"Links from the Gregg Zone!"

1) Well to start it off for geek meet weekend I am updating the electric car news, I really think the electric car will be the transportation mode of the future. This site is about the electric mini. Talk about performance, top speed 150 mph, and can out accelerate a Porsche 911 Carerra. This has to be the most interesting direction I have read about lately. They have a electric motor on each wheel, this means there is no loss of power due to transmission to the wheels, they are recovering all energy usually lost in braking, by eliminating mechanical brakes altogether, an added bonus ABS becomes a given. There is a small gasoline engine that can be used to recharge the system while driving, so while you get four hours of electric only around town, by using the engine to recharge the batteries while driving your range is unlimited, at 65-80 miles per gallon. The main thing to remember here is this is a proto-type, when the technology hits the general market over all performance should be improved. http://www.worldcarfans.com/

2) Since it is “Geek Meet 07” I thought I might look for something with a certain level of “Geekness” however I was not sure where to start, so though maybe I should do a little research into the term geek. That’s when I found this site, a wordsmith’s delight, when I put in the word geek it found reference to the word in 34 online dictionaries with links. I thought that was pretty good. http://www.onelook.com/ I am somewhat fascinated by the way words evolve forming new meanings almost unrelated to their initial origin. The invention of the computer has probably been responsible for more new words, and redefinitions of old words than anything that preceded it. Words like widget, hacker, hack, gizmo, the list is very long indeed. The word geek is kind of like the word bad, used to mean bad, then meant good, now just leaves me confused unless the context of use helps me out. Getting old is often a pain in the neck, beats the alternative of dying young, but often leaves one sort of confused about the process. At any rate I thought for anyone not familiar with the origins of the word “geek” you might be interested.

3) Okay this may not be “out there” to everyone, but it was to me I was looking around for info on the H.A.A.R.P. project. (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program.). When I found a reference to what was called the fungus wars. I said the what?! That, is what led me to discover what is the largest, and oldest living organism on the planet, in my mind, what would have been my guess was the General Sherman Giant Sequoia Tree in California, here is a tree link http://www.nps.gov/ well a sixty foot diameter tree just pales in comparison to a mushroom measured in square miles, that’s right, miles, 3.4 square miles to be precise, or 1,665 football fields. If that’s not strange enough for you on another page I read that the fungus has over 3,600 different sexes, I thought people were confused, this I can’t even imagine. Age estimate well over ten thousand years, any way here is the link for anyone who might be interested. http://botit.botany.wisc.edu

4) This site is for that part of the group that likes to question stuff; I believe that in order to have an opinion on a subject it is necessary to investigate it from as many different points of view as possible. I like to read about some pretty off the wall subjects, I come from the basic premise that anything is possible, but that does not mean I believe anything written has any basis in fact. Some subjects just need to be considered on the fringe, where that line is drawn is different for everyone. This site has been interesting to me for sometime ever since I heard an interview with Dr. Michael Shermer, he’s with the Skeptics Society and Magazine. http://www.skeptic.com/ There are quite a few sites of this type, this one is better than most, but some are even more out to lunch that the people they are attempting to debunk. When the numbers get large enough it becomes difficult to argue effectively. If a person sees an elephant in the desert it might be a mirage, ten people maybe what they drank with lunch, 50 people maybe the pot luck dinner was tainted, but when a thousand, or a hundred thousand see the elephant, do you really need a dead elephant to say it probably exists. Some of the debunkers just do not believe in a thing so strongly they make less sense than the believers. We all need varied information to make decisions about what we are willing to accept. I know I accept much more as possible than most, but I also readily admit that the majority of what I believe to be fact is most likely wrong, to quote Mark Twain, “It ain’t the things you don’t know that get you into trouble, it’s the things you know for sure, that just ain’t so”

5) Okay one more then, this is a news story that kind of got me. Sir Paul McCartney, Elton John, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and a few others are going to try and turn the aliens on to rock and roll music, by blasting it into space aimed at local targets like the Moon and Mars. Yes I know the boys listed in this group are already space cadets, and if any one on earth is actually an alien they are most likely represented here. I just thought it interesting how far these things can go, I mean like farm aid for other planets, they say it will be as big as Woodstock. I suspect this will make the news soon if they manage to get it off the ground, they say they are scheduled for this coming year in New York, Berlin, Tokyo, China, Russia, and London. Even Prince William is going to be there as an interested party, and what a party it should be. http://www.wayodd.com/

We are doing the show from GeekMeet07 in Boston, MA We wish you were here!

Its Friday!! My interesting links

Since most of the people who post here are at GEEK MEET! I thought I'd share my shared links from Google reader. Enjoy





--MissM

MacBook and MacBook Pro Battery Update

For the last year or so, perhaps a little bit more, there have been rumors of battery problems with some MacBooks and MacBook Pros from Apple. As the issue did not rise to any real prominence, I figured there probably were not many units affected.

I guess I was wrong, as Apple has issued a support advisory on the subject, which you can access by clicking the link above.

Please note this is NOT the Sony exploding battery issue or anything like that.

The problem seems to have been in the OS X software, and not in hardware, though evidently some batteries could have been damaged and Apple will replace those, regardless of warranty status. They have a software fix available which supposedly takes care of all issues, as long as the battery is still good. Get it, or find out about your replacement options at the link above.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 04-29-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 04-29-07. 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.

Remember Geek Meet 2007 is next week in Boston MA. Join us if you can http://GeekMeet.OnComputers.info

"Links from the Gregg Zone!"

1) I got an email from a friend the other day with an attachment; the attachment was a picture of a church sign which appeared to be in front of a small town church. The message on the sign said “GOD HATES PEOPLE FROM SIN CITY, STAYING IN ALASKA”. Well other than being right on the point when it comes to my personal situation, and seemingly very coincidental, I have seen so many weird signs, especially on shows like Letterman, and Leno I did not think to much about it, until the confession from my friend Tony (who is insisting I give him credit for anything I use that he sends me, here is said acknowledgement). This link is to a site that will let you put anything you want on your choice of church signs. This can be a lot of fun if you have a mischievous side to your personality; I have purposefully refrained from offering any suggestions here as it could only get me into trouble. http://www.churchsigngenerator.com
2) For the A-B crowd this week I thought I would offer a link to the Fortean Times, one night last week c2c had a guest who had written a book on Mr. Fort, a Ripley type writer and researcher from England’s past. During the show the guest mentioned the Fortean Times Magazine, I was wondering if it was still around, so I started looking around the net, not only is it still around, they have a online issue. Very interesting reading, and some good links here, check it out http://www.forteantimes.com/
3) Wow!! Tony again two sites in the same week, thanks to Tony for this interesting story from a BBC story released 4-24-07. Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped super heroes. It seems when it was discovered in Jadar (a Serbian mine), they could not identify the substance, and sent it to a specialist for identification. The people doing the research were shocked to find a reference to a substance containing same chemical make up, not in a scientific journal, but in the fictional story of Superman. Link to the BBC story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6584229.stm
4) If you have not heard about the Honey Bee problem, you must not be much of a news hound, hives are disappearing world wide. The quote being tossed about is from Albert Einstein “Without the Honey Bee mankind would be wiped off the face of the planet in four years.” I have been reading up on it, here are a few of the links I found.
A decent general article with out the scary side: http://msucares.com/news/print/agnews/an07/070405.html
A biblical sign of end times: http://rapturealert.blogspot.com/search/label/colony%20collapse%20disorder
Caused by Mobile Phones: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
Caused by Genetically Engineered BT corn crops: http://theantidote.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/genetically-engineered-bee-killer/
Viral disease http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423113425.htm
Parasites

'Evil twin' Wi-Fi access points proliferate

This is a widespread problem and growing, as the article makes clear. I have actually run into it, once, without recognizing it for what it was. I'm kind of ashamed of that, but no one can catch everything.

