I went to the link provided me in the invitation email, put in my zip code and tried to find an available number.. no number available. Okay.. it says in the help that zip codes are restrictive, so put in your area code instead. I put in my area code and… NO NUMBERS IN MY AREA CODE! ARRGH!

I suppose I will have to wait and read the reviews of other folks. Did you get an invitation?  Try it out and let me know what you think! If you would LIKE an invite, SIGN UP HERE ON GOOGLE and see what happens.

If you just want more information on Google Voice, check out this video provided by Google.

Yes, I have asked them to stop. So have others…but they are addicted.  It wouldn’t be so bad if it was all in good fun, but there are other things involved.  Not only some basic “netiquette” but some spam prevention and corporate image protection! Yes, it’s true! Read on for more:

If you MUST forward emails (and I really don’t think you MUST.. is someone holding a gun to your head FORCING you to do it?!?):

• Please delete ALL previous email addresses, information and comments when forwarding email.
• When emailing more than one person, keep email addresses private by using the BCC (“blind carbon copy”) feature of your email program. If you need others to know who you sent it to, type CC and a list of names at the bottom of your email to keep addresses private.

Not only is this polite (conversely, not doing so is RUDE), but it could prevent some bad things from happening:

1. If anyone’s email is a work address, the company name or the recipient’s professional name could be associated with the dirty joke or political bent or whatever is the content of the email.  Remember, we have trusted YOU with our private email address, not your friends. Would you want to risk your friend’s business reputation?

2. Every forwarded email is a spam harvester’s bonanza of valid email addresses. Many email services automatically add names to your address book.. including spammers. Just hitting “forward to address book” can include a spammer. Even if your email program does not do this, or you only forwarded the email to certain people, THEY might “forward to address book.”  Remember, we have trusted YOU with our private email address, not your friends.

(Yes that was worth bolding twice. There are close family members who I have only given the email address I use for websites/newsletters/junk because they can’t be trusted with a private one.)

3. NEVER forward any of those “scare” emails.. the ones saying “there’s a virus going around and here’s how to get rid of it…” or “eating cheese causes death…” or whatever current scare is going around. NEVER do anything to your computer that you are told to do in an email.

Check out the following articles:

CC’ing Your Company’s Image

E-mail Security Tip: Forward Responsibly

Note in that last article the first section is “Willing to receive:” : Make sure your recipient WANTS your forwarded emails.

If someone asks you not to be included on your forward or mailing list, please don’t be offended.  This doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear from YOU, it means we don’t want any more JUNK.  Surely, you can drop us a line and let us know what’s going on in your life without including jokes, videos, scare mail, etc., can’t you? You can’t say that you think we’ll be interested in those if we specifically ask you not to send them.

HERE ARE MY PREFERENCES:

For the record, I DO NOT WANT any forwarded emails or articles. I do not want any videos, or .pdf or any kinds of files in my inbox unless we have agreed in advance. If you think there is something I would be interested in, send me a LINK to where I can find it online…. and JUST me.  Yes, I’m talking to YOU.

DO NOT put my email address in ANY forwarded emails. I don’t care if it’s all family or all people YOU know, THEY may not know not to forward my address anywhere.

DO NOT ASSUME that I agree with your political or religious views and that it’s okay to send me stuff in this regard. I do not want it. These are deleted immediately. Nothing that comes to me in an email is going to change my mind, for one thing. And for another, I don’t like being “grouped” with the rest of your cronies.

I delete anything with videos or other files attached.  Don’t even bother to send them. There are tons of services to which you can upload video, .pdf or other files.  Upload them and send a LINK.  (but first check around.. I have not received one forwarded video or .pdf that I didn’t also find already up on YouTube, google, or some other website.)  Recieving these files in my inbox (and waiting for them to upload to my computer) irritates me and puts you on my !@#$ list for the day.

I love getting emails that are actual communication from friends and family.  When folks send me links and images related to a conversation we’ve been having (either in real life, on a forum or blog, or through the email), I am thrilled.  But when the conversation is over, I DO NOT WANT TO BE ON YOUR MAILING LIST.

What are your preferences? Are you a constant forwarder? Are people still keeping you on their forward list?

Here is his explanation on Social Media.  You can see why it is such a power house these days.

Oh lordy, we’ve all gotten this trash in the mail. Yes, I said it.. TRASH! I hate this stuff.  It comes in the mail quite frequently.  But how do you know it’s trash?  This is yet another area where the internet is your friend!

