AMSA's 411

Mailinator.com What is it you ask...? Well it's not exactly obvious from the home page so I'll explain why and how useful this site can be. Dodgeit.com is a E-Mail server with a Web interface. Sure there are many of these (but wait...) Dodgeit.com allows you to makeup any E-mail name as long as the domain name is "@mailinator.com". I believe they also allow .net possibly others, check their home page. Why would anyone want this? Well there are many legitimate reasons and a few shady ones as well I'm sure. Let's just stick to the legitimate ones.

Example...I recently posted something for sale on UseNet austin.forsale and/or registering on a forum... I didn't want to provide my real E-mail address and be bothered with residual E-mails plus allowing spammers/spiders to collect my E-mail address to pass about... DOH!
While there are many tricks like using john(at)domain.com, this still is easy to circumvent. Hotmail/Yahoo/etc are options also but these take time to setup and can be tracked back to your IP address. With dodgeit there is no setup, simply make up a name @mailinator.com anytime you want. This server allows you go to the home page and enter your made up name. Any E-mail address will be accepted at dodgeit.com allowing mail to be sent to it and allowing you to check the account. However after 48 hours the server automatically deletes messages.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO Keep in mind, anyone can read any E-mail adress on doggeit.com just as easily as you can. I'd recommend using a unique ID, something not likely to be guessed. I don't why anyone would pay to protect an account there, just use something obscure, not easiy guessed.

I use it sign up for freebies, forums, whatever, occasionally. One wonderful feature is that it's RSS enabled. You can have the account watched by a RSS Reaser application that will inform you when you have new mail. After I sold my item I simply forgot the account and ID. I'm not bothered any further asking if I still have it.

Ok, it's not that big of a deal and perhap this may become more known and filtered like HotMail, but currently it's under most peoples radar... Someday you'll think back and have a need for this. It's simply a tool just like a hammer in your tool box and I know we all like tools. Enjoy!

-- UPDATED 10/29/07, 1/23/08
Alright Dodgeit.com seems to have died, but don't fret there are others to use/abuse.
Here are some other anonymous e-mail sites:

• www.mailinator.com
• 
  
• http://spambox.us
• 
  
• http://www.guerrillamail.com
• 
  

There are others search 'anonymouse free email' and don't fall prey to the spammers.

Podcast.net The Moto Show is a collection of audio Podcast files for the motorcyclist. Interviews with James Stewart to various team mechanics.
http://www.podcast.net/show/78865

Brad Quick's classic Dirt Bike games. Dirt Bike is a motorcycle simulation action game available for both PC and Mac OS in 2D and 3D versions. Everyone got to try this classic game with many updated versions over the years.
http://members.aol.com/bradquick/dirtbike.html

Road racer - This game features four tracks with five segments each. You have 30 seconds for each segment, don't run out of time!
http://www.neodelight.com/turbospirit

Papercraft-made Yamaha bikes. Download the PDF files and build your own paper bike.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/

Challenging Trials game. Bike and driver move according to real-life physics models. Not as easy as you might think. Lots of fun!
http://www.foogamers.com/games/trials_basic/

How far do you think you can drive your Yamaha scooter on the screen by operating your mouse? You can brake by moving your mouse onto the bike and left clicking. Gas usage is independent of speed. Your damage score will go up every time you hit an obstacle. When you run out of gas or your damage score reaches the limit, the game is over. Continue the game by replacing damaged parts or fuel from the help item.
Go! Go! Vino!!

http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/game/vino/index.html

This is where you can enjoy our new Yamaha game by riding a Yamaha Bronco!
How fast do you think you will be able to reach the goal by adjusting the speed level?
Left click the speed-up button and keep on pushing the mouse, it will accelerate the speed. When you release the mouse, it will decelerate. As you see, the course has lots of jumps and gullies, you will be easily thrown off the Bronco unless you are really careful.
Now, go for your best time and beat the record!
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/game/offroad/index.html

