As you may have noticed I've changed the blogs name to Geek-News. This is due to a possible change in the blogs domain. I've bought two new domains geek-news.net and geek-news.org and have been working on setting up a custom domain. Unfortunately I'm not having much success as of yet. I decided on using Ipower as I recently joined their affiliate program. I'll post more on this and the issues I'm facing later.
I may jump ship from blogger/blogspot altogether and use wordpress for my personal hosting. However this seems to be a little more troublesome than I originally thought. I've been reading a few post about exporting/importing blogger posts to wordpress and a few related issues and I'll be keeping it open as an option.
So over the next few days if you see a few errors or reach a few bad pages, don't worry. It will most likely be me making a few changes, or trying to figure out the new settings.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
NVIDIA's Hot New Card The GeForce 9600 GT
Official reviews of NVIDIA’s newest mid-range graphics card, the 9600 GT are out and the card looks like a hit. The GeForce 9600 GT is the first release of NVIDIA's GeForce 9 series which will included a 9500 Series, 9600 series and 9800 series. Estimated pricing is $180-$210, competitively pricing the card with the Radeon HD 3850 and Nvidia's own 8600gts.
Official Specifications of the 9600 GT:
Pricing Updated 12/16/08
Official Specifications of the 9600 GT:
- 64 Stream Processors. 20.8 billion texels/s fillrate. 650 MHz core clock, with a 1625 MHz unified shader clock. 900 MHz memory, with a 256-bit memory interface. 256 MiB, 512 MB or 1 GB of DDR2 or GDDR3 memory[5]. 57.6 GB/s memory bandwidth. DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0, OpenGL 2.1, and PCI-Express 2.0[6]. Is compatible with HDCP, but the implementation will depend on the manufacturer. Supports the Quantum Effects physics processing engine. Almost double the performance of the current mid-range card, the GeForce 8600. Estimated cost between $180-$210.
Pricing Updated 12/16/08
- ASUS GeForce 9600 GT EN9600GT/HTDI/512M Video Card
$94.99 After $20.00 MIR Exp 12/31 - Leadtek GeForce 9600 GT PX9600GT Extreme Video Card
$94.99 After $15.00 MIR Exp 1/05/09 - GIGABYTE GeForce 9600 GT GV-NX96T512H Video Card
$109.99 After $10.00 MIR Exp 12/31
Be On The Look Out For Tax Related Phishing
Scammers using very good phishing techniques are targeting people in both the US and the UK.
US IRS phishing emails redirect their victims to sites hosted in Russia and other former Soviet States and they mimic the actual Internal Revenue Service web site almost perfectly. As soon as you've entered your personal and financial information you get redirected to the actual IRS site. Fiendish! Message Labs reports that this type of spam spiked in January, hitting ten times the normal level.
The IRS has pointed out that "The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to individual, business, tax-exempt or other taxpayers." If you're wondering how your refund is doing, go directly to www.irs.gov and check the "Where's My Refund?" page. Don't click any links in email that claims to come from the IRS--it doesn't!
According to McAfee, UK phishers are pulling off a similar scam.
Currently an email is being sent out that claims that recipients can get an attractive tax refund from the Government by visiting what turns out to be a bogus website.
"After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of £215 ($420)," says the email. Clicking the links send you off to a bogus site, which is intended to steal person information for identity theft.
US IRS phishing emails redirect their victims to sites hosted in Russia and other former Soviet States and they mimic the actual Internal Revenue Service web site almost perfectly. As soon as you've entered your personal and financial information you get redirected to the actual IRS site. Fiendish! Message Labs reports that this type of spam spiked in January, hitting ten times the normal level.
The IRS has pointed out that "The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to individual, business, tax-exempt or other taxpayers." If you're wondering how your refund is doing, go directly to www.irs.gov and check the "Where's My Refund?" page. Don't click any links in email that claims to come from the IRS--it doesn't!
According to McAfee, UK phishers are pulling off a similar scam.
Currently an email is being sent out that claims that recipients can get an attractive tax refund from the Government by visiting what turns out to be a bogus website.
"After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of £215 ($420)," says the email. Clicking the links send you off to a bogus site, which is intended to steal person information for identity theft.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Internet Censorship
Think it can't happen, well think again!
Several European countries are moving forward with Internet filtering. Censorship has hit everything from the popular P2P site The Pirate Bay to sites with pornography.
In Finland, programmer Matti Nikki is under investigation for publishing a secret list of domains that authorities had allegedly censored in an effort to stop the spread of child pornography. Nikki published his list on his site lapsiporno.info to prove that the system was being abused, and was himself censored as a result.
Finland isn't the only country filtering content and blocking sites. Danish authorities recently decided to block file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. So far the only ISP that has been ordered to block the site is Tele2 but plans are in the works to expand the ISPs that have been ordered to block access.
But the censorship doesn't stop there. European Union Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini has asked ISPs to block access to Web sites hosting information about bomb-making, and U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in January that she wanted action taken against sites that encouraged terrorism, including social networking sites.
Such actions could have wider consequences: "If the EU starts to filter sites related to piracy, terrorism and child pornography, it will have some serious effects on the freedom to communicate," said Swedish Internet activist Oscar Swartz.
Several European countries are moving forward with Internet filtering. Censorship has hit everything from the popular P2P site The Pirate Bay to sites with pornography.
In Finland, programmer Matti Nikki is under investigation for publishing a secret list of domains that authorities had allegedly censored in an effort to stop the spread of child pornography. Nikki published his list on his site lapsiporno.info to prove that the system was being abused, and was himself censored as a result.
Finland isn't the only country filtering content and blocking sites. Danish authorities recently decided to block file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. So far the only ISP that has been ordered to block the site is Tele2 but plans are in the works to expand the ISPs that have been ordered to block access.
But the censorship doesn't stop there. European Union Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini has asked ISPs to block access to Web sites hosting information about bomb-making, and U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in January that she wanted action taken against sites that encouraged terrorism, including social networking sites.
Such actions could have wider consequences: "If the EU starts to filter sites related to piracy, terrorism and child pornography, it will have some serious effects on the freedom to communicate," said Swedish Internet activist Oscar Swartz.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
GSM Calls Cracked
An "attack" on GSM based phones can open a vulnerability allowing would be attackers to eavesdrop on calls.
The attack the was recently demonstrated by David Hulton and Steve Muller at the Black Hat security conference using less than $1000 worth of hardware.
GSM is used all over the world by mobile phone companies, and is used in the U.S. by several networks, including AT&T and T-Mobile. So far the GSM network has been considered to be secure enough that even criminals use it.
According to the TechWorld article "GSM phone calls cracked for $1,000 a time" The 'attack' depends on exploiting a vulnerability in the way GSM sets up calls. Assuming an attacker was able to find out a phone's mobile subscription identification number and built-in hardware ID - garnered by sending a text message to that phone say - they would have enough information to isolate calls from that phone.
Hulton has said, "his company, Pico Computing, is now developing the fast version, which cost approximately $100,000 and can crack phones in as little 30 seconds to sell to agencies such as law enforcement, but plans to give away the slower version for free."
The attack the was recently demonstrated by David Hulton and Steve Muller at the Black Hat security conference using less than $1000 worth of hardware.
GSM is used all over the world by mobile phone companies, and is used in the U.S. by several networks, including AT&T and T-Mobile. So far the GSM network has been considered to be secure enough that even criminals use it.
According to the TechWorld article "GSM phone calls cracked for $1,000 a time" The 'attack' depends on exploiting a vulnerability in the way GSM sets up calls. Assuming an attacker was able to find out a phone's mobile subscription identification number and built-in hardware ID - garnered by sending a text message to that phone say - they would have enough information to isolate calls from that phone.
Hulton has said, "his company, Pico Computing, is now developing the fast version, which cost approximately $100,000 and can crack phones in as little 30 seconds to sell to agencies such as law enforcement, but plans to give away the slower version for free."
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Unlimited Calling Plans Start Price War
Verizon Wireless and AT&T unveiled $99.99-a-month plans for unlimited calls, a great deal right? Well not much after the announcement T-Mobile went a step further by including text messaging in that price.
Now it looks like Sprint/Nextel will be offering an even better deal, an unlimited calling plan for as low as $60 a month. At least according to a recent Reuters article. The article "Sprint expected to undercut rivals' call plans" predicts that Sprint Nextel Corp is expected to offer flat-rate calling plans at up to a 40 percent discount to its rivals.
This could be great news for many cell phone users. Personally I'd like to see lower fees across the board. AT&T, my service provider, has been raising fees gradually over the last several years. The new price war might reverse that, or could lead me to switch providers.
Now it looks like Sprint/Nextel will be offering an even better deal, an unlimited calling plan for as low as $60 a month. At least according to a recent Reuters article. The article "Sprint expected to undercut rivals' call plans" predicts that Sprint Nextel Corp is expected to offer flat-rate calling plans at up to a 40 percent discount to its rivals.
This could be great news for many cell phone users. Personally I'd like to see lower fees across the board. AT&T, my service provider, has been raising fees gradually over the last several years. The new price war might reverse that, or could lead me to switch providers.
