Get ready to set your clocks forward, I think...

To quote webexhibits.org :

Date change in 2007

On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.

ps. I got there from http://www.time.gov ( the official US time site )

Is your flash drive fast enough for Vista’s ReadyBoost?

Ed Bott's blog post on the subject is enlightening, but a bit late, seeing as I already went out and bought a 2 GB flash drive from SanDisk that simply does not measure up, making less than half it's advertised speed on several tests. (Having used a special discount coupon, I cannot return the device, either, and am taking things up directly with the maker. More on this as it happens.

Be sure to follow the first link in the post by Bott, which will take you to a post by George Ou with more information on the same subject.

And watch out when buying flash memory devices. I sure wish I had.

Jack

Windows Vista Team Blog : Multiple announcments about Vista Pricing

Yesterday, the upgrades within versions of Vista were announced on the Vista Blog.

Good news arrives today on several Windows Vista-related fronts, my friends ... read on.

Windows Anytime Upgrade

Today we're announcing further detail on how Windows Anytime Upgrade works. Come 30 January, Windows Anytime Upgrade will allow customers to purchase and download a digital key to upgrade to a more feature-rich edition of Windows Vista. The user will then complete the upgrade process by inserting the Windows Vista DVD that came with their PC or with their retail purchase of Windows Vista. The program will be available in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.

Manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRP) to upgrade from a more basic version of Windows Vista are:

* Home Basic --> Home Premium: $79
* Home Basic --> Ultimate: $199
* Home Premium --> Ultimate: $159
* Business --> Ultimate: $139

We've designed Windows Anytime Upgrade as a measure of convenience for our customers and hope it proves to be a way for you to more easily advance to a more fully-featured edition of Windows Vista.

Windows Family Discount

Also, today we're announcing news that makes it easier and more economical for those of you with multiple systems at home -- like many of you who read this blog -- to upgrade to Windows Vista. If you have need for fewer than 5 licenses for home use, you can upgrade all of your home systems by taking advantage of the Windows Vista Family Discount. (Volume licensing is the way to go if you have need for more than 5 licenses.) This program will also begin at our retail availability launch on 30 January.

The Windows Vista Family Discount was in part inspired by feedback from tech enthusiasts like you who told us that previously it was less than convenient to upgrade every node on their home networks.

We heard you loud and clear in planning the Windows Vista Family Discount. Here's how it works:

* Buy a retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (full or upgrade version)
* Between 30 January – 30 June, order up to two copies of Windows Vista Home Premium online
* Pay only $49.99 for each copy of Windows Vista Home Premium
* Valid in North America (US and Canada)

I'm very impressed that they are handling family licensing this way, it seems very fair. I was checking out the Vista Page, and you can only upgrade from XP (although I'm confident the majority of smart people with do a clean install). That appears to be more of a hardware issue, than anything else. Although Vista will scale down to utilize the available hardware (or so it is said...) they are certainly giving people a pretty obvious warning that this requires significant computer resources. I've downloaded the Vista Upgrade Advisor, and we'll see what that says about my system. I hope to remember to post it, when I do.

Mr. Linguini mentioned Bitlocker to me, and I read a review by Paul Thurott on the Ultimate Extras, of which BitLocker is a part.
--MissM

Windows Vista Team Blog : Multiple announcments about Vista Pricing

Attack code out for 'critical' Windows flaw

Computer code that exploits a security vulnerability in Windows has been published on the Internet, making it more urgent for users of the operating system to patch.
Microsoft provided a fix for the flaw last week with security bulletin MS07-004. At the time, the company warned that it had already seen limited cyberattacks exploiting the vulnerability.

The Twilight Years of Cap'n Crunch

John Draper has had a huge effect on tech, for a lot of different reasons, some slightly unsavory, all a direct result of his brilliance. This Wall Street Journal will let you know what he has been up to, his difficulties and triumphs.

Jack

Persistent zombie attacks target Symantec corporate software

Symantec first dismissed the threat, but worm attacks that exploit a known security hole in the company's corporate antivirus tool are proving to be persistent.

I'm just SHOCKED!
Who would have ever though Symantec would ever let a worm get in?
AlaskaJoe

McAfee Avert® Labs Technical White Papers

Go ahead; scare yourself to death!

Actually, these white papers by McAfee personel and hirelings are not anywhere near as filled with hype as they could be. Most are fairly straight-forward and level-headed. Really! If you want a decent overview of the most prevalent security threats, you could do a lot worse than these. I read two and thought them informative and lacking in either hype or product promotion. They also are not overly long - an under-appreciated trait in this area.

Enjoy,

Jack

Could invisibility beat encryption?

Can you hide files in plain sight? Apparently you can, using this software from PCMesh.

The article points out that this is much weaker than stout encryption, but that may not be the point, if all you want to do is hide your wife and your love letters from the kids, or some other lightweight security chore. This is probably worth checking out, for a number of users.