Jack

A Directory of RSS Aggregators

Because I know how committed to RSS y'all are (rofl, I amuse myself)... I thought a list of the features of many, many RSS aggregators or readers. :)

A Directory of RSS Aggregators

MissM

Compression Comparison Guide Rev. 2.0 Parts 1 & 2

This article at Tech ARP on compression schemes and utilities is a little bit long, but very interesting and somewhat surprising. My favorite Windows compression utility, FilZip is not tested, unfortunately. The results of this test have me thinking of switching to another, though I give up the ability to deal with a couple of the less common compression schemes.

Enjoy,
Jack

The Alky Project

The link above will take you to the blog of one Cody Brocious, who heads up this project. It's goals are to create a wrapper for Windows executables that will allow (among other things) DirectX 10 graphics to run on Intel Macs, Linux and, most importantly, Windows XP. If they do indeed succeed, Microsoft's strategy to entice upgrades to Vista by not allowing the newest games to run on XP is in at least some danger.

If Cody has indeed reverse-engineered DirectX 10's Geometry Shader (probably the key component) it is a great accomplishment. They have formed a company, I guess to monetize the work. You can view their site here.

It's an interesting project. We will have to see how they do.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 04-22-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 04-22-07. 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.

Remember Geek Meet 2007 is in two weeks in Boston MA. May 4-6 http://GeekMeet.OnComputers.info

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) For my first offering this week I’m going to put up some thing I stumbled on earlier this month by accident. I was at a site I put up earlier looking at pictures, when I spotted something I thought I would make my desk top picture for a while (I change them often, easily bored I guess), anyway I was at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/ the Astronomy Picture of the Day site. Looking thru the archives saw one titled The View from Everest; it’s a very cool panoramic picture from the top of Mt. Everest. You can scroll the view by using the right, left arrows. I found the view I wanted right clicked, and then save as desktop background. When I saw what was on the desk top I was pleasantly surprised, the entire panorama was squeezed on to the desk top with very good resolution. The well rounded mountains in the distance were extremely sharp peaks with clouds surrounding them like mist, a very surreal picture, I like it a lot. It is an instant conversation starter when I ask people if they can guess where it was taken. Then go to the site and show them the original.

2) The second one for the week for any one interested in science, and pictures. Ever wondered what a volcanic neck and dyke might look like, a hint Devils Tower from the Close Encounters movie is a volcanic neck. Or how about the difference between Lenticular clouds and Cirrus and Alto-Cumulus clouds, there are lots of pictures of different natural formations from the Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Bio-sphere, all with a brief explanation about how it was formed, and links to more pictures of similar formations. http://www.regolith.com/

3) For the Art Bell types how about some pictures of the front, and rear gates at area 51, this site does not seem to be done by a professional, pretty basic picture presentation, but interesting to me because of the amateur feel of the site. There is some information there; I was taken by links to government acts about security. While they explained about trespassing, and photographs, they did not cover the use of deadly force which I had always heard about; I would be interested to read how they can justify killing people who stumble into the area, especially in the days when they said it did not exist. I heard about a guy searching for hidden government sites using Google Maps, and investigating the blocked out areas. Be interested to hear from anyone who might know more about this. Anyway here are the sites. http://www.lazygranch.com (front gate). http://www.lazygranch.com/(back gate)..

4) Last but certainly not lest, this has to be the best Space News site I have found they put up stories daily, usually only hours or minutes old. Lots of links to interesting space related sites. Well worth checking out this one if you are space oriented http://spacefellowship.com/

YouTube - Get down with your feeds!

YouTube - Get down with your feeds!

--MissM

Ziggurat Con - The World's First War Zone Game Convention? | Gamegrene.com

I hope/think we have some gamers that read this blog?? I wondered if anybody could contribute prizes or supplies to Ziggurat Con, the very first D&D convention/game day! Its June 9th, so you have to hurry, all the contact info is at the link, but I wanted to highlight the need:

Miss Joy Brown, an employee with KBR who works with MWR (the army’s Morale Welfare & Recreation Department) has graciously allowed service members to use part of the Community Activity Center to hold the Game Day. The Ping Pong room will be set up for RPGs (Role-Playing Games, not to be confused with the rocket propelled grenades which share the same acronym), and the DVD Movie room will be playing Anime Movies all day in support of the event.

"Miss Brown has expressed her support of the soldiers who are planning this event, and who keep her in the loop," said Amberson. "In many events, MWR does the running around, trying to get supplies and support; however, in this case, it is the service members themselves who are contacting the publishers and manufacturers. This makes it a real event for the service members, by the service members."

The largest problem with running a Con in Iraq, of course, is that there are no local stores or game publishers, and few game books on the post. Even dice are in short supply, with many soldiers breaking the unwritten taboo held by many gamers and (gasp!) sharing dice. Thankfully, many game publishers have also lent their support, and have agreed to supply game products to help the Con along. aethereal FORGE, Sovereign Press, Final Redoubt Press, Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Steve Jackson Games are among those that have thrown in their support for the convention. But Amberson indicated that the soldiers could definitely use more.

"This convention is currently in drastic need of prizes and giveaways for the troops," he said. "Everything donated will go directly to the troops, or to MWR to use as loaner books for the soldiers."

For more information, contact SPC David Amberson at the following address: david.amberson (at) iraq.centcom.mil

Ziggurat Con - The World's First War Zone Game Convention? | Gamegrene.com
--MissM

Michael Dell's Linux choice? Ubuntu

Another tip of the [proverbial] hat to Curtis for this one.

I'm not sure why people are surprised that Michael Dell is running a Linux box. Dell is in a spot of a slump and their prospective clients are clamoring for Linux on Dell's products. So he's bound to be checking things out. Any good CEO would, and he is surely that.

I hope Ubuntu is one of the distributions Dell chooses, if indeed they advance past selling "Linux compatible" machines and actually choose one or more flavors of Linux. And for those of you who are not inclined toward Ubuntu, don't worry. You'll be guaranteed the hardware for your favorite distro to use.

Jack

Home Users: Windows XP Returns | Direct2Dell - Dell's Blog

This is a great example of the right ways to have a two way conversation with the customer. Dell has a "digg style" site called IdeaStorm that allows customers to vote on suggestions. The most recent change made as a result of IdeaStorm was giving the option to have XP or XP Pro installed (in the U.S. only) instead of Vista. Very interesting development both for Dell and Microsoft, but in different directions...

Home Users: Windows XP Returns | Direct2Dell - Dell's Blog
--MissM
my shared google reader items:

Open Source alternatives to Adobe Creative Suite

Many thanks to our listener and friend, Curtis, for this one.

With the list price of Adobe's Creative Suite 3 (CS3) at $2499 USD (yes, that's correct, though upgrades from previous versions are much less) there is a need for alternatives. Admittedly, these won't give you 100% of CS3's functions, but they come reasonably close and you ought to be able to find workarounds for any additional ones you need. I can do a few additional steps in order to save all that dough. I imagine a lot of you feel the same.

This blog lists a lot of alternatives, both for Windows and Linux, and some for Macs, too. Enjoy all that money you save. Send me some.

Jack

Babel Linux distro is all spin and costs a bob or two

It had to happen sooner or later. A Linux distribution that is all about fleecing the user. As the article says; it's easy enough to get everything Babel Linux offers for free. So steer clear unless you simply cannot resist.

Jack

Savenetradio.org

This is important to everybody that listens to ANYthing on the internet. They want to increase the royalties on all music played on the internet, PER listener.

From the About page:

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed. And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters’ royalties will grow exponentially!

We like our free radio (ask Joe how many listeners contribute), but the RIAA is trying to contro, or stifle, every outlet for their product monopoly.
We can't afford this. If you like to listen to music on the internet click on the link and sign the petition. I don't believe we would be affected, but you never know. The place that I like to listen to online music is Pandora, its excellent!

