My Google reader shared items.

Enjoy the links!

--MissM

ASUS Eee PC: Exclusive Inside Look!

They're not all that exclusive. I got in.

Tweaktown has a nice article where they strip Asus' "EeePC" down and check all the inside bits. Along with that, they'll tell you more about this new mini-notebook with the mini-price.

Jack

Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh causes Mac vulnerability

Well, foot in mouth strikes again, however inadvertantly.

Yesterday I wondered aloud if it was not time for Mac owners who have clueless users which might compromise the system via less than safe conduct to get anti-virus or anit-malware software installed. So far; I am not aware of any threats to the Mac that can happen without user interaction and I am quite sure I have not missed any. But threats requiring user interaction are beginning to pop up, hence my wondering about AV applications for the Mac.

Now, I find out that Norton's AV for the Mac is a problem causer, not a problem solver. Not that I was going to recommend it, anyway, but it surely would be on most people's list of brands to shop.

So much for my being ahead of the curve, eh?

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-04-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-04-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) I was talking to Riley a while back he said he was very interested in some of the online radio links I had been putting up, and was looking forward to more. I thought this week I would dip into that folder on my desktop, the one I just call “radio”. I lost some of the older links I had when I last replaced my computer; however I think I have enough to keep even the unemployed busy for a while. The first one is a big favorite of mine, as an old Art bell fan, and one who likes to try to understand science, and physics, especially the new areas involving quantum physics, string theory, nano-technology, you know those on the edge subjects. Regarding these areas, one of my favorite guests from Art’s show was Michio Kaku. If you liked him as I did, this site is for you. He has a one hour radio show called “Explorations in Science” this site archives the last one hundred shows, along with some other interesting tid bits. So, if you are into science, physics, technology, their trends and politics, this is for you. http://www.kpfa.org

2) Next up, let us step a little closer to the edge. This site has some very good paranormal shows and guests, there is a lot here on every subject you can think of from Angels, to Zero Point, not your average mainstream radio that is for sure. http://www.bbsradio.com/

3) Now we have our toes sticking off the edge looking into the abyss, the next site has radio, assorted audio, video, and some links that might challenge your mind set to the limits. It is as I said, the links this week should keep anyone interested in these subjects occupied for quite a while, and this is another very extensive site. http://www.thothweb.com

4) This link is another paranormal radio site, mostly interviews with book authors, speakers, and producers of movies, and paranormal media. It is not as extensive as the previous sites, but still a little more to the mix. http://www.blogtalkradio.com

5) I have to add one more radio site here while it is not in the paranormal or scientific venue. It is still an old favorite. Lots of extreme political content, fair warning if you are a fan of those right wing talk shows, and you has high blood pressure, you may need to take something in advance to help keep your calm, or avoid it altogether. The content extremely varied both politically, and in the music offered. This is about as far from mainstream radio as it gets but if you like to hear more than one side of an issue, and believe in maintaining an open mind, there is some very good information here. http://www.kpfk.org

6) I have to toss in a Gregg Zone item before I go, this is a story about NASA, cities on the Moon, and microbes on Mars. The story dated today 10-31-07, is about the firing of the manager of the Data and Photo Control Department at NASA’S Lunar Receiving Laboratory during the manned Apollo Lunar Program. Now he is spilling the beans, this is a must read for anyone interested in UFO’S, aliens, life on other planets, or any of those related subjects. http://english.pravda.ru/

Leopard looks great. But what if you can't see?

Progress is being made. However, it seems the state of accessibility for those needing readers or visual aids could be much enhanced if one of the major OS companies simply bought one of the big providers of accessibility software and rolled the products into the OS.

We will ask Riley about it Sunday.

Jack

Photos: The history of the digital camera

CNet's Crave blog has a pictorial early history of digital cameras. It's entertaining to me and I'm quite certain you will find it so, as well.

Jack

» Mac Attack: Porn video lures dropping DNS-changer Trojan | Ryan Naraine’s Zero Day | ZDNet.com

"Organized identity thieves are using porn video lures to deliver malware to Mac OS X users, confirming fears among security researchers that it’s only a matter of time before Apple’s fast-growing platform becomes a big malware target."

For those of you with a Mac that thought you were safe to surf porn using a Mac, read this!

AlaskaJoe

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.9 Now Available

At the time of this posting (late night) only one mirror had been synched. I'm sure all the others will be fully updated by the time we're all awake and attempting to function.

Jack

Revolutionizing the command line with Hotwire

I raved a bit about Microsoft's Power Shell on the show, a while back, and it seems Hotwire is inspired by that.

The command line is handy. Everyone knows that. And it is also supremely powerful. Miscrosoft's Power Shell extends that and Hotwire does the same.

This is not the end of the story, by any means. This is just the first tentative steps in really revolutionizing the command line.

Jack

OpenSolaris Project Indiana

Phoronix has an article on the 'developer's preview' of the next Open Solaris release. I think it's pretty cool, though I am not currently attracted strongly enough to put it on a machine.

I thought you might like to read about it and see some screenshots.

Jack

A FREE Software Rant

I came across a thought provoking article at Linux.com, very early this morning. It is my intention to share those provoked thoughts with you.

Before we go to much further, here is the link that got me to thinking. (My wife says you should blame this rant on them. :))

You all know I'm a Linux user. I probably talk too much about it on the show. If you have listened closely, you also know that I do absolutely all my computing on Linux. I don't have a dual-boot system where I can sneak some task out on Windows and there is no MS based box in the corner, waiting to bail me out of some tough situation. I do absolutely everything on Linux, because I can.

Now, I'm not much of a multimedia on the computer person. I have Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash installed, though I can not remember the last time I actually sat through a Flash presentation. And on occasion I play a music CD while I am working. But that's it. I don't do the video on PC bit at all. I will start soon, as my wife and I are going to publish a few how-to videos of Native American craft techniques. We will do so in a free and open format that anyone can play, regardless of their computing platform. Plans continue, but that is all I can say has been decided, for now.

I am a Free and Open Source software (FOSS) advocate. However; I am also a pragmatist. I realize that FOSS cannot yet serve every need. In fact, because of proprietary software's ubiquity, it may never do so. One area where this is glaringly evident is multimedia. Codecs (short for "COmpressor, DECompressor, the software that actually handles the multimedia information stream) for many formats are proprietary and there are no FOSS equivalents or substitutes because these regimes are aggressively protected by their owners.)

