Webware

KnowEm is the latest in services that check for unclaimed user names at multiple social sites. This is helpful if you're interested in retaining the same user name at sites you haven't yet signed up for, or if you're on the verge of launching a new site or service and want to lock down that brand name before someone else does.

Most recently we checked out Namechk, which does the same thing for 84 different sites. KnowEm steps it up by searching in 120 places, as well as offering a premium service which will actually go to each site and sign you up. This doesn't come cheap though; it's $64.95, and it only goes to the sites where the user name is still available. It then sends the log-in information back to you so you can do things like change the password and where it's sending confirmation e-mails.

What's more, is that for $10 a month it can keep signing you up for any new services it adds to its search engine. It promises anywhere from 6 to 10 per month, but that can change depending on what new sites are introduced during that time.

Is it worth it to place your money, and trust in a service like this? It depends on how fast the providers are at adding the new sites and registering for you. If you've got an eccentric, or otherwise uncommon user name then yes, it will probably still be available. However, for more common names, you're better off keeping an eagle eye on your RSS reader and signing up for new services as soon as they're announced.

KnowEm checks 120 different sites to find you open user names, and for a price can sign you up to all the places where that name is still available.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Celebrities are migrating to Twitter in astounding numbers. Or so we think.

I've set out to determine if the most-followed celebrities (according to WeFollow) on Twitter are really who they say they are. Is it someone pretending to be a celeb? Is it their publicist taking care of the "trivial" task of updating their Twitter profile? You might be surprised to know that most celebrities are really tweeting. And that's pretty cool.

The top 10

Britney Spears is tweeting sometimes.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

1. Britney Spears Britney Spears is a celebrity of the first order. But if you read through her profile, you quickly realize that she's only tweeting a portion of the time. When she's not, other people in her entourage are. Britney signs all her tweets with "~Britney." Seems possible.

Verdict: @BritneySpears is the real Britney Spears.

2. Jimmy Fallon Jimmy Fallon tweets on the @JimmyFallon Twitter account. There's no doubt about it. He talks about things only Jimmy could shed light on. And most importantly, he talks about his tweeting on his show, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." No worries here: it's the real guy.

Verdict: @JimmyFallon is really JimmyFallon.

3. Shaquille O'Neal Dubbed @THE_REAL_SHAQ, Shaquille O'Neal's Twitter account is one of the most entertaining in this roundup. Shaq posts pictures of himself, sends brief messages out to followers, and unleashes one-liners that will make you chuckle. I don't think there's any debating that @THE_REAL_SHAQ is the real Shaq.

Verdict: @THE_REAL_SHAQ is really him.

4. Lance Armstrong Lance Armstrong is definitely tweeting on the @LanceArmstrong account. He tweets about his travel around the U.S. He talks about where he's riding today and most importantly, he uploads personal pictures to his TwitPic account.

Verdict: @LanceArmstrong is the real deal.

5. Ellen DeGeneres Ellen DeGeneres is tweeting on her show's Twitter profile, @TheEllenShow. On multiple occasions she has said on her show that she tweets and a recent update provided a TwitPic link to an image of her mother. She also tends to make references to events in her life that others might not know.

Verdict:@TheEllenShow is the real Ellen DeGeneres

Twitter is growing fast. Grab your name fast! Actually, it's probably too late. But don't give up and settle for a lame name. What you're called on Twitter matters. Here's our advice for picking your name:

1. Don't be afraid to use your real name. There's nothing wrong with using your name on Twitter. I do it. And so does Rafe. Granted, we're public figures, but that's not the point. If you're using Twitter as a networking tool or an opportunity to connect with others for personal or professional enrichment, calling yourself "DarthVader918345" isn't the smartest decision. Use your real name. Those you're communicating with will appreciate it.

If you want to hide, what are you doing on Twitter?

Related tip: Especially if your real name is taken, use your real picture. That way your friends will know it's you.

2. Don't use curse words or obscenity in your username. It's not common, but I've come across some folks who decided to throw some curse words or suggestive concepts into their username. I don't get it. Anyone who really wants to contribute something to the community won't use their username as a vehicle to shock others.