Whenever you get something unsolicited in the mail (this includes the EMAIL!) or on the phone, NEVER respond to it.   But if it captures your interest, at least check to see if it’s legitimate.  Do this by going to google.com (or your favorite search engine) and putting in any pertinent information you can get from the mail.

My mail was from “AVC travel” so I went to my search engine and typed in: “AVC Travel” (with the quotes, in order to look for the two parts together) into the search bar.  Here are the results.  As you can see, right off I learn that I do not have a car or a trip.  Just doing a little clicking, I find out that this company is a time share seller.

Always question anything that comes to you which you did not specifically request.  This includes mail, email, telephone calls and people who come to your door. Use the internet to make sure you don’t get scammed.  Or at least to be sure that you are getting what you expect to be getting.

Good luck out there in Wide World!

Around this same time, I met a fellow comicker named “Fesworks” on various comic forums I frequent.  He is amazing. He not only does his own comics, he does artwork for other comic writers,  hosts a webcomics podcast with other comickers, contributes to Infendo.com (a Nintendo site! YAY!) and is always supportive and encouraging to those of us who dip our toes into the webcomic world.

Fesworks has stepped up to this year’s 24-Hour Comic Challenge in a big way. He is going to make a LEGO comic!  A LEGO comic means that instead of drawing panels, he will build scenes and characters out of LEGOs, photograph them, and present the photos in a sequential (comic) story! WOW!

Fesworks is starting his 24-hours this afternoon at 3PM Eastern time.  He has set up THIS WEBPAGE to allow us to watch his progress.  Please stop by and see how it’s going!  If you use Twitter, you can follow Fesworks on Twitter.

Go, Fesworks!

(cross posted from Densaville.com)

Well, what if you’re looking for a job? Do you know that employers are now checking up on the online activities of their employees?  And it’s not spying because it is PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION which you yourself provided to the internet.

Or worse.. what if you’ve made an online enemy?  With the information you’ve provided, they could hack into your online email account and REALLY embarrass you. (Remember what happened to Sarah Palin!) Oh no!

Well, you’ve decided that you want to clean up your online presence.. but where do you start?

Smashgods.com has a wonderful article filled with suggestions.  I definitely recommend at least reading through it.

Witchy Tip:  First, let me say that for computer novices I strongly recommend Mcaffee and Norton and other paid-for programs.  They are specifically designed to be user-friendly and they update regularly and automatically.  I personally use these for my own computers.

That being said, who can blame anyone for trying to save a little money where they can?  There are many free antivirus programs which provide quality protection for your computer that is on par with big name antivirus programs.

If you would like to investigate free antivirus protection for your comptuer, I would recommend you review articles by PC Magazine and check out the reviews and downloads at Cnet’s DOWNLOAD.COM.  Write down the names of two or three programs that interest you, then search the internet to see what people are saying.

When you have made your selection, go to that product’s website (or a respected download site, such as Download.com) and download and install the program onto your computer.  If you have questions or problems, look around the product’s website for a FAQ (“Frequently Asked Questions”) page first.  If your question or problem is not addressed there, contact the product’s support staff or join their forum if they have one!

Witchy Tip:  Do not run two antivirus programs at the same time.  Since they access the same parts of your computer, they may conflict with each other and disable the programs or slow down/crash your computer.

Whether you choose paid or free antivirus protection for your computer, make sure that you update frequently!  Use the program’s auto-update feature. This keeps your computer protected from the latest known virus problems on the internet.

Surf Safely!

Photobucket.com and retailer Target have teamed up for an easy and quick way to get prints from your digital camera!   If you have a photobucket.com account, just log in and go to your album.  In the menu in the gray area at the top, rest your cursor on “Buy Prints” and in the menu that pops up, select “Print at Target.”  (There is a bullseye logo in the menu like the one shown here.)

In the next page, select the photos from your album that you would like to print.  It is only 20¢ (twenty cents) for a 4×6 print.

Witchy says:  If you have reduced the size of your pictures for emailing or posting on the internet, they are not “print quality” images.  You will need to upload a full sized, high pixel version to photobucket.com for nice prints.  If you don’t remember if it was reduced or not, DON’T WORRY! The TARGET checkout screen will tell you if your picture resolution is too small with a little exclamation point next to it.   If you rest your cursor on the symbol, the message, “Insufficient resolution for high quality print of this size” will pop up.

If you don’t have your own photoprinter, this is the quickest and cheapest way I have found to get prints from your digital pictures.  If you give it a try, please let is know in the comments!