Or, there ARE FOSS equivalents out there, but downloading and using them may violate local laws, such as The US' "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" (DMCA). There may be other laws that apply, as well.

Fedora now has "Codec Buddy" to help you get these multimedia tools. Before that there was "Easy Ubuntu" and "Automatix" for other distributions. (I'm probably missing some others, here. Please excuse the omissions.) So there is a way around it, if you must.

I, personally, stick with FOSS and don't do this sort of thing on most of my Linux installations. I'm just funny that way. Don't have anything against them, despite the apparent lawlessness in using them. I just don't have a need. There is a bunch of media playback stuff in the other room.

I save the computer for computing.

Jack

Book review: The Essential Blender

I've been a Blender fan for a very long time. But it has a unique interface that is difficult to learn, a fact that has held a lot of people back.

However; Blender is VERY capable software that can generate really serious animation. It's also Free, in every sense, though it started out closely held.

Now there is a book, albeit an expensive one, that will get you up to speed in Blender. The profits from the book go to the Blender people, too, so I think it is worth the price. So much so that I just ordered one based on this review.

Jack

Rockstar may end up with big headache over unlocked AO content in Manhunt 2

Ahh. Here we go again, Folks!

It seems that when RockStar "took out" the adult content in Manhunt 2, all they really did was sever a few links in the code. Russian game hackers have now made that accessible. RockStar is in deep doo-doo over this one. Watch as it explodes in their faces like a grenade thrown in a game.

I can't think of it happening to a nicer bunch of people.

Jack

Mac OS X 10.x Malware

This is a bit unusual. I think we're going to see more of it, though.

It's a trojan that requires user interaction/permission to install, so a bit of wisdom on your part should be enough to protect you. Should you have less than savvy users, though, something like this might signal the need to run an anti-virus on your Mac. They ARE available and while the OS seems not to require one, the foibles of it's users might.

Jack

Web marketing to people with disabilities

Here's a small article on CNet. The topic itself is huge, as you may have guessed from our discussions with Riley on the show.

I found this particularly apt at this time because I am planning a new site for my wife that will be shared with several organizations. (I can do that because their sites will be very low as far as traffic numbers are concerned.) I am fully committed to making it fully accessible to all. We will see how I do at that. It's not easy, though it is not really hard; simply adding another level of complexity and not a bad one at that.

I'm sure Riley will have some constructive criticism for me and I will solicit the same from all of you, should you feel helpful.

Jack

When antivirus products (and Internet Explorer) fail you

Here is one I think every user ought to know about. It's short and easily understood if you know much of anything about how your computer really works. A good read.

Jack

Data recovery firm sounds Mac hard drive damage alert

Whatever you do, don't take this as the swipe at Seagate and/or Apple it is intended to be.

That said; there are some good points about not moving laptops (or desktop machines, for that matter) while the hard drive might be spinning. Doing so is risky.

A cautionary tale and nothing more.

Jack

The Fastest Vista Notebook is a Mac!

You just have to love this, though I doubt it gives anyone at Dell, MS, HP or anywhere else heartburn.

Jack

Leopard with chinks in its armour

Heise has discovered some flaws in the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard firewall that should give users pause. Undoubtedly, the user can tighten things up, but I have yet to find good directions for doing so.

Apple may or may not be as lackadasical regarding this as Heise depicts them, or they could be fixing this as I write. I would like to think the latter applies, but we shall have to see.

Jack

UPDATE!! Here is a point by point refutation of the Heise article cited above. This is very much worth reading.

Jack

Installing Ubuntu in a VM

We will be playing with Ubuntu 7.10 in a VM Monday night 10/29/07 at 8PM Eastern 4PM Alaska (That's 5PM Pacific)

We will be using Skype if you would like to join us give me a call or email me your contact info if I need to call you.

The two files you will need are: a VM Player
(it is 173MB)
and the image (about 458MB) of Ubuntu 7.10

You will need to unzip (UltimateZip) the file into a folder, (it's a .Rar format) then install the VM Player and tell it to open the image file.

FYI, The VM Player will only let you run a VMimage there are a lot you can download and play with.
Talk to you tomorrow night!
AlaskaJoe

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-28-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-28-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.




If you would like to download Gregg's Links from the Gregg zone here it is for download.
We are working on the bandwidth problems please bear with us.

Asus Eee PC 701 review

CNET UK has a really good, yet brief, review of the Asustek Eee PC 701 mini-notebook. I want one, rather badly. It would serve all of my mobile needs, though when my wife and I are sitting in the front room, watching TV, talking to each other and surfing, I might want a machine with a larger display.

Still, with the 701 being very inexpensive, there is no case for a larger machine for me in any other regime.

Jack

Heatpipes: The Investigation Begins

Ever wonder what all the fuss over heat-pipes is? This article at Phoronix will tell you and tell you about a number of units in specific. It's the basics you're after, I'm sure, so you know how they work.

This article is a bit long, but not too bad. An entertaining read, it won't really feel like work, even with all that learning you will be doing.

Jack

Russian PDF attacks surge; Microsoft takes blame

Microsoft Windows ShellExecute function turns out to be the real culprit in the PDF vulnerability problems. Fixes to Firefox, Adobe products and others close the URI attack vectors but do nothing to address the underlying vulnerability or vulnerabilities.

While MS says (accurately) in the advisory that the attacks are "fairly limited", they are growing in number and intensity. This short article on Computer World's site explains some and the MS advisory tells the rest.

Jack

Windows Server 2008 RC0

Tom's Hardware has an extensive (19 pages surely qualifies as that) review of the first release candidate of Windows Server 2008.

If you have any interest in such things (and I do) this is probably the best place to start checking it out.

Microsoft is now gaining server market share faster than anyone else, Linux included! A careful reading of this will tell you enough that you can figure out why.

Jack

How to remove Windows Desktop Search

Okay. Here's instructions on how to clean up your machine if Automatic Updates has put Windows Desktop Search on your machine. I've done it once, via Add/Remove Programs. Apparently, I was lucky. Should you need a bit more to remove it, here's what you need.

Jack

When PDF's Attack... Again!

Adobe is ahead of this game. So are most of the Anti-Virus folks. But if your reader is not up to date, or your AV definitions, you can be had. Seeing as so many folks are bad about updating, this one is likely to get some real traction, if it hasn't already.