--MissM

Savenetradio.org

SANS isc:Update on Microsoft DNS vulnerability

From The Internet Storm Center
"We received a couple of e-mails over the weekend asking us why this vulnerability was significant. Most public DNS servers should not be listening on the RPC ports, after all. Indeed, networks obliging to basic secure perimeter design would only allow port 53 UDP/TCP to the authorative DNS servers, and definitely not the additional RPC ports required for exploitation."
SANS Internet Storm Center; Cooperative Network Security Community - Internet Security - isc
--MissM

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 04-15-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 04-15-07. 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.

Remember GeekMeet 2007 is May 4-6 in Boston MA Join us!

Microsoft: Word 2007 crashes are a feature, not bug

This one speaks for itself. Read it and weep!

Jack

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) To start off this time I thought you might have heard this story as a lot of people thought it was just an urban myth, it has been around for a while about a guy who attached thirty-five helium filled weather balloons to a lawn chair and took off to 20,000 feet over LAX. Well I found the site if you are interested, even has the cb radio audio between him, his wife, the air port, and police. News reports, maps, and anything else you might want to check into. http://www.markbarry.com/

2) Sparked by the first site I decided to check into the availability of flight using this principle, it occurred to me that with somebody making news doing this, it seemed that if he did not copy somebody else, somebody would copy him. What I found was the Cloud Hopper, a personal balloon system on a back pack. Fly around, land, and then you just pack it on to the back-pack and walk out. Wish I was a little younger, I’d like to try it, its not a scary kind of I don’t want to, it’s more the hiking out. The guy at this site really makes it sound like a lot of fun, check it out http://www.cloudhopper.org/

3) Well I suppose since this is a computer tech show, I should try to put up some of the show related stuff, when I run across it, even if I have very little understanding of just what it is, or how it works. This site qualifies for that line of thought. It seems there is a group of folks out there who like to build stuff for their computers on the cheap, and at the same time do their little bit to save the land fills. I found this interesting as I remember doing the can and string bit when I was a kid. http://www.turnpoint.net

4) We had a sick Joe in the house this week at the time of this writing we still do not have a definitive answer to the cause, however during the process of dealing with the issue I ran across a site that might be of value to some of you out there. Joe was convinced that there might have a correlation between one of his new prescriptions, the timing was just to close. I was worried about a possible interaction with one of his other medications, so I did a search on the net. I came up with this, a site where you just type in the name of all your drugs in one list and it searches for any problems, and/or interactions, they also give advice in a general way. http://www.drugs.com/

Interesting things found while surfing the internets

1. NASA was able to estimate the size of a Black Hole based on Chandra Exploratory's view of the galaxy. This is very impressive AND it gives me an option to put a picture on this post. ;) More pictures of NGC 1365.

2. Mark Russinovich, formerly of Sysinternals and rootkit detection fame, now working at Microsoft, wrote recently about botnets, and the logical progression of email vulnerabilities. I found it pretty scary myself, and wanted to alert the readers of the blog. Mark writes:

Botnets by Email

I make no effort to hide my email address, which means that I know the instant a new email-based virus, phishing attack, or penny-stock-pumping scam launches when my inbox floods. Most such emails are easy to distinguish from legitimate emails because of their lack of personalization, poor grammar, or low-quality images that attempt to foil spam filters. On occasion, however, I get a message that causes me to examine it a little more closely in order to make sure it’s junk. I also look out for ones that might trick unsophisticated users.

BotNet exploration

3. From BoingBoing, I see a job that might interest some. Cory Doctorow writes:

The Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit that manages the GPL copyleft license and promotes the use of free software, is hiring a new campaigns manager. This looks like a sweet gig!

"The Campaigns Manager implements the FSF communications strategy and works as part of a team to develop and implement issue campaigns and community resources, acting as a spokesperson on matters of software freedom. The Campaigns Manager handles writing, editing, speaking, and research related to these activist and program efforts; coordinates the GNU Chief Webmaster and the other webmaster volunteers to develop FSF and GNU web sites; plans and implements proposals to increase fundraising; and serves as a main point of contact between the Foundation and the free software community."

Details

--MissM

E-Eye Zero Day Tracker

It's time to check for "zero day" vulnerabilities again.

It's no coincidence that we just had Patch Tuesday and these things pop up. Some security researchers intentionally release them then.

Anyway; this is not a particularly bad report. There are things there of which you need to be aware, but none of them are overly alarming.

Jack

Want the old Office ‘Classic Menus’ back in Office 2007?

I can't figure out if this is some sort of karmic extortion or just plain sad. But after paying all that money for whatever version of Office 2007, you can pay $29.95 to Addintools of Hai Nan, China for an application that reverses all the "ribbon" menu changes MS has made and gives you more conventional menus back.

Anyway; the link above will take you to something of a mini-review. It seems to work and I know more than one person who will welcome this.

Jack

AVG Anti-Rootkit Free

I have not tested this application at all. Still, the AVG folks are reliable and don't ever seem to release untested or overly buggy stuff, so it's probably worth downloading and testing.

Rootkits are, after all, a growing menace. They often go undetected by anti-virus or other anti-malware applications because their signatures have not appeared in the wild before and so are not included in the application's signature database, against which it compares executable code to detect virii, etc. This application may be just what we need for anti-rootkit protection.

Jack

Dreaming in the "Cloud" with the XIOS web operating system

XIOS is an "operating system that runs in a web browser". I'm not entirely sure what that means, as one still has to have a "native" OS on one's machine to support the browser itself.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting concept though, as the article points out, it's hard to see where XIOS fits in the scheme of things. I thought you might like to see this Ars Technica mini review of it.

Jack

Experts: Microsoft should consider change in patching process

I agree with this article.

The recent .ANI vulnerability had been known to MS since last December. I don't understand why they did not produce a patch sooner. They have the resources to move faster. Of that I am sure. Yet they don't. So, a lot of people were affected by something they could have patched in the normal course of events, if only they had pried open their wallet and invested in enough staff to get on the problem in a timely manner.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 04-08-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 04-08-07. 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.

Remember GeekMeet 2007 is in Boston this year. If you are coming send an email to GeekMeet07@OnComputers.info

Testing shared Google reader posts

--MissM

"Links from the Gregg Zone!"

1) One of the things I like most about cruising around the internet is
bumping into things I really know nothing or very little about. Some times good, sometimes not so good, or in this case a little scary. I personally have never heard of Codex Alimentarius, nor was I particularly worried when I googled their main site it looked innocent enough, the only thought I had was the site seemed very well set up. Then I looked at the site I have listed here, watched the video, clicked around some and found some strange and seriously worrisome information, want to follow my tracks click on the
Article- Nutricide: The killing camps of Codex Alimentarius link under news, then the download full pdf file. Reads like a James Bond spy novel complete with Nazi world domination plots to control the world food supply. I have not decided what I believe about this whole thing, but if even a little is true it is scary. http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php

2) I'm always looking for another useless time wasting pastime, I kind
of like collecting something, and I kind of miss the chase when nothing is available. I'm camped out at Joe's house for a while need to think about what I can take home with me, on the plane, weight and all. So I have started something new I have decided to start collecting one dollar bill origami. Here is a link for the first one I found, a bow tie, if you know of any more please let me know.
http://www.metacafe.com


3) I thought I would do a quick up date on the pet food recall as it
seems to be lingering in the news, while looking for an update I ran into this site. This is the place to check in if you are concerned about any thing like this regarding your pets. Here they even have copies of the notification papers to vets, what to look for in the way of symptoms, treatment, and other recalls not getting the media attention, also info on the legal end of the issue if you were damaged by the problem.
http://www.avma.org/default.asp

4) I have been reminded several times that this is Easter Sunday I
thought I would post a site for Easter eggs. That is the tech type, for those not familiar with them in the context of software (get that Cadbury Bunny out of your head!), an Easter Egg is a hidden feature or novelty that the programmers have put in their software. In general, it is any hidden, entertaining thing that a creator hides in their creation only for their own personal reasons. This can be anything from a hidden list of the developers, to hidden commands, to jokes, to funny animations. You'd be surprised just how many things contain Easter Eggs. This site has 10,357 so far 61 new ones in the last two weeks. You can even add new ones you may find, have fun http://www.eeggs.com/ .

