Get started with the new Foursquare credit card specials

(Credit: Jason Cipriani/CNET)

Today Foursquare announced you can now connect a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card to your account. With a card connected, you'll be eligible to receive a discount just for checking into a participating business. One business currently running a special based on the new credit card deals would be Burger King.

Users who connect a card to their account can check in to any participating Burger King, spend $10 or more, pay with the connected card, and receive $1 credit on their card. The process is identical to that of the American Express integration Foursquare has had for awhile now.

You can connect a card to your account either from the Android or iOS app, or from the Card Settings page on the Web site.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)

Using either app mentioned above, navigate to the Settings (under the "Me" tab), and tap the Connected Cards and Savings button.

You can then enter your credit or debit card number. Notice, you won't need to enter an expiration date or the CCV number for your card. Foursquare isn't going to be processing any payments; in fact, Foursquare isn't going to be monitoring your card number at all. A company called First Data will be monitoring your card number and handling the credits.

Once you've entered your card information, you're all set. You can now look for the credit card specials icon when you're using Explore or checking in to a venue. Once you find one, you simply check in to the participating venue, pay with your connected card (ensuring you meet the minimum requirement for amount spent), and you'll receive an alert on your device that the credit was processed.

Foursquare reminds you during the setup process, but it's worth repeating: When you use your card, ask for it to be processed as credit and not debit. Doing so will ensure you receive the credit.

The process above works only for Visa and MasterCard. Should you want to link an American Express card, you can do so here.

by Jason Cipriani via CNET How To

Permanently request desktop sites on Firefox for Android

Firefox for Android can request desktop sites, but you have to request it every time. We'll show you how to set it for desktop sites, once and for all

Desktop sites look a lot better on Firefox for Android than the mobile versions, especially on tablets.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 1: In the Firefox address bar, type "about:config" and press Enter.Firefox for Android can request desktop versions of sites, but you have to make the request every time you visit a site that loads a mobile version. You can use Firefox add-ons to change the browser user agent string, but if you don't want to install add-ons, you can make the change directly to Firefox. Here's how:

Step 2: Tap the "Add a New Setting" button, then select "String" as the type.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 3: For name, enter "general.useragent.override."

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 4: For value, enter the browser user agent string you want to use. You can do a Google search for the user agent strings of your preferred browser and OS. In this example, we're using the user agent string for the desktop version of Firefox 17 on Windows 7.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/17.0

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 5: Restart Firefox and confirm that Web sites are loading the desktop versions.

That's it. If you want to change the user agent later, go back to about:config and search for "general.useragent.override." Hit the Modify button to change the user agent or the Reset button to remove it.

Source: Cnet

Safe online shopping: 10 tips to avoid getting burned

You need to buy some gifts. You need to buy them quickly. You can (a) brave the madness of holiday retail shopping at your local mall, rife with screaming children and airborne contagions, or (b) kick back at home and buy all your gifts online, accompanied by nothing more obnoxious than a warm cup of cocoa—or a cold glass of wine.

We'll take the online shopping option. We're civilized adults at PCWorld, and we're not interested in rubbing shoulders with rabid mall zombies unless we have to.

But the world of online shopping isn't all hot chocolate and chardonnay. Buying gifts via a Web browser certainly speeds up one's shopping regimen, but it also bears risks. Here are 10 easy ways to lock down your Web security this season, and still get all your shopping done in time.

Keep your browser updated

Start at the beginning. Whether you use Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer, updating your browser will help to ensure that you’re getting the most up-to-date security protection.