Jack

Routing Economics Threaten the Internet

Looks like it is time to change how we route information over the Internet. While there are some scary thoughts in this article, it is not as alarmist as the title promises. It's more a statement of facts with a workable solution given. I'm sure more solutions will materialize, too.

Jack

RealNetworks closes several security holes

Looks like the folks at Real have been busy again. This is important if you have any version of Real Player installed.

Jack

This Bud's for You?

This is a scam warning. I just thought it unusual enough that it might be of interest to you. A very short read and a laugh.

Jack

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) Well, it is that time of year, when we start to think about those things that go bump in the night. Yes, Halloween is moments away, also a big time of year for Joe and Sue, and so a moment to say happy birthday Joe…happy birthday Sue…and happy anniversary to Joe and Sue. In the interest of the Halloween spirit, I thought I would post a few sites concerned with that venue. To start off I remember younger days trying to carve pumpkins usually with limited success, lucky for me they were supposed to look ghoulish, and ugly. Unfortunately not amateurish, luckily everyone would think the younger kid carved it. I used to marvel at those that were almost like works of art. This first site was the best I found on how to carve a pumpkin; they have free downloadable patterns, lots of them. I thought the pumpkin ladys link was most useful, not so much for the patterns, but the tips at the end. I will not be carving this year, but only because of the timing, and the fact I do not do Halloween any more. I would very much like to attempt one or two of the more complex ones, just for the heck of it, anyway here is the link check it out. http://www.bellaonline.com

2) Do you like word games? I know that I do; here is one that is related to Halloween, it is a hangman variation with a skeleton, a sarcastic one at that. The game is fun, and not all that easy, I managed to reach 475, of course, I only played twenty or thirty times. Using the old e,a,r,s,t,l,n,i, etcetera concept. A hint the n seems to come up more than usual. So, try it and see what you can do, there is also a link to add to a web site if you want. http://www.dedge.com

3) You have been invited to a party that starts in an hour or two, and you are stuck without a costume, what are you going to do? Here is a site with some ideas for a last minute ideas that might pull you out. I did not say necessarily good ideas, but if you are desperate, it is a start. There are also many other ideas here if you have more time.http://costumeideazone.com/

4) Next up ghost stories, I thought I would put up a link for some ghost stories online. This is from a site mentioned by Jack a while ago “Project Gutenberg” they do audio, and e-text books on line. Currently over 20,000 free downloads online books, and over 100,000 if you include partners, affiliates, and resources, you can also volunteer to do proof reading, or of course donate funds. The link offered is to Charles Dickens, “Three Ghost Stories” in audio format. If you are interested in more, just click on the main page link. http://www.gutenberg.org.

5) To finish out the week a link to the Washington Post for an article about the origin of the Halloween holiday, the oddest holiday celebrated in the U.S. There is not any connection to anything with this holiday, it is not religious, not patriotic, has nothing to do with the seasons, yet it is one of the widest celebrations of all, crosses all segments of our society. Reading the article, I find there is as much mystery in its origins as there is in the way we celebrate it. Check it out a very in-depth and interesting article, you will be quite well prepared to discuss the subject with anyone, and sound like a true scholar on the subject. http://www.washingtonpost.com

6) This is a late addition thanks to Jack, an article on the tech side of the ghost busting business. A line of work requiring some creativity to develop the tools of the trade cannot just go to Fry’s and get them off the shelf. http://www.cio.com If this subject fires up your “I want to try it juices”, you may want to start easy and cheap using stuff you have on hand. I would suggest trying some E.V.P.’s that is an acronym for electronic voice phenomena. Here is a site with some interesting links to do everything from record your own, listen to others, or read about the subject. http://www.ghostvillage.com

Microsoft's OneCare silently changes Automatic Updates

Last Patch Tuesday, or should I say the Wednesday morning after, I woke up to find my computer had rebooted itself over night. Knowing the date I opened Microsoft update and found that updates had been installed without my intervention. Now I know that I just hadn't accidentally changed the setting. I always leave my setting at "download, but ask me to install". I had used One Care Live. I just uninstalled it.

There is a name for programs that silently do things behind your back and against your expressed will. They are called Malware.

And there is the basic issue of ownership. I guess if you have Windows on you computer, you have to abide by MS's license and therefore they own your computer.

And yes, danged straight I'm angry.

Microsoft Update Strikes Again!

Now it seems MS is pushing their desktop search as an automatic update!

While some may really like the search, it is not my idea of a good time. Unless you have a really fast machine, it will bog your computing experience down as surely as dragging an anchor. It can be disabled, as it runs as a service, but we should not have to deal with this.

Jack

Password-cracking chip causes security concerns

The processors on high-end graphics cards are very good at the type of operations used to crack passwords, among other things. So it is really no surprise they got put to that use. Still, this is just one more threat to worry about, I guess. Pass the Rolaids, please.

Jack

Storm worm strikes back at security pros

This thing just gets scarier and scarier.

Jack

Sun's ZFS is close to perfect, but widely misunderstood

You all have heard me wax enthusiastically about Sun's ZFS (Zetabyte File System) a couple times on the show. It's a tremendous improvement on any existing file system and probably will be the model for all those to follow, at least in part, for quite a while, unless Microsoft's WinFS actually materializes and fulfills all it's promises. In that case; ZFS goes onto large machines and WinFS onto Windows desktops and servers.

Incidentally, Sun is having to defend it's open sourcing of ZFS in court, which may prove interesting.

Here is a one page article that will explain a good deal about ZFS without getting very technical on Tom Yager's blog at InfoWorld. It is worth a read by everyone. For the technically inclined, it will whet your appetite and the rest of us will learn just what all the talk is about.

Jack

WARNING: device driver updates causing Vista to deactivate

If Microsoft were a human Vista's activation would be the piece of toilet paper hanging out of its pants as it left the washroom. What don't companies get about punishing their paying customers? Deactivating a legitimately purchased and installed copy of Vista on as little as a driver update seems unconscionable to me.

Nasty PDF exploit runs wild

This one is bad. Really. Adobe's Acrobat Reader software is one application no one thinks to update. Even when notified, no one updates it.

What you are reading at The Register, courtesy of the link above, is just the first whisper of what is bound to be a flood of coverage.

Jack

Would-be identity thief finds himself stumped without printer drivers

I just love stupid criminal stories.

Panda Anti-Rootkit

I've now used this tool twice. I like it. I doubt there is much difference in efficacy between this and RootKit Revealer, but one cannot have too many tools like this at hand and this one seems worthy of inclusion to your working software collection.

