Archive for February, 2009
Microsoft program for teaching basic tech skills
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer thinks that technology can help get us out of the present financial mess. To that end, Microsoft has announced a training program. Seattle P-I reports:
Microsoft Corp. said Sunday that in response to the economic crisis it would sponsor an initiative to help train up to two million people in basic [...]
Selection of links
There’s no way to get around to discussing everything that’s interesting on the Web but here are some links for your Sunday reading:
Not All Information Wants to Be Free A discussion at Slate about whether people will pay for online information.
H.P.’s Hunk of Burning LightThe New York Times looks at what HP research in optical [...]
More malware pretending to be anti-virus
One trick that the malware writers like to pull is to pretend to be an anti-virus program. Another scam of this type is going around. PC World reports:
Web users have been warned about a new scam that posts fake product reviews in a bid to encourage people to buy a rogue security application called Anti-virus-1.
The [...]
Adobe security problem and Internet Explorer add-ons
I want to mention that there are two different types of PDF reader involved in the security problem mentioned in the preceding post. One type is the software that is used to read PDF files on the desktop. This is the software that is used when you click on a PDF file that is already [...]
Another security hole in Adobe Reader and Acrobat
The latest in a long parade of security issues for Adobe Reader and Acrobat has been revealed by Adobe. No patch is yet available. Exercise due caution when downloading or reading PDF documents. Better yet, don’t use Adobe; use Foxit.
The Adobe announcement says:
Adobe is planning to release updates to Adobe Reader and Acrobat to [...]
Dirty tricks scammers use to fool you
Phishers and scammers use a variety of tricks, psychology, and social engineering to inveigle you into falling into their traps. PC World gives some examples in an article, Top 9 Dirty Tricks Scammers Use.
New version of Internet Explorer may break many sites
It has always been Microsoft’s strategy to impose proprietary software and methods wherever possible. This may have worked on the desktop but on the Internet it has been a royal pain. The fact that Microsoft has to do everything differently and hasn’t abided by Web standards has caused programmers and Webmasters endless headaches. The various [...]
Report on PC buyer satisfaction
ChangeWave Research has published the results of a survey of PC buyer satisfaction and future buying plans. Not surprising in this economic climate is the finding that intentions of future buying of PCs are reduced. Readers may be interested to see the results for buyer satisfaction given in the figure below. I couldn’t tell if [...]
Is Google next anti-trust target?
Remarks made last June by the designated head of the US Justice Department’s anti-trust division indicate possible legal scrutiny of Google is ahead. Bloomberg News reports:
Christine A. Varney, nominated by President Barack Obama to be the U.S.’s next antitrust chief, has described Google Inc. as a monopolist that will dominate online computing services the way [...]
Biometric security measures hacked
Devise a new security defense and sooner or later the hackers will find a way around it. Biometric methods like fingerprint readers are proving to be no exception. Ars Technica reports:
Biometric systems have been touted as the next big thing in computer security for the past several years, despite the fact that some of them—fingerprint [...]
Downloading software to your car
Automobiles today contain a lot of computing functions. However, the software never gets updated. That may be changing, according to an article at ScienceDaily:
Computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices regularly download software updates to keep obsolescence at bay. That’s not the norm for cars. But that could change thanks to an automotive software architecture [...]