Disney's online Motocrossed MX flash game. - A old classic.
http://www.disney.go.com/disneychannel/originalmovies/games/motocrossed.html

Trial Bike Pro - I like.
http://www.miniclip.com/trialspro/index.htm

RocketMX Racing - Simply silly.
http://gamerival.grab.com/index.cfm?play=F4BBF9D1&fromint=1&randint=8

Maximum Torque street racing inspired by the movie. cough cough!
http://www2.warnerbros.com/torque/3d/maximumtorque.html

GP racing minus the road rash.
http://www.miniclip.com/superbikes/index.htm

Practice those front wheel stops all you like with Get a Grip.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/downloads/games/Getagrip.htm

Sometime those construction yards look tempting for Trials riding. Fun and challenging!
http://www.miniclip.com/trialscy/trialscy_game.htm

Take the Tony Hawk Proskater game, add Sonic the Hedgehog, and throw in a motorcycle and you'll have an idea of what this game is like.
http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/adrenaline-challenge.html

Trials Mountain Heights - Trial simulation game. Oh yeah, a fun one here!!!
http://www.miniclip.com/trialsmountainheights/

Try your memory and put your skills to the test as you solve Yamaha product jigsaw puzzles.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/game/jigsaw/index.html

Motocross Racing Game
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=17839

http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/knievel

FIle Sharing Lesson

Many of you may or may not be familiar with File Sharing over the Internet. This little segment should help those not so familiar with file sharing techniques. The first file sharing technique everyone should know is attachments with-in an e-mail message. As you may have discovered this has it's limitations. E-mail servers usually limit messages to 4mb or under. Many people believe if the attachment file size is over the limit (set by your provider), then you're just out of luck. Well this isn't true, you have many options. First is File Transfer Protocol (FTP) but you'll have to learn and understanding FTP technology. Too much for the normal everyday non-geek user, (I agree.) FTP requires special software and knowledge to send/receive files, it's not too difficult, perhaps more study time required than you care to undertake. If you want learn more about FTP then I'd recommend starting with "FTP" and the vast available search engines.

I'm heading this tactical informational lesson to a slightly easier method, available free and right from your web browser.

Dropload to the rescue! If you have a larger file than what e-mail allows you to send you can utilize this handy free utility to send and retrieve files.

Perhaps I should explain a bit more... Dropload is a place for you to drop your files off and have them picked up by someone else at a later time. Recipients you specify are sent an email with instructions on how to download the file. Files are removed from the system after 7 days, regardless if they have been picked up or not. You can upload any type of file, mp3, movies, docs, pdfs, up to 100MB each! Recipients can be anyone with an email address. However... of course confidentiality is at risk unless you securely encrypted or password protect your files. You can usually add minimum password security to zipped, and/or pdf files prior to using such free public utilities if this is a concern.

Ok, so now there are no excuses for not sharing your files, photos, etc... But remember as ALWAYS scan any and all files for virus's prior to opening with the most current virus software and definitions. I hope you learned from this little lesson and share it with others.

UseNet News Groups

UseNet Is a worldwide bulletin board system that can be accessed through the Internet or through many online services. The USENET contains more than 14,000 forums, called newsgroups, that cover every imaginable interest group. It is used daily by millions of people around the world.

UseNet News Groups certainly are not new but I'll bet it may be to many of you. In fact prior to the World Wide Web (www) and HTML web pages, the Internet structure was primarily UseNet based, but also other protocols like FTP, and E-mail.

News Groups like recreational.motorcycles are still a major community news information source. This is why I am linking and encouraging you to explore UseNet.

However - BEWARE - UseNet is also a common place for scams and E-mail address harvesting, so please learn correct techniques to protect yourself. Example: Protect your identity when posting messages on UseNet, notice few provide people there E-mail address as it is, usually they mask it so address harvesters can not easily obtain this. You're safe to lurk and browse UseNet's text messages.

A non-motorcycle popular news group is the free city classified available for most every large city in the world. (see Austin.Forsale)