Various
How to report spam SMS text messages to AT&T
I recently received a rash of spam text messages from an unknown cell phone with offers to “win a free ipad” or “get a free iphone 4s” well, bullshit.
The best thing you can do is to report text spammers to your carrier service. My carrier happens to be AT&T.
To report SMS spam, AT&T asks you to forward the content of the spam SMS to the short code SPAM (7726).
Here’s how to notify AT&T of a spam SMS text message using an iphone:
- View the message
- Tap “Edit” in the upper right corner
- Tap the message to select it
- Tap “Forward” on the lower right corner
- Send the message to 7726 (texting fees may apply)
- You will receive a free text message back from AT&T asking for the phone number
- Respond with the phone number.

AT&T Guide: What you can do to control cell phone spam
Michelin Energy Saver Tires boost my fuel economy 4 percent
I mentioned before that I bought some new Michelin Energy Saver All-Season tires for my Toyota Prius. The advertising materials from Michelin claim that using the tires will achieve up to an 8% increase in fuel economy.
Anecdotally I have been able to achieve about a 47 MPG average for combined mileage, approximately a 2-4% improvement versus my previous average with the original tires. Having driven about 1 month (1,500 miles?) on the tires this modest improvement in my Prius mileage doesn’t save a ton of money but I am impressed that the tires really have made a difference in the car’s fuel economy.
Favicons on the web
Nmap.org has a new webpage that maps the favicons of the top 288,000 websites based on their Alexa rating. The higher the site is on Alexa, the bigger their icon. It has a handy search feature and it’s fun to browse around in general!