Convert Your HD DVDs to Blu-Ray
Wired.com has a great how-to for converting HD DVDs to Blu-ray.
The process is described as "simple in principle but excruciating in practice". Mainly do to the complexity of the technology, the need for several applications and the fact that the industry doesn't want you format-shifting at all.
But it is still a useful article for anyone that currently owns HD DVDs and wants to upgrade them to the Blu-ray format.
Customer Sues Comcast
Sanford Sidner is one pissed off Comcast customer. He's so mad in fact that he has filled a lawsuit in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit accuses Comcast of false advertising over its claim that its Internet service allows "unfettered access to all the content, services, and applications that the Internet has to offer."
This is the second such lawsuit that Comcast has been hit with in a matter of months. In November 2007 a Comcast customer in California filled a similar suit. PC Magazine covered that lawsuit in the article "Comcast Sued for Blocking P2P Sites". In that suit Jon Hart claimed that "Comcast was sending hidden messages to computers that are running file sharing applications, [which] appear to the computer as coming from the other computers with which it is sharing files, telling it to stop communicating,".
Comcast has been defending its filtering practice for years now. However recently the FCC stepped in to determine what, exactly, constitutes reasonable network management by ISPs.
The fight between customers and their ISP's over Net Neutrality looks to be a heated one. Recently AT&T, TW, Verizon sided with Comcast against the recent Net Neutrality regulation.
This is the second such lawsuit that Comcast has been hit with in a matter of months. In November 2007 a Comcast customer in California filled a similar suit. PC Magazine covered that lawsuit in the article "Comcast Sued for Blocking P2P Sites". In that suit Jon Hart claimed that "Comcast was sending hidden messages to computers that are running file sharing applications, [which] appear to the computer as coming from the other computers with which it is sharing files, telling it to stop communicating,".
Comcast has been defending its filtering practice for years now. However recently the FCC stepped in to determine what, exactly, constitutes reasonable network management by ISPs.
The fight between customers and their ISP's over Net Neutrality looks to be a heated one. Recently AT&T, TW, Verizon sided with Comcast against the recent Net Neutrality regulation.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Intel's "Skulltrail"
Intel ships out the long awaited, much anticipated "Skulltrail" Gaming Platform.
The Skulltrail features the Intel D5400XS motherboard, supporting two QX9775 processors, at 3.2GHz, with 12MB of L2 cache and a 1,600 MHz FSB. The QX9775 processors will be shipped unlocked, so overclockers and system builders will get a chance right out of the gate to see how far they can push these CPU's. TG Daily has already published an article Toughting 5ghz
The D5400XS motherboard also supports up to four PCIe x16 graphics cards meaning triple and quad graphics cards for multiple monitors may be supported.
PC Perspective has an impressive article with some preliminary benchmarks, "Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire". ExtremeTech has a similar article "Skulltrail: A Preview of Intel's Beast".
Pricing
Paying for this beast of a machine will set you back a pretty penny. The QX9775 processors are available now at $1,499 each, and the D5400XS board is $649. Add on $500 or more for a couple high end video cards, throw in a few Raptor drives, and don't forget that FB-Dimm (aka fully buffered server memory) and you'll be paying a small fortune.
The Skulltrail features the Intel D5400XS motherboard, supporting two QX9775 processors, at 3.2GHz, with 12MB of L2 cache and a 1,600 MHz FSB. The QX9775 processors will be shipped unlocked, so overclockers and system builders will get a chance right out of the gate to see how far they can push these CPU's. TG Daily has already published an article Toughting 5ghz
The D5400XS motherboard also supports up to four PCIe x16 graphics cards meaning triple and quad graphics cards for multiple monitors may be supported.
PC Perspective has an impressive article with some preliminary benchmarks, "Intel Skulltrail Platform Review - Eight Cores, SLI and CrossFire". ExtremeTech has a similar article "Skulltrail: A Preview of Intel's Beast".
Pricing
Paying for this beast of a machine will set you back a pretty penny. The QX9775 processors are available now at $1,499 each, and the D5400XS board is $649. Add on $500 or more for a couple high end video cards, throw in a few Raptor drives, and don't forget that FB-Dimm (aka fully buffered server memory) and you'll be paying a small fortune.
Microsoft Gives Away Software
Microsoft is giving away, free of charge, development and design tools. Yes its true, Microsoft is giving away Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2003, XNA Game Studio 2.0 and Microsoft Expression Studio.
The program labeled DreamSpark is available to students whose studies include technology, design, math science and engineering. Currently the offer is available to 35 million college students in the U.S., China, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. with plans on expanding to more than 1 billion high school and college students
"We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems, and catalyze economic growth," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in a statement.
The program labeled DreamSpark is available to students whose studies include technology, design, math science and engineering. Currently the offer is available to 35 million college students in the U.S., China, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. with plans on expanding to more than 1 billion high school and college students
"We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems, and catalyze economic growth," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in a statement.
HD DVD Dead, Long Live Blu-Ray
Following much speculation and several reports, including my own, Toshiba finally made the announcement that they are pulling out of the HD DVD market and will stop shipping players at the end of March.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation in a statement. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."
Now that HD DVD has been dealt its final death blow Blu-ray prices are to fall. A single format should help accelerate the shift to the new technology. It has been speculated that prices will fall slowly over the year, with more major cuts coming later in year towards Christmas time.
Analysts expect more Blu-ray players to be embedded in laptop and desktop personal computers from next year. Companies such as Apple Inc, Dell Inc, Philips and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, could start investing more aggressively in the technology and get a head-start in terms of launching products. Dell has already showed an influx of desktops that are fitted with Blu-Ray drives, however the prices are still a little too high for many consumers.
The announcement has had an impact on the gaming world as well. Currently Sony is expecting a bigger push and better sales of their PS3. Microsoft however has not commented on any plans for their HD DVD equipped Xbox 360's. So its unclear if there are plans for a Blu-Ray equipped version or not.
"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation in a statement. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."
Now that HD DVD has been dealt its final death blow Blu-ray prices are to fall. A single format should help accelerate the shift to the new technology. It has been speculated that prices will fall slowly over the year, with more major cuts coming later in year towards Christmas time.
Analysts expect more Blu-ray players to be embedded in laptop and desktop personal computers from next year. Companies such as Apple Inc, Dell Inc, Philips and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, could start investing more aggressively in the technology and get a head-start in terms of launching products. Dell has already showed an influx of desktops that are fitted with Blu-Ray drives, however the prices are still a little too high for many consumers.
The announcement has had an impact on the gaming world as well. Currently Sony is expecting a bigger push and better sales of their PS3. Microsoft however has not commented on any plans for their HD DVD equipped Xbox 360's. So its unclear if there are plans for a Blu-Ray equipped version or not.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Rinspeed sQuba Car
Mobile Magazine covers the Rinspeed sQuba. An underwater concept car created by Rinspeed a Swiss automobile manufacturer and tuning designer.
The sQuba is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The sQuba is a zero-emission, all electric vehicle which uses three electric motors, one for land travel and two for water. It drives on land powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Upon entering water, it floats on the surface until the operator floods the interior to submerge it. It can be submerged to a depth of 33 ft, powered by twin electric-powered propellers supplemented by two Seabob water jets. It "flies" when underwater, like a submarine, as it is not designed to drive along the surface at the bottom of the water. The car's top land speed is measly 75 mph while on the surface of water, the top speed is 3.7 mph and underwater approx. 2mph.
The car transports a driver and passenger in its open cockpit. When underwater, the occupants breathe air carried in the vehicle through scuba-style rebreathers.
Read the entire Mobile Magazine article and view the video"Video: Rinspeed sQuba Car Can Actually Swim On Water, Underwater". For more information on Rinspeed and the sQuba or other Rinspeed concept cars visit Rinspeeds home page
Digital TV Converter Box Program
As previously reported on February 18, 2009 television stations in the U.S. will turn off their old-technology analog signals and broadcast only in a digital format. At that time anyone who owns an older television that gets its signal via antenna will need a converter box in order to receive the digital transmissions.
The government has set aside millions of dollars to help those households that need assistance with the change over. Each household is eligible for two coupons, regardless of whether they have pay-television service or not. To request a coupon apply online at dtv2009.gov or call the 24-hour hotline, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).
When talking about digital TV converters, usually means a basic device that attaches to your analog TV set, allowing it to receive digital over-the-air programs using your existing antenna. These are the digital-to-analog converter boxes (or “digital TV adapters”). The expected price is about $40 to $70, meaning with the coupon you may still need to cover some of the cost. Here is a full list of Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes (CECB).
How to tell if you need a DTV Converter
As of March 1, 2007, all television receivers shipped in interstate commerce or imported into the United States must contain a digital tuner. In addition, effective May 25, 2007, the Commission required sellers of television receiving equipment that does not include a digital tuner to disclose at the point-of-sale that such devices include only an analog tuner, and therefore will require a digital-to-analog converter box to receive over-the-air broadcast television after the transition date.
