Obama tells kids to be wary of Facebook

I guess this goes for my blog as well:(

Obama tells kids to be wary of Facebook: "Speaking to around 40 high school students in Virginia, the president suggests children should be very careful about what they post on the social networking site."

Google Voice Adds Email Forwarding and Replies to SMS [SMS]

Google Voice Adds Email Forwarding and Replies to SMS [SMS]: "

Google Voice's web-based SMS inbox is convenient for frequent texters, but it is, after all, another inbox to tend to. Now, however, you can receive, and even reply to, SMS messages through your email address.

That's convenient on a few different levels. The most obvious is that keeping a Google Voice tab open to track your voice and SMS messages during browsing hours is no longer necessary, as Voice can forward you transcribed voicemail messages with audio attachments and, as of late last night, also forward your SMS messages. If you head into your Google Voice "Voicemail & SMS" settings and turn on email forwarding, the messages arrive from a randomized address at txt.voice.google.com, which makes it nice and easy to set up a new label and filter in Gmail and other mail clients to funnel all your SMS into.

The best part of the SMS emails is that you can reply to them from your email inbox, and they'll appear just as if you'd replied to them from your Google Voice phone number. In Gmail and some other clients, too, that means back-and-forth text messages are wrapped into neat threads, just as they would be on the Google Voice inbox. If you're serious about a single inbox and have regular email access, you could turn off SMS forwarding to your phone and lower, or eliminate, your unlimited texting plan needs.

The one drawback, at least for neatniks, is that the will still sit unarchived in the Google Voice inbox, but if you're devoted to moving your phone messaging life into one inbox, an occasional Select All, Archive isn't too much to ask.

Share some of your clever uses of Voice's SMS-to-email service, or your wishlist for future features (besides, of course, more invites going out) in the comments.

Receive and reply to SMS messages by email [Google Voice Blog]

Yahoo intros new iPhone and BlackBerry apps

Yahoo intros new iPhone and BlackBerry apps: "Internet company is focusing more on developing specific applications for devices, such as the iPhone, as it shifts its mobile strategy."

4 Websites With LOTS Of Completely Free Ebooks That Don’t Suck

4 Websites With LOTS Of Completely Free Ebooks That Don’t Suck: "

If you’re a fervent reader and nerd like I am, you’ve probably encountered quite a lot of writing online. However, most of them are either absolute garbage or entirely illegal.

It’s hard to find good, legal reads online – unless you know where to look. There are several sites that offer classic out-of-copyright writing, or publishes new e-books online as promotions.

If you know where to look, you can feast on these completely free Ebooks for all the time you’ve got, and today is the day we’ll show you where to look.

Planet eBook

Planet eBook is a classy site that offers classic literature for free. These books, because they’re out-of-copyright, can be offered to you in an entirely legal fashion. However, Planet eBook doesn’t just give you any piece of ‘free literature’. Right now, they offer about 60 books to their readers, all of which have been carefully selected. True, you won’t have the buffet of thousands that you’ll find on other sites, but you can be assured that each and every piece of writing on Planet eBook is of outstanding quality. Furthermore, if you feel like a book is ‘missing’ from it’s collection, you put it up as a suggestion.

All books on Planet eBook can be read on the site, but can also be downloaded as a PDF, both in a 1-page and 2-page version.

ManyBooks

ManyBooks works in the same way as Planet eBook, they offer pieces of classic literature for free that are out-of-copyright. However, where Planet eBook presents a carefully selected array of literature, ManyBooks handles in bulk (as the name truthfully implies).

At the time of writing, there are 24,741 completely free eBooks available and although it might be true that not all of them will read your socks off, I’m sure you can find some good reads in the better part of them. To select a book, you can browse by author, title, category or language, or you can browse through the site’s recommendations. Not only does the site offer an amazing number of books, it does so in an incredible number of formats. Although you might not be able to read it directly on the site, you can check out one of the mirrors or choose between a dazzling 25 different filetypes to read it on your desktop, mobile, or eBook device.

Classic Reader

Classic Reader takes a conceptual place in between Planet eBook and ManyBooks. It offers noticably more books than Planet eBook (3,629 titles at the time of writing), its material is still more selected (by a 1-man Canadian company) and controlled.

Perhaps the major distinction with the two previously mentioned sites is that there are no eBooks available for download. Alas no PDFs, ZIPs, or anythings — the eBooks are all meant to read online, on the site. You can browse the author or title list, or filter content out by looking into a specific genre: fiction, non-fiction, young readers, poetry, short stories, drama or classical.