Jack

AMD DTX Small Form Factor System Sneak Peek

As I said on the show a couple months ago; I'm stoked over this effort to bring standardization to small form factor (SFF) PCs. It's completely open and free to anyone to implement. It's also backward compatible, which will ease the minds of a lot of component makers.

HotHardware.com has an excellent short and concise look at the new form factor. I'm sure that when you finish reading it, you will be able to imagine one or more of these machines fitting right into your home or office and your life. I do.

Jack

WARNING: device driver updates causing Vista to deactivate

I can testify this is true. Driver updates for Creative X-Fi and Diamond ATI Radeon cards have caused it among my people in the last couple days. Calling in for new activation rectified the problem, but the tech I spoke to about the Creative X-Fi issue was openly skeptical, though he did grant the activation.

Jack

Hellgate: London Includes Adware

Plus, the End User License Agreement (EULA) authorized the company (Massive, Incorporated) to collect data on you and use that to serve contextual ads.

The bit about ads in a game demo is one thing. But in a game someone has already shelled out big bucks for, it's a disgrace. Greed run rampant. There is no other way to say it. And to add to the injury, the reporting, etc. seems to amount to really big back-door to one's computer.

When are the companies going to realize that it is MY computer, not theirs? And that it is MY personal information and they have no right to it?

Jack

Workaround available for vulnerability in versions 8.1 and earlier of Adobe Reader and Acrobat

This has been floating around for a while, but I have to admit to having been only dimly aware of that. Anyway, it is a serious flaw, but there is a workaround, which is at the link above.

Of course; the best workaround would be to use a smaller, less bloated reader, like the Foxit product. But that's another story all together.

Jack

Core of "Windows 7" taking shape: meet the "MinWin" kernel

We spoke a little bit about this on the show, yesterday. It's fascinating to me.

This article at Ars Technica is good, explaining a lot. Plus, it has a link to a one hour video of the presentation Eric Traut gave on the subject. Should you not want to do such a long video, there is also a link to a shorter "digest" version.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-21-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-21-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

FakeChecks.org

Here is a good, well done security reference. Not for those of us who more or less keep up on this sort of thing, but for those who are potential victims. It's worth it.

And as an added bonus; I found this site from Roger's Information Security Blog, which I consider a really good place to get early info on security warnings. Most of Roger's posts are short pointers to another site, but he also has some good things to say when he describes them. This is one to put on your feed reader list and check whenever he posts.

Jack

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) This is for anyone who like was an Art Bell fan, due to the subject matter, but has been disillusioned with the way the show has evolved. Personally, I can no longer listen to the show at all, to many commercials, and the quality is just not there anymore. I have started to look around the net at some of the alternatives; this site is one I found that I like quite a lot. The sites name is the “Black Vault”, I especially like the radio pod cast section it is very good, and very well done. This site was started by, John Greenewald when he was fifteen years old and has been going for over ten years. I will post more of these as I run across them. http://www.theblackvault.com

2) I was trying to update myself on what has been going on with the Princeton Eggs. The place I am trying to send you to is a newsletter link I found doing my update inquiry. The newsletters titled “FUTUREdition”, “Future Facts – from Think Links – The Future in the News….Today”, this newsletter from The Arlington Institute. A newsletter affiliated with the Princeton Global Consciousness project. If you are trying to stay ahead of the crowd with what is latest in science news, you should add this to your arsenal. You will need to follow a path to get there, because the direct link would not work. Start at the home page link provided, http://noosphere.princeton.edu/ , then go to the bottom of the page, select links, in the text on that page there is a link that says newsletters. When you click on that link it takes you to a page offering two newsletters, click on FUTUREdition. That will take you to a page that says the page does not exist, you need to delete everything except the first word futuredition in the link, then hit the search box. It is a little extra work, but a nice site.

3) Joe and I had the U.F.O. subject visit us last week, sorry I can’t go into that at all here, let us just say Roswell, high ranking military contacts, secrecy, and leave it at that. Anyway I went back to find the disclosure project video, thought I would put up that link here for those who have not seen it. This is a copy of the description from the link…..A large number of ex high ranking officials including air traffic controllers, ex secret op. officers, commercial pilots, numerous military defense specialists with top secret clearance, people who had access to very sensitive documents lieutenants, ex commanders in the u.s air force,
astronauts, etc...
All going before the national press club to discuss what their experiences have been regarding U.F.O’s and all are willing to go before congress to testify under oath.. Never before has such a group come forward.. http://www.youtube.com

4) This is just plain weird, it is a converter, like metric to standard. Except there is nothing standard about it, for example how many chickens = Tom Cruse ans. 45.3597024435 / or Tom also is equal to 3984 + U.S. quarters, but he is smaller than the testicle of a Wright Whale. Strange as it is, here it is http://www.weirdconverter.com

IE users beware: RealPlayer zero-day flaw under attack

Now Real programmed the flaw, but the true culprit is ActiveX. Make no mistake about that. Microsoft and their insecure ActiveX technology lie at the heart of this.

There is a fix available. Real must have jumped through a lot of hoops to do that in such a hurry. Kudos to them for admitting the flaw and fixing it so rapidly. Obviously, Real gets the significance of things like this. A link to the fix is provided at the blog linked to above.

Jack

Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu

I would like to point out that Ubuntu 7.10 - (Supported to 2009) is out as of today
this is the newest version and just came out so it might be hard to get the download going.
It took me 4 or 5 times. But it's downloading now, try another mirror.

AlaskaJoe

Gathering 'Storm' Superworm Poses Grave Threat to PC Nets

This article is over a week old. I'm sorry for not pointing it out sooner but I have been busy, studying the Storm infection, among other things.

Bruce Schneier writes the most compact and comprehensive description of the problem yet, which is why I recommend it to you.

Jack

Meet the chumby

This early review is intriguing. I think I might want one, though it would be much more versatile if it was not tied to wireless (wi-fi).

Anyway; the idea of a device that would surf the news sites for me while I worked on other things is nice. I also would not mind killing off my RSS reader application and using an external device for that purpose.

I think this review is worth reading. And since it won't be out for a little while, I have time to decide if the approximately $200 price is worth paying.

Jack

Mac OS X 10.5 to Ship October 26!

Here's the link, in case you've broken your arm and have managed to not stumble over one of the referers.

Jack

Vista “Out of Memory” errors

We've heard rumblings of this problem off and on for a while now. It doesn't seem to be widespread and even on machines where it crops up it may only happen on some file transfer operations while others go through faultlessly.

