In these days of watching every penny, more and more thrifty shoppers are clipping coupons before heading out to the grocery store. Cybercriminals are on top of the trend and have created a coupon site to replace the Valentine's Day e-Card site from earlier this month. The clever criminals even make the site specific to your location so it appears that the coupons are for your area. Read more about it here, and be cautious if you run across one of these sites. Also, don't forget to add you ratings to the safe coupon sites, so we'll all know which ones are trustworthy.

WOT is happy to support the new URL shortening service Shuurl.

Have you ever clicked a shortened URL and been redirected to a site you would rather not have seen? This exact scenario happened to Shuurl developer Paul Maloney's friend one day at work. His boss wasn't pleased, and in response to his friend's distress (he got a warning!), Paul decided to do something about it.

In a field crowded with URL shorteners (about 100 at last count), Paul came up with a new variation of an already useful idea. Shuurl is a new concept in URL shortening. Not only does it do what you expect - convert a huge ugly string of characters into a clean little package - but Paul creatively incorporated the WOT widget to show the rating of the redirected link. Here's what happens - when you receive a URL that has been shrunken using Shuurl and click on it, the link will open to the Shuurl page. Three important things show on that page:

1. A thumbnail with the image of the site
2. The WOT rating icon beside the link
3. Hover on the link, and see the tooltip which leads to the WOT scorecard

See an example here, http://shuurl.com/Y1226

Now, when you send or receive a short URL, you don't have to throw all caution to the wind when you open it. Shuurl, using WOT ratings, keeps you protected (and keeps the boss happy too!)

Vote for Shuurl here and share it with a friend.

We are pleased and have warm, fuzzy feelings for the good people at Gizmo's Freeware for giving WOT the prestigious Gizmo's Top Pick award in the "Best Internet Safety Check Freeware*" category. According to the editor, "This editor's choice award is only given to the best product in its category so this is an honor, congratulations."

The Gizmo site is a community-based review site, where average users, and some advanced too, review and recommend all types of freeware - a Wiki for freeware. Founder, Ian "Gizmo" Richards, is senior editor at Windows Secrets newsletter, which recently published an article recommending WOT. We are feeling the love!

We are honored to receive this award and have proudly displayed it on our download pages. Thank you Gizmo!

*edit - The award title was changed from "Best Free Website Advisory or Blocker Software" by Gizmo's editor.
*second edit -The Top Pick award URL was changed.

Our excitement here at WOT HQ has been building as discussions were conducted, ideas batted around and signatures placed on the dotted line. At last, the famed open source hero and creator of MySQL, Michael "Monty" Widenius, is joining our team! He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and an influential contact network that will help to expedite our growth and take the company to the next level.

About Monty

Monty started to write the first version of his database back in 1982. In 1994 he wrote an SQL interface on top of his old code and together with the other founders, David Axmark and Allan Larsson, released it in 1996 to the public.

MySQL has since grown to become an open source icon and the world's most popular open source database. It was acquired by Sun Microsystems in January 2008 for an impressive sum (one billion dollars - that's $1,000,000,000). Monty had a key role in the company until recently, when he announced his resignation.

Now Monty embarks on his next adventure. He will focus on his company, Monty Program AB, and the development of the Maria engine, a transactional storage engine for MySQL. And through his investment company Open Ocean, he is seeking to invest in disruptive technology start-up companies that create open source and community products. WOT is pleased to among the first of these companies.

Greetings from Monty

"I am thrilled to join the Web of Trust team and will do my best to help it reach new heights. My years at MySQL have taught me the power of user-driven services, and I appreciate and value the contribution that each of you provide to the Web of Trust community by rating and commenting on websites! I am actively using WOT myself and actively encouraging people I meet to try it out and become a part of the WOT community! Together let's make the Internet a better place!"

Send your greetings or comments to Monty, m o n t y (at) a s k m o n t y (dot) o r g. Read more at his blog Monty Says.

Press release

In a few days people around the world will be celebrating love and friendship. Not ones to miss a good hug fest, our February newsletter honors our friends who have received the Scam Buster and Top Member awards. A big hug goes out to all of you!

Plus, we answer some common questions and share other ways to connect with WOT. Read our newsletter here, and if you want to subscribe (or unsubscribe), you can make changes in "Privacy settings" in your profile. Don't forget to press "Submit" at the bottom of the page after making changes.