Unfortunately it seems that part of the metro city lifestyle along with an increased exposure to folks from all kinds of cultures all over the world is an additional increased exposure to unsavory individuals who are looking for the opportunity to snag a free lunch (on you of course since nothing in life is truly free). In the past 2 years since I started living in a metropolitan city after having grown up in small town environments, I have faced having my wallet stolen or pickpocketed five times. I'm definitely a common target, possibly because I'm a single mom that is often preoccupied with her two little ones while we are out and about. However, not a single one of those times has anyone managed to steal anything of value from me, nor have they managed to cut me off from accessing my bank account funds, even after I cancelled my cards. Thefts happen and are to be expected: you can try to protect yourself from them, but there's always going to be a loophole somewhere. However, you don't have to actually be a victim to wallet pickpocketing and theft when it happens. Here's a list of tips you can use to help protect yourself in the event of your wallet being lost, stolen, or pickpocketed:

1. Don't carry your social security card in your wallet. Most appropriate situations only call for you to know your social security number, not present the actual card. If you don't know your social security number by now, now is the time to learn it. No one can steal a number that's only in your head...
2. Don't carry (much) cash in your wallet. Obviously, if it gets stolen, the cash is gone forever. If you only have debit/credit cards, there's a window of opportunity to cancel them before any damage is done to your finances (not to mention most banks will insure you against theft and restore any missing funds). 
3. Do not carry your cell phone with your wallet. In the case that you lose your wallet or it's stolen, you will need your cell phone to take immediate action. You won't have it if it's gone with your wallet. Avoid wallets with built in cell phone cases. 
4. Create a plan for if you have to cancel the card associated with your bank account so you have a means to funnel funds directly from the account even if the card has been canceled. Of course, for many folks this will mean just a simple trip to their local bank, but for those of us with PayPal, prepaid debit accounts, etc. it will call for a little bit more ingenuity. This will differ depending on the bank. Some ideas though include: keeping checks at home for backup, transferring to your personal PayPal account with a PayPal debit or credit card attached to the account which you keep at home for such an emergency, transferring to a Google Wallet account with an attached Google Wallet card which you keep at home for the same reason, transferring to a prepaid GreenDot account, etc.
5. Be aware of your surroundings and the location of your wallet as much as you possibly can, especially when in close proximity to crowds, at moments of high distractibility, and at night. These are the windows of opportunity thieves look for the most. 
6. Keep your wallet close on your body or deeply secured in your bag to make it more difficult for a pickpocket to go undetected. 

If your wallet gets lost or stolen:

1. Stay calm. Check your facts - the time, place, contents of the wallet, etc. The cops will want a lot of details about the loss/theft.
2. Make sure you will have access to some funds using your preplanned backup method before you cancel your cards. Then cancel your cards ASAP. 
3. After you cancel your cards, file a report with the police immediately. The report will help reduce the costs of recovering any ID cards, and also provide a point of contact should someone recover your wallet and want to return it.
4. Take steps to prevent future incidents by troubleshooting how the incident occurred and brainstorming ways you can prevent similar circumstances surrounding the loss or theft from reoccurring. This may involve changes in the way you treat your wallet or how you carry your cards/cash. 

I have experienced so much in the past few months that many can only imagine experiencing and have learned so much from those experiences that I know others can gain wisdom from that I really feel I should commit some of it to writing in my blog.

About three months ago, one night three young black men busted in to my apartment and stole both my laptop and the laptop of a friend. While I had taken steps to protect my laptop against such an incident, my friend was not so lucky. I think that it is of vital importance that everyone know how to protect their laptop against the case of a theft, especially since laptops do not have the extent of theft protection services that cell phones do. This article is going to discuss different security methods you can use to help protect your data, prevent the thieves from using your laptop, and trace the location of your laptop. 

I just got a new HTC One X, and I am absolutely in love with this phone. It's jam packed full of great features for taking photos and video, and it's got plenty of space to store all those photos and videos. This powerful phone is also great for gaming and apps. This is my review of the HTC One X. 

I read this article today by someone called Hoo-Ann and I was very disappointed by how short the article was. I have been using Ubuntu off and on since it was Breezy Badger and I can come up with a lot more to say about the advantages and disadvantages of using Ubuntu. So, as someone that believes if someone else can't do it "right" then you should it yourself, I'm going to list the (much longer) advantages and disadvantages I've personally found with using Ubuntu. 