Microsoft has issued a hotfix for the problem. Rumor has it that the fix will not make SP1, so you have to get it on your own.

Jack

Windows Home Server in depth: the Ars Technica review

I have lost none of my enthusiasm for this product as I have learned about it. And I'm not even a Windows guy! I think you will like this review at Ars Technica and find it easy to digest.

Whether or not it's a runaway best seller, my bet is that WHS will be a steady earner and increase it's sales as time goes on and more people feel the need for [both] secure backup and "one stop" organization of their files. (Whether multimedia, as Microsoft foresees, or otherwise.) This is the right product at the right time.

Jack

Potential Class Action Suit Over Windows Genuine Advantage

I think this page is simply a lawyer's tool to drum up or measure interest. Whatever the intent, you can sign up to be a part of whatever happens with the lawsuit. Interesting as it is, I didn't think it was for me.

If you have any interest, read the terms and conditions very carefully before you sign up.

Jack

Getting grubby: Demystifying the Linux start-up processes

This was posted on Slashdot and I think it is worthy of being passed along to you.

Any boot process is complex and comprehensive. It's rather a mystery to us how our computers boot and it's worth taking a look at it. I expect an article on Windows booting would be of interest to more people, but this one is pretty good, only 3 pages long and has explained several things I did not know. I think you will both like it and profit from reading it.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-14-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-14-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

SlySoft Update Includes 'AI' to Crack Future HD DVDs, BDs

This was expected by almost everyone I asked about it, though I was surprised. What it means is that you can indeed rip your CDs and DVDs to make backups. And I suppose those of us possessing lessened scruples will upload those copies, too, but the app does have a real purpose beyond illegalities.

Jack

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) I have heard many references to right-brain verses left-brain over the years, never gave it a lot of thought, assuming most of us were in some sort of gry area in the middle. I found this test on the net, while I tried several times to make the dancer change direction I just could not do it, reading the comments at the bottom I guess I was not alone. Although the results were mixed, and there were not very many. I would also have to guess that left brained people might be less attracted to such a test, while right brained people would be more interested in this area of introspection. What I did find most compelling was the list of attributes on the side, reading the list I must admit in every category I am right-brained, and that would coincide with my visionary results. Anyway, you might want to check it out, you may find it illuminating. http://www.news.com.

2) Here is a link that might interest some, and create cries of total disbelief in others. A.B. fans will no doubt remember Michael Cremo and his book “Forbidden Archeology”. Very technical but a great read, extremely interesting if you like to question the history presented to you as fact. By the way, if you are interested in buying a copy here is a link to my favorite place to buy books http://www.edwardrhamilton.com/ . They sell new books nothing used, the list price is $44.95, Hamilton sells it for $29.95 Shipping is $3.50 for one book or a hundred books.

This link is to an article related to the subject, that being that the history of man goes way back, much farther than our current science paradigm would have us believe. The article dated 10-09-07, is about an impossible fossil found in Antelope Springs Utah. A human footprint wearing a modern shoe, with a crushed trilobite imbedded in it, they became extinct 280 million years ago. There are several other examples of similar finds mentioned in the article. Modern archeology conveniently dismisses the things they cannot explain, so you most likely will not see this story anywhere else. Here is the link to the story in the Epoch Times http://en.epochtimes.com. My personal theory, to explain most of these anomalies of forbidden archeology would be, “time machines”.

3) This one may get me into trouble, but what to heck this is the Gregg Zone. I do not know how many out there have heard about the Urantria book, also known as the alien bible. Well I am not going to get into it to much, but if you have heard about it, and are interested here is a good link. There is an audio set up if you do not want to read the text you can listen to the whole thing as an audio book, free. I am very much on the fence with this, but then, I am on the same fence with the Christian Bible, Torah, Koran, Bhagavad Gita, Book of Morman, and all the rest. This just seemed to be well suited to the Gregg Zone subject matter, so I thought I would put it up for your consideration.http://urantiabook.org/

4) Okay here we go with link number four; those who know me well; know I cannot resist those conspiracies floating around out there. To me they are like a glass of fine cognac, you sip, ponder, and savor them until they make you a little giddy, when you feel your head spinning, and a little confusion settling in, find yourself trying to reconnect with reality, you know you are onto something. This is not quite up to that level, but as I write this blog, I am sipping on the cognac. I was reading an article they posed the question were the protesters watched, by small dragonfly size flying robots employed by the government. This question just begged some google search on my part. What I found was interesting to say the least, while I doubt the watching of the protesters, I was surprised by how much progress has been made in this area, the paper linked is extensive, but needs to be considered carefully, some times it’s conflicting, but if you are interested in the subject, a good place to start. Informative about the different types of flight, depending on size and weight, there is more to it than I realized. http://www.cis.plym.ac.uk/

Quantum cryptography to secure ballots in Swiss election

The Swiss seem to take election security a bit more seriously than we in the US do. They use quantum cryptography and we have Diebold saying "trust us".

Anyway, this is the first "real world" application of the technology of any size I am aware of and I found it interesting. I hope you will, too.

Jack

Stretching the Search for Signs of Life

The Allen Telescope Array is finally coming on-line.

I know a lot of you have stopped doing seti@home since the transition to BOINC, but this might be the time to start. There will be a veritable flood of new data needing to be processed and you can be part of it.

Jack

OpenStreetMap project imports US government maps

At last! The prospect of public domain mapping for my GPS and Linux, along with other operating systems, looms. There is a lot of work to do, but the prospect tantalizes. In fact; I think I am going to investigate the possibilities of my helping them out.

Check this one out.

Jack

DOS lives! Secrets of the Windows command prompt

Just print this to a file and keep it around. I did.

There are times when the command line is faster, cleaner and easier, if only you have practiced enough that it is not really alien to you. That's all you need to do in preparation. When the time comes, you simply rip out your how-to literature and have at it.

I used the command line this morning to remove a rootkit from a Vista machine. It was easy, fast and saved me having to download a removal tool and use that. The AV program would not do it alone and so I stepped in and did it by hand. The machine is now clean and I saved a bundle of time.

You can, too.
Jack

New Features Discovered in Windows XP SP3: Is It Better Than Vista?

Beta News has an excellent preview of features due to be released as XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). It is becoming clear that SP3 is not just a security roll-up, as we have been led to believe. There is a lot more to it than that.

