Geeky: Listening to music at work

"My boss told me the other day that I was spending in average 6.5 hours per day on YouTube according to the company's Internet statistics. But I'm only using YouTube to listen to background music while I work. Are they allowed to check what I'm doing online? What about privacy?

This is not an actual reader question. But I heard this story from a friend and decided to turn it into a fake reader question.

Secondly, I could start an analysis of the Swiss Data Protection Law, but I just don't feel like it at the moment. Me know, me am lazy ;-)

Thirdly, using YouTube extensibly at work doesn't make much sense to me. Whether your employer uses legal or illegal means to track your web traffic isn't the point. Anybody could walk by your desk five times a day and see that you're on YouTube.

Furthermore, streaming videos all day uses a lot of bandwidth and although many people still think that the Interwebs are for free, connecting to this cyber maze still costs a lot.

Besides, using YouTube to listen to music doesn't really make much sense to me. But that's just lil' ol' me...

So here's my geeky solution:

• buy a USB stick. The last one I bought had 16 GB and didn't cost that much anymore
• download CoolPlayer+ (a portable app) and copy it to the stick
• fill up the remaining space on your stick with your favorite mp3 songs

The beauty of portable apps is that you don't need to install the programs, you just copy them somewhere. Even if you don't have admin access to your work computer, you can use programs and it costs your company zilch in terms of bandwidth.

Alternatives:
Of course, you could just copy your mp3 files to the hard drive and use the pre-installed media player. But this wouldn't be geeky, now would it ;-)

@JT: Thank you, the Twitter message that you wrote 17 days ago and which I only saw today motivated me to write again! And your new site logo looks really cool!
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Tech Tip: Simple Org Charts In Google Docs

Google Docs & Spreadsheets lets you create simple org charts in a matter of minutes.






I wouldn't use this in a presentation for the board of directors, but it can be useful if you need to visualize something on the spot.

I did this simple and mostly fictional org chart in less than 3 minutes. Hopefully my friends at HR Bloggers won't mind...

How to do it

1. create a new Google Spreadsheet
2. add 2 columns: first for employees, second for managers
3. select the data you want to use
4. click "insert", "gadget"
5. click "diagrams", "organization chart", then "add to spreadsheet"
6. insert a title and click "apply and close"

...et voilà!
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TechTip: Who Is Getting Your Credit Card Information?

When sending credit card or other sensitive information through your browser, phishing is a serious problem. Maybe your browser is showing "https://www.mybank.com" in the address bar, but somebody else is getting the information.

This can be avoided very easily by just remembering to click somewhere. No degree in IT or installation of additional programs needed.

First, make sure that https is used (see the URL in the address bar), then check who owns the SSL certificate. Lets take for example https://mail.google.com.

Firefox
Click the grey lock on the right of the web address and it should say:

"mail.google.com verified by Thawte Consulting".

Internet Explorer
Click the yellow lock on the right of the web address and select "view certificate". It should say:

"issued to: mail.google.com, issued by: Thawte SGC CA".

If it says "issued to criminals who want to steal your money", then something's wrong.

(Inspired by Bruce Schneier recommending to check SSL certificates in his article Man-In-The-Middle Attacks (15 July 2008). He uses the recent hostage liberation in Columbia to explain how a MITM attack works.)
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Recruiting: Send regret emails efficiently (2/2)

Part 1 was a walk down memory lane. Back then when HR still received applications by snail mail.

In this part I'll describe how you can send a regret email within seconds.
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If you receive all applications by email (to your personal email address or a team mailbox) and need to answer each message individually, this might be helpful.

The tools: Outlook with a few shortcuts and Texter

Texter is a nifty little tool developed by the great people at Lifehacker [1]. It's Windows only and also portable, this means that you can launch it from a USB stick if you aren't allowed to install programs on your work computer.

Once started, right click on the Texter icon on the task bar (usually on the lower right corner of the screen) and add a standard text. Example:

Dear

Thank you for applying with The Rebellion Inc.
However, we regret to inform you that your professional experience doesn't completely match the requirements of the position.

We wish you all the best and hope that you will soon find your way back to the light side of the Force.

Best regards

Mon Mothma
Leader of the Alliance

Assign a keyword or an abbreviation to this text snippet, but make sure that you use something that you wouldn't usually type. So instead of "regret" you could use "eemregret". Finally, define a key that will activate the text insertion, for example the space key.

Faster than the naked eye can see

First put all emails you want to reply to in a single folder.

1. select the first message and click "Enter" to open it
2. press Ctrl+r to reply
3. select the tab key until you're in the body of the email
4. type "eemregret" and press the space key to insert the text
5. use the arrow key to go to the 1st line and type "Mr. Vader" after "Dear"
6. select Alt+s to send the message
7. press Ctrl+d to delete the original email and activate the next application

And if you want to finish with some cleaning up:

• all deleted messages are in the "Deleted Items" folder. Sort by date, select all applications and move them in one quick swoop to your archive folder
• repeat for all sent replies (you will find them in the "Sent Items" folder)
  

The secret is to always keep your fingers on the keyboard. If this is too difficult, hide the mouse in a drawer.

Practice until the movements become automatic and your fingers are just a blur.

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[1] Lifehacker.com is a productivity blog with something for everyone from utilities under Windows, Mac or Linux to time management and even clever household tips.
[2] Mon Mothma is a character from Star Wars.