5) Just a quickie for the Art Bell types. For those who know about the
Princeton Egg's, the site has changed some since I was there. For those who are not familiar you might check it out. It is an experiment in global consciousness set up by Princeton University back in 1998 using random generators it has been running continually for almost ten years now. Seem to have recorded most of the major events, 9-11, the tsunami, major earthquakes and more, days and hours before the event happens. The site is broken down into two areas, 1) Scientific work, and 2) The Aesthetic View, very interesting site, the dot shows coherence, that's new green good, red duck, and run. http://noosphere.princeton.edu/index.html

UK firm claims 100 per cent no-spam guarantee

UK firm ClearMyMail guarantees they will stop all spam with sophisticated filtering techniques. It's a bold claim, but tempting enough that I am wondering if they sell the service to Americans.

Along the same notion, a UK man who successfully sued a spammer over a single email message has set up a site here encouraging people to sue spammers. They're interesting and, frankly, I have wondered if I should not get involved with suing spammers as a nice way to increase my income.

Jack

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

Extreme Outer Vision has cobbled a database of various hardware bits into a power usage calculator that you can use to make a pretty decent estimate of how much power a given system will take.

Something like this is long overdue, in my less than humble opinion, and according to friends and other journalists, the results obtainable from this are much more accurate than one might think, which probably means they've done their homework. With systems taking more and more power as time goes by, a tool like this will tell you how big a power supply you will need on that new 32 core system.

Enjoy,
Jack

Legally blind Texans may use lasers to pick out prey - Engadget

Legally blind Texans may use lasers to pick out prey?!?!?!!?! Whoa! I wondered if Riley had ever hunted game. :)

Completely bypassing the stunning fact that (legally) blind Texans are actually allowed to wield a weapon and fire at will during regular hunting seasons, a new piece of legislation could allow these folks to see what they're aiming at a wee bit better,.....

Jack might want to stay out of the way during hunting season. :)
--MissM
Legally blind Texans may use lasers to pick out prey - Engadget

Patch Tuesday Comes Twice in April - Security Fix

Brian Krebs at WaPo was the first place I ran into, in my rss feeds, about what was coming up on the official "Patch Tuesday." In the equal time category, he also writes:

Microsoft may not be the only large software vendor issuing updates next week. A number of other companies, most notably Apple, have been known to take advantage of "Patch Tuesday" to issue their own security updates. Microsoft took a pass on Patch Tuesday last month, but Apple used the occasion to push out fixes that plugged at least 46 individual security holes. Apple also issued another bushel of patches on February's Patch Tuesday.

Patch Tuesday Comes Twice in April - Security Fix
Then right after that (at least in my list (Security Fix, Welcome to the MSCRC(its alphabetical))), the MS Security Response Center blog posts the "'AS IS' with no warranties notification" about next weeks "Patch Tuesday."

--MissM
P.S. Sorry about the nested parens.
P.P.S. Has anybody had trouble with the patch issued Tuesday, MS07-17, I've noticed a couple of news stories about it, and wondered about our reader's experience.

An inside look into building and releasing MS07-017

I found this look at the process involved in security vulnerability repair (?) and updates. I hope you enjoy it too.
--MissM

Welcome to the Microsoft Security Response Center Blog! : An inside look into building and releasing MS07-017

WEP security totally broken

We all knew WEP was not terribly secure. Now there is proof it is nearly worthless in the face of a skilled attack.

Even so; I still recommend WEP with a 128 bit key (up from my past recommendation of a 64 bit key) for home users. In addition, I tell folks to run an intrusion detection utility. eEye Digital Security's "Blink" intrusion detection is available free in a home version for Windows XP and Vista and I have been testing that. (No results to report, yet. But I will say that you are going to have some fun getting it to run in the presence of an anti-virus program, hence the long test period.)

If you have sensitive data, use WPA1 or 2. (2 is preferable.) Better yet, encrypt your data and forget about wireless entirely.

Jack

PowerPoint presentations a 'disaster'

I have friends, clients and acquaintences who seemingly cannot live without PowerPoint or other presentation software. This is going to break their hearts.

As soon as I see a PP presentation beginning, I start to fall asleep. This seems to be a common reaction and I have long suspected people generate these things because they do not trust themselves to speak or write well enough to get their point across. It has always been my position that a well done PDF with a few illustrations (when absolutely necessary) does the best job of carrying the point.

Now I have scholarly evidence! :)

Jack

Two free games based on the Quake 3 engine tip up

The link above is to The Inquirer, which has an article on this.

It seems that since the source code for Quake3 was released under the GPL the folks at the "ioquake3 project" have been hard at work. First, they had to bring the Quake game engine up to date, and they seem to have done a sterling job of it, including support for OpenAL sound, which gives these new games surround sound and full support for Ogg Vorbis.

If the screenshots I have seen are any indication, the graphics of both games are very good. You will have hours of good game play ahead of you when you've downloaded them. I have both downloads running now. Not only do they have LinuxPPC ports, but the site accurately detected my platform and directed me to the correct download; a first.

Game download links are given at the bottom of the article. Enjoy!

Jack

Python on Planes

First was Microsoft's .NET development platform for web apps. To be blunt, it still leads the field and there was not much other than it to choose from.

Along came Ruby on Rails; the Ruby scripting language and the Rails development environment. That was as much a revelation as Microsoft's offering as the Rails RDE (Rapid Development Environment) was wonderful. The problem was the Ruby language, whose performance reminded (and still reminds) me of BASIC on an 8088.

Now comes Planes, which utilizes the Python scripting language and runtimes and whose output can be compiled to byte code, as well. If the Planes RDE is the equal of Rails, this one should win on performance. I've heard good things and am unhappy the Planes site seems to be overwhelmed by demand. It hasn't been working for hours.

I post this for those of you who may wish to fool with Rails, under Windows or Linux. Other platforms available soon. You might just be fooling around with the next big thing in web app development.

Jack

Cursor hole puts Windows PCs at risk - USATODAY.com

This is a couple days old, but not an April Fool's joke. Beware (by the way!).

A new security vulnerability puts Windows users at risk of serious cyberattacks, Microsoft warned late Wednesday.

The vulnerability affects all recent Windows versions, including Vista, which Microsoft has promoted heavily for its security. The operating system software is flawed in the way it handles animated cursors, Microsoft said in a security advisory.

An attacker could exploit the vulnerability through a Web page or e-mail message with rigged computer code, Microsoft said.

"Upon viewing a Web page, previewing or reading a specially crafted message, or opening a specially crafted e-mail attachment, the attacker could cause the affected system to execute code," Microsoft said in its advisory.

Such holes are often exploited by cybercrooks to do "drive-by" installations of malicious software. Spyware and remote control tools that turn PCs into drones for the attacker are silently loaded onto vulnerable computers by tricking people to visit a rigged website or hacking a trusted site. The website for the Super Bowl stadium is a recent example of a drive-by attack.

Cursor hole puts Windows PCs at risk - USATODAY.com
Update: Microsoft's Advisory on the vulnerability, updated yesterday, Mar. 31.
Additional Update: : Latest on security update for Microsoft Security Advisory 935423 There's an update coming 4/3 from MS, currently, on this vulnerability.
Third Update: Steve and Leo have a 10 minute podcast about this vulnerability.
And in other security vulnerability risks. Cross scripting vulnerability discussion (part 1) by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte on Security Now.

--MissM
(picture from an Aussie Computer Lock Company)

MS plans emergency update to fix blinking cursor bug

MS is going to fix it in a hurry. I'm a little surprised, but quite grateful.

Now we have to ask why they can't get other zero day flaws fixed in shorter order. They have some which have been outstanding for months.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 04-01-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 04-01-07. 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.
If you are coming to Boston for Geek Meet `07 please send an email to GeekMeet07@OnComputers.info If you want us to pick you up at the airport or train station, we need to know.