Personally, I will stick with encryption for the little bit of use I have for such techniques. I can spare the time it takes and I like the certaintly that 2048 bit encryption will not be realistically breakable any time soon. I only have just over 59 megabytes encrypted, which eases the burden considerably. I really don't have that much to hide.

Even so; this is an interesting development and if it interests you, the article has a link to the company's page.

Jack

On the importance of backward compatibility

Ian Murdock, he of DebIAN Linux and the Linux Standards Base project, has an interesting entry in his web log on backwards compatibility. It is short and definitely worth your time. In it, he contrasts the positions of Microsoft and Apple to this important issue and places Linux squarely with MS on it. That's okay, because Microsoft has the right idea on this one.

This one is worth the few minutes of your time it will take.

Jack

On the importance of backward compatibility

Ian Murdock of DebIAN Linux and the Linux Standards Base project writes about backward compatibility. It's a short essay and extremely illuminating, especially where it contrasts policies in place at Microsoft and Apple.

This one is definitely worth your time.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-14-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-14-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Save the Internet!

Joe has expressed an interest in Saving the Internet and when I saw this, I thought I'd post another video explaining Save the Internet, I thought that this explains it in terms that my brother might understand. ;)



Other videos I've posted here, about SaveTheInternet:
GeekBrief.TV
Rocketboom
Save the Internet FAQ

--MissM

P.S. Technorati says this blog has been posting on this subject for 263 days. Keep listening and reading to keep up to date with the "bleeding edge" of technology.
P.P.S. oops forgot attribution. [h/t Network Neutrality: What It Is, Why It Is Important, What You Can Do About It - Robin Good's Latest News

Mozilla and Microsoft reload browsers

I had already read about plans for FireFox v.3 and it is not surprising everyone is looking ahead, not just the population of the Mozilla Foundation. Specific information is hard to find, now, but will almost certainly surface in the next couple months.

I am in the process of writing an article in partnership with my friend, Waleed, about spreading literacy, computing and information technologies to developing nations using the so-called "Web 2.0" technologies. Along the way, we have decided that in order to increase efficiency, the current web browsers need to morph into web browser/application browsers. While related to the web browser, the application browser additions make the application browser a different species, however close their common ancestors are.

I suspect that web and application browsers will not separate into differing programs. They will remain united. It doesn't make much sense to code up separate application in this case, generally speaking. There may be exceptions, though, such as security needs, that will dictate a separate application. We will just have to wait and see.

Jack

MPAA's file fakery exposed

Of course the BIG QUESTION is whether or not these 'trash' files are also depositing tracking or other malware on your machines or if they are simply collecting the addresses of the machines connecting to the torrents. One is questionable from a legal standpoint. The other is not.

Beyond that, this is merely confirmation of something we have suspected for a long time. I have compiled a list of some articles to send to parents I know which highlight the dangers of music downloading and sharing online, in the hope they can use the information to keep themselves and their children out of legal and financial troubles. So far; this is just grist for the mill.

Jack

'Craplets' could damage Vista launch: Microsoft exec

Okay. I am officially on my soapbox and agreeing with Microsoft, to top it off!

I hate all that, er, stuff, they install on the computer besides the operating system. The first several hours with a new computer are absolute hell, bouncing in and out of Add/Remove Programs, deleting the stuff the maker has put on that has no entry in Add/Remove Programs (an accelerating trend, much to my chagrin) and trying to reclaim enough resources that startup is not an excercise in watching your only shot at performance go down the drain. Thank Goodness I have a good automated Registry cleaner!

I would indeed pay to avoid having all that stuff installed. I know it is blackmail, but I would still pay.

Jack

Cisco sues Apple for trademark infringement: ruh roh! - Engadget

Yeah, I meant to post about Jobs' keynote, but I didn't watch the whole thing, just the highlights. Having said that, you had to be incommunicado to miss Apple's announcement of the iPhone. Of course, Cisco owns the iPhone trademark, and they recently announced a product, by that name.
Engadget posts the following:

We're not quite sure what broke down in talks between Cisco and Apple, but they ain't playing friendly no more. Cisco just announced that it has filed a lawsuit in Northern California to prevent Apple from infringing upon its registered iPhone trademark. The word yesterday was that Apple and Cisco had been involved in "extensive discussions," and that they were expecting Apple to sign up for whatever final agreement they proposed. "Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," says Mark Chandler of Cisco. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."

Hmmmm, interesting
--MissM

Cisco sues Apple for trademark infringement: ruh roh! - Engadget
When I started the post, I hadn't seen Aaron's. But I believe that they both add to the story.

Cisco sues Apple over use of iPhone name - Yahoo! News

Next time Apple, make sure you own the trademark first.