As for how to determine whether your television equipment purchased prior to May 25, 2007 is a DTV, many DTVs and digital television equipment will have labels or markings on them, or statements in the informational materials that came with them, to indicate that they contain digital tuners. These labels or markings may contain the words “Integrated Digital Tuner” or “Digital Tuner Built-In.” “Receiver” may be substituted for “Tuner,” and “DTV,” “ATSC,” or “HDTV” (high definition television) may be substituted for “Digital.” If your television equipment contains any of these labels or markings, you should be able to view digital over-the-air programming without the need for a digital-to-analog converter box. (Remember, you do not need an HDTV to view free over-the-air digital programming. As long as your television equipment contains a digital tuner, you can view over-the-air digital. An HDTV is only necessary if you want to view digital programming in “high definition.”)
Many newer DVD recorders and other TV equipment come with built in DTV tuners. So make sure to check all your components before you go out and buy a convert box as you may not need one!
You should also check the manual or any other materials that came with your television equipment in order to determine whether it contains a digital tuner.
If your television set is labeled as a “Digital Monitor” or “HDTV Monitor,” or as “Digital Ready” or “HDTV Ready,” this does not mean it actually contains a digital tuner. Thus, you still will likely need a separate set-top box which contains a tuner in order to view programs in the new digital TV transmission standard (which includes HDTV formats) on such a set.
Over-the-air digital set-top boxes can be purchased at retail stores. Cable and satellite TV providers also sell or lease digital set-top boxes for their specific services. (Note: the digital set-top box described here is not the same as the NTIA program digital-to-analog converter box, used to convert free over-the-air digital broadcasts for viewing on an analog TV set.)
If your television set is labeled as “analog” or “NTSC,” but is NOT labeled as containing a digital tuner, it contains an analog tuner only.
If you cannot determine whether your television set or other television equipment contains a digital tuner, you are advised to check your equipment for the manufacturer name and model number, and then contact your consumer electronics retailer, or the manufacturer, to determine whether it contains a digital tuner. This information also may be available online through the manufacturer’s website.
Because most broadcast stations in all U.S. television markets are already broadcasting in digital, consumers are further advised to contact their local broadcast stations to determine the channel numbers on which the stations are broadcasting digital programming. Consumers should then ensure that their televisions are set up to receive over-the-air programming (as distinguished from the signals of a paid provider such as cable or satellite TV service), and then tune to the over-the-air digital channels to see if they can receive the digital broadcast programming.
Do I need a new Antenna for DTV?
The antenna you've been using for watching analog TV over the air can also be used for digital TV, including HDTV. Viewers in some areas, however, will find that a better antenna—a rooftop one, perhaps—is needed to ensure reliable digital TV reception.
Digital TV reception differs from analog: Essentially, you either get a perfect digital signal for a particular channel, or nothing at all. It’s what’s known as a “cliff effect.” You will either find yourself at the very peak of reception capability or—less happily—in the deepest ditch. Which means you won't get the channel at all.
Do I Receive Digital Broadcasts If I Subscribe To Cable Or Satellite?
If you receive cable or satellite television service, contact your cable or satellite provider about any additional components, such as a digital set-top box, that you may need to watch digital broadcast programming. If you use the older style boxes then no you aren't receiving digital TV and you'll more than likely need to upgrade.
Will DTV work with my VCR, DVD Player, Camcorder, Video Games?
VCRs, DVD players, camcorders and video games will continue to work, even if they are only analog-capable. However they may not provide digital-quality picture and sound. Newer components may come with a digital tuner built in so check your owner manual or check the manufacturers site for more information.
Recent Updates
Important Information about Coupon Distribution from DTV2009.gov
TV Converter Box Coupons are plastic cards that look like gift cards. They will be:
Coupons cannot be printed or downloaded from the Program Website and are not available to pick up at retail locations.
Remember to call ahead to confirm availability of coupon-eligible converter boxes at the store on the day you plan to shop.
The government has set aside millions of dollars to help those households that need assistance with the change over. Each household is eligible for two coupons, regardless of whether they have pay-television service or not. To request a coupon apply online at dtv2009.gov or call the 24-hour hotline, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).
When talking about digital TV converters, usually means a basic device that attaches to your analog TV set, allowing it to receive digital over-the-air programs using your existing antenna. These are the digital-to-analog converter boxes (or “digital TV adapters”). The expected price is about $40 to $70, meaning with the coupon you may still need to cover some of the cost. Here is a full list of Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes (CECB).
How to tell if you need a DTV Converter
As of March 1, 2007, all television receivers shipped in interstate commerce or imported into the United States must contain a digital tuner. In addition, effective May 25, 2007, the Commission required sellers of television receiving equipment that does not include a digital tuner to disclose at the point-of-sale that such devices include only an analog tuner, and therefore will require a digital-to-analog converter box to receive over-the-air broadcast television after the transition date.
As for how to determine whether your television equipment purchased prior to May 25, 2007 is a DTV, many DTVs and digital television equipment will have labels or markings on them, or statements in the informational materials that came with them, to indicate that they contain digital tuners. These labels or markings may contain the words “Integrated Digital Tuner” or “Digital Tuner Built-In.” “Receiver” may be substituted for “Tuner,” and “DTV,” “ATSC,” or “HDTV” (high definition television) may be substituted for “Digital.” If your television equipment contains any of these labels or markings, you should be able to view digital over-the-air programming without the need for a digital-to-analog converter box. (Remember, you do not need an HDTV to view free over-the-air digital programming. As long as your television equipment contains a digital tuner, you can view over-the-air digital. An HDTV is only necessary if you want to view digital programming in “high definition.”)
Many newer DVD recorders and other TV equipment come with built in DTV tuners. So make sure to check all your components before you go out and buy a convert box as you may not need one!
You should also check the manual or any other materials that came with your television equipment in order to determine whether it contains a digital tuner.
If your television set is labeled as a “Digital Monitor” or “HDTV Monitor,” or as “Digital Ready” or “HDTV Ready,” this does not mean it actually contains a digital tuner. Thus, you still will likely need a separate set-top box which contains a tuner in order to view programs in the new digital TV transmission standard (which includes HDTV formats) on such a set.
Over-the-air digital set-top boxes can be purchased at retail stores. Cable and satellite TV providers also sell or lease digital set-top boxes for their specific services. (Note: the digital set-top box described here is not the same as the NTIA program digital-to-analog converter box, used to convert free over-the-air digital broadcasts for viewing on an analog TV set.)
If your television set is labeled as “analog” or “NTSC,” but is NOT labeled as containing a digital tuner, it contains an analog tuner only.
If you cannot determine whether your television set or other television equipment contains a digital tuner, you are advised to check your equipment for the manufacturer name and model number, and then contact your consumer electronics retailer, or the manufacturer, to determine whether it contains a digital tuner. This information also may be available online through the manufacturer’s website.
Because most broadcast stations in all U.S. television markets are already broadcasting in digital, consumers are further advised to contact their local broadcast stations to determine the channel numbers on which the stations are broadcasting digital programming. Consumers should then ensure that their televisions are set up to receive over-the-air programming (as distinguished from the signals of a paid provider such as cable or satellite TV service), and then tune to the over-the-air digital channels to see if they can receive the digital broadcast programming.
Do I need a new Antenna for DTV?
The antenna you've been using for watching analog TV over the air can also be used for digital TV, including HDTV. Viewers in some areas, however, will find that a better antenna—a rooftop one, perhaps—is needed to ensure reliable digital TV reception.
Digital TV reception differs from analog: Essentially, you either get a perfect digital signal for a particular channel, or nothing at all. It’s what’s known as a “cliff effect.” You will either find yourself at the very peak of reception capability or—less happily—in the deepest ditch. Which means you won't get the channel at all.
Do I Receive Digital Broadcasts If I Subscribe To Cable Or Satellite?
If you receive cable or satellite television service, contact your cable or satellite provider about any additional components, such as a digital set-top box, that you may need to watch digital broadcast programming. If you use the older style boxes then no you aren't receiving digital TV and you'll more than likely need to upgrade.
Will DTV work with my VCR, DVD Player, Camcorder, Video Games?
VCRs, DVD players, camcorders and video games will continue to work, even if they are only analog-capable. However they may not provide digital-quality picture and sound. Newer components may come with a digital tuner built in so check your owner manual or check the manufacturers site for more information.
Recent Updates
Important Information about Coupon Distribution from DTV2009.gov
TV Converter Box Coupons are plastic cards that look like gift cards. They will be:
- mailed to households with approved applications, starting in late February.
- sent based on the date of application, in the order in which the applications were received.
- mailed on a staggered basis – not all at once.
- delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.
Coupons cannot be printed or downloaded from the Program Website and are not available to pick up at retail locations.
Remember to call ahead to confirm availability of coupon-eligible converter boxes at the store on the day you plan to shop.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Toshiba To Drop HD DVD, Is This The Final Nail In The Coffin?
PC Magazine reports that Toshiba is expected to "Pull the Plug on HD-DVD"
"Toshiba is expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format in the coming weeks, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video's stunning announcement in early January that it would support only Sony's rival Blu-ray Disc format after May."