Jack

How big FOSS projects work

I've run across things like this before but never one short enough to post for everyone to read. This is an email mailing list exchange about and by developers of the PHP language. It's one brief page and explains well how FOSS projects can react faster to bugs and other problems than proprietary projects can.

This is worth a read. Plus, it's almost humorous in it's friendliness.

Jack

Microsoft's Patch Tuesday Security Summary

It's that time of the month, folks. Patch Tuesday. We did not talk about it Sunday, but here's part of the information you need. More to come if necessary.

Jack

New ASUS "Instant-On Linux" Details

We had been told that interesting things like embedding an operable system on the mainboard were coming, but I did not expect to see them quite so soon and I think the cast of the show told you so, as well.

So much for my prescience, eh? Asustek has already done it; embedding the better part of a fully functional desktop on the mainboard. It's out now. You can get it. The embedded system is Linux and quite capable in it's own right. Check it out.

Jack

Ten Ways to Make More Humane Open Source Software

Now here is a great set of thoughts on software usability. They are rarely followed, whether by open source/Free software types or proprietary developers. They need to be.

While you are looking at this article, be sure to follow the links to Neal Stephenson's excellent essay "In the Beginning, There Was the Command Line", which will enlighten you further. I promise this set of essays are very much worth your time, whether you develop software or simply use it.

Jack

Stephenson

The Difference Between Theory and Practice

Here is a very interesting little essay. The study by McAfee it refers to is linked from the story, too, and I recommend reading it.

We seem to be entering some sort of new era, where evil lurks at every turn on the Internet and we, the users, can no longer behave as if our security product producers will shield us from the bad guys. They will not. They are merely aids to safety. Tools for us to use, if you will. We will have to educate ourselves a bit and work within the framework of best practices from now on, or we will become part of the problem. That is all there is too it.

Jack

Critical Security Fixes on Tap for Windows, Outlook

"Patch Tuesday, with four critical bulletins, also will bring fixes to Windows Mail, Internet Explorer and Word."
Microsoft will be putting out seven security advisories on Patch Tuesday, Oct. 9, with four critical bulletins out for Windows, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Internet Explorer and Word.

We would like to remind everyone to "Do your Windows Updates".

The article is from KoffeeBeanz
AlaskaJoe

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-07-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-07-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) If you have not heard about global dimming, and think you have concept of how global warming works, you may want to watch this video. Seems global dimming has been protecting us from global warming; they are related and interact in a way that has caused us to greatly underestimate our problem. While green house gasses have been retaining heat and warming the planet the particles created by pollution have been causing the clouds to act as giant mirrors and reflect sunlight causing less solar energy to reach the planet. If we reduce our pollution with out balancing it against the green house gas problem, an activity we are doing world wide, we are running the real risk of increasing the warming of the planet ten fold. The problem is very much more complex than we thought. Much of the evidence was produced by 911, due to the shutting down of air traffic for three days, that research, combine with chance discoveries during research into the pan evaporation rate, and research into the amount of solar energy reaching the planet, these statistics are needed to plan irrigation systems, the researchers noticed the changes worldwide during independent studies. Anyway, here is a link to a 50 min. BBC movie on the subject, very interesting. http://video.google.com

2) This is a set of links from Buzz in chat, and Joe about a program to give laptop computers to kids in poor countries. I thought I had already done this, but when I went to my blog to try and find it I realized it was one of those links in a folder I keep for possible show stuff, started never finished, like a lot of other things in my life. Anyway there are several links about the program, it is really very cool, a wind up laptop for $100.00, no batteries, no wall plug, no electric plant, just educate and open the world to people with few paths to advance their position in the world. I remember reading about how those wind up radios were all over in third world countries, donated by the man who invented them, he set up factories in country so they could not only advance their society, but also provide jobs. I believe it is through the action of individuals, not government programs that we can change the world. Once again, the power of the internet demonstrates the power to change everything, by developing avenues to channel our creativity and distribute our good will. May we continue to use it wisely. First, the original site I found in my folder.http://www.laptop.org/ The follow up site from Joe and buzz http://www.xogiving.org/ A story in the New York Times http://www.osnews.com And an article about how India may turn down the whole thing http://www.infoworld.com Sorry about so many links, just found another on the price increase.http://www.cio.com/article/106450

3) Here is a very interesting medical article about nanobodies, these are very small antibodies recently found that promise to cure everything from cancer to dandruff. What was surprising to me was that it is another of those breakthroughs made almost by accident. Being of a metaphysical bent in the way I view the world, I always think there is more to these incidents than mere coincidence, but then who knows anyway, here is the link, it is well worth the read. http://groups.google.com/

iPhone Turned into Pocket-Sized Hacking Platform

"All iPhone applications run with full root privileges and any application vulnerability means winner takes all. The iPhone has been turned into a 'pocket-sized … network-enabled root shell,' said H.D. Moore, thanks to the well-known security researcher having published shell code for the smart phone and instructions on how to use it as a portable hacking platform."
If you have an IPhone beware and don't make it an IBrick!
Thanks KoffeeBeanz

AlaskaJoe

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) Of all the stuff I have put up so far, I think this is the one I like the most. I was watching an interview with President Clinton on T.V. last night when he mentioned a site called kiva.org, a site for “micro financing small business in the third world” with as little as $25.00; ever curious I had to check it out. This, has to be the best of the how can I help change the world sites I have seen. You can lend money to people in small countries around the world, which they use to start small businesses, I lend as little as twenty-five dollars, they repay the loan, I can withdraw my money, or recycle it back out to help start another business somewhere else. The rate of repayment is over 98%, wow a 2% fail to repay rate now that is low. Stop and think in a country like Peru where the average yearly wage is $500.00 dollars give or take a few. An $800.00 loan put up by as many as 24 individuals can change lives by providing jobs, increasing the opportunity for education, and countless other ways.

The way I am planning to use this is with Ebay. I’m going to find some stuff that is just taking up space in my closets, put it up on Ebay, the money goes into PayPal, and then I will just lend it out from there. I get to recycle my junk help out people with few opportunities, and then when it is repaid I can do it again, with out any out of pocket at all. I really think this is the easiest and most efficient way I can donate resources to help people in need. Check it out at http://www.kiva.org click on the New York Times video, it’s best place to start.

