Hitachi Shatters Capacity Record with World's First Terabyte Hard Drive

Press release from Hitachi about a Terabyte (TB?) Hard Drive announced at CES.
Hitachi Shatters Capacity Record with World's First Terabyte Hard Drive



[h/t TechMeme ]
--MissM

update: Wellll, apparently Seagate released the information first according to Daily Tech. Seagate Confirms 1TB Hard Disk Drive
I hadn't seen that the first time, but Techmeme referenced Daily Tech on Hitachi's TB HD.

Bribing Bloggers - So, that's why people are saying nice things about Vista.

Amazing how much "press" Free Laptops can buy... Must be nice to have them pre-loaded, so that no hardware nightmares can raise an ugly head to discourage the would be free kudos...

Windows Vista in Your Ford?

Just what I need for my morning commute, a Vista-powered navigation and information system built into the dashboard of a new Ford. But that's what the story says will be available on two models this year and the entire 2008 Ford lineup.

So start practicing -- with one hand...assuming you use the other one on the steering wheel. And while the thought of malware taking control of my computer is disheartening, the thought of malware takig control of my car in motion is, well, a heart attack.

Net neutrality push expected to resume in Congress

The nation's soon-to-be largest telephone company may have caved to certain Net neutrality commitments for the sake of a merger blessing, but a renewed push for more sweeping rules could return to Capitol Hill as soon as this month.
If you haven't sent a letter or email to your person on Capitol Hill, DO IT NOW!
This is very important !
AlaskaJoe

This worm wishes you a Happy New Year

An e-mail worm disguised as a New Year's greeting is making the rounds on the Internet.

Worm-laden messages are titled "Happy New Year" and contain an attachment called either postcard.exe or postcard.zip, according to experts at VeriSign's iDefense Labs, which provides information on security flaws and exploits. If the attachment is opened, malicious software is downloaded from the Internet and can infect computers running Windows operating systems.
AlaskaJoe

Acrobat Reader plugin vulnerable to attacks

Security researchers are poring over what one vendor has called a "breathtaking" weakness in the Web browser plugin for Adobe Systems Inc.'s Acrobat Reader program, used to open the popular ".pdf" file format.
The problem was first highlighted by Stefano Di Paola and Giorgio Fedon, researchers who presented a paper in Berlin last week on security issues related to Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and extensible markup language).
AlaskaJoe

OSalt.com; Open Source as Alternative

I'm a cheapskate. You all know it and are usually too kind to rub it in (except for Joe and Riley :P ) I am also a fan of Free and Open Source software. FOSS appeals to my sense of economy and rightness. I'm not too adamant about FOSS ethics, but I do lean that way and practice them at every opportunity. And an awful lot of FOSS offerings are simply good software, meeting my needs or the needs of those I recommend it to.

I track freeware and Free and Open Source software, trying to keep up on what it does, how well it does it and what it runs on. This is real work. Once you get out of the "mainstream" of operating systems, office suites and browsers, there are no central repositories where the average Jane or John can explore FOSS alternatives productibely. Yes, I know all about Freshmeat.net and Source Forge, but those sites, good as they are, are still very much oriented toward the geeks among us.

OSalt.com is trying to address that and to some real degree they succeed. I recommend the site. Now that you know about it, the next time you are thinking about prying open your wallet and buying software to which you really have no rights, check at OSalt.com and see if you can find what you need or want in the FOSS ranks. Odds are that you can. You will save money, aggravation and time. What's not to like?

Jack

Wake up: quad-core is overkill!

This confirms my thinking that the average user can now easily afford far more computing power and capabilities than they will ever need. Trust me when I say this is something very hard to communicate to many users. Evidently they think they are still in 1998 and have to buy every single FLOP they can afford in order to get anything done.

That mindset is 'way out of date and will lead to an almost uncountable amount of money being spent unnecessarily. More than ever before; users and those of us who help them make purchases need to think carefully about what they need and simply buy to fulfill their needs, plus some indeterminate amount of power to accomodate the future needs. Almost none of the users I serve needs the power available in many affordable machines now and I don't want them to pay the freight or the added energy bills over-buying will impose on them.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-31-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-31-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.
We from the OnComputers show wish you all and happy and Safe New Years!

HD disk format wars are over

Subtitled "A clear victor emerges", this is another of Charlie Demerjian's rants. More than that, though, it really is a cogent analysis of the outcome of the format wars. I think the winner Charlie postulates will surprise you until you sit a moment and think about it, at which point you will realize he is exactly right.

Add Charlie's conclusions to what has been revealed about content protection in Vista in the previous post and it is easy to see that we, as consumers (whether of content or computing resources) have been so thoroughly shafted that we, along with our position as THE market force, may never recover.

Jack

A Damning Indictment of Vista's True Costs

Increased hardware costs, decreases of function (some under the direct control of Microsoft and/or hardware vendors) and some serious security issues are detailed here.

It's a long article. I'm sorry about that. I think this should be required reading for anyone considering buying or building a Vista machine. If even half of the "features" reported on here are true, there will be widespread discontent on a scale not yet seen. And it will all be directed, rightly, at Microsoft.

I suspect there is a possibility all this will work more or less transparently to the user. Then again, this is Microsoft; masters at imposing functional limits on us. I guess the possibility these features won't bother us is vanishingly small.

Jack

The Death of The Internet?

I received this from a friend:
Please watch this video (The Video is from YouTube)and respond in any way you can, below is a copy of my letter I will be sending to everyone I can think of.