PublicBookshelf

Contrary to the three previously mentioned sites, PublicBookshelf is NOT filled with works of classic literature. Instead, PublicBookshelf relies completely on new, promising authors who publish online as a means of promoting their printed books. As such, you won’t be able to download the books, but will often find an Amazon link to support the author (who – with the books on this site – is often still alive).

PublicBookshelf – focusing entirely on romance novels – is a great site to sample the writing if you’re looking for something fresh, but it’s also a great site if you’re looking for a good read. Check out their top novels for reading directions, or venture off into the depths of the site and discover treasures of writing yourself. I hope you’ve got 4 fresh bookmarks for completely free ebooks that will be able to satisfy the literacy-vampire that’s inside of you. If they are not enough, check out where to get more romance e-books, 6 more e-book sites, where and how to read comic e-books, and how to make your own e-books from Wikipedia.

Is The Frugal Life Here to Stay?

Is The Frugal Life Here to Stay?: "

For an increasing number of people, frugality is a chosen way of life by necessity. The Great Recession — a phrase I’ve been seeing more of recently to refer to the past year or so — has left many Americans without jobs for a long period of time. Without the income, and with less access to credit, many are choosing to live their lives in a more frugal manner. And perhaps in some cases it seems like the choice to live this way has been made for them.

Credit: dawnzy

Economic events have pushed entire generations to adopt a certain way of life. While it is just a generalization, those who lived through the Great Depression have a different attitude towards money than the Baby Boomers have. Young workers who experienced the economic decline in the 1930s came of age with an attitude towards making the most of every cent, appreciating work, and getting by with just the basic needs.

The attitudes Baby Boomers, who benefited from the post-World War II economic boom, have are more defined by access to credit. Mortgages and credit cards, as well as higher salaries, helped those in this generational segment spend more, live in better conditions, and experience more luxuries than their parents.

The tail end of Generation Y is entering the workforce now, and they are doing so in economic turmoil. And they are adapting to the recent reality of high unemployment and tighter access to credit. As a result, a very large and important demographic has been saving more and spending less than they earn. These are great qualities, recommended for anyone regardless of level of wealth or broader economic condition, but now many people are wondering if this generation will come to be defined by a return to more conservative spending values.

I don’t think these attitudes will last long, but I would not call this new frugality a “fad.”

Spending less than you earn is not cool, like a stylish shirt pattern that catches on for a year and then fades out of existence. People don’t become wiser about their finances because they read an article in a magazine about celebrities spending smart and then wish to emulate these role models. Americans don’t watch the latest episode of “Cribs,” now featuring small one-bedroom apartments near train stations and decide they want to downsize their home.

The fact that frugality isn’t a fad does not mean that it is here to stay. Although it may be sad for those of us who like to see sensible financial behavior, Generation Y and Millennials will not be defined by the Great Recession. Life moves faster in the twenty-first century. Economic cycles move faster. In the last ten years, we experienced a bubble and a burst in tech stocks, a bubble and a burst in the real estate market, a bubble and a burst in the broader stock market, and a bubble and a burst in the credit market. In previous generations, these cycles would have been spread out more.

With economic events occurring more frequently, it would be difficult for one generation to be defined by any one particular spending philosophy like frugality. Some people who have been hit hard lately may alter their behavior for the rest of their lives, but it is more likely that in general, the adaptable younger generations will return to extensive use and misuse of credit and a desire to live above their means as economic sentiment improves.

Flexo is a finance blogger and podcaster at Consumerism Commentary. You can find him on Twitter @flexo or @consumerismcommentary.

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Bachmann: Dems Are Sabotaging Me Because I Might Become Prez

Stop please, your killing me...

Bachmann: Dems Are Sabotaging Me Because I Might Become Prez: "Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) finally explained yesterday why Democrats don't want her in office: They're scared she'll become the first female president. 'They want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman' Bachmann said."

Vote Markakis for Man of the Year

Vote Markakis for Man of the Year

Vote for Nick!!!!

Monticello, VA

Some shots taken at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, near Charlottesville, VA

YouTube wants to offer film rentals

YouTube wants to offer film rentals: "This would be a natural progression for YouTube, a company that has for the past year attempted to become a hub for feature films, but no deals are done yet."

Xbox 360's Most Wanted

Xbox 360's Most Wanted: "FEATURE: McKinley unleashes his hit list of 10 new Xbox 360 video games you can't go without."