2) This is a link that I just found a couple of days ago, reading something about switching the way our brain perceives the world through our five senses. They were talking about seeing with your tongue, I mean how could possibly I pass something like that up? So I googled, it came up with the article I have linked to titled “Can You See with Your Tongue” no surprise. Very interesting article, I am just starting to look in to this subject, I am sure much more has been done on this, since the article came out as it is dated 2003. This is just amazing to much to get into here, check it out, I am sure I will be posting more on this in the near future. http://discovermagazine.com

3) The third link here is a place to get free down loads of some very useful stuff. The catch is you only get a twenty-four hour period, to download them free, and then it changes to a new download, and drops the old one, unless of course you want to buy the old one. Joe downloaded a Skype recorder from it the other day; we used that program to record my segment of the show this week. That was something pretty that was nice for a freebie. Seems to me if you get your timing right, say ten min. before the one for today expires, you get a chance to do the next one right away. That way you get two in fifteen min. instead of one every 24 hrs, anyway here is the link worth checking in occasionally. http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

SetPoint 3.3 Patch Available - Keyboard - General Discussion - Logitech Forums

SetPoint 3.3 Patch Available - Keyboard - General Discussion - Logitech Forums

I think this was talked about in the show's chat this morning. I wanted to share it with everyone.

Thanks GHOST RIDER for posting it to our News Group.
AlaskaJoe

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 09-30-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 09-30-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Despite AOL’s claim, AIM worm hole still wide open

It's like Joe says; "Friends don't let friends use AOL". However; a lot of people do. Disabling the AOL Messenger client until this is fixed (in mid-October) is the recommended course. I have no idea how or even if this affects GAIM/Pidgin and other multi-protocol clients users. I suspect it does not. Still, one can't be too careful and if this is affected by the AIM server, it might be wise to disable that protocol until all is definitely fixed.

Jack

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. Today: Skype Recorder - Skype Recorder is a surprisingly easy-to-use tool for recording Skype audi

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. Today: Skype Recorder - Skype Recorder is a surprisingly easy-to-use tool for recording Skype audio conversations. Skype Recorder can record Sky

This is a free download for a Skype recorder. it's only good for 2 hours once you click the site.

Thanks Riley.

IBM CoScripter

Basically, it is a really, really easy to script automation of certain web-based tasks. I just started playing with it on my Linux machine and I think it's a hit. Be warned that this is an experiment and might have some real bugs in it, though I have not found anything to warrant concern in my brief trial of it.

MissM is going to love this. I think the rest of you will, too.

Jack

Stealth Windows update prevents XP repair

Thanks to Scott Dunn at Windows Secrets for this one.

A fix is provided and can be implemented by anyone. I'd recommend this article being saved and printed out, just so everyone has it.

Jack

Next Firefox will tell Google all about you

Yup. It's true. However; the feature is disabled by default. I can see where it might be useful at times, but I doubt I'll be enabling it. It's the Luddite in me. :)

Jack

OpenOffice.org documents within Firefox

I guess this is handy. I passed it by this morning, thinking it was not all that hot, but since then have gotten two emails telling me I need to blog it. So, I guess I will.

Enabling the plug-in that is already part of OOo is a one or two click affair. This gives you editing and save capabilities in OOo and ease of saving as well.

Jack

The Old Calculator Web Museum

The handheld electronic calculator turns 40 this week! Who'd a thunk it?

I can remember lusting after a HP scientific in tech school. Anything to replace those laborious calculations on paper. (I was taking toolmaking and machine design, so no slide rules allowed. We had to be exact for several places past the decimal point.) And when I finally got one, I was the envy of the shop. Everyone came by to use it, until they got their own. And then programmables really made us hot stuff!

Anyway; they're all here, from the desktop model the CPA for your grandparents used to the zoomiest scientific model.

Jack

DRM troubles drive ex-Microsoft employee to Linux | CNET News.com

A security expert who once worked for Microsoft has said he may dump the company's Windows Media Center in favor of Ubuntu-affiliated LinuxMCE after struggling with the software giant's digital-rights management software.

An Ex-Microsoft person thinks DRM is bad: Johansson said that DRM software is not only ineffective, but a waste of money that is damaging businesses attempting to use it to control the way consumers use copyright material.

This was from Curtis, Thanks

AlaskaJoe

Video Professor upset by criticism, sues 100 anonymous critics

I guess friendly looking ol' John Scherer isn't as sweet as he looks.

It's a legal blunderbuss attempt to thwart criticisms which, from what I have been able to tell, are at least somewhat justified.

Jack

Institute urges the EU to unbundle Windows

I don't know if this is going to happen. It seems awfully far out to me. However; if it does, it will be the biggest single blow to the Microsoft hedgemony yet. Imagine buying a computer and then having to choose the operating system at another source. What would you choose? How much would you be willing to pay, knowing some alternatives at least are free?

Jack

KWord 2.0 alpha running on KDE 4 under MS Windows

Don't think MS Office is under attack, as I said on the show? People even have native Linux word processors running in Linux environments on Windows!

While that probably was not all that hard, it was not done as an idle excercise in coding. People perceive MS, and their Office franchise in particular, as vulnerable. Competitors are no longer seen as tilting at windmills, so to speak, but as harbingers of some new period in computing. They could be right.

Jack

Feeling tinfoilish? $5 billion suit against Google over privacy, terrorism

Well, I wonder if the Founding Fathers of the USA intended that a tinfoil hat be no bar to accessing the legal system? Apparently not, because that's how things have turned out.

At any rate, this is one for the books, though at the same time one has to wonder what issues might be raised in a similar suit by a lawyer with a more coherent client?