Toshiba has not made any official announcements however the HollyWood Reporter which originally broke the story has cited sources that have stated, "An announcement is coming soon,It could be a matter of weeks."
Wal-Mart has also announced that it will stop selling HD DVD movies by June, and is expected to restock its shelves with ‘only Blu-ray movies, hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts. This follows the announcement earlier this week that both Best Buy and Netflix.com Inc. are supporting behind Blu-ray exclusively.
It looks like HD DVDs days are numbered.
"Toshiba is expected to pull the plug on its HD DVD format in the coming weeks, after a rash of retail defections that followed Warner Home Video's stunning announcement in early January that it would support only Sony's rival Blu-ray Disc format after May."
Toshiba has not made any official announcements however the HollyWood Reporter which originally broke the story has cited sources that have stated, "An announcement is coming soon,It could be a matter of weeks."
Wal-Mart has also announced that it will stop selling HD DVD movies by June, and is expected to restock its shelves with ‘only Blu-ray movies, hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts. This follows the announcement earlier this week that both Best Buy and Netflix.com Inc. are supporting behind Blu-ray exclusively.
It looks like HD DVDs days are numbered.
Best Buy Laptop Lawsuit
The $54 million laptop...you're joking right!
In what can only be stated as a publicity stunt Raelyn Campbell is suing Best Buy for loosing her laptop. On her blog, she admitted that the $54 million in damages she was seeking was an "absurd amount," but said that she chose such a large sum in order to draw attention to the problem.
She's not trying to draw attention to the problem she's trying to gain attention for herself at Best Buy's expense. If she only wanted to draw attention to the problem then why sue for $54 million, a million would be sufficient.
Now don't get me wrong, I loath Best Buy and Geek Squad, and have been very out spoken about their shady business practices in the past. And while I do think she is entitled to adequate compensation as well as an explanation of what happened to her laptop I in know way agree with taking the position of suing just to make headlines.
For those interested in the full story you can check out the story MSNBC's Red Tape Chronicles.
*Update*
I know it has been well over a year since this case drew public attention however I recently received an email asking for some follow-up. Thanks to Ron btw for that.
The case never made it that far. Washington Post blogger Raw Fisher posted some details and follow-up on his.
In that post he points out that a D.C. Superior Court judge has tossed out Campbell's case. Apparently she had whittled her demand down to $100,000 and "a full explanation" of whatever happened to her laptop at Best Buy's Tenleytown store. But in the end the judge tossed out the frivolous case and she got no money at all.
In what can only be stated as a publicity stunt Raelyn Campbell is suing Best Buy for loosing her laptop. On her blog, she admitted that the $54 million in damages she was seeking was an "absurd amount," but said that she chose such a large sum in order to draw attention to the problem.
She's not trying to draw attention to the problem she's trying to gain attention for herself at Best Buy's expense. If she only wanted to draw attention to the problem then why sue for $54 million, a million would be sufficient.
Now don't get me wrong, I loath Best Buy and Geek Squad, and have been very out spoken about their shady business practices in the past. And while I do think she is entitled to adequate compensation as well as an explanation of what happened to her laptop I in know way agree with taking the position of suing just to make headlines.
For those interested in the full story you can check out the story MSNBC's Red Tape Chronicles.
*Update*
I know it has been well over a year since this case drew public attention however I recently received an email asking for some follow-up. Thanks to Ron btw for that.
The case never made it that far. Washington Post blogger Raw Fisher posted some details and follow-up on his.
In that post he points out that a D.C. Superior Court judge has tossed out Campbell's case. Apparently she had whittled her demand down to $100,000 and "a full explanation" of whatever happened to her laptop at Best Buy's Tenleytown store. But in the end the judge tossed out the frivolous case and she got no money at all.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Mahalo Lawsuit, Final Update
For anyone following my two previous posts "Mahalo Lawsuit Looks Inevitable" and "Mahalo Refuses Mentors Payments" this will come as no surprise. An agreement between myself and Mahalo.com was never reached, forcing me to seek legal action.
My case was filled in Sacramento County Small Claims court (case number 08SC00893) February 01, 2008. Our court date has been set for 04/07/2008 1:30 P.M. in Sacramento.
Its probably in my best interest to make no further public comments on the case until there is a resolution one way or the either. But I did want to provide everyone with an update and thank everyone that has shown support.
My case was filled in Sacramento County Small Claims court (case number 08SC00893) February 01, 2008. Our court date has been set for 04/07/2008 1:30 P.M. in Sacramento.
Its probably in my best interest to make no further public comments on the case until there is a resolution one way or the either. But I did want to provide everyone with an update and thank everyone that has shown support.
Comcast Defends Content Filtering
Comcast tries to defend its net neutrality, network management and P2P filtering.
Wikipedia defines Network neutrality(equivalently "net neutrality", "Internet neutrality" or "NN") as a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers.
This principal seems to be foreign to service provider Comcast (and now AT&T) as they have come under fire for their network management practices.
Comcast has taken to the approach of limiting or even denying file-sharing traffic. While they have admitted to delaying P2P traffic during peak hours, they deny blocking P2P applications completely. However many users have claimed otherwise.
Two articles "Comcast Defends Filtering in FCC Filing" and "Comcast Under Fire Again for Net Neutrality" both from PC Magazine have in-depth coverage of Comcast's position on the issues.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of a House Internet and telecommunications panel has introduced a new bill HR5353 labeled the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act". Markey claims the bill is designed to assess and promote Internet freedom for consumers and content providers. The bill tasks the FCC with the job of conducting an assessment of broadband practices and consumer rights. Finally, it requires the FCC to hold eight broadband summits around the nation and to report back to Congress on its findings and any recommendations for further action.
Wikipedia defines Network neutrality(equivalently "net neutrality", "Internet neutrality" or "NN") as a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers.
This principal seems to be foreign to service provider Comcast (and now AT&T) as they have come under fire for their network management practices.
Comcast has taken to the approach of limiting or even denying file-sharing traffic. While they have admitted to delaying P2P traffic during peak hours, they deny blocking P2P applications completely. However many users have claimed otherwise.
Two articles "Comcast Defends Filtering in FCC Filing" and "Comcast Under Fire Again for Net Neutrality" both from PC Magazine have in-depth coverage of Comcast's position on the issues.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of a House Internet and telecommunications panel has introduced a new bill HR5353 labeled the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act". Markey claims the bill is designed to assess and promote Internet freedom for consumers and content providers. The bill tasks the FCC with the job of conducting an assessment of broadband practices and consumer rights. Finally, it requires the FCC to hold eight broadband summits around the nation and to report back to Congress on its findings and any recommendations for further action.
Crack Down on Pirated Software Auctions
PC Magazine reports: The SIIA has its eyes on eBay.
That was the message behind a statement released Wednesday by the Software & Information Industry Association, which said it had filed seven suits in a district court in northern California against eight defendants. Each was accused of trying to auction pirated software from Adobe, particularly copies of its Adobe CS3 suite.
Two suits were also filed against eBay sellers two weeks ago, naming two more defendants; one was accused of selling pirated Adobe Photoshop CS3 software, while the other involved the alleged selling of Symantec pcAnywhere 11.0 Host and Remote, pcAnywhere 10.5 Host and Remote and Norton Utilities 8.0 for Macintosh.
Of the industry's top names, however, there is one notable exception; a list of the program's participants includes Apple, Adobe, Intuit, McAfee, and Symantec, but doesn't include Microsoft, which has its own methods of dealing with piracy, including working with the FBI.
A representative for Microsoft's Genuine Advantage program said that users who report that they own a pirated piece of Microsoft software, such as Windows, can notify the company at Microsoft's anti-piracy site. If the software meets the company's criteria, the user may be receive a free copy of authentic Microsoft software in exchange. Users that do not meet the criteria may be referred back to the Genuine Advantage department for a discounted copy of the software, the representative said.
That was the message behind a statement released Wednesday by the Software & Information Industry Association, which said it had filed seven suits in a district court in northern California against eight defendants. Each was accused of trying to auction pirated software from Adobe, particularly copies of its Adobe CS3 suite.
Washington, D.C. – February 13, 2008 – The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced today it has filed the largest round of lawsuits since launching its auction site anti-piracy program two years ago. SIIA filed nine separate suits in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, on behalf of members Adobe Systems Incorporated and Symantec Corporation. The lawsuits are part of SIIA’s comprehensive program to battle rampant auctioning of pirated software.
Two suits were also filed against eBay sellers two weeks ago, naming two more defendants; one was accused of selling pirated Adobe Photoshop CS3 software, while the other involved the alleged selling of Symantec pcAnywhere 11.0 Host and Remote, pcAnywhere 10.5 Host and Remote and Norton Utilities 8.0 for Macintosh.
“SIIA has declared war against those who continue to sell pirated software on auction sites such as eBay,” says Keith Kupferschmid, SVP of SIIA’s Anti-Piracy Division. “Our goal is to give illegal software sellers a rude awakening, so that unsuspecting software buyers and legitimate sellers are protected. For too long, auction sellers have been able to sell pirated software while risking only the removal of their auction. SIIA has upped the ante by bringing those who pirate software to justice in court.”
