ly is a to do list lol. Yeah I know, lame. I may get rid of it if I don’t use it that often.

Picnik is for photo editing, although they want you to pay for premium features, I just wanted it so I could use it for the webcam. Since I can’t have Gimp on this laptop I needed something but if I really need to make a graphic I’ll just make it on my desktop.

Spider One Suit FREE … It’s Spider Solitaire lol. I can’t imagine a world where there is no solitaire on a computer.

SoopBook is for writing your own book. You can write it in there and invite people to read it and correct your mistakes. Although I don’t know if I want anyone messing with my autobiography but it’s a good way to write it since I am using this as my primary computer.  It also gives me a backup so if my computer crashes then I don’t have to worry about a backup copy.

I haven’t been writing my book at all lately anyway because I’ve been too busy. When I am ready to write again I have SoopBook and/or my desktop to write with. Although I could use SoopBook when we aren’t home and I have the laptop with me so there’s a good reason to keep it for a while.

Do I really need to explain YouTube, Hulu, Google Maps and Scratchpad? I’m sure you know what those are.

I have a few extensions which are on the very top of my browser, to the right of the address bar. I’m using Glue, AOL, Gmail and Yahoo email notifyer so if I’m not in LiveGO then I can see if I have email or not. Then I have Aviary for taking screenshots for blogging (example above).Amplify extension which I use occasionally for blogging and finally After the Deadline which is a great spell/grammar checker, not just for blogging but anywhere you type on the internet.

I am still adding extensions and apps so this is not all I am playing with. There will be more but for now, this is what I’m up to. Playing with and learning how to live with a browser only based laptop, it’s actually not as difficult as it sounds. I’m sure anyone can cut their ties to programs if they really had to. I guess this is an if you were stuck on an island, what program would you bring with you” type of question. Well, in my case I’d have to say the Google Chrome browser would be the only program I need since I can find a way to add all of my programs as web apps.

Ok that’s it for now. I’m tired and my eyes are too blurry from staring at this 12.1 inch laptop screen for the last 16-18 hours lol.

Evan Williams Explains New Twitter Interface

On By Michel McDonaldIn Amplify, Daily BlogLeave a comment

I am definitely not part of the 1% of people who woke up today to a brand new Twitter but even if I was, I wouldn’t have known it considering I only ever go to the Twitter website to click my list of followers to follow people back. For the rest of the day I have TweetDeck running on my screen at all times.

Even if I were part of the 1% of Twitter users who woke up with a brand new interface it wouldn’t do me any good because TweetDeck gives me way more than Twitter.com ever did and even with a new UI it still won’t do me as much good as TweetDeck does.

Watch the video below to see how CEO and co-founder of Twitter Evan Williams explains the new Twitter interface…

Amplify’d from www.youtube.com

Evan Williams Explains New Twitter Interface

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPi31ANzIA

For the 1 percent of users who woke up to a different Twitter experience Wednesday morning, it was probably the biggest change they have ever seen to the real-time information service. Twitter has approximately 160 million users and there are nearly 90 million tweets sent every day.

Tech Crunch has a good walk-through of the new look. Mashable thinks it will put developers on the platform out of business. We asked Evan Williams, the CEO and co-founder of Twitter about what motivated the changes. Take a look:

Read more at www.youtube.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/b6vk