Peter Cashmore of Mashable.com reports that a spoof email is circulating around the Internet inviting users to connect via Twitter.  Instead of containing a link, the spoof asks users to download a zip file which contains a nasty email harvesting worm.

Here is a photo of the fake email:

As Peter notes, this spoof capitalizes on the fact that Twitter has become very well known, meaning that people who don't know much about it might still be inclined to download a file.  A legitimate Twitter invite, of course, contains a link to the inviter's Twitter page where you can click to follow or block.

I suspect that some hacker will soon corrupt this process, meaning that like PayPal, you will want to avoid directly clicking a link in an email - instead you will want to head directly to your Twitter account and deal with followers directly from your home base.

Those vacation or other personal photos that you upload to Flickr, SmugMug, Picasa or other picture repository sites may not remain private.  England's Guardian newspaper reports on its web site that a Missouri family's Christmas card photo ended up in a grocery store ad for a company in Prague, Czech Republic.   A family friend of Jeff and Danielle Smith spotted the photo on a billboard advertising the grocery store's home delivery service.

The Smiths, to their credit, have leveraged the free exposure.  Danielle Smith's blog, ExtraordinaryMommy.com has received thousands of visitors and hundreds of incoming links (like this one) as this story circulates around the web.

The lesson: do not post any photo onto a photo sharing site that you do not want appearing on a billboard in an eastern European country, and leverage web traffic any way you can!

Often, you will want to include your contact information - including your email - in articles or blog posts that you write.  Many programs automatically convert email addresses in to clickable links that open your pre-set email client.

For example, if I am reading an article on a blog about a doctor or lawyer and that professional's email address is hyperlinked, all I need to is click on the link to open my email program (in my case Gmail, but it could be Outlook or Yahoo Mail or any one of several).

By contrast, if the email address is not a link, I will have to manually open my email program, past the address and then send the email.

In my first web sites, I intentionally made my contact email addresses hyperlinks so colleagues and potential clients could easily contact me.

Big mistake.

Spammers use programs called "bots" to troll the web and harvest these clickable email addresses. Within a few months, my firm email address was (and is) essentially useless because of all the junk that arrives daily. I still keep it active because a lot of people over the years use that email address and I am reluctant to close it.

For years I have recommended to my clients that they use email forms (like the one on this site) rather than live, clickable email addresses. If you do not want to devote the real estate to a form on your site, you can put the form on a separate page, then use a link shortening service like tinyurl.com or cli.gs and post that address.

I recently learned about another solution called HideText.net. This free service takes any line of text, such as emails and converts it into a graphic.   Here is an example:

This email address a graphic and thus not currently readable by spambots. A nice and elegant tool.

If you use WordPress (like I do), you may direct your RSS feeds through Feedburner.  When you run your feeds through Feedburner, you gain access to a variety of free analytical tools that can help you better understand and count your audience.  In addition, Feedburner allows you to monetize your content by adding services like AdSense to your feeds.  Feedburner is now owned by Google, which means that you can expect even more capacity for analytics and statistics.

For whatever reason, Feedburner has decided to change the syntax of the feed link.  Until recently, a Feedburner feed looked like this:

feeds.feedburner.com/yourblogname

Now, the syntax includes the number "2" as follows:

feeds2.feedburner.com/yourblogname

When you install the Feedburner plug-in on your blog, you will see an entry screen at "Settings" to type in your Feedburner feed address.  If, like me, you set up your Feedburner plug-in several months ago without the "feeds2" syntax, your RSS link will go to a dead link.

You can fix this problem easily by logging in to your WordPress blog and changing the Feedburner address to show feeds2.feedburner.com instead of feeds.feedburner.com.

What time is it?  Not "approximately" but down to the nano-second.  Check out the Atomic Clock Sync utility from WorldTimeServer.com.  Now in Version 3.0, Atomic Clock Sync automatically synchronizes your computer's clock to National Institute of Standards and Technology.

I also use a utility called "L-Clock" which puts a configurable clock on my System Tray.  Now I will always know what time it is, despite my wife's insistence that time has no meaning for me!

There are, of course, many reasons to have an accurate clock.  If you use an online backup program, for example, you will want to schedule your backups for 3AM when you are most likely not online.  An accurate system clock insures that your scheduling does not cause a utility to run when you need full processing power.

Atomic Clock Sync can be run manually, or set for automatic updates.  Highly recommended.

If you use the Internet for business, you have no doubt come across numerous social networking sites.  There are a mind numbing number of these sites, all of which help you share what you are doing with the world, and to establish relationships with others who share common interests.   Examples of these social networking sites include:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• StumbleUpon
• del.icio.us
• digg
• flickr
• yelp
• Mixx
• Reddit

These social networking sites can be useful if you want to learn what industry leaders are doing and thinking.  I frequently learn about new tools, websites and tactics from some of the people I follow.