Of the industry's top names, however, there is one notable exception; a list of the program's participants includes Apple, Adobe, Intuit, McAfee, and Symantec, but doesn't include Microsoft, which has its own methods of dealing with piracy, including working with the FBI.
A representative for Microsoft's Genuine Advantage program said that users who report that they own a pirated piece of Microsoft software, such as Windows, can notify the company at Microsoft's anti-piracy site. If the software meets the company's criteria, the user may be receive a free copy of authentic Microsoft software in exchange. Users that do not meet the criteria may be referred back to the Genuine Advantage department for a discounted copy of the software, the representative said.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Next Generation iPhone Hacks
More new iPhone Hacks are on the horizon.
From Technology Review
Apple's plan to release a software kit that lets people create legitimate add-ons for the iPhone could make the device appeal to an even wider audience.
Hackers have been crafting clever add-ons that range from instant access to a Blockbuster Online DVD queue to a pocket guitar that takes advantage of the touch screen. In addition, people have found ways to unlock the iPhone from AT&T, so that it can work on other cellular-phone networks.
All of these hacks, however, are done without Apple's blessing or technical support. This month, Apple is expected to release a software development kit (SDK) that will allow programmers to write legitimate software for the phone.
This will enable developers to make more reliable software, and it will let the average iPhone owner easily download new programs without needing to follow arduous online instructions from blogs. And importantly, an SDK will likely spawn a new world of applications--possibly even business software--that could extend the reach of the iPhone beyond a user base of four million, as announced in January. "When you have a device like the iPhone that can attract so many people, you also have enterprise developers who want to use that interface," says Mike McGuire, an analyst for Gartner, a market research firm. He says that an SDK will lead to commercial applications for the business sector, "and that's where the real money is."
More at TechnologyReview.com
From Technology Review
Apple's plan to release a software kit that lets people create legitimate add-ons for the iPhone could make the device appeal to an even wider audience.
Hackers have been crafting clever add-ons that range from instant access to a Blockbuster Online DVD queue to a pocket guitar that takes advantage of the touch screen. In addition, people have found ways to unlock the iPhone from AT&T, so that it can work on other cellular-phone networks.
All of these hacks, however, are done without Apple's blessing or technical support. This month, Apple is expected to release a software development kit (SDK) that will allow programmers to write legitimate software for the phone.
This will enable developers to make more reliable software, and it will let the average iPhone owner easily download new programs without needing to follow arduous online instructions from blogs. And importantly, an SDK will likely spawn a new world of applications--possibly even business software--that could extend the reach of the iPhone beyond a user base of four million, as announced in January. "When you have a device like the iPhone that can attract so many people, you also have enterprise developers who want to use that interface," says Mike McGuire, an analyst for Gartner, a market research firm. He says that an SDK will lead to commercial applications for the business sector, "and that's where the real money is."
More at TechnologyReview.com
The Web's Best Laptop CPU Guides
Confused about laptop CPU choices? I'll be the first to tell you you aren't alone. I've been shopping around for a good laptop on a reasonable budget for months now and the 20-30 different CPU choices out there leave your head spinning. And if a technophile like me is confused then how can the average consumer fare?
Luckily I've found a few great guides that will help answer some of those questions and guide you along the way to making the informed choice. The guys over at NotebookReview.com, NotebookCheck.net and Tom's Hardware have built a couple great guides. Some with benchmarks and side by side comparisons and some just well written guides that everyone interested in buying a laptop should checkout.
First off is the "The Ultimate CPU Guide" from NotebookReview.com. This very informative guide provides a breakdown of both AMD and Intel CPU's from the older Celeron M 520 to the new Core 2 Extreme X9000.
Second is the Mobile CPU Benchmark Chart from NotebookCheck.com. This is a sorted and filtered table of the best-known laptop processors. It contains technical information such as model, codename, speed ratings, cache ratings, front side bus (FSB) Thermal Design Power (TDP) and average benchmark values.
Last but not least are the interactive Mobile CPU 2007 and 2008 Charts from Tom's Hardware. Unfortunately these charts are very limited to only a few processors. However they give some real life side by side comparisons. A great tool for beginners and advanced users alike.
Luckily I've found a few great guides that will help answer some of those questions and guide you along the way to making the informed choice. The guys over at NotebookReview.com, NotebookCheck.net and Tom's Hardware have built a couple great guides. Some with benchmarks and side by side comparisons and some just well written guides that everyone interested in buying a laptop should checkout.
First off is the "The Ultimate CPU Guide" from NotebookReview.com. This very informative guide provides a breakdown of both AMD and Intel CPU's from the older Celeron M 520 to the new Core 2 Extreme X9000.
Second is the Mobile CPU Benchmark Chart from NotebookCheck.com. This is a sorted and filtered table of the best-known laptop processors. It contains technical information such as model, codename, speed ratings, cache ratings, front side bus (FSB) Thermal Design Power (TDP) and average benchmark values.
Last but not least are the interactive Mobile CPU 2007 and 2008 Charts from Tom's Hardware. Unfortunately these charts are very limited to only a few processors. However they give some real life side by side comparisons. A great tool for beginners and advanced users alike.
New Phishing Method Could Be Undetectable
Loopholes in the the Domain Name System (DNS) could make financial scams such as phishing attacks practically undetectable.
According to a recent Techworld.com article "Phishing attacks could be undetectable". Researchers David Dagon, Chris Lee and Wenke Lee of Georgia Tech, and Niels Provos of Google presented their study "Corrupted DNS Resolution Paths" describing the exploit, called "DNS resolution path corruption".
The study noted in a previous article describes how an attack could be carried out by a simple piece of code implanted via a malicious website or email attachment. The code would change a file in the Windows registry settings, telling the PC to use the malicious server for all DNS information.
The Techworld article states, "The problem is "open recursive" DNS servers, which are used to tell computers how to find each other on the internet by translating domain names like google.com into numerical Internet Protocol addresses. Criminals are using these servers in combination with new attack techniques to develop a new generation of phishing attacks, according to the study."
"Using Google's network of web crawlers, researchers uncovered more than 2,100 Web pages that used exploit code to change the Windows registry of visitors."
According to a recent Techworld.com article "Phishing attacks could be undetectable". Researchers David Dagon, Chris Lee and Wenke Lee of Georgia Tech, and Niels Provos of Google presented their study "Corrupted DNS Resolution Paths" describing the exploit, called "DNS resolution path corruption".
The study noted in a previous article describes how an attack could be carried out by a simple piece of code implanted via a malicious website or email attachment. The code would change a file in the Windows registry settings, telling the PC to use the malicious server for all DNS information.
The Techworld article states, "The problem is "open recursive" DNS servers, which are used to tell computers how to find each other on the internet by translating domain names like google.com into numerical Internet Protocol addresses. Criminals are using these servers in combination with new attack techniques to develop a new generation of phishing attacks, according to the study."
"Using Google's network of web crawlers, researchers uncovered more than 2,100 Web pages that used exploit code to change the Windows registry of visitors."
File-Sharing In The UK , Lose Your Internet Access
Illegal file sharers in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.
Reports from the BBC News indicate that the British government is considering plans that would require internet service providers to take action over users who access pirated material via their accounts or face be prosecution, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.
It is estimated that six million people a year are downloading files illegally in the UK. At a cost of millions of pounds in lost revenues to music and film companies. The BPI (similar to the RIAA), the trade body that represents the UK record industry, said internet providers had "done little or nothing to address illegal downloading via their networks".
Representatives from the Internet Service Providers Association have countered by saying "ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope."
Reports from the BBC News indicate that the British government is considering plans that would require internet service providers to take action over users who access pirated material via their accounts or face be prosecution, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.
It is estimated that six million people a year are downloading files illegally in the UK. At a cost of millions of pounds in lost revenues to music and film companies. The BPI (similar to the RIAA), the trade body that represents the UK record industry, said internet providers had "done little or nothing to address illegal downloading via their networks".
Representatives from the Internet Service Providers Association have countered by saying "ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope."
Monday, February 11, 2008
Starbucks Moves To AT&T Hot Spots
Computerworld.com reports that Starbucks Corp. has announced that it is moving away from T-Mobile as its in-store Wi-Fi provider and will transition to AT&T Inc.'s Wi-Fi service in more than 7,000 of its high-end coffee shops beginning this spring.
Starbucks has said it will give customers who use a Starbucks card two hours of free wireless access per day. Additional time will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session and monthly memberships will cost $19.99 and include access to any of AT&T's 70,000 hot spots worldwide.
Nearly all of AT&T's broadband Internet customers, about 12 million, will automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks, the companies said. This comes on the heels of the AT&T plans to offer free Wi-Fi to almost all of its current broadband subscribers.
The deal boosts the number of AT&T hotspots in the U.S. to 17,000 — the most in the nation. AT&T previously had around 10,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in the U.S. in places like airports, McDonald's restaurants, Barnes & Noble bookstores, coffee shops, and sporting venues.