Microsoft at CES - The Keynote

I'm watching/watched Bill Gates' keynote at CES. Some comments as I watch it:
You can make videos be your desktop, the document preview is neat, it did seem a teeny bit slow (I'm curious what the hardware was driving the demos.). There is a cool feature that will allow you to combine pieces of pictures in a new picture, they called it "Create the picture you wish you had taken." I can see uses for this with GeekMeet pictures, for sure. ;) In the music space, some one (I forget who) spoke of the Urge store, and the Zune ("the 2nd best selling media player" ;) ). The part that I found ironic, was they trumpet the connectivity of Vista and the 360 and the car (see below) but the Zune doesn't work with Urge, as I understand it, anyway.
Office 2007 was briefly demoed and the background restore (with a snarky comment about whatever Apple calls it) was shown. The preview format in Office was more speedy than the preview in Explorer, or so I thought. Then they controlled Vista with the XBOX 360 controller (flying through Las Vegas on live.com with it) and a woman demonstrated playing Uno on Xbox Live with a PC and a 360. So, Vista will connect to Live, sometime this year. Then the IPTV capabilities were demonstrated with the XBOX 360.
Microsoft has entered in to a partnership with Ford Motor Co. to allow your car to sync with all the "devices you carry in your car" according to a Ford executive. The part that concerned me, besides an BSOD while driving, was the promise of constant updates as new devices are released, so your car connectivity will never be obsolete.... The car gets updates??? Ok, there is a bit of excitement when I consider Wide Area wireless, but there's the BSOD fear. :) The car will read your IM messages to you, and respond to voice commands, there's even a link to a youtube video demonstrating this.
Those are my highlights of Gates' keynote at CES. [When I went to find the url for CES, the #3 result was a 404 error on the CES page. lol]

--MissM
Microsoft at CES
P.S. I wonder what Jobs is going to say at MacWorld...
P.P.S. Oh yeah! I'm letting the keynote play a second time (what dedication, eh??!?!?!?!) and in the middle of the keynote, there's a section showing something with HP, but instead they put up a screen that says "In respect to the intellectual property demonstrated... " yadda yadda. Sigh... This seems silly to me because how many hundreds or thousand saw it? Oh well, I'm sure there's some perfectly legitmate reason for this, but it eludes me.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-07-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-07-07. 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.

First Open Graphics board appears

Why should you care about this? Because as Microsoft and Apple lock down graphics with more and more DRM, and refuse the specifications to Free and Open Source Software developers, it will be impossible to run an alternative operating system with modern graphics. And trust me; there is not enough demand for the Big 3, Intel, ATI and NVidia to cater to this market, so don't hold out that hope.

Enter an open specification graphics card. The link will take you to a short article at The Inquirer and from there you can follow the link provided to complete specifications of the new card. It's not half bad, though still available only in a PCI interface. Hopefully, AGP and especially PCIe will be coming along soon. There may indeed be enough demand to convince some smaller company to produce these. I, for one, hope someone does.

Jack

Asus shows the future of graphics

The sub-title is "the coolest thing at CES". I might not go that far, but this looks like the graphics system of the future.

In short; it involves putting the PCIe graphics system outside the case. This solves a lot of heating and power supply problems and would also let you put world-class graphics on your laptop, forever ending the running joke of "gaming laptops".

Check it out

Jack

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

Peter Coffee's 25 Killer Apps of All Time

Whether or not you agree with him (and I don't) this is a very interesting list. It's also interesting to see how few of these applications are still in widespread usage. Things do change over time, evolving, at least.

Enjoy,

Jack

Gifts for an Eight-Bit Holiday

Many of us remember those old machines. They were primitive and limited, but they opened our eyes to previously unthinkable horizons.

MIT's Technology Review has a partial list of reproductions and emulations of those old machines, along with some modern-day ones meant to teach younger people about computing. Some are kits, some are complete machines. At the very least, reading this 2 page article will whet your appetite for the reproduction machines. It did mine.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-17-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-17-06. 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.

Kernel Developers: GPL-Only Modules in 2008

As you will read when you click on the link above, there are a lot of Linux kernel developers who want to do away with proprietary "binary only" modules being introduced into the kernel. This is in the interest of free software purity. To be free software, the source code must be available to the user and there are currently a LOT of drivers and other modules for which source code is not available.

Linus Torvalds opposes this, but will not stand in the way if that is what the developers want to do. Linus' position is that doing this is just another restriction on users, which has a lot to do with their reasons for developing Linux - to avoid restrictions on what they can use their computers for.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I side with Linus on this, but could live with it either way.

Jack

Alan F. Shugart, 76, a Developer of Disk Drive Industry, Dies

Thanks goes to patterson for this article. Since this is a NY Times article you either need a free registration or butmenot to read it. Sorry about that. It is worth the effort.

I've owned both Conners and Seagates, by the way :-).

