For those of you fans of children's books, today's title is a throw-back to this book, which we definitely had at home growing up.

Anyhow, about DNS. It's becoming more and more apparent that people are unaware how to best protect and monitor their own web activity. Parents are concerned about what their kids are viewing online (note to parents, personally monitor their computer activity. Odds are, they will not be visiting racy sites if you're sitting there. Just a thought). "Sneaky" (that's a technological term) websites eat your information while you are not looking and a minor misspelling of Google could put you on an adult website.

The solution, of sorts? OpenDNS. The great thing about this is that, even for novices, you can tweak a few settings on your computer and have OpenDNS working in no time. But before I go on, let me tell you what it is.

OpenDNS is, at its base a series of network management tools providing the administrator with statistics and a bevy of opportunities to block/restrict users from categories of websites or particular domains. It has tools to prevent phishing and solutions to those common domain misspellings (you know, when you type ".cmo" instead of ".com").

The greatest aspect of all of this is that [late night television drumroll]: no software needs to be installed! In fact, if you don't want to bother with it, someone else (me, for example) can change your settings on your network when he/she is visiting and set it for you at the click of a few buttons. Everything is managed over the internet, allowing you to monitor your network from afar. On a business trip and notice that the kids are visiting an inappropriate site that isn't blocked? Make a quick change, and no more. It's literally as simple as 1-2-3 and I will be honest, it's high time everyone started taking care of their interneting. Or make like Willie and stop interneting entirely.

I've been there. I've lost a cell phone and the 300 phone numbers that go with it. You don't plug someone's info into your email service and manage to lose it. Your Outlook and Gmail aren't sync'd together, nevermind your Yahoo and MSN emails.

So what's the solution?

The good news is that Plaxo has been around for a little while and has been able to develop. It has plugins for most webmail clients, Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple's mail, etc. Even better, if you're a Plaxo user and update your own contact information, it will send your new info to all of your friends. Remember when you had to send out an email or letter when you moved or changed your cell phone number? Exactly.

I'm guessing that 85% of the people reading this cannot see the direct value of this to their own situations. But think of it this way. You might not "need" it today, or at any forseeable point down the road. But that reality will change moving forward, as more and more people become entirely technomobile. You need to be able to have your information with you, and not just the first name/cell phone numbers you have in you flip phone. So why not take a preventative step now, so that when you lose your phone you already have things back up for you. And then one day when you have a smartphone, you'll be able to click a few buttons and sync all your contacts to your phone.

It just makes sense.

A rather famous man passed away recently and yet he was humble enough to have a funeral with fewer than 40 people there. Considering that this was a man that would have brought state and national politicians together to mourn his passing, the fact that his family pulled off such a private event is no small feat.

But think about it for a minute. What happens when you don't know? Does anyone care? Does anyone think to mourn?

Strangely enough, the serious thoughtful tone to this post is a simple ramble, nothing more.

I must admit my disdain for the current writers strike. Not that I hold animosity towards the writers themselves, just the situation in general. I mean, seriously, no new Conan for over a month!

Also, if you're in the Greater Detroit area and are in need of some computer repair/clean-up, please contact me. My availability has opened up some this time of year and I am looking for other ways to earn income. So comment below, or something to that effect.

Yesterday I received two e-mails regarding Beta Releases.

Around 10:00 am, I received an e-mail from Microsoft welcoming me to the Beta Test program for Windows Home Server. This follows my request to join the program after seeing Colin's successful test and review of said product.

Around 4:00 pm, I received an e-mail from PDA Performance announcing the access to their public beta of their software for Palm called Saguaro. This looks absolutely fantastic. Also some comment was in the e-mail about "if you send us your comments, we'll give you the full version when it is done." Heck yeah.

I'm looking forward to Beta testing both of these products when McGiles and I come back from Atlanta on Sunday. If all goes well, I'll have some thoughts to share throughout the week.

I'm in a spot in my life where I would really like to get my MCSE but I do not have the funds to currently do so. I have heard all sorts of rumors about scholarships for the training and exams but I have yet to actually see these in real life. Attempts were made to enlist my employer to undertake this investment but to no avail. It has been suggested to me that I should find an employer who will do this, but I'm unsure as to how to find an employer who will do so.

I know that there are several very-involved IT people who have started reading this site and I would appreciate any advice. I live in the greater Detroit/southeast Michigan region and am not looking to relocate at this time.