What happens to your Gmail and Google Drive after you die?

Not many people know that Google provides a way for your spouse or close relative to access your Gmail or Google Drive (or any Google service for that matter) after you pass on. It’s called Inactive Account Manager.

The rule is simple, after you activate the service, if you didn’t login to your Gmail for a particular time period (you can select the inactivity period from anywhere 3 months to 18 months), it will inform the person specified and share your Google Account access with them.

scr_gmail_death

 

Say, your inactive period is set to 6 months, after 4 months (2 months before the expiry), Google will send you a reminder SMS and email informing you that Inactive Account Manager will be activated in 2 months time. After which if you still do not login to your Gmail within the next 2 months, it will proceed to provide access to your Gmail to those people who you have specified. Below is the details of this service. Continue reading

Securing the Web for Your Kids with OpenDNS [Guide]

Note: This is not a “technical” post, any parent can set this up to make the web little more secure for their kids. Read on..

Update: 5 Oct 2017 – if you are looking for easy way to manage your kids’ internet safety, you should check Kaspersky Safe Kids out. Setup is very simple for it and UI is very user friendly.

I have three kids, all boys, eldest is 10 years old (Manas), followed by 7 years old (Aihan), and the youngest is 3 years old (Azat). Manas is now able to do his own research for his school assignments. Usually searching for specific topic in Google/Wikipedia. He is also into Minecraft. He follows some Minecraft YouTube Channels like DanTDMCaptain Sparklez, etc. He is almost entirely not watching any TV (he just joins in when Azat is watching some cartoons). He is either at the Home PC playing Minecraft or doing his homework, or on his iPad watching Minecraft videos and playing games. Home PC is located at the living room area, for obvious reasons.

I have talked to Manas and Aihan about basic security on Minecraft and the Web in general, such as;

  • Don’t give any specific info about where you study (school name, school address) and where you live (home address) to strangers in Minecraft. Just tell them general information, like I live in Malaysia etc.
  • I have explained to them that it’s ok to ignore people’s questions, you don’t have to always answer all the questions directed at you.
  • I have explained the possible consequences of the above points and how some people are not as they claim to be on the internet.
  • When you search for something in Google, use phrases instead of single keywords. Because single keywords are more likely to show something other than what you are looking for.
  • Can’t watch / play something that is violent with bloods, PG, PG13 etc.

Alhamdulillah, my kids are also very understanding, and they do their best to be good kids on their own. I don’t have to strictly monitor their browsing, watching or playing habits. In fact, they are the ones sometimes decline to go to cinema, because they perceive the movie to be too violent or not suitable to them..

Ok, these are given. How about those accidental things that might happen on the internet? Like clicking on a link or banner that might open an inappropriate website? You can teach your kids to be responsible (managing the pull factor) but we have to also try to protect them from push factors. And this is where OpenDNS comes to our ‘rescue’. Continue reading

Zapier – Automate the Obvious

If you are a fan of IFTTT, then you will love Zapier too. Zapier is like an advanced version of IFTTT that is primarily targeted on power users and web developers.

Below is a recipe of mine that I created, it does the following; when I forward particular email to Zapier email, it creates a new card in my Trello account, in the predefined Dashboard, under the “To-Do” column. Attachments of the email is also passed on to Trello card as attachments. You can also tag particular default users to the newly created card. It just saves tons of time..

zapier

Continue reading

Preceden: Timeline Generator Tool

I might have found the timeline generator tool that I have been looking for – it’s clean, simple and user-friendly. You can easily generate timelines for your small projects and export them in PDF, CSV or embed them in your websites (as seen below).

Free version allows you to add up to 5 tasks per project (which is quite less), pro version costs $29 that allows you to add unlimited number of tasks per project. The fee is a one-time fee which gives you lifetime pro membership.

URLhttp://www.preceden.com