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) This first one is a interesting site about Saturn. An article caught my eye talking about pictures of a large hexagon at the North Pole of the planet taken by NASA’s Cassini space craft. This got me looking around; I found this site where you can see a movie of the phenomenon, very odd the hexagon stays still while the clouds race around its borders, not mentioned, there is square shape over the pole, which also remains motionless. I also found it intriguing that the Voyager photographed the same feature 20 years ago on its fly-by, in 1980. While you are there click on the Cassini Photo Essay, top right, I was particularly struck by the size of one of the craters on the moon Mimas, and the variety of the shapes the moons have evolved into. http://www.nasa.gov/

2) On this one I am not going to comment very much, as I’m trying to stay neutral when relating to any thing religious, or political, and this probably qualifies as a little of each. If you heard about the supposed miracle peace sign, on the White House lawn, and want to read up on it here is a link, personally I’m not sure how to take it, my only comment is the disclaimer at the bottom of the page that says picture number three, digitally enhanced. http://www.emissaryoflight.com/_

3) The third link this week is compliments of our man Jack he sent me an email with a very nice URL included, one he found in Wired Magazine, and he thought it would fit nicely into the Gregg Zone. I think it is a perfect fit; it deals with what seems to be a small, but growing cadre of "fusioneers" building "Fusors" in their basements and garages. This web site is where these backyard experimenters who might be determining the future of our planet, exchange ideas, and swap notes. Might keep an eye on them with a small penny stock portfolio in mind, just in case, somebody is going to crack the puzzle one of these days. Thanks Jack for a great link, I am always looking for interesting stuff, so don’t be bashful, got something good , pass it on. http://www.fusor.net/

4) The last one I got for you this week is also thanks to Jack, I found it at the fusion site. No matter how you feel about electric cars, this one might have you intrigued. How do you feel about 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds, with a range of 250 miles on a charge, and only 3.5 hours for a full recharge; 100% torque immediately they say their favorite thing to do during a demo is ask the passenger to turn on the radio, then step on the accelerator, and watch them try to reach the knob. And it is a very nice looking car, a little pricy, but that may come down as fast as plasma T.V.’s once the technologies are out in the main stream. http://www.teslamotors.com

5) Okay, okay one more Joe tells me it is April Fools Day, sorry I was reminded to late to come up with a tricky prank type thing this year, maybe next year, be warned. But in looking around, for something tricky I found this site with the top 100 April Fools Day pranks, I thought it was interesting, and entertaining reading. So I thought I would let my self off easy this time, and just put it up here. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com

How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media

Here is a good one. The title says it all.

Jack

PC Makers to Microsoft: "Vista Is Not a Seller. You Suck"

I don't agree with this article. Yes, everything in it may well be true. In fact; I'm pretty sure it is. What I don't agree with is the tone. I cannot see Vista as a failure, even though I don't care for it. It was released too early and still has a number of unresolved issues. So what? 95 and 98 had their own problems, too, and became runaway best sellers. I figure Vista will do that, as well.

Not that success won't take time. It will. And in all liklihood, a relaxation of the DRM contained in Vista's heart will have to take place. But MS will indeed make a success of Vista. Don't make a mistake thinking otherwise. MS is not staffed or led by stupid people and they will get it right. At least right in their own eyes and as their standards are pretty high, with the exception of the DRM fiasco, Vista will get a lot better.

In the mean; Vista gets painted as the Titanic of software.

Jack

Free Online Photo Editors

Extreme Tech has a review of 5 online photo editors. I found it surprising and informative.

Don't expect a Photoshop killer or a GIMP replacement. Even so, these all have some redeeming features and checking them out is a lot easier using this review.

Jack

Catalyst 7.3 Causes BSOD in Vista

Some, but not all that many, users are having trouble with AMD/ATI's new Catalyst drivers for Radeon cards (version 7.3). The problem is apparently in hardware detection for hot-plugging displays and you needn't perform that action to encounter it. If you have a problem, the link above will take you to a decent workaround at Extreme Tech, along with "last resort" directions.

This workaround appears to be very effective. The one person I know who encountered the problem had it fixed by this trick. It's not too hard to do. Anyone can manage it with these clear and simple directions.

AMD/ATI will come out with a fix soon. Until then, use this.

Jack

RIP: Community Linux (1991-2007)

This is going to be the biggest controversy to affect the Linux world in a long time.

What has happened is that the entire new board of The Linux Foundation is composed of corporate types. Nowhere are the vibrant and ongoing communities surrounding various distributions represented.

What does it mean? No one seems to be sure. I'm definitely up in the air about it. Does this mean Linux has come of age as a "corporate" product? Are the communities which have in the past contributed so much now passe? Has the common users and developers been put out to pasture or otherwise declared irrelevant? I fear so, despite statements to the contrary.

Jack

Windows XP Multi Core config - Does your OEM do it for you?

It seems some OEMs are not configuring dual core processor systems correctly and the owners of affected systems are losing out on performance as a result.

The link is to a forum post at notebookreview.com in which directions are given for enabling and tuning AMD dual core processors. Included are directions for seeing how to check that the cores are indeed enabled and downloads specific to AMD processors. I have yet to find directions for Intel processors and suspect this is more an AMD problem than an Intel one, though I do not know for sure.

Jack

Configuring a Linux home internet gateway

Besides being a really decent how-to, this will give you basic networking knowledge. In fact, that is probably the best reason for reading the article, unless you are really going to put up a Linux gateway.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 03-25-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 03-25-07. 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.
Remember GeekMeet 2007 is coming up May 4-6 in Boston, MA for info go to http://GeekMeet.OnComputers.info

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) A quick up date to start things off, if you were fascinated by the crystal caves last week, here is a link to some more and later pictures, I can’t seem to get enough of this, would really like to go and see them. http://www.crystalinks.com

2) Anyone catch the story about the hole in the earth, seems there are thousands of square miles of missing earth crust in the mid-Atlantic ocean. There is a scientific team headed out there to investigate, and study the phenomenon. Here is a site where you can follow the expedition, information about what and why they are there, a daily log, and interactive links to ask questions. http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/

3) I found a site here that has some rather stunning star related photos, it is called the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” they post a new picture every day, with an explanation, and they have endless archives of days past. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov

4) One more star related site, this one for a solar system simulator. You can look at Earth from the Moon, or Neptune, fly through the solar system and out to the stars at warp speed. Kind of fun, true scale as to size, distance, and color, but not the best graphics. http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

5) For the Art Bell types out there in the event you have not heard yet France is the first country in the world to completely open their x-files on UFO’s, this happened Thursday, I have been trying to get in, but the site is being slammed 24 hours a day right now, here’s a link to the site http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/ And here is a link to the news story http://space.newscientist.com

The 10 Worst PCs of All Time

I know. Lists are a bore. Usually they are. But anyone who aspires to geekhood gets into contact with machines that can drive you bonkers, no matter your skill level. Users have it worse for not being familiar with more esoteric remedies which might be available.

I had a PC Jr. Paid an incredible amount of money for it and it never did do the job for which it was purchased. It simply would not stay up long enough to run the problems we posed to it. Within an hour or two of an intended 12 hour run, it would crash, or simply load the meager RAM to the point where none was free, refusing to release any of it, whether it was still needed or not, and grind to a halt. It got hot. It would lose contact with the floppy drive, making the job untenable.

I returned it and had the retailer refused it, I was perfectly willing to see whether or not the manager was capable of eating it. Such was my mood. We bought a replacement (an early clone) and got the work done.

Remember as you read this list; The "good old days" are the reason all us older guys are bald and have ulcers.

Jack

LinuxMCE

LinuxMCE is a free, open source add-on to Ubuntu including a 10' UI, complete whole-house media solution with pvr + distributed media, and the most advanced smarthome solution available. It is stable, easy to use, and requires no knowledge of Linux and only basic computer skills.
I might have to put a TV card in my Ubuntu box!
Thanks RickinFl from our chat

bLaugh | Are You a Twitter Ninja?