Skype's free call plan to charge annual fee | CNET News.com

Well, I guess its official. Skypeout will no longer be free after 12/31.

Skype 3.0 for Windows

Official release. Version: 3.0.0.190. Release date: December 13, 2006
File name: SkypeSetup.exe File size: 19 MB
Skype A full year of unlimited calls to any phone in the US and Canada for $14.95
Make phone calls right from your computer.
PC to PC will always be free, We don't know what will happen to the free PC to phone calls we get now after the first of the year.
AlaskaJoe

Boing Boing: Milblog project gives hundreds of laptops to wounded US soldiers

I thought this was a geeky way to honor U.S. Soldiers, and that it would interest all (3 of us? ;)) who read the blog :)
--MissM

Ad-hoc charity group Valour-IT ("Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops") has donated more than 700 laptops loaded with voice-recognition software to US soldiers who've lost the ability to type due to lost limbs or severe hand/arm injuries. They expect to have delivered 850 or more by Christmas. A number of blogs authored by active duty military and vets worked together to raise awareness on the project. Mark Glaser at PBS Mediashift blog says,

It started last year when Army Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss injured both his hands and wanted to get back to blogging. His blog readers pitched in for Dragon Naturally Speaking software, and he and another blogger, FbL, put together Valour-IT and have raised more than $330,000 with two online Veteran's Day fundraisers fueled by milbloggers.

Boing Boing: Milblog project gives hundreds of laptops to wounded US soldiers

IT Confidential: Microsoft Is Mired In Vista, Report Says

I really don't know if this story is based in fact or not. If it is, Microsoft itself considers Vista as a problem without equal and one requiring "outside the box" solutions. Some of those given in the article are said tongue in cheek, but others are apparently reasonable reactions to an extreme problem.

Veeeeery interesting.

Jack

Microsoft answers IP questions posed in LXer open letter

LXwe sent an open letter to Microsoft after Steve (quiet as a mouse) Ballmer said that Linux definitely infringed on MS' intellectual property. Microsoft spokespeople have provided answers to the questions and the link above will take you there.

Personally, I did not find much substance to the Microsoft answers and so conclude theie reply is merely a continuation of a FUD campaign.

Jack

France plans open source centre of excellence

Last week, I read an article saying that Europe loves open source, but no one is using it, meaning that very few organizations or even departments had made the jump away from proprietary software and operating systems. It rang true, too!

The exception to that is the French, who are moving to Linux and free software at a noticeable pace. The reason is that using proprietary software drains such a significant amount of money from French coffers and transfers it out of the country. The "freedom" of open source is a secondary, but still counted, aspect of the deal.

Whether or not this "center of excellence" for free and open source software will yield any solid results is beside the point. What really matters is that the French are taking things seriously enough that they wish a repository of knowledge regarding building, deploying and using free software to be close at hand. Obviously, they intend using it enough to justify it's existence.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-10-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-10-06. 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.

Zero-Day Tracker

eEye has started a page to track zero-day exploits. They have an RSS feed and I have subscribed. If you have trouble keeping track of these things and which ones affect you and those you support (which I definitely do) this is a good one. I also found it well enough done that I did not have to wade through all sorts of extraneous data to get the drift of the problem being discussed.

Jack

Windows Trojan masquerades as Vista hack

It's the first major attack against Vista and (fittingly, to my mind) it targets pirated copies of Vista. Legitimate users have nothing to fear from this one.

This short blurb at The Register has links to more detail, should you desire that.

Jack

Security bulletin; Update available for buffer overflow in Adobe Download Manager

The link is to an Adobe advisory about their Download Manager software. Originally thought only to crash the Adobe application and/or Internet Explorer, it has been found that the flaw does allow malicious code to be run. A simple upgrade in the software will fix it.

If you are using the Adobe Download Manager on either Windows or the Macintosh, this is one to take note of.

Jack

Bogus anti-spyware makers ahead of law in South Korea

This is not just a problem in South Korea. I've found several spyware infestations lately masquerading as anti-spyware applications.

I have also found some of these bogus apps using the names of respectable software companies, though there is absolutely no relation between the companies and the "applications" in question.

(I have checked as closely as I can and am not using the names of the two companies at their requests while they try to clean up their reputations. I found it most interesting that neither of the companies deals in computer security in their regular business. I guess the fakers thought picking on these companies would give them some time before discovery.)

More about this later, as things develop.

Jack

Andy UpdegroveThere are over 1,000,000 supported standards, with more being developed all the time. The Standards Blog examines how standards are d

Microsoft's "Office Open XML" file formats are up for certification as "real" standards. This short FAQ contains a lot of information on the standardization process, as well as the MS application. I thought it well worth posting for that.

Jack

How Google Finds Your Needle in the Web's Haystack

An explanation of Google's Page Rank system.

Caution; Contains enough mathematics that one really can't get the gist of it without actually messing with the math. Even so, interesting and informative.

