Saturday, December 24, 2005

Friends in Tech » A Geek Christmas Carol

This is a group of Technical podcasters who have forums and tech news podcasts, in addition to several of their own geeky podcasts. I listen to a bunch of them, myself!

and, the podcast pickle also did a version: A Podcast Christmas Carol

"God Bless us every one!"

--MissM

Official Google Blog: Looking at 2005

Well, its been over a week since a post about Google!
They announced 2005's Year-End Google Zeitgeist. As Patrick Norton said on 12/23 dl.tv, "This is scary! [after reading the top 10 google news search list] Its the hard news that makes the list." Do you agree? ;)

--MissM

Friday, December 23, 2005

Symantec flaw leaves opening for viruses | CNET News.com

"Symantec has issued a patch for a flaw in its scanning software that could cause a virus to execute, rather than catch it. " It looks like Symantec isn't getting anything right lately! :(

Thursday, December 22, 2005

How to Score an xBox 360 While Sleeping

Hey, Gang, got someone in your house who wants an xBox 360? And they are whining? Sad, really sad. Well, Bucky, you can go to sleep tonight and let the 'Net do the shopping -- or at least the looking.

The tools described in this article will alert you online as to who has the inventory in stock, so you can score that xBox without resorting to a handgun, as happened at 3am Sunday morning at the BestBuy near me.

Merry (Stressfree) Christmas!

Flaw reported in Symantec anti-virus software

If you use RAR files and Norton Anti-Virus, you need to read this article.

Symantec shuts down discussion groups

Symantec Corp. has shut down its enterprise technical support discussion groups, saying they're no longer an effective vehicle to address customers' technical support needs.
Here THEY go AGAIN :(

Is the Wiretap Fracus About a High Tech Breakthrough or a Fiasco?

Why would the president authorize warrantless wiretaps of U.S. citizens is a timely question? The conventional press (and many politicians) are reacting as if the president is thumbing his nose at the courts and congress. Maybe the situation makes a warrant in advance impossible, as this Ars Technica article suggests.

It is a fact that the U.S. has captured laptops and cell phones from terrorists. Let's hypothesize that JohnDoe@yahoo.com is one of the captured e-mail contacts. Nobody knows who he (or she) is nor where in the world they are. It seems to me that the gist of what is happening is that the NSA puts a flag on JohnDoe@yahoo.com and waits and watches. The e-mail may be retrieved from anywhere in the world. Ditto on cell phone calls. The monitoring starts when the contact picks up the phone or retrieves the e-mail. At that point, it's too late to run down a judge.

In a separate Ars Technica article, the author suggests that the technology to do voice matching in real time on a large portion of the U.S. telephone traffic is not only technologically possible with today's computer power but is likely in place. Is hunting for the bad guy's voice a technology needle in a haystack? I suspect the answer is no, it's not impossible at all.

Use Intuit TaxCut. Double Your IRS Tax Refund

Got your attention, didn't I. Well, this deal got mine too. Inside the retail box for Taxcut 2005 is a flyer that spells it all out. And it's legal too!

It works like this: as you electronically file your 2005 taxes -- and 2/3rds of U.S. households filed electronically last year -- you can assign your refund to a couple dozen consumer products retailers. The list includes Loews, Borders books, AMC movies, Sharper Image, Starbucks, Bed Bath & Beyond and many others. Instead of a check from the IRS, you get a gift card tanked up with the amount of your refund -- plus a bonus that can double the effective amount of the refund. Got a $1,000 refund? Get a gift card for up to $2,000.

Only in America...

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Review roundup by PC Magazine: Price-Comparison Sites Strive to Save You Time and Money

"Feeling the urge to splurge? Savvy shoppers know that the best deals on iPods, DVD movies, LCD monitors, and just about everything else can usually be found online. "
Remember your safer using that credit card online than handing it to a store clerk and them walking into the back room to run the charge!
Joe

Column from PC Magazine: What Not to Buy in 2005

Here are a few things we shouldn't buy as gifts for friends.

Then again if they are not a friend......A box of Floppy disk might be a good thing.
Joe

PC Magazine - Holiday Gift Guide

We simplify your tech shopping, with links to our top-rated products.

Security Watch from PC Magazine - You Know Dasher and Bagle and Netsky and Sober...

"At least three variants of a new worm hit the Internet, exploiting a 2-month-old vulnerability in Windows. See who's vulnerable and how far it has spread in the Top Threat section."

Seagate agrees to buy Maxtor in $1.9B deal

USATODAY.com - Seagate agrees to buy Maxtor in $1.9B deal

Are we in a dot com bubble again, with all the new influx of money into tech lately?

--MissM

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

2005's top 10 moments in IT | InfoWorld | News | 2005-12-19 | By Cathleen Moore

"2005's top 10 moments in IT "
How was your IT year?

Oracle Gives in to Common Sense!

Oracle has had hell with the notion of multiple cores and pricing for same. After several stabs at pricing which drew howls of protest from prospective licensees, they've hit upon something logical.

The link is to an article in The Inquirer. Should you choose to follow the links there to the Oracle pricing page, remember that the astronomical figures you see there are just starting points for negotiation.

Jack

The early bird gets the $149 Toshiba laptop | Tech News on ZDNet

"CompUSA on Sunday sold a Toshiba notebook for $149.99, after $550 in rebates and an agreement to subscribe to America Online for a year. Although the special only lasted 16 hours, it marked a new low in notebook pricing, albeit a temporary one. " The only problem with this "DEAL" is the agreement to subscribe to America Online for a year. They also had a $99 desktop on sale.

Google's 5 percent solution

"Google is working out a deal with Time Warner to buy five percent of AOL for a billion dollars. While the deal is focused on advertising revenues and search engine positioning, it will likely also influence the next round of IP communications machinations." I know we talked about this on last Sundays show.

The Diskless PC Revolution

I'm not sure that Curt A. Monash has a truly clear crystal ball. Still, this opinion piece at Computerworld.com is thoughtful and may in fact reflect the future.


What is certain is that flash memory is going to change the way we compute and manage our data. The only question is how. Flash memory has had it's capabilities increased , of late, and this will only continue. Durability is improving. Read/write speeds are increasing, too, and are now competitive with hard drives.

We're going to benefit from these changes in many ways. Watching it happen will be interesting. Reaping the benefits will be gratifying.

Jack

Sunday, December 18, 2005

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-18-05

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-18-2005. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.