A full list of hotspot locations can be found at the AT&T Wi-Fi website. AT&T users simply have to find the network (SSID: attwifi), and log in using their primary DSL or U-Verse account username and password.
Starbucks has said it will give customers who use a Starbucks card two hours of free wireless access per day. Additional time will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session and monthly memberships will cost $19.99 and include access to any of AT&T's 70,000 hot spots worldwide.
Nearly all of AT&T's broadband Internet customers, about 12 million, will automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks, the companies said. This comes on the heels of the AT&T plans to offer free Wi-Fi to almost all of its current broadband subscribers.
The deal boosts the number of AT&T hotspots in the U.S. to 17,000 — the most in the nation. AT&T previously had around 10,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in the U.S. in places like airports, McDonald's restaurants, Barnes & Noble bookstores, coffee shops, and sporting venues.
A full list of hotspot locations can be found at the AT&T Wi-Fi website. AT&T users simply have to find the network (SSID: attwifi), and log in using their primary DSL or U-Verse account username and password.
Vista SP1 Integration Update
Slipstreaming Vista SP1
I've received several questions since my last post "Vlite Vista SP1 Integration". As I mentioned in that previous post, the folks over at WinBeta.org have the only comprehensive guide to SP1 integration. Yesterday they updated the guide with a little more information for those that are still seeking answers.
The latest post "Windows Vista SP1 Slipstreaming FAQ" quotes Kevin Remde from Microsoft and his Technet blog post "I can't do WHAT?! Why can't I create my own slipstreamed installation of Windows Vista SP1?".
As you can see the reverse integration method used by the folks at WinBeta.org is currently the only method that will work! Vlite will still work for creating the ISO and ultimately creating the DVD, however you won't be able to remove unwanted Vista or Vista SP1 components.
I've received several questions since my last post "Vlite Vista SP1 Integration". As I mentioned in that previous post, the folks over at WinBeta.org have the only comprehensive guide to SP1 integration. Yesterday they updated the guide with a little more information for those that are still seeking answers.
The latest post "Windows Vista SP1 Slipstreaming FAQ" quotes Kevin Remde from Microsoft and his Technet blog post "I can't do WHAT?! Why can't I create my own slipstreamed installation of Windows Vista SP1?".
As you can see the reverse integration method used by the folks at WinBeta.org is currently the only method that will work! Vlite will still work for creating the ISO and ultimately creating the DVD, however you won't be able to remove unwanted Vista or Vista SP1 components.
MayDay Botnet, Storm Worm and Now Mega-D
The newest botnets and worms on the horizon are becoming increasingly hard to track, hard to find and harder to remove. Last week I posted about the MayDay Botnet which researchers are saying it sneakier and stealthier than anything they've seen so far.
Last month new warnings went out about the latest version of the Storm Worm. Sent to unsuspecting users as a simple innocent looking Valentine greeting. The spammed email messages are just plain text, but contain links that lead to malicious Web sites displaying one of eight cute Valentine images. If you run the executable named VALENTINE.EXE, your system will inevitably join the Storm botnet to start spamming other Internet users.
Previous variants of storm used the same similar approach sending emails with subjects such as, "You've received a postcard from a family member!" or "You've received an Ecard from a friend".
Now we face the newest, and possibly the worst spam threat in the form of "Mega-D". According to a recent Ars Technia article "New Mega-D menace muscles Storm Worm aside", the Australian security company Marshal, Mega-D now accounts for 32 percent of the total spam the company is tracking online. The experts at Marshal have said "Storm is one of five botnets that we have been monitoring that we believe are responsible for approximately 75 per cent of all spam in circulation. One particular botnet which heavily promotes a certain brand of male enhancement pills (Mega-D), accounts for nearly 30 percent. This one bot has already exceeded Storm’s records and it has done it quietly without attracting too much attention."
Computerworld.com writes "Storm worm dethroned by sex botnet". " The Mega-D botnet, which offers discounted sexual enhancement pills to users, delivers a whopping 30 percent more spam than Storm, famous for delivering malicious Valentine's Day cards. It is the largest botnet on record, according to security firm Marshal Ltd., and has exceeded Storm's highest spam output in September last year by 12%".
The best defense against viruses, malware, trojans, worms and botnets is a good offense. Meaning update all your virus definitions regularly, update your spyware programs, your windows installations and all your installed programs. Viruses can attack exploits in media players, flash players and even Adobe Acrobat while you are viewing PDF's.
Its also highly recommended that you avoid opening emails from unknown sources. While you might be tempted to read that e-card you are far better off being safe than sorry. If you aren't currently using an anit-virus program thenI'd suggest either AVG's Free Version or Avast's Free Home Edition. For spyware detection and removal Spy-bot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware Free Edition.
Last month new warnings went out about the latest version of the Storm Worm. Sent to unsuspecting users as a simple innocent looking Valentine greeting. The spammed email messages are just plain text, but contain links that lead to malicious Web sites displaying one of eight cute Valentine images. If you run the executable named VALENTINE.EXE, your system will inevitably join the Storm botnet to start spamming other Internet users.
Previous variants of storm used the same similar approach sending emails with subjects such as, "You've received a postcard from a family member!" or "You've received an Ecard from a friend".
Now we face the newest, and possibly the worst spam threat in the form of "Mega-D". According to a recent Ars Technia article "New Mega-D menace muscles Storm Worm aside", the Australian security company Marshal, Mega-D now accounts for 32 percent of the total spam the company is tracking online. The experts at Marshal have said "Storm is one of five botnets that we have been monitoring that we believe are responsible for approximately 75 per cent of all spam in circulation. One particular botnet which heavily promotes a certain brand of male enhancement pills (Mega-D), accounts for nearly 30 percent. This one bot has already exceeded Storm’s records and it has done it quietly without attracting too much attention."
Computerworld.com writes "Storm worm dethroned by sex botnet". " The Mega-D botnet, which offers discounted sexual enhancement pills to users, delivers a whopping 30 percent more spam than Storm, famous for delivering malicious Valentine's Day cards. It is the largest botnet on record, according to security firm Marshal Ltd., and has exceeded Storm's highest spam output in September last year by 12%".
The best defense against viruses, malware, trojans, worms and botnets is a good offense. Meaning update all your virus definitions regularly, update your spyware programs, your windows installations and all your installed programs. Viruses can attack exploits in media players, flash players and even Adobe Acrobat while you are viewing PDF's.
Its also highly recommended that you avoid opening emails from unknown sources. While you might be tempted to read that e-card you are far better off being safe than sorry. If you aren't currently using an anit-virus program thenI'd suggest either AVG's Free Version or Avast's Free Home Edition. For spyware detection and removal Spy-bot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware Free Edition.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Revolution Money Exchange
**Update**
I've posted an updated review
Great PayPal Alternative, Revolution Money Exchange Reviewed
I've posted an updated review
Great PayPal Alternative, Revolution Money Exchange Reviewed
*Correction note*
I previous stated the company was founded by Ted Leonsis and Steve Case. They are indeed investors and board members in the company. Jason Hogg and Patrick Graf however are the founders of Revolution Money, previously called Gratis Card.
Revolution Money Exchange is a new online payment system launched last year. The company founded by Jason Hogg and Patrick Graf and run with current investors and board members Ted Leonsis and Steve Case has placed itself in direct competition with PayPal. Offering free online money transfers and currently drumming up business by offering a $25.00 sign-up bonus. A deal that is spreading fast across sites like Slickdeals.net, FatWallet.com and Dealighted.com.
InformationWeek and USAtoday did stories on the site back in November however until recently I hadn't heard anything about it. Of course once I heard of the $25.00 sign-up bonus I had to investigate. After reading several articles and several blog posts I saw I was just in the dark.
Revolution its self is more tied to a next-generation credit and debit card that promises to be more secure and less expensive than current cards. According to the InformationWeek article the card itself is anonymous, so it doesn't have the cardholder's name on the card nor does it contain any information about the cardholder in the magnetic stripe.
The MoneyExchange side of the business is the online money transfer. They offer FDIC insured accounts issued by First Bank & Trust. For most services there are no fees, however there do seem to be high fees for things like check withdrawals, check stop payments, paper statements, ACH returns, and overdrafts. You will also need to be prepared to enter your SSN, a step that can not be avoided to sign-up.
In addition to the $25.00 sign-up bonus they offer $10 refer a friend bonuses (up to 50/yr).
Follow up 4/7/08
Having used the service now for a couple months, I can report no issues. I received my $25 instantly, attached my bank account and withdrew my funds. The only real drawback I've ran into is that eBay does not currently allow the service. I have seen a few questions regarding its use on eBay and from what I can gather it won't be approved, or endorsed by eBay because it doesn't allow buyers to dispute payments. (not to mention eBay doesn't want to loose out on Pay-Pal fees)
According to eBay's Accepted Payments Policy as a seller you can only accept payments through approved methods. So at least for now I won't be able to fully rid myself of Pay-Pal.
