I just came across a fantastic free service which utilizes the CAPTCHA image generation feature (you know, the hard-to-read distorted words on website registration forms) that offers a free service for performing the same protection for linking to an e-mail address:
A CAPTCHA is a program that can tell whether its user is a human or a computer. You’ve probably seen them — colorful images with distorted text at the bottom of Web registration forms. CAPTCHAs are used by many websites to prevent abuse from “bots,” or automated programs usually written to generate spam. No computer program can read distorted text as well as humans can, so bots cannot navigate sites protected by CAPTCHAs.
Here is a link to my e-mail address (fill out the reCAPTCHA form and you’ll get my unencrypted e-mail address). This is perfect for posting your address publicly, but protecting it from being picked up by spam bots/spiders that routinely scour websites for e-mail addresses. I’ve also posted this link in the “about the author” page on this blog, too (no more having to contact me through my LinkedIn profile!).
Furthermore, reCAPTCHA also has the added benefit of using their API to help digitize books:
Tags:
google,
open source
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I’ve been a Google Apps for your Domain user/administrator since they first launched the service with just e-mail hosting. It wasn’t until recently that I noticed they offered more services than just e-mail hosting:
- Calendars
- Chat
- Customized Start Page
- Domain Web Pages
I realized that calendars and chat were basically available, what I didn’t realize was that you could toggle them on/off. I also realized that there wasn’t a waiting list for signing up new domain names any more (though the service is still in “beta”), too. I proceeded to setup google apps for 7 other domain names, making a total of 8 domains that I use Google apps for. After trying to add a 9th domain, I got this message:
Hello,
Thanks for your interest in Google Apps for Your Domain. Unfortunately, we are not able to invite your domain into the beta at this time, because you have reached the maximum number of domains per administrator. If we increase this limit, we’ll let you know by email.
Sincerely,
The Google Team
Bummer! But, I can’t complain. I’ll take free e-mail hosting for 8 domains. This also means I can clear off all of the e-mail accounts on our mail server which makes one less thing to setup when we switch ISPs. What I also like is the ability to host web pages on a domain name with Google, meaning I can eliminate all of the one-page domains that we host, as well. Can’t wait to see what’s next with the service — hopefully full integration with Picasa, Gmail mobile, and other Google applications/utilities.
Tags:
google,
hosting
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