Jack

James Kim found deceased | CNET News.com

We had all hoped and prayed for a happy ending after the joyous news that Kati and the children were safe, but it was not to be. Our deepest sympathies to the Kim family.

'Bad guys are winning' despite fight against spam

Gloom and doom as delivered by The International Herald Tribune. However, with my spam to honest message ration now standing at 201 spams to one actual message, I thought to pass this along.

I was being serious about that ratio. I have 9 accounts and am recieving just over 10k messages per day, ON A DIAL-UP ACCOUNT! Out of those, I got 49 "good" messages today.

The bad guys really are winning, you know.

Jack

War for Linux Is Lost - Almost

This is a depressing essay. The problem is that it might be true.

I offer it to those of you who care about the future of Linux, which I do, and as the basis for thought.

There is another opinion along the same line, here.

Jack

Malware wars: Are hackers on top?

Recently, two different listeners have asked me who is winning; the malware writers or the security folks. Here's the opinion of Raimund Genes, CTO of anti-malware at Trend Micro. I find this somewhat scary but, try as I might, I cannot find material refuting his claims.

Jack

Wife, Children Safe, Search On For CNET's Kim

Please continue to keep James Kim and the family in your thoughts and prayers. I saw this news before I went to bed last night. I'm so grateful that three have been found and brought to safety. Hopefully James will be found safe and reunited with his wife and children soon.

Let's Say Thanks to a Soldier

This is a great site that Xerox is sponsoring that allows you to send a Thank you card to a soldier in Iraq.
You can't pick the soldier, but does that really matter???

Let's Say Thanks
[h/t to a fellow geocacher for this link]
--MissM

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-03-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-03-06. 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.

Aerial search under way for missing CNET editor

I know many of our friends, listeners, and readers are former TechTV viewers and current CNET readers, so I wanted to post this. The news broke, about James Kim and his family missing, yesterday and I'm still in shock. At times like this the technology family seems very small, even though I have never met the Kims.

I know that the weather was really bad last weekend in Oregon. I will hope for the best, but it will be a week tomorrow since the family went missing. Still people have been found alive after that amount of time and I hope that they are okay. Keep the Kim family in your thoughts and prayers. Keep the search and rescue people in your thoughts and prayers, too.

Decoding an ancient computer

Okay, I admit it! I am an insatiable Discovery Channel addict; as if you couldn't guess.

Over the years there have been several shows about the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient mechanical computer of great sophistication found under the ocean in 1901. The device fascinates me.

The link above will take you to a series of photographs on CNET's News.com which depict both the mechanism and a "completed" computer simulation of what scientists think the mechanism looked like. It is beyond merely cool, in my opinion.

Jack

Sony Unveils New Self-Destructive

"Sure there are safety issues, but most homes are equipped with smoke detectors these days, and are chock full of pirated material which would be destroyed in the blaze. OK, their house might burn down, but isn't that a small price to pay to combat piracy?"
Excuse me! Did Sony just step on it AGAIN?
Thanks Buzz from the chat.

MPAA Lobbying for Home Theater Regulations

You have got to be kidding me... I swear all these ^*($@*^!) need to be shot. Although I must say that his is the first article I've read where they come right out and say that they are going to try and control your personal movements, "Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn't give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That's a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends".

Here we go again!
This came to us from Sparky in SLUG

Microsoft Comes Out Swinging for 2007, Thursday November 30th

Many thanks to OC chat regular and listener, Earl, for this submission:

To those of you who are nay saying Vista’s saleability, its value, its security or its general appeal to the marketplace I say you just aren’t looking in the right place. This is not about Vista. It’s about Microsoft’s moneymaking strategy for the future. Microsoft is not just coming out with seven versions of Vista for the year 2007. It’s also coming out with eight versions of Office 2007. But if you think that’s all then you haven’t seen half of it. The new version of Windows Server currently called Longhorn Server is coming out in 2007. And what else? What is the killer app of the Internet? Email. Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is to be released on Thursday too. This is a four punch combination that will impact the business community for years to come. And - as Microsoft well knows – the business world’s model of computing is followed by people taking it home. In other words, as the impact of Exchange 2007/Outlook/Office 2007/Office Live/Vista and the new Sharepoint /WebServer/Server2007 combo hits the biz community in the next few months it will either make it or break it for Microsoft. And what do you think Microsoft is planning on? Certainly they are not planning on the success of Vista alone to save their tush. Since 1997 Microsoft has depended on Exchange/Windows Server/Windows (95, 98, 2000, XP) and MS Office to be the winner in the corporate marketplace.



“This is no small matter. Together, Sharepoint, the Exchange e-mail offering and Office software rang up $14.5 billion of Redmond's $44.3 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. That exceeded Windows sales of $13.2 billion.

