Sony launches smartphone protection app

Image via CrunchBase

Good news for Sony smatphone owners and in particular anyone with a 2012/2013 Xperia handset. Sony has launched an app to help owners track down their missing phones and even shut them down completely in the case of theft.
One of the biggest unfortunate side effects of the smartphone boom has been a huge spike in mobile device thefts.
However, even if a consumer simply misplaces a phone, being able to find it again is vitally important, especially considering the amount of personal data they carry -- everything from family photos to banking details. Even with frequent backups, it's still possible to lose a lot more besides the device itself if it were to be taken or lost.
Sony's app, called My Xperia, starts rolling out globally this week and should be in every world region by the end of 2013. Very similar (in a good way) to Apple's Find My Phone service, it can locate a device and show it on a map, sound the device's alert function to attract passersby or, in the case of theft, the owner can remotely lock the phone and erase its contents (including the SD card).

To start using the app, activate it in the smartphone's settings menu then go to https://myxperia.sonymobile.com/ and log in using a Google ID. From there users can access MY Xperia's remote functions.

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Send a Free Fax to Anywhere in the World

Send an onlin

 If you don’t have a fax machine at hand, or if the cost of sending an international fax seems prohibitive, this should interest you.

HelloFax, the online fax company, has recently partnered with Microsoft and now lets you send up to 50 pages per month to any fax machine in the world for free. All your need is a web browser and a Microsoft account (your Hotmail or Windows Live ID should also work).

To get started, go to hellofax.com/skydrive and click the “Sign-up with Microsoft” link. Once your are signed in, just upload any document and put in a fax number (with country code) to send your first online fax. Once your fax has been successfully delivered, a copy of the outbound fax document will be automatically saved in your SkyDrive.
You can use HelloFax to send Word documents, PDFs, text files, images and several other popular formats. You can also pull in documents directly from your SkyDrive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote and Google Drive accounts for faxing.

Your free account will only help you send faxes to other numbers but in order to receive faxes, you’ll have to buy an incoming fax number that costs around $7.99 per month.
Update – If you don’t have a Microsoft account, go to hellofax.com/googledrive and use your Google Account to sign-up for HelloFax.  You will still get credit for sending up to  50 faxes per month for free for a maximum of 6 months.
Source:Internet

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Google Is Hiring You To Create Buildings For Google Earth

Google is launching their version of Sim City today, Google Building Maker. The tool lets you create buildings for Google Earth. Building Maker lets you pick any building and construct a 3D version of it using photos and building blocks provided by Google. Google says that buildings are relatively fast to construct using their tool, taking only a matter of minutes.

Building Maker runs within your web browser and connect with your Google Account so you can get credit for your building. You can also use Google SketchUp to edit or modify your creation.

Google Earth Is Creating Virtual World

When your building is finished, you submit it to Google, where it will be deposited in a giant 3D warehouse. If yours is the best version of the building, Google will add it to the 3D building layer in Google Earth. Google Building Maker, which is available in 14 languages, lets you make buildings in only 50 cities at the moment, but will be rolling out the feature to other cities in the future.

While Building Maker is definitely a fun tool, Google gets some benefit out of this. They are crowdsourcing building making to their users, in addition to doing this internally. Google is also crowdsourcing to help update Google Maps, letting users report changes to a particular location, destination or roads.

Here are some more things you should know about Building Maker:

• Building Maker is an online tool, and it runs entirely in your web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.)
• Before you can add a building to Google Earth, you need to sign in to your Google Account (so you get credit for what you contribute).
• Models you create with Building Maker “live” in the Google 3D Warehouse (a giant, online repository of 3D models).
• You can use Google SketchUp (our free, general-purpose 3D modeling tool) to edit or otherwise modify anything you make with Building Maker.
• Make sure you have the latest version of Google Earth installed on your computer.
• If you’re on a Mac, you need to download the Google Earth plug-in directly.

Building Maker is free and available in 14 languages. Go to www.google.com/buildingmaker to join the worldwide mapping community. Have fun!

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