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 09-23-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 09-23-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) Just in case you forgot or did not know, the do not call list against telemarketers expires five years after you signed up. This means if you signed up early when it came out, you will soon be up for grabs again. What this means to you is if you wish to be left alone to eat dinner in peace, or do not want to pay for text messages, or calls to your cell phone, you need to renew your preferences. Odd that it should expire, but it does so time to update, this is the place to do it. https://www.donotcall.gov

2) I saw a kind of scary (at least to me) story, saying that the Arabs are trying to buy 20% of NASDAQ here is a link to that story here, http://www.americanintelligence.us. This brought to mind a subject I brought up a week or two back about the tapeworm economy, if you missed that, or found it confusing I found a better explanation. So, if you want to peek at those monsters hiding in the closet check this out or you could always just stick your head in the sand and hope for the best. http://www.karavans.com

3) Here is one of those illusionary sites, just has a little different twist, it mixes your visual, and auditory. Its pretty strange if you watch the guy talk you hear one thing, close your eyes and just listen you hear something different. Your eyes are giving you information that your brain is interpreting incorrectly, causing you to hear what you see, as opposed to the reality of what the sound really is. http://www.media.uio.no

4) To close for the week one more of the ways we can save the planet, bring back hemp, not pot, industrial hemp. This is an example of how screwed up our society can get trying to control how we live our lives. Just a couple of things one should know, hemp seeds are the most complete food ever tested, will not get you high just good food, you cannot eat enough to even test positive, like a poppy seed bagel. Hemp per acre is hundreds of times more efficient for paper, could save the rain forests, much better for clothes than cotton, as it requires much less chemicals to grow. It is many times more efficient than corn to fuel cars. The list goes on. This is a good site to start learning about the realties of the subject. Not to mention a suggestion how to make some money in the stock market, or start a new business. http://www.reason.com

5) I just wanted to add one more quickie as there are only two days left. The guy who bought the Barry Bonds baseball, the record breaker is taking votes as what to do with it, I voted to blast it into orbit, heck why not if the guy can pay seven hundred thousand dollars for a ball, he can afford to put it on the space shuttle. Just thought you might want to do something totally pointless. http://www.vote756.com

Roll back DirectX with handy shareware

DirectX Happy Uninstall is the name of the program and from what I know, it is long overdue. There are a lot of reasons to roll back DirectX; probably as many reasons as folks use to justify upgrades. Most of us just don't need it and we may not want to dedicate the resources it takes to it. It's a personal decision.

First reports, like this one in The Inquirer, are good. I have chatted with a couple happy users and don't know of any unhappy ones. It does not yet work on Vista or DX10, but for XP users, this is a good one. The price is right, too.

Jack

Firefox Won't Save You from IE Flaws

We all though we were safe using FireFox or Opera.

The problem is the OTHER programs that are on your computer that are not patched.

The broader implication is that even users who think they're safe because they don't run IE are exposed to any IE vulnerabilities out there, Petkov said. This is true not only for Windows Media Player users but also for those who run Skype, GTalk and AIM, given that those applications all use IE for rendering incoming and outgoing messages, he told eWEEK in an e-mail.

Petkov told eWEEK that the best way to protect a system from the Windows Media Player vulnerability is to upgrade to Windows Media Player 10 or 11.

We always tell you to run your Microsoft Updates, for those that don't maybe because they don't have IE as their default browser YOU need to read this report.
You should always run the latest version of any program you use. Be it Skype, mIRC, AIM any program.

AlaskaJoe

Protect yourself from silent Windows updates - WindowsSecrets.com

From Windows Secrets [I subscribe because Fred Langa merged himself with them, so he could gallivant around the continent.] this seems like a very complete reference about the "hidden updates." Just to update Gari's post.
Enjoy.

--MissM
Protect yourself from silent Windows updates - WindowsSecrets.com

eCommerce… as Imagined in 1967?

We may not have flying cars or be wearing disposible clothing, but our implementation of e-commerce is even better than predicted.

iPhone unlocking for pleasure and profit

Here's a quick article on the current state of iPhone unlocking. It's apparently still a somewhat ungainly process, though doable by anyone willing to take the time to fully digest directions for the deal.

I suspect that over the next month or so (perhaps 6 weeks) we ill see truly user-friendly software appear for doing this. The fear factor is already fairly low. A "bricked" iPhone can be recovered without a trip to Apple for which one would undoubtedly be charged and the process is no worse than the one for unlocking.

While I doubt I will get an opportunity, I'd love to give this one a whirl myself.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 09-16-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 09-16-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone!

!) Well to start the week, I caught a story on the news about the earthquake in Indonesia, started looking around for some information on it, and found this site. This is one is cool, and I am a little surprised I had not run across it before. The site is primarily, focused on the United States all you need to do is click on your state, and you will find lots of info about where you live, some I am sure will be new to you. I clicked on Nevada, of course, and Alaska out of curiosity just to give you an idea of what is there. I found in Alaska there are 33 volcanoes some with web cams, saw an article about a bird that migrates 18,000 miles ( they put a electronic satellite tracker on the bird studying bird flu), it went eight days non-stop on one leg of it’s journey, over eight thousand miles. What is up with that? Any way, check it out for yourself. http://www.usgs.gov/

2) Are you into new age stuff here is a site with supposedly over fifteen thousand videos on almost anything you can think of from Acupuncture to Zen, about as extensive as I have found in this arena, well worth checking in to http://www.newagevids.com/

3) The dead line for the free internet is coming up very fast, like two months. The government moratorium against taxes and state fees on internet use is ending on November 1, if this is news to you, or you have forgotten about it, this web site will fill you in on the details. You can also learn about what you can do to help insure free access in the future. http://www.donttaxourweb.org

4) A site that discusses the authenticity of the latest Bin Laden tape, interestingly it appears is a fake. If you are interested in the analysis used to determine why, and how it might have been done check it out here. http://www.boomantribune.com

GIMP UI brainstorm

I can state with a fair degree of certainty that the vast majority of us who actually use higher-level image processing applications such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro (or whatever Corel is calling it now) and the like use only a very small sub-set of the features available. I know I do and the same goes for nearly every user I know. Not all, but the largest part. And finding those features in the application and using them well enough to do what we need done is confusing and time consuming. It just goes with the territory.

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is like that for me. I use it daily. Now, there is a program on to allow both users and developers to "brainstorm" new interfaces. You can find it at the link above.

I welcome this. Perhaps The GIMP does not really need a new interface so much as one that allows more casual users like me to access the few features we use more easily and/or directly; perhaps with customizeable menus or something like that. People who actually make that software work for it's keep probably need something like the current interface. I don't know about their needs. I only know about mine.

In the OCLUG newsgroup on our servers (news.oncomputers.info, see the show site for more information) I recently asked if there were a simpler image manipulation program available for Linux for just this reason. None was suggested and I have not found one yet. However; this does not just affect Linux or Unix users, as there is an excellent port of The GIMP to Windows, as well and Windows users can now have all that GNU goodness too! :) Windows does have simpler applications for the purpose: Witness IrfanView and others. But Linux still lacks one. A new interface for The GIMP might just turn that trick for those of us who need it.

You might want to watch this one develop at the link given above and perhaps even put your efforts into the project. I'm watching it closely now and am thinking about whether or not I have any ideas worth submitting.

Jack