These segments are so profitable — that combined $27.7 billion from business software and Windows sales produced $19.9 billion in operating income — that they all but float the company, letting Microsoft's entertainment and online divisions lose money.”



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061124/ap_on_bi_ge/microsoft_new_vistas



November 30th is Microsoft’s first release date to the business world of Vista – Office 2007 – Exchange 2007. It’s not going to impact the world immediately. But MS software rarely does. The entire strategy for the future (Office, Vista, Server, Exchange 2007 and Sharepoint/Webserver) will make it or break it for the 800 pound gorilla. The rest of us just follow.



Earl



http://www.itjungle.com/two/two110806-story01.html

'9 out of 10 e-mails now spam' - CNN.com

No shock here......

Apple Mac Tablet PC With Docking Station In 07

This is really last year's news. Apple has been floating these devices internally for a while now.

The difference is that this unit has a docking station and is aimed at home users, rather than business/enterprise niche uses. Apple has taken a bunch of patents applicable to this sort of device over the last few years, and probably had enough technology left over from the Newton to do this fairly well. (Yes, the Newton really was that far ahead of it's time, and hardware!)

Nothing is sure, yet. But if Apple really does bring out one of these, I'll be standing in line for one of the first, even if I have to hock my Mac running Linux to do it.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-26-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-26-06. 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.

Choosing The Right Vista

VIA Arena has a very good guide to choosing the right Vista for your needs. There is a handy chart that shows you which features are in the different versions of Vista and what they mean to you. This is good reading for those of you planning to upgrade to Vista

For my needs it looks like I will need "Windows Vista Business" edition. That is the middle edition of seven (7) editions.
YES! 7 different editions of "Windows Vista".

LET THE CONFUSION BEGIN!

AlaskaJoe

Adware Trojan aims for Macs

More proof that the Mac OS X is not quite as secure as it's boosters thought. Apparently, this code can be installed without any user input, much less permission. This should not be able to happen and I imagine it won't take long for Apple to issue a fix. Still, it is proof Mac users should now keep up on security matters related to their chosen platform. They can no longer blithely assume security sufficient to the job is built in.

Jack

MAKE: Blog: Liquid Nitrogen ice cream? Fractal pecan pie? A recirculating gravy fountain?

In honor of Thanksgiving in the U.S. I offer this geeky look at turkey day. Enjoy and have a stuffed day. ;)

Arwen has a fantastic interview (make sure to see the photos) she writes - "Liquid Nitrogen ice cream? Fractal pecan pie?? A recirculating gravy fountain??? I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw Turkey Tek's Thanksgiving Instructables way back in April, and I've been not-so-patiently waiting to see what they put up this year. To keep myself occupied while I wait for Thanksgiving to come and go and for TT to disclose this year's escapade, I thought I'd ask a few questions about what makes Turkey Tek tick."

MAKE: Blog: Liquid Nitrogen ice cream? Fractal pecan pie? A recirculating gravy fountain? - An interview with Turkey Tek

--MissM

Yes, there is an Office 2007 'kill switch'

This is hardly news by now. I post it only because it is definite confirmation and a few more details than we had before.

I hope MS can pull this off. I am not hopeful. I can imagine hundreds, thousands, even millions of false positive reports by the WGA software, leading to no end of problems and huge customer resentment. It is even possible that MS could even end up killing their customer good will, which is already stretched thin. I know this can be done well, but somehow don't trust Microsoft to manage it.

We shall see.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-19-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-19-06. 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.

MySpace password exploit: Crunching the numbers (and letters)

The link is to an article at InfoWorld's web site. Roger Grimes got ahold of the purloined password/username lists obtained in the phishing attack when they were posted on the web. He analyses 34k entries for various things like frequency of letter and number use. It is a short and very interesting look into both how passwords fail and how easily they can be made a lot stronger.

As Grimes points out, it is not often a White Hat type gets to analyse such large lists and his doing so makes this article unique. It also points out just how easy it is to have passwords that do fall into "the norm", meaning it is almost trivial for you to tighten up your act as far as passwords go. For me to do it, as well. I was a bit surprised to find that several of my passwords fall directly into line with the poor ones. I spent a fun-filled hour fixing that.

Jack

Update: There are links in the article cited above to a 3 part article on Microsoft's TechNet site. Here are all 3, just in case.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.

Linux infringes Microsoft patents, says Ballmer

I'm sure it is possible, but if it is true, why hasn't Microsoft sued anyone or revealed which parts of Linux or the software that runs on it infringe their IP rights?

The response to Ballmer's statement from the open source/free software communities has been overwhelmingly defiant. I think they want Ballmer to back up his words and are not at all afraid of a lawsuit. I cannot make up my mind whether this is just bravado or based on facts. I sense the former but am assured by my FOSS developer friends that if in fact the threats are based in reality, the various developer communities will strip out the infringing code and re-write it in very short order.