On April 27, 2012 Ubuntu released its new operating system Ubuntu 12.04. Since then I have been playing around with it, and I've got to say that although I had my doubts about Unity it is turning out to be quite a nice desktop environment. So without further ado let's take a look at what's new in Ubuntu 12.04!

There currently is a bug I encountered with the Last.FM Android app in which it causes the current music player to only play the first few seconds of tracks as it skips through them, scrobbling away. This is not only annoying; it renders your music player unusable and results in tracks getting scrobbled that you would not scrobble normally. Fortunately there is a solution to this, found in the Android app A Simple Last.FM Scrobbler. This application serves one purpose and serves it well: adding scrobbling functionality to your favorite music player. It doesn't mess with the playing of tracks and it doesn't scrobble tracks you don't want it to scrobble (assuming of course you do not listen to these tracks all the way through.

Due to school requiring certain Microsoft software and being tired of using a virtual machine I have decided to keep Windows 7 on my Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204 laptop, leaving my HP Pavillion DV7-2180US laptop with Ubuntu installed and my MSI Wind U100 with Fedora installed. Of course I immediately started feeling tied down, lacking certain things I get in Linux (like a clipboard manager). So I set out to hunt down some applications that would give me some of my Linux functionality back. This is what I found:

I thought you all might like to know that I have been interviewed on DarkDuck's blog. You can find the link here. Thank you DarkDuck for allowing me the honor to be interviewed! I hope this is just the start of you interviewing women involved in Linux! :)

Since my HP Pavillion DV7-2180US has issues overheating (causing it to have a permanent perch on a cooling pad) an early Christmas gift to me was a Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204. It's reasonably priced at around $500 but don't let the price tag fool you. While the price instantly adds this laptop to the low end laptop shelf in the store it is rich with features and is even prepared for an upgrade to Windows 8, making it a perfect Christmas gift for even the pickiest geek in your family.

It seems I have found my way to Ubuntu Linux once again in my hunt for a distribution that works properly with my newly repaired HP Pavillion DV7-2180US laptop. This time I'm on Ubuntu 11.10 and I must say it impressed me enough to install it on my MSI U100 netbook as well. Whether it will stay there or not we shall see.... I'm still feeling the pull of Sabayon. Ubuntu seems to run slower on it than Sabayon does.

Last week the 2011 GNOME User Survey began, which is an independent survey that was devised by members of the GNOME community to collect feedback on their desktop platform. With the GNOME Foundation not interested in hosting the survey, these survey creators came to Phoronix to host the survey. Some of the initial GNOME comments were shared shortly after the survey went live. This survey will be running for one month, but there were already more than 8,000 submissions in the first few days. Here's the first 1,000 comments provided by participants of the GNOME survey.

In this article I'm going to tell you how to change the login screen wallpaper in Gnome 3.x Shell. I'm also going to provide a script that is capable of starting this for you, along with instructions on how to use it.

 The whole Linux community is based on the concept of community and collaboration. Without it, Linus Torvalds' e-mail sent out 20 years ago would have been forgotten and none of us would have known about Linux. As time went by, it became easier and easier for users, regardless of experience and knowledge, to contribute to his/her favorite distribution.

These are ten things I have learned as a Linux blogger. I hope they help strengthen and encourage someone out there.

Today Nokia announced the start of the open governance model for Qt, known as the Qt Project. The Qt Project allows both companies and individuals to contribute to the development of Qt. KDE supports this move and is excited about the possibilities it brings. We have been waiting for opportunities to take a more active role in Qt's future for a long time and open governance will make this easier. KDE has been working closely with Qt during its 15 year lifetime and the Qt Project promises to bring this collaboration to a new level.

Microsoft has announced that if computer makers wish to distribute machines with the Windows 8 compatibility logo, they will have to implement a measure called "Secure Boot." However, it is currently up for grabs whether this technology will live up to its name, or will instead earn the name Restricted Boot.

When going through the archives of this website, pay attention to the blog author. There are posts here by me, Jonquil, and there are some old posts here by FreeTrafficSystem from when I was trying out their automatic content system. The articles I got from them were mostly junk, and when you flame me for them all you do is get laughter from me because while you're flaming me for "my" stupidity I'm laughing at you for your stupidity in not paying attention to who the author of the article was.

Photoshop is without doubt the most well known piece of photo editing software. It is used by serious hobby photographers and professionals alike. However, although you can run Photoshop on a Linux machine by using a virtual box containing a Windows operating system, there are some good alternatives available on Linux.

The short answer: no.

 

You just have to change some settings on your phone to download apps outside of the Android Market.