I thought this was funny. Do you know what twitter is???



bLaugh | Are You a Twitter Ninja?

Symantec's Latest Internet Security Threat Report

Symantec puts these out a couple times each year. They are generally informative and this one is no exception. Plus, they have instituted a synopsis for those of us too lazy to read through the entire thing.

There is something surprising in this report. Symantec, though not friendly to Microsoft any more, rates MS operating systems as having greatly improved their security. This applies to server and desktop OSs, and reflects changes to XP and the coming of Vista.

It's worth a read.

Jack

Nuance you've lost a customer.

Pardon me but, I need a bit of a rant. I've been using Paperport software for quite a few years. I've got version 11 pro now. There is a PDF creator in Paperport. When I upgraded to Vista it stopped working. So, I go to their site. Eventually I find a link for a supossed Vista version of paperport. I install everything OK. Now PDF creator does work but, I get a watermark on all PDF's created saying I have a trail version. So, I email them. They tell me to try a few things none of which work. They tell me I must now contact technical support. I go to email tech support and they want to charge me $9.95!. Granted not a large sum. Paperport cost me over $100. I don't Think I should be charged. Also there is no 800 number for tech support and they want $19.95 for phone support. Well they just lost a loyal customer. I've been using this program since version 5.3.

FBI Confirms Contracts with AT&T, Verizon and MCI

We all know that there is no privacy on the internet, who knew that there was so little in toto. Read on to find out how bad it is.

The FBI's general counsel, Valerie Caproni, testified today on Capitol Hill that the FBI entered into contracts with AT&T, Verizon and MCI to harvest phone records on American citizens under a national security letter program that has come under fire from Congress and the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General for circumventing privacy laws.

Caproni confirmed during a House Judiciary hearing that AT&T and Verizon, which bought MCI in 2005, had and continue to have contracts with the FBI that compensate phone companies for turning over the toll records of customers connected to counterterroism investigations. The telecoms entered into the contracts in May 2003, according to the report issued last week by the DoJ Inspector General.

"The contract essentially pays for the man hours or the personnel cost for the people who have to do the work," said FBI Assistant Director John Miller in an interview with Wired News last night. "We want dedicated people who handle our requests or do nothing else."

UPDATE: 27B looks into the FBI's use of "exigent letters" to bypass privacy laws and request information from phone companies during terrorism-related emergencies. In less than three years, the FBI sent out at least 739 of these letters. Were there really that many emergencies? We also hear back from AT&T. Read more here.

WIRED Blogs: 27B Stroke 6

--MissM

Kernel Designs Explained

It is a 5 page PDF and at 1500 words, something of a masterful compression. Still, it will tell the less geeky just what an operating system kernel does and the different ways of setting one up and building it. It's well enough written and quick by any standards.

What's not to like?

Jack

TheOnionRouter/SummerOfCode

TOR is having a summer of coder for students around the world, all the information is available at the link in the title or below. Location doesn't matter, just getting the job done. If you know of any students that this might interest, please pass it on. I am going to show it to my kids. :)

TheOnionRouter/SummerOfCode - Noreply Wiki
--MissM

Google Operating System Blog

I saw this link at Mike's Tech Show, and since Jack's under the weather, I thought I may actually beat him posting this. ;-) (Get well SOON! Jack) Google has an Operating System Blog?!?!?!?! It didn't reference the OS, on first glance, though the most recent post is about an Easter Egg in the new personalized home page themes. (Is "home page" one or two words... I notice that Google makes it one word, hmmm. Opinions? leave them in comments). The themes are pretty neat, I picked the beach one, and if you give it your location, the light will change based on your local time. (Initially, I thought that they should base it on available info from the home page (yes, I persist in the 2 words), ie., weather. Upon reflection, its probably a nod to privacy and the glass wall between what they know about you already...). If you have a personalized google page, themes is a new option in the upper right hand corner, Go check it out.

Back, to the Google Operating System Blog (yes, the original topic of the post, and I almost got lost in twitter, but refocused on my task. :P), it doesn't refer to an operating system, as in Windows or Ubuntu or OS X (how egalitarian of me, eh?) but more of a peek inside the "system" of google. For instance, how to improve your search, the easter egg in themes, etc., etc. Enjoy!

Google Operating System
--MissM

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 03-18-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 03-18-07. 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.
Don't forget to send in your email if your coming to Boston for Geek Meet to GeekMeet07@OnComputers.info

What really happened at the Microsoft MVP Global Summit 2007 - istartedsomething

This was too funny. Now, I understand why Tony Linguini isn't an MVP. ;)
You have to go check out the pictures. I Started Something is a blog about MS, that I've been reading for a couple months, I believe the Vanishing Point Game
to promote Vista, may have been what led me to his site. But its a fun perspective on Microsoft, with a tilt towards Vista.

This is why Microsoft forces MVPs to sign strict non-disclosure agreements before entering the summit.

The MVP summit was this past week, and now that I've seen the pictures, I understand why Tony Linguini isn't an MVP. ;)
You have to go check out the pictures.

What really happened at the Microsoft MVP Global Summit 2007 - istartedsomething
--MissM

Links from the Gregg Zone!

1) Well to start off the week, during my cruising I found a link to the discovery of the largest crystals ever found anywhere in the world. They were found in a natural cave completely enclosed in bed rock adjacent to the Naica Mine, which mines silver, zinc, lead, and gypsum, in Chihuahua Mexico. They described the experience like walking around inside of a giant geode, with crystals up to fifty feet in length, a diameter of four to five feet, and estimated over ten tons. The story about the discovery accompanying the pictures is fascinating, seems the temperature is over one hundred fifty degrees, with 100% humidity. One of the miners working there tried to sneak in through a small opening to steal some crystals, they found him a few days later thoroughly baked. http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/

2) The next link is to a Google replay of a BBC, Channel four movie (1 hr. 13 min.) that essentially debunks Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. I like to investigate both sides of an issue to develop my opinion, one which I am usually willing to admit is inaccurate, because I believe it is close to impossible to find enough unbiased information that will illustrate both sides of a politically charged issue in a manner that is clear and concise enough for some one like myself, an admitted non-expert on most of these issues, to develop a truly informed opinion. Given that disclaimer, I found this movie really challenged some of my basic understandings of the whole Global Warming issue, and while I thought several of the arguments had merit, and caused me to change my perspective related to the science used to explain the causes of Global Warming, and I’m now reconsidering my opinion in general. I did find the movie as blatantly politically bias as they claim their perceived opposition. I find it unnerving that on issues of this importance to all of us there is such a lack of cohesiveness, and a unacceptable amount of divisiveness’, and self serving agendas putting us all at risk for generations. Enough soap box, sorry, interesting movie, worth watching, very informative in many ways. http://video.google.com/

3) The link for Art Bell types this week, one of the better net movies I have found on 2012 as related to the Mayan Calendar, and there are actually three movies in segments totaling a little over five hours. The sequence is not correct watch them 1 3 2, I enjoyed it very much, found it to be easier to understand than some of the others I found. If you are interested in this subject this is a must see, well worth the time. http://video.google.com

4) Last week I noticed a link to a little helicopter game in the chat, it drove me crazy for a while, so I thought I would return the favor. The object here is to click on the red box, avoid the black squares, without hitting the edges. The email I got along with it said that the air force uses it to test pilots, and said they are expected to last two minutes, if that is true, I would be surprised there are ant planes in the air. http://members.iinet.net.au/

5) One more for any car fans out there a link to the Bugatti Veyron tested to see if it really can do 407 km/h. not your daddy’s Oldsmobile for sure. http://www.dailymotion.com

6) A late link added for those who need to check your pet foods due to the recent recall, tens of thousands of cans of cat and dog food are being recalled because of being a suspected cause of kidney failure. Here is a link to the company in Canada that has caused the problem. There are two lists one for dogs 48 different brands, and one for cats 40 brands, also the company press release explaining their reasoning, along with contact information. http://www.menufoods.com

Slashdot | Registerfly's Accreditation Terminated by ICANN

Just in case you have used registerfly as a provider, I wanted to post this. The only things I've ever heard about them was from Newshutch.com , I lost my home page for a weekend (technically not the weekend, because I got the ip and used that not the DNS :P), because of their incompetence. Newshutch blog post about it

Slashdot | Registerfly's Accreditation Terminated by ICANN

--MissM

P.S. This Week in Tech's del.icio.us feed. [Oh go ahead click it, it won't hurt!]
P.P.S. The DST 2007 page I mentioned earlier is here.

