Facebook Privacy Issues: Facebook Being Sued by Users for $15 Billion

On the day that Facebook has gone public, it is also being sued for $15 billion by users who claim that Facebook was tracking their Internet usage, even after they had logged out of Facebook. The lawsuit is a combination of 21 other cases that have been filed against Facebook. This is just another case in a long string of privacy issues that Facebook has run into recently.

Germany is actually warning its business investors to stay away from Facebook's IPO because they say that the social network actually violates European privacy laws, and that they are soon going to try and stop Facebook from transferring personal user information from Europe back to the U.S. Another European activist organization is trying to force Facebook to let their users vote on the company's new privacy policies. And all of this comes on the heels of other social networking sites, such as Twitter, offering users a "Do Not Track" privacy option on their site.

If you are worried about your own privacy on Facebook, check out our video tutorial on how to adjust your privacy settings. You can also check out AVG's new "Do Not Track" function on their security software suite, which will block sites like Facebook from tracking your Internet usage. If you want to make sure your identity hasn't been stolen due to online privacy issues, check out our reviews of the top identity theft protection sites.

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Can I Use My Answering Machine With VoIP?

Q: Will my digital answering machine still take messages from incoming callers with VOIPo service?

Image: Pen Waggener via Flickr

A: Provided you use the correct settings in your VoIP account, yes, your current digital answering machine should work just fine with VOIPo service. However, you might find you don't want to use it, and here's why:

VOIPo, like almost all the VoIP services we review, includes free voicemail with your account, which means that the VOIPo system will take messages on its own. You can then listen to these messages through your phone, online, or in your email. You can even have VOIPo text an alert to your cell phone when you have a new voicemail or email you a transcript of the message.

With all of these options, VoIP voicemail can give you far more functionality than a traditional answering machine without a single piece of extra equipment. That said, if you'd still like to keep your existing machine, you'll just need to set your VoIP voicemail so it doesn't pick up before the answering machine, which should be fairly simple to do.

Got more questions about VoIP service? Ask us in the comment section below, or take a look at the FAQ section, comparison chart, or some previous blog posts.

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Facebook IPO: Security, Privacy
Still an Issue for Social Network

Tomorrow is the day that everybody has been waiting for, the day Facebook goes public. But along with all the accolades and excitement, Facebook's IPO has also brought some scrutiny to how the company handles the privacy and security of its users. In a recent survey by AP and CNBC, 59% of Facebook users said that they have little to no faith in Facebook to keep their personal information private. Only 13% of those surveyed said that they had complete faith in Facebook. So there are obviously some trust issues between Facebook and its users.

As Facebook's popularity continues to increase, so does the hacking attempts on the social network. Hackers can now use a wide range of scams to use people's Facebook pages against them, including hacking into their account to get personal information, taking over their account to hack their friends' accounts, cloning or creating a fake Facebook page with the user's account, and hacking in to the unprotected information that the holes in Facebook's privacy settings leave vulnerable.

In addition to their privacy issues, Facebook has also traditionally had security issues, especially when it comes to spam. Recently, they teamed up with some of the top security software to help detect and block more of the spam that is common on Facebook. But just as the company is ready to go public, a new security threat is surfacing: the "LilyJade" worm. The worm uses a link to video to get users to click, which then prompts them to accept the "video viewer" plugin permissions to watch the video, which is a common practice on Facebook. Once they agree, LilyJade then periodically posts videos in the user's news feed to help spread the worm. And as Facebook's popularity and functionality increases, so will new hacking and spamming attempts on the social network.

So how do you keep your Facebook account as protected as possible?

1) Make sure all your privacy settings are set to the most secure setting. Here's how.

2) Always be careful of what you are clicking on when using Facebook. If you click on a link that requires an app to have access to your account, make sure that app is safe before you grant access.

3) Find security software that has a Facebook specific option, such as Norton, that will scan your Facebook page for any malicious URLs.

If you want to boost the security of your computer to help make your Facebook page more secure, check out our reviews of the top security software to find one that's right for you. If you want to make sure you aren't the victim of a privacy scam on Facebook, check out our reviews of the top Identity Theft protection programs and find one that you are comfortable with to help protect your identity.

