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The South Carolina Subversive Activities Act – A Trip Down Memory Lane

In a state that refuses to impeach its governor because his replacement would be even worse, it didn’t surprise me to find a law that prohibits subversive activities. Takes you back to the 60’s, doesn’t it?

10 Cool Things You Can Do With Your USB Flash Drive

Greg Shultz, in the 10 Things blog on Techrepublic.com, shares how you can use your USB flash drive to do a whole lot more than just move data around. Flash drives big enough to handle any of these tasks are cheap enough that you’ve got to wonder how you lived without them – especially when you see all the things you can do with them.

This Article (Email, Facebook Update, or Whatever) Will Automatically Self-Destruct

Social networking posts and photos can come back to haunt you in a job search. Litigation or criminal investigations can result in a subpoena that gives others full access to your computer – letting the world see incriminating or embarrassing details from your past. Once information shows up on the internet it is almost impossible to get rid of it.

Can you make information ’self-destruct’ on schedule? That’s the promise of Vanish, a free web-based system created by a research team at the University of Washington.

Google Voice – It Will Change How You Use Your Phone

Google Voice will shake up how you use phones. You get a free virtual phone number and calls to that number ring on up to 6 phones at the same time. Free long distance calls in the continental U.S. and lot of other free goodies.

It is only available by invitation. Sign up to get on the list. I got an invitation about a week after signing up.

Can Identity Thieves Guess Your Social Security Number?

Recent news stories suggest the social security number (SSN) has been ‘decoded’ and that this ‘discovery’ increases your risk of identity theft. It’s mostly hype and exaggeration. Still, there are precautions you can take.

Your social security number is often a gateway to your private life. Bank records, medical records, etc all rely on those magic nine digits. If your number is compromised, it’s much easier to get to your private life.

The Wall Street Journal reported “a new study says that mundane information like birth dates and hometowns on social-networking profiles can be used to accurately predict a user’s Social Security number, a key to identity theft.” According to the article, “researchers correctly guessed the first five digits of a person’s Social Security number about 40% of the time, just by knowing his or her hometown and birth date.”