Friday, February 08, 2008
72 Tips for Safer Computing by PC Magazine
Some great beginner tips from the basics of disabling autoruns, to setting more secure passwords Pc Magazine covers them all in this comprehinsive list.
Vlite Vista SP1 Integration
According to Vlite and Winbeta Microsoft has confirmed that there will be no way to directly slipstream SP1 into Vista.
Of course, that doesn't mean it can't be done and the guys over at WinBeta have been working hard on the problem. They've released a Vista SP1 Reverse Integration Guide which will walk users through an involved process of reverse integration.
After looking over the guide I'll say this is for more advanced users and is probably not for the average user. This of course is not official nor an easy method. However it does look possible, and I'm sure they'll be researching a way to come up with a less complicated method.
Of course, that doesn't mean it can't be done and the guys over at WinBeta have been working hard on the problem. They've released a Vista SP1 Reverse Integration Guide which will walk users through an involved process of reverse integration.
After looking over the guide I'll say this is for more advanced users and is probably not for the average user. This of course is not official nor an easy method. However it does look possible, and I'm sure they'll be researching a way to come up with a less complicated method.
Flock Adds MySpace Support
The popular Mozilla-based social Web browser Flock added MySpace support. This comes following the recently released MySpace Developer Platform, the updated browser will allow users to surf the Web with their MySpace friends via constant updates on all their actions within the social network.
With the new refinements users can be informed within the browser when friends from MySpace or other supported social networks — like YouTube Photobucket and Flickr — post new photos or videos or when a user has new messages from friends on a social network.
I haven't used Flock in several years, but as you can see from my review I enjoyed my experiences with the browser. With the new additions and recent changes I might have to revisit their site and see how they've progressed.
With the new refinements users can be informed within the browser when friends from MySpace or other supported social networks — like YouTube Photobucket and Flickr — post new photos or videos or when a user has new messages from friends on a social network.
I haven't used Flock in several years, but as you can see from my review I enjoyed my experiences with the browser. With the new additions and recent changes I might have to revisit their site and see how they've progressed.
Personally Customized Cell Phones
Two new cell phone companies Modu Mobile and zzzPhone have announced plans for build-to-order customizable cell phones.
The foundation of the Modu product will be a small phone designed to slide into special "jackets." These "jackets" are phone exteriors with extra functionality, plus software that instructs the phone about special color schemes and other features. For example, a user might use a "jacket" with a camera in it to take pictures, then replace that with a "jacket" with a QWERTY keyboard for easy text messaging.
zzzPhone on the other hand will be using a build-to-order site similar to Dell's. You use its Web site to choose the features you want, and the company will build it for you. Its base model costs $149. You can choose from a range of colors and add additional features, such as a 7-megapixel camera, TV tuner or GPS for additional cost.
ComputerWorld's article "Who wants a custom cell phone?" covers more details on the two companies, their phones and potential uses.
More information on Modu can be found in the recent EFluxMedia post "Israeli Startup modu Revolutionizes Phone Industry">
The foundation of the Modu product will be a small phone designed to slide into special "jackets." These "jackets" are phone exteriors with extra functionality, plus software that instructs the phone about special color schemes and other features. For example, a user might use a "jacket" with a camera in it to take pictures, then replace that with a "jacket" with a QWERTY keyboard for easy text messaging.
zzzPhone on the other hand will be using a build-to-order site similar to Dell's. You use its Web site to choose the features you want, and the company will build it for you. Its base model costs $149. You can choose from a range of colors and add additional features, such as a 7-megapixel camera, TV tuner or GPS for additional cost.
ComputerWorld's article "Who wants a custom cell phone?" covers more details on the two companies, their phones and potential uses.
More information on Modu can be found in the recent EFluxMedia post "Israeli Startup modu Revolutionizes Phone Industry">
Thursday, February 07, 2008
MayDay Botnet
MayDay botnet is the newest peer-to-peer botnet causing havoc for thousands of U.S.-based large enterprises, educational institutions, and customers of major ISPs. MayDay is the potential successor to the Storm trojan. A botnet that infected hundred of thousands of computers late last year.
DarkReading reports that MayDay uses a combination of techniques to communicate with its bots, including hijacking browser proxy settings and It can communicate through an enterprise's secure Web proxy and conduct updates and attack activities.
Tripp Cox, vice president of engineering for Damballa is quoted in the recent DarkReading article "MayDay! Sneakier, More Powerful Botnet on the Loose". He states that "The botnet uses two forms of P2P communications to ensure it can talk to its bots, including the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). "This malware is for multiple protocols and is specifically designed to be successful despite whatever security controls might be in place."
So far anti-virus companies have not been able to find a way for detecting MayDay's malware. It is unknown if it is because of the advanced techniques used in the malware construction or if AV companies can't identify these pieces of malware.
The infection comes in the form of what appears to the victim to be an Adobe Reader executable, but is actually the malware. Damballa is still studying the botnet's delivery mechanisms for the malware, Cox says.
DarkReading reports that MayDay uses a combination of techniques to communicate with its bots, including hijacking browser proxy settings and It can communicate through an enterprise's secure Web proxy and conduct updates and attack activities.
Tripp Cox, vice president of engineering for Damballa is quoted in the recent DarkReading article "MayDay! Sneakier, More Powerful Botnet on the Loose". He states that "The botnet uses two forms of P2P communications to ensure it can talk to its bots, including the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). "This malware is for multiple protocols and is specifically designed to be successful despite whatever security controls might be in place."
So far anti-virus companies have not been able to find a way for detecting MayDay's malware. It is unknown if it is because of the advanced techniques used in the malware construction or if AV companies can't identify these pieces of malware.
The infection comes in the form of what appears to the victim to be an Adobe Reader executable, but is actually the malware. Damballa is still studying the botnet's delivery mechanisms for the malware, Cox says.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
AT&T Broadband Prices Are On The Rise
InformationWeek announced that AT&T will be increasing the prices of all its DSL services by $5 across the board.
The recent InformationWeek article states that most consumers in AT&T's service area will see $5 jumps in their monthly rates. For instance Basic 768 Kbps service will rise from $14.99 to $19.95, Express 1.5 Mbps service from $19.99 to $25, and Pro 3 Mbps service from $24.99 to $30.
Just a few weeks ago I wrote about AT&T's plans to "play big brother" with their announcement of plans to implement voluntary content filtering. Now they go and raises prices to users, are they trying to drive customers away?
The recent InformationWeek article states that most consumers in AT&T's service area will see $5 jumps in their monthly rates. For instance Basic 768 Kbps service will rise from $14.99 to $19.95, Express 1.5 Mbps service from $19.99 to $25, and Pro 3 Mbps service from $24.99 to $30.
Just a few weeks ago I wrote about AT&T's plans to "play big brother" with their announcement of plans to implement voluntary content filtering. Now they go and raises prices to users, are they trying to drive customers away?
Google Experiementing With Search Results
Google has introduced what it is calling "Alternate Views" search results. Users will see results on a timeline, map, or in context of other information types. With these views, Google extracts key dates, locations, measurements, and more from select search results so you can view the information in a slightly different format.
For more information on this and other experimental Google projects check out the Google Experimental page or the Official Google Blog.
For more information on this and other experimental Google projects check out the Google Experimental page or the Official Google Blog.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
PcWorld's How to Buy and Sell on eBay Scam-Free
PcWorld put together a great how to on buying and selling on eBay. The article "How to Buy and Sell on eBay Scam-Free" covers several of the most common ways buyers and sellers are scammed as well as ways to avoid such scams.
Of the many things that are covered are: account hijacking, payment fraud and fake and misrepresented items. This article is a must read for the average Ebay user that might not be aware of some of the hidden dangers.
Of the many things that are covered are: account hijacking, payment fraud and fake and misrepresented items. This article is a must read for the average Ebay user that might not be aware of some of the hidden dangers.
New High Speed Solid State Drives
Intel and Micron have partnered to create solid state drives using NAND flash memory chips that can reach speeds of up to 200 MB per second for reading data and 100 MB per second for writing. The new technology would be approximately 5 times faster than current memory chips. Which have maximum read-write speeds of 40 MB and 20 MB.
Micron is expected to release a high-speed 8 GB solid-state drive later this year. With higher-capacity products expected closer to the beginning of 2009. These new drives will be ideal for HD video files. Where the content can be moved in and out of a storage device quickly, so it can be played on a handheld gadget or recorded in a camcorder.
Read InformationWeek.com's article "Intel, Micron Claim To Boost Solid-State Drive Speeds By 500%" for more information.
Micron is expected to release a high-speed 8 GB solid-state drive later this year. With higher-capacity products expected closer to the beginning of 2009. These new drives will be ideal for HD video files. Where the content can be moved in and out of a storage device quickly, so it can be played on a handheld gadget or recorded in a camcorder.
Read InformationWeek.com's article "Intel, Micron Claim To Boost Solid-State Drive Speeds By 500%" for more information.
Friday, February 01, 2008
MacBook Air Has a Few Problems
Apple Support has released a few documents outlying the issues facing would be MacBook Air owners.
