HomeAway Catalogs Vacation Rentals Across the World

HomeAway Catalogs Vacation Rentals Across the World

If you're tired of paying high prices for hotel accommodations HomeAway catalogs thousands of rental properties where you can enjoy the luxuries and space of a home at a fraction of the hotel cost.

HomeAway catalogs rentals from around the world with amenity information, photos, local attractions, and more. You can filter your search queries based on rental rates, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, how many people the property can sleep, location type (beach, lake, woodland, downtown, and more), as well as by accessibility features.

If you're overwhelmed by the number of search results you can flag individual listings for comparison, read reviews from previous renters, and check the schedule of availability to narrow down your choices. HomeAway is a free service and requires no registration.

For more places to find rentals and rooms check out previously reviewed AirBnB, Vacation Rentals by Owner, iStopOver, and CouchSurfing.

HomeAway

HomeAway Catalogs Vacation Rentals Across the World

Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved (Microsoft Word)

Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved

Summary: Word keeps track of the date each time you save your document. If you want to insert that "save date" in your document, you can use a field to do it. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved.)

Every time you save a document in Word, some of the document properties information is automatically updated. Part of the information is the date on which the document was last saved. You can insert this date into your documents and have it updated automatically, if you so desire. To insert the last date your document was saved in your document, follow these steps:

1. Position the insertion point where you want the date to appear.
2. Choose Field from the Insert menu. You will see the Field dialog box.
3. Choose Date and Time from the field categories at the left of the dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. Select SaveDate from the field list at the right side of the dialog box.
5. Click on Options to select a date format, if desired.
6. Click on OK to insert the field.

Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved (Microsoft Word)

Understanding Styles (Microsoft Word)

Wordtips:  Understanding Styles

Summary: Styles are a key concept in Microsoft Word. If you understand styles, you will find it much easier to use Word effectively. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Understanding Styles.)

Unlike most other word processing programs, Word does an excellent job of separating content from appearance. This may sound strange, but the words you type are your content and the way they look on screen or on paper is the appearance. Styles are nothing more than a named definition of how text should appear. You can best understand this by comparing your text to water (this is your content). The appearance of the water depends on the attributes of the container in which it is placed. If you place it in a glass it will look one way; if you place it in a pitcher, it looks a different way. The relationship between text and styles is no different; if you change the style that has been applied to text, then the appearance of the text automatically changes.

While Word allows you to explicitly format your text by selecting it and then picking the attributes you want applied, styles give you much more power. This is because you only need to define the style once, and then you can apply it to text as you see fit. Plus, if you later change the style, then all text formatted with that style is automatically updated to reflect the change. (You have changed the container, so the water changes appearance.)

There are several types of styles maintained by Word, but the two most prevalent types are character styles and paragraph styles. Character styles are used to define how individual characters appear, including attributes such as font, font size, and bold, italics, superscript, etc. Paragraph styles are much more comprehensive and define not only how the characters in the paragraph appear, but how the paragraph should appear in relation to the margins of your document, whether it should include bullets or numbering, how it should be treated by the spelling and grammar checkers, and how it should appear in relation to other paragraphs in the document.

In addition to character and paragraph styles, beginning in Word 2002 you could also define table and list styles. Table styles are used to specify how a particular table appears, including borders, spacing, and other table-specific formatting attributes. List styles are used to define how bulleted lists and numbered lists should appear.

Styles are saved with a document or they can be stored in a document template. Word allows you to add, change, rename, and delete styles. There are a number of ways in which you can define styles, but the most common is to use the menus. To define a style if you are using Word 97 or Word 2000, follow these steps:

1. Choose Style from the Format menu. Word displays the Style dialog box.
2. Click on New. Word displays the New Style dialog box. Using this dialog box you can change the attributes of the style.
3. Make sure you specify the name and type of style you are creating. You can also indicate if this new style is based on (derived from) an existing style.
4. Click on the Format button to make changes to the actual formatting attributes assigned to the style. The types of formatting available depend on whether you are working with a paragraph or character style.
5. When you are done setting the formatting attributes, click on OK to close the dialog box. The Style dialog box is again displayed, and your style is listed in the available styles list.
6. Click on Cancel to close the Style dialog box.