The internet is the greatest force empowering minority, and marginal points of view to come along in centuries. In other words before the internet the great establishment ideas already had the machinery of media to communicate their positions. What has happened is the common man has gotten into the game with a technology that was never intended to fall into the hands of common people. Much like the advance of writing, for centuries it was only the elite that had access to the accumulated knowledge of mankind through the written word. Books were not intended for common people, by controlling them through the mechanism of affordability, and availability the elite consolidated their power over the common people. I think the internet is analogous to the invention of the printing press, in the dissemination of knowledge to the common man.

By increasing our learning abilities, and expressions of free speech, we are advancing our civilization much as we did during the age of enlightenment. To restrict the internet in any way is a step backwards much like the book burnings of the past, an attempt to control the progress of human thought in any direction that is not considered to be in line with the position preferred by the people with the ability to control it.

By limiting the internet we are inhibiting our ability to think freely, and stifling our creativity. To do this for the financial benefit of a few companies and their stock holders, and to the detriment of society, would be criminal. It would also create a mechanism for governmental entities to control opinions of the people by controlling the information available to them, offering methods to control elections, and governmental processes.

We cannot allow this intrusion into the evolution of the human mind and spirit. The dissemination of information through the internet should be protected by the Supreme Court, as a vehicle of free speech. The internet is in process of replacing newspapers, books, and several other media’s, to restrict it in any way would be to restrict free speech, to a degree that has not been possible since the dark ages. Please do anything, and everything in your power to resist this attempt to profit by selling out one of our most basic inalienable rights. Greg Pollak, Las Vegas, Nevada

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-24-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-24-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

Gail's son's guest book

Gail's oldest son passed away last week, and the following url is for his guest book to remember all the contributions he has made.
Our sincerest prayers and condolences to Gail and her whole family.
Guest Book - Gregg T. Allinson
--MissM

Langa Letter: Year-End PC Tasks

This may be early, but then again, after the holidays, maybe you'll have more time to do the following computer "clean up." As Frank Langa says:

Chances are, your PC is different from the way it was at the start of this year. In fact, because you're the kind of PC user who reads articles like this one, I'll bet your PC is different from the way it was even a few days or weeks ago: Perhaps you added or removed some software. Maybe you installed a patch or update, or allowed one to be installed automatically. Perhaps you adjusted a system setting to make Windows look or act more the way you wanted, instead of the way Microsoft or whoever set up your PC thought it should be. Perhaps you tried out a performance tweak or other system change that you read about here or elsewhere.

even though its an article from 2004, I believe the recommendations are timeless.
Langa Letter: Year-End PC Tasks - News by InformationWeek

Looking for administrator password guidelines for DrPuter in the newsgroup, I found this site, which I found extremely comprehensive and a good collection of tips about malware, spyware, etc. from an MVP.

May you have a safe holiday season and a wonderful 2007!
--MissM

Learning Ubuntu made easy

Good documentation has helped keep the two-year-old Ubuntu project among the most popular Linux distributions. To complement the traditional venues for help, such as FAQs, HOWTOs, bulletin boards, and mailing lists, Ubuntu uses interactive forums such as Internet Relay Chat to conduct training classes for new users.
This is the site I should have posted yesterday from Gari.
AlaskaJoe

Create a Windows installation CD in 30 min (for dummies)

Create your very own personalized and unattended Windows installation CD, integrate your favorite software and make it install automatically during Windows setup. The best 200 freeware programs are available so that you can enjoy Firefox, CCleaner, Skype, WMP11, Java 6, etc. since the first boot of your operation system. Video tutorials!
Its got it all! Check it out
--MissM


read more | digg story

http://ubuntuclips.org/

Thanks to Gari (KoffeeBeanz) for this link:
This site is for everyone who is new to Ubuntu. Here you will find short video clips that highlight Ubuntu's features and demonstrate how to complete common tasks using Ubuntu.
This is a very nice web site with lots of info if your thinking of trying a Linux distro. I think Ubuntu has it right, this is the first time I had everything working on a Linux distro and didn't have to call someone for help. (like Jack or Gari or Greg)

Remember Ubuntu has a live CD (The OS plays from a bootable CD) You can try it before you click on the icon to start the installation, that is on the desktop. I have noticed for the latest version you need at least 256MB of memory.
Enjoy a new experience try Ubuntu!
AlaskaJoe

Sony settles rootkit suit: $1.5M to states, users file for refunds

I know a lot of listeners, hosts and bloggers live in California and Texas. So I thought this settlement info might interest those people.

Sony settles rootkit suit: $1.5M to states, users file for refunds
Sony BMG this week settled a lawsuit brought by California and Texas over the infamous XCP "anti-piracy" spyware trojan. The media giant got off with a slap on the wrist for the long-running rootkit debacle, which affected nearly 5 million CDs -- Sony will pay a total of $1.5 million to the states, and a smaller sum in customer refunds.
[snip]
Link to AP story. Link to previous BoingBoing coverage.

Boing Boing: Sony settles rootkit suit: $1.5M to states, users file for refunds

--MissM

Skype worm spotted

I figured you ought to know about this. Not that I think you are so silly as to click on unsolicited files, but you have friends, family and associates who probably need to be reminded of this.

Details are still sparse, but the message with the executable attached is apparently disguised as a security upgrade and looks official enough to fool at least a few folks. I imagine it's enough to know that Skype can be an attack vector and that one needs to look out for it.

Jack