3. Do tell us about your profession or your interests. If you're using Twitter to expand your professional network, you can use your name to tell us what you do. If you're a plumber, say so. If you're an attorney, tell us. There's no better way to attract followers than to give them a hint about who you are. If your followers know you're a plumber, maybe they'll ask you how to unclog a drain. Even better, maybe they'll ask if they can hire you to fix their plumbing. For personal users, if you're a gamer, say so in your username. If you love PCs, we want to know it. Every time I see someone who puts "Yanksfan" or something like it in their username, I follow them because I know that we have something in common. There's nothing better than to have a Twitter dialogue with someone who shares your interests.

Domain Pigeon, the domain finding service that lets you search and browse unclaimed domains, now does the same thing for Twitter usernames. It shows you which names are unclaimed, and puts some of the most recent or popular additions on the front page, where you're able to see which ones other users are clicking on.

As with domain names you can filter down the results to see only names with three or four letters, although to do so you must be a paid, registered user of the site. Those users can also see a larger, and more complete index of names.

Creator Matt Mazur tells me that his service is indexing a few hundred names a day, and that there are "quite a few good ones left." In what feels like an amusing throwback to the days when low-digit ICQ numbers were a hot commodity, Mazur's put a live countdown of how many three-letter usernames are left. As of me writing this there are a little more than 17,800 still available.

Domain Pigeon can now search through open Twitter usernames in addition to Web domains.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Why is this such a big deal? Three is the current minimum Twitter users are able to have. And for a service where the number of followers matters, the smaller your name the more important you may appear to be. More importantly, someone starting a site can check to see if both the domain and Twitter URL are open within the same search.

The one area where this service may become a problem is that could greatly increase the pace in which people are hoarding usernames. This means good business for Domain Pigeon, but a potential surplus of registered--but inactive--users for Twitter.

So do users who snatch these up get to cash out like they can with domain squatting? Potentially. Brands and businesses with trademarks could send Twitter a legal notice to claim what it rightfully theirs (like Marvel did), but for users simply trying to get their first or last name it's turning into a mad, mad rush.

Namechk is a new service launching on Wednesday that helps you find open usernames at 84 different Web sites. Like UsernameCheck, a service we covered last year that has since shut down, it takes only a few seconds to come up with the results and provides a link to the page for each user at the sites where it's taken.

What's really impressive about this service is the speed. In a few sample searches, it averaged about 8 seconds from start to finish. And you don't even have to wait to see all the results because they stream in as it does its business.

Combine this with a domain checker like Domize or BustAName, and you could create a name-squatting empire in short order.

Namechk scours 84 different sites to let you know where usernames have been taken or are still available.

(Credit: CNET)

In looking for a program to back up his Gmail account, programmer Dustin Brooks found a commercial program that instead copies username and password information, according to a blog on Codinghorror.com.

Over the weekend, Brooks said in an e-mail to CodingHorrror.com that he was looking for a program that would archive his Gmail account onto his local hard drive. He signed up for a program called G-Archiver distributed by Mate Media of Miami, Fla. Brooks says that after installing the program, it didn't do all he was looking for so he decided to reverse engineer the source code using a program called Reflector for .Net.

Inside the source code Brooks found the program author's e-mail address and account password for Gmail. Thinking that was a little strange, Brooks used the hardcoded information to open John Terry's Gmail account. There, Brooks alleges he found 1,777 messages, all of which had username and passwords for people who signed up for the G-Archiver, including his own. In other words, whenever anyone signed up for the program, as Brooks had, a copy of his or her username and password was sent to John Terry's Gmail account.

Hardcoding e-mail addresses isn't new. In a presentation at Black Hat D.C. 2008 a few weeks ago, researchers Nitesh Dhanjani and Billy Rios reported that phishing site creators frequently hardcode e-mail addresses into the code in order to receive copies of the personal information submitted independent of where the Web form is being sent.

Brooks says upon realizing what each of the e-mails contained, he then deleted all the mail and emptied the trash. He then changed the author's password, and reported jterry79@gmail.com's abuse to Google.

On the CodingHorror.com site this morning, Brooks wrote "Granted my actions may have been a little quick and harsh, I was a little upset over the whole deal. I have a lot of personal info in my account along with a stored credit card for Google checkout. I very easily just could have changed my password and been done with it, but I didn't want more people compromising their accounts as well. The only e-mails in this account were usernames/passwords. This wasn't a personal account used for other things."

A number of sites have since removed G-Archiver from their download collection, including CNET Download.com. Attempts to contact Mate Media have so far gone unanswered.