One way or another, this is going to get interesting. Remember; Red Hat is suing SCO simply because SCO impugned Linux. RH is seeking a declaration in court that Linux does not infringe any of SCO's intellectual property. It would not surprise me if either they or another Linux company (Canonical comes to mind, here) sues MS seeking the same outcome. There are many Linux companies with deep enough pockets to sue Microsoft and one or more of them just might.

And more than one pundit has wondered aloud how suing over Linux would affect Microsoft's bottom line. Alienating a significant portion of your customer base is never wise and it is a certainty that a very significant portion of Microsoft's enterprise and government customers are running Linux in one form or another.

Jack

Google improves its AJAX toolkit

Google has some nice web and web application toolkits available. Their AJAX kit, which previously catered mainly to Windows and Linux, has now been expanded to include Macintoshs running OS X.

If you are doing any type of web development at all, I urge you to check out Google's free tools and code offerings. They might save you a lot of work or expand your capabilities.

Jack

World Useablility Day and N@N

I thought this might interest some, I wish I'd heard about it before the actual day... They do have webcasts available, so perhaps there will also be some after the fact audio or video. Check it out. Usability is an issue for everybody.

World Usability Day 2006

I'm listening to Net@Nite and Amber mentioned ChaCha.com a search engine that has "Guides" who will do the searching for you. Amber used an example of looking for the price of a Wii, the expert pasted the link for wikipedia and told her to scroll half way down the page for the price, but they were about $259. So for those of us who might just be overwhelmed by the thousands of links, and just want some help finding results this might be the place to go. And its free! As I was checking it out, I found a way to imbed a search link here, so there it is....

Search

FlashEarth is another cool page that I heard about while listening to Net@Nite, it offers a choice of mapping sources, zoomable, rotateable. Not to mention it'll give you your latitude and longitude, if anybody has a GPS, say.... Liveblogging Net@Nite for you :)

--MissM

Get Microsoft Firefox Professional

It's a prank. At least I hope it's a prank.

Enjoy,

Jack

Broadcom flaw could allow Wi-Fi hijacks

Computer users can check if they have the vulnerable driver by searching for it on their system. The driver filename is: BCMWL5.SYS. As a workaround, some people suggest installing the fixed Linksys drivers for protection.

There are times when security through obscurity is a good thing, because I find I have this driver on my laptop. I'd hate to be in a public place with it right now and would probably revert to using my USB wireless, but what a pain that is. I know I'm not the only one with this problem. Since Broadcom has released an update, we need to make sure our manufacturers pass this update on to us.

Sun releases Java under GPL licence

Since Jack isn't/wasn't feeling well (feel better soon!), I'm posting this as an inadequate substitute. (And, its a link from TheInquirer.net!)

SUN MICROSYSTEMS will announce today that its Java language, contrary to the prediction of many pundits, will be offered as pure "Free Software" -as Richard Stallman would say "free as in freedom"- under a GPL version two licence.

Ponytailed CEO Jonathan Schwartz will announce the ground-breaking move in a webcast to be held later at 9:30am Pacific Time. Both Java SE -used on desktops - and Java ME - used on mobile phones and PDAs- will be included. The server-side Java, or Java EE will be available both under the GPL version two licence and the same Common Development and Distribution Licence (CDDL) that Sun has used until now.

Full article

--MissM

Widescreen LCD Links

I had to gloss over a lot today, especially the part about viewing DVDs on a widescreen monitor. Here is a small selection of links to compliment our discussion on today's On Computers Show and podcast:


Computer Display Standards

How LCD Monitors Work

Widescreen Gaming Forum

Monitor Calibration

Anamorphic DVDs

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-12-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-12-06. 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.

Show Links

Joe's GPS Nice!!

Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, is almost here!

Black Friday is just around the corner! If you're not entirely familiar with the yearly tradition, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving that draws mobs of people to wait in long lines to get good deals on just about everything -- it is also the busiest shopping day of the year. Many credit Black Friday as being the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

DailyTech - Get Ready for Black Friday

Satellite Tracking System: Orbitron

Mercury transiting the Sun: Bad Astronomer Blog

Thats roughly the first hours urls. I don't want to lose this, so I'm gonna hit publish.
--MissM

Microsoft to patch zero-day XML flaw | Tech News on ZDNet

"Microsoft on Tuesday plans to issue six security bulletins, including at least one with a fix for a security vulnerability that is actively being used in cyberattacks."
Thanks Earl for the update

nVidia Announces Early Christmas for Gamers, Power Users

Go ahead, click on the link to nVidia's home page. You'll see the most stunning graphics ever seen from a consumer PC.

The new 8800 GTX GPU is a whopping 400+ mm, giving gamers 631 million transistors worth of DirectX 10 gaming power. The reviews are all gaga, and well they should. Now, you can play with full AA and still have frame rates to spare.