The problem, of course, is time.  How do you follow a couple dozen thought leaders on multiple networking sites?  One elegant solution is called FriendFeed.  FriendFeed is basically a social networking site aggregator.  Once you sign up as a user, you enter all of your social networking feeds into a simple form, then save.  Next, you allow FriendFeed access to your email account to search for other FriendFeed users.

You can then "subscribe" to other FriendFeed users and other users can "subscribe" to you.  Every day thereafter, FriendFeed will send you an email digest of posts and activity by those in your subscription list.  This email digest is a fast and convenient way to keep up with any social networking activity by those on your list, all in one place.

Obviously the big drawback is that you can only subscribe to your target if that person has a FriendFeed account.  Still, for those who do participate in this service, it is a breeze to quickly track what they are up to.

If you are interested and want to subscribe to me, the link is http://friendfeed.com/jginsberg.

Gmail is certainly not an unknown product, but I am including it in my "useful tools" directory because it is such a good product.   For those who do not know, Gmail is Google's free email service.   Now, there are plenty of email services out there - what makes Gmail so much better than other services?

First and foremost, it is web based.   This means that your Gmail account is not tied to your home or office computer.  You can access it from any computer or computing device that is attached to the web, and this includes web enabled wireless phones.  If you don't currently use more than 1 computer, you will and it simply makes no sense to tie yourself to a particular machine.  My wife is dealing with this problem right now.  Her email goes to an account that is processed by Outlook on her office machine.   At the same time, she uses a Verizon "wireless synch" service to send those emails to her wireless phone/pocket PC device.   Although the Verizon service is reliable, it does get out of synch periodically necessitating either a phone call to customer service or my time in reconnecting the synch.  Additionally, her email responses from the phone/wireless device do not end up in her "sent" directory on the Outlook program on her office computer unless she sends herself a copy.

By contrast, I use Gmail for my office email.  I can check it at home, at the office on or my Blackberry.  Gmail can be open on 5 computers at the same time and it always stays in synch.  It automatically saves work in progress as a draft, so if I start an email at work, but then have to run home, my work in progress shows up as a draft when I open Gmail at home.  I also added the Gmail application to my Blackberry so I can receive and respond to emails in real time.

Gmail also has a robust search feature, it allows you to label emails based on the sender or the topic and Google gives you enough space to save everything - I am going on 2 years and I have plenty of space.  I have several Gmail accounts for different businesses so as a practical matter, space is not an issue.

Google also updates Gmail regularly and new features are frequently coming on line.  There are also a number of third party applications that add to Gmail's functionality including applications that allow for multiple signatures, applications that allow you to upload files to Gmail and use it as an external hard drive, backup utilities, etc.

I suppose that Gmail would not be a good choice if you still use dial-up or have only periodic access to the Internet.  There is also the risk that Google will someday start charging for Gmail or that it may snoop into your email messages, but I think we should all assume that any email is not "secured" no matter who the provicer.  All in all, Gmail functions as a simple, elegant and powerful email application that will enhance your productivity.

In my view, one of the nicest things about the Internet relates to the multitude of "free" tools and resources out there.   This free stuff may not last forever (if you are old enough to remember the original Napster - and its promise of "free" music, you know what I mean).  In the meantime, I will periodically post reviews about some of the free stuff that I actually use.

The first tool I want to discuss in this series is called Foxmarks, which you can find at Foxmarks.com.  Foxmarks is an add-on to the popular (and free) web browser Firefox.  It syncs and backs up your bookmarks and passwords across multiple computer.  Here's how it works for me:

I work on three computers regularly - my office desktop computer, a laptop that I take with me everwhere, and a home machine that I use primarily for video editing.  Before Foxmarks, I had three different lists of bookmarks (favorites).  If I saved a site to Favorites at home, that site would obviously not appear on my Favorites list at work unless I wrote myself a note or sent myself an email.

Foxmarks works by creating a web based "master bookmarked favorites" list.  If you install the Foxmark add on to each computer and then log in to your web based account, Foxmarks sychs all of your bookmarks and each machine has an identical "Bookmarks" list of favorite sites.

You can also log in to your master list from any computer to access it, thereby making your bookmarks portable.  A new feature adds password portability to the service but I have not yet activated that.

The add-on also reminds you to synch your local machine to the web based master list if you add a site to the local Favorites list of any computer that you happen to be on at that time.  All in all, Foxmarks functions as an essential tool in a world where more and more people own or work on multiple computers.