The 59 Top Influencers in IT Security

The first name I recognized in this list was Bruce Schneier and he's #5, but I thought I'd recognize more than 4 or 5 names on the list. Some names that I thought might be missing were, of course, Ben Edelman (a previous guest on the show and focus of several blog posts) and Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software. Perhaps they don't qualify as influencers though, just documentation and protection from spyware and adaware.

Anyway, go read the article and leave people that you think were left out in the comments. Thanks!
--MissM
The 59 Top Influencers in IT Security
I was looking for the DST2007 blog from MS, but couldn't find it, and am in a rush. Sorry. I hope to find it later, and post it for your edification. :)

Slashdot | MPAA Violates Another Software License

Posted without comment.

W3C Launches New HTML Working Group

What is happening is that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is looking toward the future of web presentation. This is rather complex and [frankly] somewhat boring. But those of us who code HTML or any derivative thereof probably need to at least follow the proposed changes and perhaps we need to contribute.

Check it out.
Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 03-11-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 03-11-07. 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.
Don't forget Geek Meet 2007 will be in the Boston area May 4-6 If you would like to join us here is the information for you. http://GeekMeet.OnComputers.info

OS/2 2.1 tutorial

This was posted on OS News.com and I thought to pass it along for nostalgia's sake. It's exactly what it looks like; a tutorial for new OS/2 users.

This whole site is full of things like this. I did not know it existed, but have been studying it since I was steered to it. The home page is here. This one is definitely worth a look or two.

Jack

"Links from the Gregg Zone!"

1) This is one of the best ebay sites I have found, for those who are interested in what is going on with the auction site. What it is, is a list of the most active currently running auctions rated by how many people have the item listed in there watch list. Meaning only the very most interested buyers, these guys will be notified by email every time there is a bid. The site is broken down into different categories, from cars to the most bizarre, including sections on electronics, computer games, tech toys, etc. Just a quick sample 1969 Mustang for $90,100.00 with 40 bids, Basket ball patch $11,000 18 bids, how about the skeleton of Snippy the horse, it was the first reported alien animal mutilation case, this one ends Thursday currently at $1500.00, there’s a $2,000.00 beer can, you can get a piece of Jerry Seinfeld’s chewing gum for $13.00 a real bargain. Makes you wonder what’s in your closet? http://pulselist.blogspot.com/

2) This link is a follow up to last week’s links on coins. It seems there is an opportunity right now to find a little extra cash in your pocket due to a recent mix up at the mint. It appears there were as many as 50,000 (they do not know exactly how many) miss-stamped Washington dollars put into circulation last February 15, that’s less than a month ago, they are currently selling on ebay between $40.00 and $60.00 each. Called the Godless dollars because the in “God we Trust” along with several other markings were left off of the edge, where the new coins were supposed to have it inscribed. Here is a link to the story in the Daily Breeze. http://hosted.ap.org

3) Well I said I would start putting up a link or two related to some of the Art Bell type stuff I run across, to start off, here is one I promised last week during the show when I mentioned planes, helicopters, submarines and the like on Egyptian pyramids written in hieroglyphics http://www.catchpenny.org/abydos.html it is an interesting site, take a look around, the home button is at the bottom of the page. The other site I have for you is a pretty good net movie on U.F.O’s http://video.google.com/ about one and a half hours long, from 2006 so it’s not that old, better than the stuff you see on the History channel.

4) One more quickie for anyone who does not know about the phone rebate on your income tax this year, I.R.S says about a third of the people are missing it, so don’t miss out!! It is this year only, your first, last, and only chance. Rather than put up a link to the I.R.S., I’m sure you can find it, this is a link is to a news story about how much trouble they are having with scammers and the like. But every one gets $30.00 to $60.00 guaranteed depending on how many dependents, just for asking. http://www.usnews.com/

OneCare Deletes Users' Outlook Files

Ruh roh! Windows Live OneCare service deletes the outlook.pst file?!?!?!!?
Just a warning, and the first paragraph of the article in BetaNews:

A rash of users of Microsoft's new Windows Live OneCare service, launched last January 30, have been reporting on Microsoft's support forums that virus scans performed by the service have resulted in the deletion of their OUTLOOK.PST files - the local, centralized repositories of e-mail, scheduling, and collaboration data used by Outlook.

go read the rest of the article:BetaNews | OneCare Deletes Users' Outlook Files
--MissM

Why Apple's 'consumer' Macs are enterprise-worthy

The sub-header reads; "Not everyone needs a Mac Pro; sometimes a mini might do."

With the coming of Vista and it's increased costs both for licensing, software, hardware and retraining, some of the businesses I have dealings with are indeed looking toward Macs. Make no mistake about it; they WILL move away from Windows. The question is to what.

The learning curve for Linux is perceived to be too steep. The perception is more drastic than the reality, here, but there is no doubt that it will take a while to get used to the new regime.

Macs have MS Office if events prove you must have that. The OS is tied to the hardware, which is seen as an advantage for business because there is only one basic flavor of it, not the dozens of Linux distributions or the 3-4 versions of Vista that need choosing between. Macs are seen as "intuitive" and so with less of a learning curve. (I don't find that true and in fact dumped the Mac OS X when the learning curve proved too steep. I went to Linux on the Mac.) Java on the Mac is good enough that one can run one's Java software with little or no modification.

In the end; the cost of switching to Macs looks not much worse than the cost of switching to Vista. Upgrades are more manageable, as well. There is not much reason not to.

Jack

RSS in 7 minutes

RSS is da bomb! Its the ONLY way I could possibly read as many websites as I do. It turbocharges your web browsing, really!
--MissM

Learn Ubuntu Linux with freely available e-book - Lifehacker

At LifeHacker I found the following post:
Tech-book aggregator eBookSpyder has the complete text of the Ubuntu Linux Bible available for download as a PDF.

As you might expect from the title, the 931-page book covers everything you need to know about installing, configuring and using Ubuntu. It teaches you groups, graphics, gaming, spreadsheets, e-mail and much more. It's an impressively comprehensive guide--highly recommended for anyone interested in Ubuntu. Indeed, if you find the e-book useful, why not support the author and buy the hardcopy version? Either way, you'll need a password to unlock the PDF: It's 'ebookspyder.net' (without the apostrophes, of course). — Rick Broida
Ubuntu Linux Bible [eBookSpyder]
--MissM
Learn Ubuntu Linux with freely available e-book - Lifehacker

Dissection of a Rootkit The Dissection of a Rootkit

Here is a decent, short article about rootkits at EWeek.com. The author takes a realistic and pessimistic view of defenses available now for dealing with rootkits. It's somewhat scary.

The best part of the article is the links to two PDFs on the subject. One is text, the other is a slide show to go with it. I recommend these for anyone who still doesn't get what rootkits are and how dangerous they are.

Jack

Patch Your FireFox! Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2007-09

This is a critical flaw, introduced with a patch for another security problem that was issued in the middle of last December. It's very important you patch this right away. Evidently a lot of folks think so, too, as the Mozilla servers are apparently almost swamped, as of 11:30 a.m. US Central time.

Some notices of this flaw state that disabling javascript will protect against this privilege escalation flaw. The Mozilla Foundation states this is not true. There is no workaround. You must update your Firefox, Sea Monkey or Thunderbird installation.