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Mixbook Deal: Get 30% Off For Father's Day

This week, from May 17th through May 21st, one of our top custom photo card and invitation sites, Mixbook, is offering 30% off everything on the site, including their high-quality photo books, with the code BESTDAD. Honor your Dad with an album, calendar, or card featuring your favorite photos together, or order invitations and throw him a Father's Day celebration!

Custom products from Mixbook also make great gifts for grandfathers, uncles, and other strong father figures, so head over to Mixbook and check out their great designs while you can still take advantage of this discount.

Got more questions about custom photo cards? Check out our individual reviews or the FAQ section. You can also leave us a comment or question in the field below.

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Can I Transfer Files Between My
Mac and PC Using Cloud Storage?

Q: I need to share files between two platforms, my Mac and PC. Which cloud storage services can do this?

A: Other than being able to backup and access all of your files online, the best thing about cloud storage is the ability to sync and share your files across all of your computers. Thankfully, those users who have both a Mac and a PC can partake in the syncing fun. For example, MyPCBackup, JustCloud and ZipCloud all install a special folder onto your computer called the "sync folder." Install the program on each of your computers, regardless if it's a Mac or PC, and drag and drop the files that you want to have access to on both. Now every time you make changes to any file in the sync folder, the change will show up on each of your computers.

SugarSync also has one of our favorite interfaces for syncing files across your computers. In fact, the tutorial below will show you how to use SugarSync to share files between a Mac and PC, or vice versa when you click the PC link within the video:

Click here to compare all of our cloud storage services and pick the right one for you.

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Wedding Ideas: Want to Trim Down for the
Big Day? Save Time with Diet Meal Delivery

Source: jshyun via Flickr

If you're planning your wedding, you may be too busy to focus on healthy eating. As much as you want to have the time to plan out and prepare healthy meals, sometimes it's just too difficult to spend an hour in the kitchen while centerpieces and invitations are taking up brain space. That's where meal delivery diet programs come in. Whether you want to lose some extra pounds before the big day, or don't want to have to focus on cooking your own food, you can benefit a lot by getting tasty and healthy meals delivered straight to your door.

Bistro MD is our number one pick for meal delivery programs. Not only did this diet plan land first place in our independent and double blind diet food taste test, but it placed number one in ABC 7 Live's on-air blind taste test as well. And with our $25 off coupon code for wedding season and summer, you can save some bucks while you're losing weight. Another top rated program we recommend is Diet to Go, which also has a coupon code for 20% off. With Diet to Go, you can even opt to pick up your meals at Walgreens, depending on which city you live in. Check out our full meal delivery program comparison chart to read all of our diet reviews.

If meal delivery isn't for you and you don't mind spending some time to prepare you own healthy food, then Do It Yourself diet programs are a great option to slim down before your special day. Though you still need to cook your own food, these plans make dieting easier by suggesting complete weekly menus of low calorie, balanced meals. Tools such as shopping lists, progress tracking, fitness tips and general health guidance will have you on your way to a successful diet. The top spot in the DIY diets list is eDiets, which also grants our users a 25% discount. At just $14.21 per month, all eDiets plans combine recipes, expert support, general guidelines and a fitness plan into one package. If you want to learn more about eDiets and how it can help you lose weight for before your wedding, read the full review here. To compare all of the DIY diets, click here.

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Great Graduation Party Invitation Ideas

Got a graduate finishing high school or college this year? If you're planning a party, be sure to check out this set of our favorite graduation announcements from our top custom photo card and invitation sites Tiny Prints, Paper Culture, Minted, Pear Tree, and Simply To Impress.

These sites have great options, whether you're looking for a simple, classic portrait style:

Top, L to R: Graduation Squares from Paper Culture, Bold and Modern Graduation from Paper Culture, Three Cheers For The Graduate from Minted Bottom, L to R: Twenty Twelve Graduation from Minted, Vibrant Graduation from Tiny Prints, Pop Of Color from Minted

Something to offer your guests a look back at the graduate over the years:
  

L to R: Now And Then Graduation Announcement from Minted, Marked Passage from Tiny Prints, On The Board from Pear Tree Greetings

A whole gallery of pictures: 
       

L to R: Gemstone Celebration from Simply to Impress, Favorite Moments Remembered from Pear Tree Greetings, Peach Shots from Simply to Impress

Or an announcement with no pictures at all:

L to R: Splendid Achievement from Tiny Prints,  Reach For The Stars Graduates from Paper Culture, Simple Graduation from Paper Culture

You can customize most of these cards pretty extensively, including changing the colors, adding text, placing and cropping your own images, and sometimes even moving graphical design elements around the cards. Take a look at our reviews of the individual sites to find out more about pricing, current discounts, design tools, customer service, and more. We've also got a detailed comparison chart and an FAQ section if you need more help deciding.