If you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003, the way you define styles is different. Follow these steps if you are using one of these later versions of Word:

1. Choose Styles and Formatting from the Format menu. Word displays the Styles and Formatting task pane at the right side of the program window.
2. Click on the New Style button. Word displays the New Style dialog box. Using this dialog box you can change the attributes of the style.
3. Make sure you specify the name and type of style you are creating. You can also indicate if this new style is based on (derived from) an existing style.
4. You can make changes to common attributes right in the New Style dialog box. If you need to make more detailed attribute changes, click on the Format button. The types of formatting available through the Format button depend on the type of style you are defining.
5. When you are done setting the formatting attributes, click on OK to close the dialog box.
6. Close the Styles and Formatting task pane.

At this point you can use your style anywhere you like within your document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (955) applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Understanding Styles.

Understanding Styles (Microsoft Word)

Protect Yourself from Your Smartphone

The article below from CNN explains the risk to your personal and financial information if your cellphone is lost or stolen.  Depending on your phone, it is not too difficult to protect yourself.  First, install remote wipe software (it allows you to wipe all data from your phone even if you’re not in possession of it).  Second, keep your data backed up, otherwise you will be hesitant to wipe your phone’s data until you’re 100% sure you’re not getting it back.  Backing up to your microSD or SIM card is not enough, a thief can restore your data from the memory card; to be effective, the remote data wipe has to wipe your data card also.

Here is some information of the software you need depending on your phone:

Android:  In the event of a phone wipe, the apps should reinstall from the market.  I suggest using appbrain.com to have a handy list of your apps.  All email and contact information will sync back on your phone OTA (Over the Air) when you sign back into your phone.  However, unless you do a real backup, your settings will be lost.  To do a thorough backup, you have to root the phone.  Then get Titanium backup, which backs your phone up to your microSD card.  If you buy Titanium, it allows you to back your phone up to your Dropbox (see Wednesday’s ToTD) account.  In addition, once your phone is rooted, you can install ROM Manager and do complete backup images of your phone that you can/should save to your PC, and restore your entire phone in minutes looking exactly as it did when you backed it up.  There are many apps in the Market that will do a remote lock and wipe, for example: Lookout, Norton and Webroot.

iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch):  Backup with iTunes software.  The MobileMe service will allow you to find your device (using the built-in GPS) and to remote wipe the data if you wish.  It costs $99/year to use its other features, but Find My Phone is free for iOS 4.2+. See Inside iPhone's Remote Wipe feature

Blackberry:  How To: Backup And Restore Your BlackBerry.  Blackberry Protect will both backup your data wirelessly and wipe it if needed.  Read about Blackberry Protect here.

Windows Mobile:  The upcoming update to Windows Mobile will allow Zune to backup and restore the phone.  See article here.  Read this guide for remote wipe: How to remote wipe Windows Phone 7. 

 

Your most dangerous possession? Your smartphone

By Blake Ellis, staff reporterJanuary 11, 2011: 10:44 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Forget what's in your wallet -- beware your smartphone. It's becoming one of your most dangerous possessions.

If your phone was stolen a few years ago, the thief could make prank calls and read your text messages. Today, that person can destroy your social life -- you said what on Facebook?! -- and wreak havoc on your finances.

Now that smartphones double as wallets and bank accounts -- allowing users to manage their finances, transfer money, make payments, deposit checks and swipe their phones as credit cards -- they are very lucrative scores for thieves. And with 30% of phone subscribers owning iPhones, BlackBerrys and Droids, there are a lot of people at risk.

"It's crazy the amount of information on that phone -- it's like carrying a mini-computer around with you, except that more people know the settings on their computer than they do on their phones at this point," said Nikki Junker, social media coordinator and victim advisor at Identity Theft Resource Center. "People are incredibly at risk as technology improves."