Foxmarks gets my highest recommendation as an essential tool.  Here is a link to the Foxmarks blog if you want to learn more about the service and about forthcoming features or if you want to post a question.

I have no idea how Foxmarks makes money, although I do note that its founder is Mitch Kapoor, who gave us Lotus 1-2-3 back in the early days of the PC.  Presumably Mitch doesn't need any angel investors.

One clue to what Foxmarks may have in mind can be found in its about us page:

We are hard at work analyzing over 300 million bookmarks managed by our systems to help users discover sites that are useful to them. By combining algorithmic search with community knowledge-sharing and the wisdom of crowds, our goal is to connect users with relevant content.

Sounds like a social networking application may be on the drawing board.  Whatever they do I'll certainly check it out as these folks have saved me hours with a must-have application.

If you have a web site, there is a good chance that you will receive unsolicited emails from "link managers" working on behalf of other web sites looking to exchange links with you.  Often the link manager will be from India or Pakistan and his/her English will be overly formal or contain spelling or grammatical errors.

Frequently, the email solicitation will state that your link has already been posted on the other web site, with a link that looks something like www.abcwebsite.com/links_2.html.  If you should happen to visit that page, your link will be there along with a few dozen other links that may or may not be in your business category.

My advice is to ignore these requests for link exchanges.

Years ago, the major search engines gave some credit to links on "link directory" pages on a web site.  Back in 2000 or 2001, a "reciprocal link exchange" might have some value to both parties.  Unfortunately, those days are over.  Search engines generally do not give any authority credit to a link that exists in a link directory - at least that has been my experience.

Link directories that exist solely to pass "page rank" or site authority defeat the purpose of a good search result - to indentify authority sites that provide topical and relevant information.  This bias against link bartering is why some search engines are punishing links sold by link brokers.  Take a look at an article by bodybuilder Mark McManus entitled "Google Slashes MuscleHack's PageRank."   Mark earned $18.95 by selling space on his blog to a text link ad company, only to see his ranking in Google plummet.   Mark happens to have a legitimate blog that contains fresh, original content that is frequently updated, yet he got slapped.  Take heed.

If you are going to "exchange" links with another web site, ask the other site's editor if he/she add an article that you have written to his/her web site.  The article you write should be topical and relevant and it should contain a relevant link text phrase back to one or more pages on your site.  You would never want to use "link here" as your link text.

At this point it does appear that the major search engines are still giving authority credit to "blogroll links" on blogs.  In theory blogroll links don't differ much from link directory pages on web sites, but obviously Google and Yahoo must see some reason to still consider blogroll links.  Don't be surprised if this linking tactics disappears at some point.

I'll post about some of the link building tactics that I use in a future post.  For now, however, don't waste your time or your site's credibility exchanging links with link builders who are using 10 year old tactics and putting links on link directory pages.

As a licensed attorney in the State of Georgia, I am required to attend continuing legal education classes yearly.  Several years ago, I attended a seminar taught by Steven Stark, a writer and consultant who taught a CLE seminar about how lawyers could improve their written communication skills.  Although I chose this seminar because I needed some credits for that year and it was already December, Mr. Stark's seminar turned out to be one of the most useful and practical programs I have ever attended.

I was reminded of Steven Stark by an article in the October, 2008 issue of the Georgia Bar Journal.  Entitled "The Road to Heaven is Paved with Good Verbs," authors Karen Sneddon and David Hricik echo many of Mr. Stark's suggestions when it comes to using adverbs and adjectives.

Specifically, Ms. Sneddon and Mr. Hricik, as well as Mr. Stark, argue that adverbs should be used sparingly, and that strong verbs will produce significantly more impact.  Ms. Sneddon and Mr. Hricik note that less effective writers use adverbs as intensifiers - words like "really," "clearly," and "very," and they give examples:

Less effective: "The police officers ran really fast across the lawn."

More effective: "The police officers dashed across the lawn."

Mr. Stark takes the same position with regard to adjectives.  He argues that strong noun and verb combination create a much more vivid mental picture in the reader's mind.   Mr. Stark also advises writers to avoid using weak verbs like "is," and "was."

I think that if you sensitize yourself to how much adverbs and adjectives are overused, you will discover that sentences with strong nouns and verbs make for much more enjoyable reading.

As a marketing consultant I find myself writing a lot - blog posts, web pages, articles for republication, autoresponder series, and sales letters - and I make a conscious effort to think about my choice of verbs and nouns and to limit my use of qualifiers and intensifiers.  You will likely find discover that your writing will improve when you keep these suggestions in mind when for your writing projects.