Once you've picked out announcements or invitations, take a look at our Pinterest page for more ideas for your party, from what to wear and how to decorate to party food and activities. We're updating it all the time, so follow us to see all of the great ideas we collect.

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Match.com Takes Online Dating Offline Again

Image: Hotel Concorde Berlin on Flickr

Match.com, the winner of our Guy's Choice award and a five-star rating, recently announced the launch of a new program called "The Stir" that will take online dating back into the offline world. Rolling out in cities across the country over the next few weeks, the Stir will host a series of live events for single people hand-picked by Match.com to promote successful matches. Match.com daters will receive invitations to events with other well-matched singles, where they can enjoy happy hours, cooking classes, wine tastings, dance lessons and more. At The Stir events, singles will know that other attendees are single and looking to meet someone new, and will be more likely to meet someone with similar interests and goals.

In addition to this innovative live events program, Match.com is launching new games, which allow people to get to know each other while they play. The site's titles will include Best & Worst, Food Critic, Romance Rip Off, Name That Dance, and Drawn Together. Singles will recognize some of the most popular online games of recent years in the premises of many of Match's offerings, and the site plans to integrate instant messaging and video chatting with the games to let singles connect realistically.

This kind of facilitated interaction helps daters take what online dating has historically been great at–introducing people to each other–and add in the ability to assess important elements like chemistry, communication style, and real-time conversation that usually come with offline interactions.

Will you give Match's new features a try? If you haven't signed up yet, you can take advantage of our special deal with Match.com, which allows NextAdvisor visitors to get a 20% discount on one, three, or six-month memberships by clicking through from our review.

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Can Genealogy Sites Help
Me Find My Birth Parents?

Q: I need to find my birth family. I have my mothers name at my birth and her age and place of birth but that is all. Which service will be best suited to find her family ancestry and anything current?

A: The best site to start your search would be Ancestry.com. It has a vast collection of databases and documents that it can pull information from, so you have a better chance of finding information about your birth family. And since Ancestry has such a wide range of documents, including military, immigration, death, birth, crew lists, census, and other documents, you can compare documents against each other to confirm the identity of the person you are looking for.

The first thing to do is set up a family tree with Ancestry. Make sure you include as much information about yourself as possible, as it's easier for them to match records to your name. Once you've finished, add all the information you have for your mother. You can then search Ancestry's databases to see if there are any document matches to the information you gave about your mother. You can add relavent documents to her profile, and as you do, Ancestry will suggest other possible family members that are connected to her.

While Ancestry and other genealogy sites will help you get information about your birth family's history, they will probably not have the most up-to-date information such as address, telephone number, etc. If you are looking for contact information for your birth family, you can try a people search service to find them. Intelius has the most comprehensive search that we saw, so they might be a good place to start.

If you want to check out reviews of other genealogy or people search services, click on our genealogy compare page or our people search compare page.

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Want Professional (or Hilarious) Voicemail?
Try a Virtual Phone System

If you're interested in an automated answering system for your small business, a virtual phone system could be the way to go. These systems give you many of the features of a larger business telephone system on your existing phones. You can even forward calls to your home or cell phone if you need to take calls while you're out of the office. For iPhone users, Phone.com even offers a convenient app that lets you place outgoing calls quickly and easily from your virtual phone number.

If you're not available to take a call, Phone.com will answer for you and take a message. When setting up your voicemail with Phone.com, you can either choose to record your own greeting or use one of a number of recorded voices. Phone.com even lets you add pre-recorded sound effects like burps or howler monkeys, although that might not be the most professional way to record a greeting.

Right now, customers can get a 30-day free trial by clicking through on any NextAdvisor link to Phone.com. Not sure that Phone.com is the right virtual phone service for you? Click here to check out the other options we review, or you can read the FAQ section, take a look at the comparison chart, or read some previous blog posts.

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