And mobile banking use is expected to soar by nearly 55% next year, according to recent data compiled by TowerGroup, a research firm for the financial services industry.

They found that while 17.8 million consumers used mobile banking last year, 27.4 million are expected to use it this year, and 53.1 million consumers are forecast to adopt it by 2013.

"We're now past the early adopters and starting to hit the early maturity phase," said George Peabody, director of emerging technologies at Mercator Advisory Group. "So much of our screen time is shifting from PCs to smartphones, and the banks want to be there and know they have to be there."

Google to power your mobile wallet?

In addition, the volume of mobile payments -- buying boots via Zappos iPhone app, for example, or paying bills -- is expected to climb to $214 billion by 2015, up from $16 billion in 2010, according to Aite Group, another financial services research firm.

And pay-by-phone is only going to get easier as our devices come embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) devices that allow you to pay for your morning latte by waving your phone at the cash register.

Companies like Blaze Mobile and Bling Nation already let you pay major retailers by swiping your smartphone thanks to a sticker adhered to the outside of your phone. Meanwhile, an app created by mFoundry brings up an image of your Starbuck prepaid card barcode and lets you scan it in lieu of a credit card.

"A lot of players are now pushing to drive the contactless technology," said Gwenn Bezard, research director at Aite Group specializing in banking and payments. "While you're not going to wake up tomorrow and everyone is going to be using mobile payments, it's going to grow over the next years -- and from a very low base."

0:00 /1:13Microsoft's latest smartphone move

Watch your phone! Security attacks on smartphones climbed to an all-time high in 2010, according to AdaptiveMobile, an international mobile security firm. Specifically, attacks on Google's Android smartphones quadrupled, and smartphones running Java-based applications jumped 45%.

"Bad guys are following where the people are going -- and people are going to smartphones," said Peabody. "As smartphone prices continue to decline and even more people get them, that's definitely the new place for bad guys to go."

While storing a password and keeping your phone locked is a good start, it's not going to protect you from professional fraudsters.

"Don't think that having an initial password set on your phone can stop people from getting in there," said Junker. "It's a very low level of protection -- you can even find 30-second videos on how to crack smartphone passwords on YouTube."

Web: More dangerous than ever

If you use mobile banking or make online payments frequently, you should invest in anti-virus protection and check with your bank about any security or identity theft protection features that you can enable.

Most smartphones also offer remote wipe-out services -- like MobileMe for the iPhone -- that automatically erase the information on your phone if you claim it as lost or stolen.

If you bank with your phone by accessing its website rather than opening an app, be extra careful when typing in the address. Some identity thefts create domains with the same address as major banks with two letters switched in hopes a consumer will accidentally land on the site and enter their username and password, said Junker.

And make sure you immediately log out of any bank apps or sites where your financial information is stored as soon as you're finished. While your identity is still at risk if your phone is stolen, this will buy you time to wipe out your information as soon as you realize it's gone.

Your smartphone could be your most dangerous possession - Jan. 11, 2011

Dropbox - Online backup, file sync, and sharing made easy

For an illustrated guide to DropBox, go here.

Click here to signup for Dropbox.

Sync

Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.

• 2GB of online storage for free, with up to 100GB available to paying customers.
• Sync files of any size or type.
• Sync Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.
• Automatically syncs when new files or changes are detected.

File Sharing

Sharing files is simple. It takes only a few clicks.

• Shared folders allow several people to collaborate on the same files.
• See other people's changes instantly.
• Use your "Public" folder to link directly to files.
• Control who has access to your shared folders. Kick people out and remove the shared files from their computers in the process.
• Automatically create shareable online photo galleries out of regular folders.

Online Backup

Dropbox backs up your files online without you having to think about it.

Web Access

A copy of your files is stored on Dropbox's secure servers. This lets you access them from any computer or mobile device.

Security & Privacy

Dropbox uses military grade encryption methods to both transfer and store your data.

Mobile Device Access

A free application for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android that lets you access and manage your Dropbox on the go.

Dropbox - You're invited to join Dropbox! - Online backup, file sync, and sharing made easy.