Also announced are the nForce 680i, as in 'i" for Intel, motherboards. Like the previous generation 590 mobos, nVidia has full support for SLI, elaborate as well as push-button overclocking, and a no-cost turbocharge of 20% when an nVidia graphics card (7900 and up) is married to the nForce mobo.

All of this can be yours at about $2,000 and up (way up).

I expect a (long) line for the 8800. Maybe not as long as the PlayStation 3, but long. Why? Because the 8800 has 128 stream processors that can handle vertices or pixel shading. That's how DirectX 10, out soon with Windows Vista, simplifies GPUs and ensures that massive parallelism will be the norm from here on out. One big reason to queue up for an 8800 is the fact that it's very backwards compatible with DirectX 9 games -- at higher performanc levels.

In short, a tour de (n)Force by nVidia. Buy here.

Pete

Particletree | A Guide to Email Roundup

I thought that this had a tip or two for everybody, for dealing with email. How to make it more effective on many levels.

Particletree | A Guide to Email Roundup
[h/t Merlin Mann]

--MissM

Anti-spyware anesthetises your OS before going to work

This is not the first time this idea has come up. Loads of live CDs, such as the Ultimate Boot CD do their work from an alternate operating system. In the case of the UBCD it is FreeDOS, if that makes any difference.

With rootkits becoming ever more prevalent, this is obviously the way to build a malware scanner. As the article says; booting to the other OS gives the scanner access to some parts of Windows that previously have been held out of scans. I expect this also gets one around the PatchGuard kernel protection in 64 bit Vista. In fact, this may be the only way third party scanners can assure you of the kernel's health in the presence of PatchGuard. I can imagine a halt in the Vista boot cycle for the alternate OS to boot and scan critical portions of Vista, then hand the reins back to Vista to finish booting normally.

At any rate; this is one to watch and I'm quite sure there will be other such implementations of the idea from other vendors.

Jack

Download your Blue Screen of Death - from Microsoft

This one was just a bit too cute to ignore.

Enjoy,
Jack

Sun Set To Move On GPL License For Open-Source Java

Sun kept saying "we can't do this very fast", once they accepted the notion of opening the source code for the Java language. Obviously they were bargaining for enough time that when they finally started to take irrevocable actions, they would be perceived as moving very rapidly in relation to their own forecasts.

At any rate; Java as a FOSS product is nearly a done deal and will be official soon. Look for this to re-establish Java as a competitor to Python, .NET and the newcomer, Ruby, in the hearts and minds of developers, or at least their bosses.

In case you are wondering what is accomplished by open-sourcing Java; the move puts the languaage in a place where Sun cannot discontinue or otherwise cripple it in favor of a newer product. That is what happened with Microsoft's Visual Basic. When the .NET version came out, it was incompatible with earlier versions, as were the runtimes, forcing either re-writing code to comply with the new runtimes or sticking with the old and hoping to go on for some time without patches or hotfixes for any issues that might arise. The resentment was palpable at the time and the fact that it happened once has steered several companies I know of away from .NET completely and into the arms of open source platforms.

There are still some licensing issues to be decided, but I think they will all be worked out within a month. Perhaps even less.

Jack

Increased spam levels connected with aggressive botnet activities

I had subjectively and objectively, using my spam statistics, noticed an increase in spam here at home. I had mentioned it to other members of the OC crew. Now I think I know what has been happening. At least this explains what it could be.

Every Vista PC to get a domain name

This is kinda neat. It is an access solution for those who are away from their home machines for long periods as well as an expansion of networking capabilities on the local network. MS calls it "Peer to Peer" networking and I was almost refreshed to see them name something descriptively, instead of trying to invent some cool catchword for it.

You won't be seeing this very soon, but you will be seeing it. It is simply too clever to ignore. Existing home and enterprise equipment has only spotty support for IPv6, the next generation Internet Protocol. That will change with time and once the necessary hardware is in place.

Microsoft's detailed outlay of how it works is here.

Enjoy,
Jack

Microsoft Local Live goes 3D

The link above is to an early (and partial) review at The Inquirer. The real deal is here.

I have downloaded it and the insall went flawlessly. As I write this I have been fooling with it for about an hour and I am impressed with what I see and how it works. There are a few shortcomings, but all in all, this one is worthy of your attention.

Jack

New Theme for Windows XP Download

After all these years, MS has given us a new, free theme for Windows XP. It is the Zune theme. It sports a black taskbar and an orange start button. As an unintended consequence of the orange in the color scheme, it looks great on Firefox. It is also pretty cool looking in general. Your less savvy friends may even think you are running Vista if you neglect to tell them. The Zune theme comes with a Zune themed desktop wallpaper; but if you are not a Zunester, you can easily replace it with your own pic. Download and enjoy. Thanks Microsoft.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 11-05-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 11-05-06. 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.