Archive for July, 2008
Google-Digg no deal?
According to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, Google no longer wants to buy Digg. He writes:
The Google/Digg acquisition negotiations were in full swing as of last Tuesday, had passed the term sheet stage and the two companies were in final negotiations in the $200 million range. But sometime this last week Google decided to walk from [...]
RealPlayer needs patching again
RealPlayer is not one of my favorite applications but if some readers are using it, they should apply the security patches discussed at ZDNet’s Zero Day blog. The download is at this RealPlayer link.
The Internet is big, really big
How big is it? The Official Google Blog says:
We’ve known it for a long time: the web is big. The first Google index in 1998 already had 26 million pages, and by 2000 the Google index reached the one billion mark. Over the last eight years, we’ve seen a lot of big numbers about how [...]
Microsoft directions
Like it or not, whatever Microsoft does has an out-sized effect on the computing world. Many observers feel that Microsoft is at an important cross-roads as its immensely profitable desktop monopoly is challenged by Web 2.0 developments and by Vista’s lukewarm reception. Therefore, interest is high in recent statements from CEO Steve Ballmer and other [...]
Domain Name System (DNS) under attack
For some time now there have been rumblings about some basic flaws in DNS that could allow hackers to do a lot of damage and the situation has now gotten worse. I have previously refrained from posting about it because it is somewhat arcane and there is no easy way for the average PC user [...]
Some email terms
A reader sent me a message yesterday concerning an email problem he is having. One of his comments was that he didn’t understand what was meant by “POP” and I suspect a lot of average PC users don’t know the term. POP stands for “post office protocol”. Most of the time, it isn’t necessary [...]
Printer ink
As we all know, the cost of a printer isn’t so much the initial purchase as it is buying those expensive ink cartridges. Steve Bass discusses some inkjet problems as well as giving references for articles on the pros and cons of cheap ink.
Determining what runs at startup- Autoruns
There are a variety of ways to find out what starts running on your computer when you turn it on. The utility Autoruns from Sysinternals (now part of Microsoft) is probably as comprehensive as any. I’ve mentioned it before but a new version is out.
Google buying Digg?
Digg, the well known social link site, is in final negotiations to be acquired by Google, according to TechCrunch. The deal isn’t closed yet so something else could still happen. For example, Microsoft has also been interested in Digg. One blog implies that Google may, in part, be trying to annoy Microsoft. Will Microsoft try [...]
Hope for Linux?
Could it be that there’s hope for Linux on the desktop after all? It is my firm belief that until an average PC user can walk into a store and see a variety of Linux-based systems with all that the user needs pre-installed, Linux will remain absent from home use. But looky here- all [...]