Jack

Anti-Virus Comparisons

This is an independent site (at least they claim to be and to all appearances are) which compares anti-virus and anti-malware applications.

I've resisted posting stuff like this because all the sites I have seen comparisons at are allied with security companies and so at least appear to have an agenda. Hopefully, this site can give objective results.


Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 03-04-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 03-04-07. 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.

One little bit more on DTX form factor computers

I was just assured by one of my contacts that DTX motherboards and cases with power supplies will be available within the next couple weeks. Now, I'm going to lie back and see if the really smart early-adopters I know, like MissM, invest in it and what kind of experiences they have. I think all will be well and my next computer may very well be a DTX unit, though I am not aware of any OEMs making computers using this form factor, yet.

Jack

Firmware rootkits are the latest threat

Like we really need some new security issues to worry about, right? This is one that we have to be aware of and follow as it develops because we are vulnerable on this score. So start your keeping up with the news with this link at ZDNet.

Jack

Restoring Vista functionality once in reduced functionality mode

ZDNet UK has a series of images that will tell you just how to restore functionality, and so access to your files, should Vista lock you out.

Jack

"Links from the Gregg Zone!"

1) It just amazes the heck out of me how interesting it can be cruising around the net looking for something. One day last week I found in my pocket, a 1983 penny without a copper coating. Thinking it might be worth something I started looking into it on Google. It seems if you have a 1983 copper penny it may be worth a bunch, but not zinc, only worth a penny, no surprise. But, as the radio guy Paul Harvey says; “Now for the rest of the story”. I found out that people are now hording pennies not the copper ones, the newer zinc ones, seems the melt down value is at .8 cents, and they are speculating it will go up. Arizona is the main pusher to abolish the penny, because they will make tons of money on copper, if the nickel replaces the penny, HUH!! Here’s the site check it out. armchairpresident.com I found out how to melt down three pre 1982 penny’s and five post 1982 penny’s and make brass. This site will tell you how to do it. matse1.mse.uiuc.edu . Here is a site that mathematically, in a very scientific way, breaks down everything involved to determine if a penny is worth picking up, pointless but interesting. everything2.comSaved the best for last, just shows how it can pay off researching the mundane stuff in your life, I thought it was pointless to look at my pocket change since they converted everything in 1964, and 1982 this site tells you the ten top most valuable modern coins. Ranging from a real stunner a 1969 penny worth over $35,000.00, a 2005 nickel worth $1,400.00, and 2004 quarter @ $600.00, there’s more but, you get the idea. coins.about.com

2) This is a pretty neat site, for novices like me it is an on line computer encyclopedia site, any term, or subject related to computers, explained. I still have no idea what they are talking about half the time, but it is a start. Makes me at least feel like I have a place to look up those terms you guy’s insist on confusing me with. whatis.techtarget.com

3) For any Art Bell fans that may be out there I decided I would start putting up some of the related links I run across, I like on line movies, I guess because they are free, any way here is a link to William Hennery’s “Star Gates of the Gods” about 40 min. video.google.com

The Truth About Switching to a Mac

I just had to post this one. Stripped of all the hype, this person's reasons for switching to a Mac are, well, boring, mundane and featureless. That's really what switching from Windows to anything is all about. Sure, there are some hitches. There are some benefits, too. In the end, while I'm happy I'm not using Windows for much, I have to be honest and say that not all that much has changed, either.

And here I expected it to change my luck, my life and my bowling average.

Jack

My Vista Upgrade

I know there are folks who post here who don't think upgrading an OS is a good idea. They go clean install every time. Hear me out on this and it might make you think about at least trying an upgrade.
My main computer in my office was running XP pro. I've had a generic host process crash problems, at start up, for years I could not pin down. It would also knock out the sound card for some reason. I changed almost all the hardware and uninstalled just about every program I have at one time or another. I'd be OK for a day or two and then problem would be back. When vista came out I wanted to try it on at least one computer. Figured why not this one? First Vista install scanner would not work. So, I gave up quick and uninstalled, New scanner driver just came out. So, I tried again. I did have to jump trough a bunch of hoops but, scanner does work now. I had to use the original CD for scanner and Vista got the driver off that. Yes, had to reinstall many programs anyway but, not all. Most important my crash problem seems gone. Done about two dozen reboots and all is well.
My point? I always try an upgrade for an OS. If it does not work well, so be it. I've only lost the time the upgrade took. comments?

Adobe to take Photoshop online | News.com

I know a lot of people that use Photoshop to do image editing, for fun and profit. And I thought that the idea of Photoshop on the web is another interesting step to hosted applications. As the News.com article says:

Hoping to get a jump on Google and other competitors, Adobe Systems plans to release a hosted version of its popular Photoshop image-editing application within six months, the company's chief executive said Tuesday.

The online service is part of a larger move to introduce ad-supported online services to complement its existing products and broaden the company reach into the consumer market, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen told CNET News.com. Chizen said Adobe laid the foundation for a hosted Photoshop product with Adobe Remix, a Web-based video-editing tool it offers through the PhotoBucket media-sharing site.

Like Adobe Remix, the hosted Photoshop service is set to be free and marketed as an entry-level version of Adobe's more sophisticated image-editing tools, including Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Chizen envisions revenue from the Photoshop service coming from online advertising.

It looks like Google is inspiring?, motivating? others to offer hosted products. And is this a Picasa killer? Or a free trial, in order to get you hooked by Photoshop for people who have been intimidated by it. I'm curious to know what our photoshop gurus think of the product, and how Adobe handles the new online product, when its released in 6 months, or so.

Adobe to take Photoshop online | News.com
--MissM
[h/t BuzzOutLoud]

Ontrack reveals RAID data recovery secrets

Because of the interest expressed in the chat, I thought that this article on data recovery secrets would be a good read.

Kroll Ontrack, purveyors of data recovery, give a glimmer of hope to those with wrecked RAIDs in Tom's Hardware Guide's 7-page explanation detailing their step-by-step process, including preventative measures, proper handling tips, different types and levels of damage, and an overview of various Ontrack recovery methods.They stress the obvious solution to make a habit of defragging and backing up your data, however if it weren't for the irresponsible / lazy demographic, Ontrack would be counting their food stamps. They also encourage potential data-loss victims to stay calm, as freak-out sessions oftentimes yield impulsive and regretful decisions for data that might be recoverable. "In 2005, Kroll Ontrack processed 50,000 recovery cases. Ontrack was able to complete 40% of incoming orders successfully right away. The remaining 60% had to be taken to the clean room, where 75% of data recoveries were successful." The stats sound promising if you're in need of a serious data resurrection, and as long as you're willing to cough up a good chunk of your savings.

Ontrack reveals RAID data recovery secrets - Engadget

--MissM
image courtesy of Garner products degausser :)

Serious Security Vulnerability in Office 2007

The flaw is in Publisher, so it does not affect all Office users, but most. It allows remote control and execution of arbitrary code, so it is important. If you have Publisher or a reader for Publisher files installed, check the link above out.

Jack

KDE vs. Gnome

When I first started using Linux in 1998, there really were only two choices for the graphic desktop; KDE and Gnome. I chose KDE and stuck to that religiously for a long time. Now, I find myself using Gnome on my primary machine, XFCE on the machine I am using to post this, IceWM on another. Here in my home, KDE is not in sight unless my wife is using Linux. She still prefers KDE. We figure because KDE can be made to work more or less like the Windows desktop, it is easier for new users coming from Windows than some others. That is really the only reason she uses it; she can get around using much of the moves she already has and doesn't have to learn too many new ones.

Linus isn't enamored with Gnome and will tell you why in this post. I just wish everyone would get along. I like it because once I have it I don't really see the desktop at all, much less the window manager. That is how it should be, in my opinion. Others, who use their desktops differently than I do, disagree, and I have to honor that. In the end; it's all about the user and what she/he wants to do, isn't it?

Anyway; this short article contains the crux of the arguments for and against Gnome and KDE.

Jack