Archive for September, 2009
IRS spam scam becomes big problem
Fake IRS emails are flooding mailboxes. The subject is usually “Notice of Underreported Income”. Computerworld reports:
Criminals are waging a nasty online campaign right now, hoping that their victims’ fears of the tax collecter will lead them to inadvertently install malicious software.
The spam campaign, entering its third week now, is showing no signs of slowing [...]
Throwing cold water on Microsoft tablet PC
At Computerworld, Mike Elgan says he has major doubts about the existence of the supposed Microsoft tablet PC mentioned on Wednesday. In fact, he gets pretty hot about it:
Here’s an idea. Let’s make the effort to separate fantasy from reality, and inject the same measure of skepticism and realism in consumer technology that we do [...]
Dell dabbles with Linux
It’s not exactly a major effort but Dell continues to play around with putting Linux on PCs. Ars Technica reports:
Dell has launched its first Moblin-based product, the Mini 10v netbook. It will ship with Canonical’s special Moblin remix of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It looks promising, but Dell warns that Moblin is still incomplete [...]
How Web sites get infected
There’s been plenty of news about respectable Web sites getting infected with malware. If you would like to know some of the ways that this can happen, Computerworld has an article, 7 Reasons Websites Are No Longer Safe. The article begins:
Conventional wisdom is that Web wanderers are safe as long as they avoid sites that [...]
How to check if an external site is down
Sometimes when you try to open a Web page, nothing happens or you get an error message. The problem could be on your end but very often it’s trouble at the the Web site. So how can you tell? Assuming you haven’t lost Internet service entirely, you can try down for everyone or just me. [...]
64-bit software
If you are soon going to buy a new PC, you may end up with a 64-bit version (X64) of Windows 7. (If the system comes with 4 or more GB of RAM, then you’ve got a 64-bit system.) Although a lot of 32-bit software runs just fine on a 64-bit system, you’ll get the [...]
The Internet Archive
I’ve previously mentioned the Wayback Machine, an archive of old Web pages. An even more comprehensive digital collection is being constructed at the Internet Archive. The site is described:
The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide [...]
Four-screen laptop
Using two screens while working with a PC is not uncommon but Intel has demonstrated a four-screen laptop. Tom’s Hardware reports:
One of the more interesting ideas from Intel is the multi-screen laptop. While making a laptop with more than one display isn’t a new concept (Lenovo’s W700 or the gScreen), integrating four into one is [...]
Famous libraries and museums
The Internet provides us with access to many things all over the globe. No longer do we have to travel to faraway places to use the resources of great collections like the British Museum. We’re just a click or two away from many famous institutions. Here are a few:
Library of Congress
The Smithsonian Institute
The British Museum
The [...]
More malicious ads
As noted several days ago, many normally trustworthy sites are being infected with ads that plant malware on unsuspecting viewers. Yet another round of attacks is reported at Computerworld:
Criminals flooded several online ad networks with malicious advertisements over the weekend, causing popular Web sites such as the Drudge Report, Horoscope.com and Lyrics.com to inadvertently attack [...]
New version of Picasa
Google’s free application for managing photos has a new version, Picasa 3.5. It now has some facial recognition capabilities. AppScout reports:
Google on Tuesday introduced the latest version of its Picasa photo editing software, which incorporates photo tagging and Google Maps integration for geo-tagging.
After you install and launch Picasa 3.5, the program will scan existing photos [...]