Of the several issues outlined many are networking problems. These include a reduction of throughput for wireless networks that use the 2.4-GHz band, slow speeds when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and routers that refuse to work the Remote Disc magic.
Recent articles from Computerworld.com, Wired.com and Yahoo! News cover many of the problems as well as a few solutions.
Of the several issues outlined many are networking problems. These include a reduction of throughput for wireless networks that use the 2.4-GHz band, slow speeds when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and routers that refuse to work the Remote Disc magic.
Recent articles from Computerworld.com, Wired.com and Yahoo! News cover many of the problems as well as a few solutions.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
AT&T Data Network Down
Computerworld.com reported that AT&T's wireless data networks in the Southeast and Midwest U.S. were down for several hours on Thursday.
AT&T is still looking into what caused the failure, however users on the EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services began having problems around 6:30 a.m. EST. The problem was fixed and the network was back up and running by 3:00pm.
AT&T is still looking into what caused the failure, however users on the EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services began having problems around 6:30 a.m. EST. The problem was fixed and the network was back up and running by 3:00pm.
MacBook Air Recieves More Competition
Miniaturized versions of the Intel Core 2 Duo processors specially developed for Apple's new MacBook Air will soon be used by other PC vendors in systems. A move that will most likely be creating competition for what has been labeled as the world's lightest and thinnest notebook.
The MacBook Air comes with miniaturized version of Intel Core 2 Duo Merom family processors. The processors unning at either 1.6 GHz or 1.8GHz, have been shrunk by up to 60% compared to other Merom processors.
The companies' names have yet to be released, but the chip most likely will bring smaller and lighter notebooks that will compete in size and performance with the MacBook Air.
At the Intel Developer Forum last year, Intel talked about shrinking the size of chips by up to 60% for its next-generation Montevina mobile platform, which will include the new Penryn processors manufactured using the 45nm process. The small form-factor chips will be released shortly after the normal-size chips, due to ship by the middle of 2008.
The MacBook Air comes with miniaturized version of Intel Core 2 Duo Merom family processors. The processors unning at either 1.6 GHz or 1.8GHz, have been shrunk by up to 60% compared to other Merom processors.
The companies' names have yet to be released, but the chip most likely will bring smaller and lighter notebooks that will compete in size and performance with the MacBook Air.
At the Intel Developer Forum last year, Intel talked about shrinking the size of chips by up to 60% for its next-generation Montevina mobile platform, which will include the new Penryn processors manufactured using the 45nm process. The small form-factor chips will be released shortly after the normal-size chips, due to ship by the middle of 2008.
Confused About Digital TV Transition?
You aren't alone, millions of television viewers will be affected by the Feb. 18, 2009 changes and recent studies indicate the majority of them don't full understand the changes ahead.
Feb. 18, 2009 that's the date in which full-power television stations in the U.S. will turn off their old-technology analog signals and broadcast only in a digital format. At that time anyone who owns an older television that gets its signal via antenna will need a converter box in order to receive the digital transmissions. In laymans terms these are your typical local stations, and you'll now need a converter box in order to watch those channels.
Reportedly 13.5 million television households, rely on over-the-air television broadcasts for programming. According to recent surveys by Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, 36 percent of respondents in its survey were unaware of the transition. Among those 58 percent believe all televisions will need a converter box to function. While another 48 percent believe that only digital televisions will work after 2009, and 24 percent believe they will need to throw away all of their analog television sets and buy new digital sets.
None of these presumptions is true.
According to the recent MSNBC article "Consumers confused about digital TV transition"the government has allocated $1.5 billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to pay for coupons that will subsidize the cost of converter boxes. But only $5 million of that is for consumer education. Another $1.5 million has been allocated to the Federal Communications Commission for public education efforts.
Each household is eligible for two coupons, regardless of whether they have pay-television service or not. To request a coupon, consumers can apply online at dtv2009.gov or call the 24-hour hotline, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).
For more information visit the FCC DTV
Consumer Facts Page or DTV.gov.
Feb. 18, 2009 that's the date in which full-power television stations in the U.S. will turn off their old-technology analog signals and broadcast only in a digital format. At that time anyone who owns an older television that gets its signal via antenna will need a converter box in order to receive the digital transmissions. In laymans terms these are your typical local stations, and you'll now need a converter box in order to watch those channels.
Reportedly 13.5 million television households, rely on over-the-air television broadcasts for programming. According to recent surveys by Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, 36 percent of respondents in its survey were unaware of the transition. Among those 58 percent believe all televisions will need a converter box to function. While another 48 percent believe that only digital televisions will work after 2009, and 24 percent believe they will need to throw away all of their analog television sets and buy new digital sets.
None of these presumptions is true.
According to the recent MSNBC article "Consumers confused about digital TV transition"the government has allocated $1.5 billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to pay for coupons that will subsidize the cost of converter boxes. But only $5 million of that is for consumer education. Another $1.5 million has been allocated to the Federal Communications Commission for public education efforts.
Each household is eligible for two coupons, regardless of whether they have pay-television service or not. To request a coupon, consumers can apply online at dtv2009.gov or call the 24-hour hotline, 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).
For more information visit the FCC DTV
Consumer Facts Page or DTV.gov.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Vlite Vista Installation Customizer
The developers of the popular Windows XP customizer Nlite have now worked their magic on a new customizer for Windows Vista. Vlite is designed to streamline your Vista installations and remove any unwanted Vista components. Items such as Windows Media Player, Windows Mail, Windows Photo Viewer, Wallpapers and other utilities can be removed before installation.
Vlite also allows for integration of other components such as hotfixes, drivers and language packs into the new image and has an unattended install function. This tool doesn't use any kind of hacking, all files and registry entries are protected as they would be if you install the unedited version only with the changes you select.
Techworld recently featured an article titled ""New utility cuts Vista install down to size" that provides a few more details, and a few things to watch out for when using this utility.
I've used Nlite for years to streamline and slipstream things into Xp install Cd's and personally give it a thumbs up. Its a must have for anyone that has the old SP1 install CD or simply anyone that doesn't want to spend hours downloading all the hotfixes and add-ons after a fresh install.
Vlite also allows for integration of other components such as hotfixes, drivers and language packs into the new image and has an unattended install function. This tool doesn't use any kind of hacking, all files and registry entries are protected as they would be if you install the unedited version only with the changes you select.
Techworld recently featured an article titled ""New utility cuts Vista install down to size" that provides a few more details, and a few things to watch out for when using this utility.
I've used Nlite for years to streamline and slipstream things into Xp install Cd's and personally give it a thumbs up. Its a must have for anyone that has the old SP1 install CD or simply anyone that doesn't want to spend hours downloading all the hotfixes and add-ons after a fresh install.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Cable TV: Legal False Advertising
MSNBC recently discussed how Cables companies such as Comcast squeeze more and more out of your wallet. The article titled "Cable TV: King of misleading come-ons" points out ways Comcast mis-leads its would-be customers with teaser rates and promotional ads that never clearly explain their charges.
In a 2006 out-of-court settlement between the Comcast and the Massachusetts state attorney general, the attorney general said “Comcast, and its predecessor, AT&T Broadband, engaged in a series of unfair practices in the advertising and sale of its cable television services, including advertising limited time offers of free or reduced rate digital cable packages without adequately disclosing to consumers what the actual price of those services would be during and after the promotional period.”
Is this surprising? No we've all know for years that cable companies are monopolizing the markets. Ask any Comcast customer how much their bills have risen over the years and how little content has risen. Add on internet fees and now phone service and Comcast is sitting firmly in your pocket.
On mailers sent to Seattle-area residents, the introductory period was not defined. When did it end? Whenever Comcast called. And despite the abundant small print on post cards sent to Seattle-area TV watchers — which numbered 300 words or more — the real price of the service (ultimately about $150 a month) never appeared once
In a 2006 out-of-court settlement between the Comcast and the Massachusetts state attorney general, the attorney general said “Comcast, and its predecessor, AT&T Broadband, engaged in a series of unfair practices in the advertising and sale of its cable television services, including advertising limited time offers of free or reduced rate digital cable packages without adequately disclosing to consumers what the actual price of those services would be during and after the promotional period.”
Is this surprising? No we've all know for years that cable companies are monopolizing the markets. Ask any Comcast customer how much their bills have risen over the years and how little content has risen. Add on internet fees and now phone service and Comcast is sitting firmly in your pocket.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Windows 7 'build' on BitTorrent is bogus
Computerworld reports many users of popular torrent sites and programs having been creating bogus files called Windows 7. The files are a supposed follow up to Windows Vista.
Neowin.net reports that several BitTorrent sites have been seeded with files posing as the M1 -- for Milestone 1 -- build of Windows 7. But downloaders have confirmed that the disk images are bogus and should be avoided. The potential for virus infection is obvious but as of now no one is reporting any malicious use of code. So far it looks to be a simple prank.
Popular Blogs such as Gizmodo have recently reported that the previous release date of 2009 as been pushed back to 2001 or beyond. Earlier this month Gizmodo posted Video of Windows 7 Ultimate however in my opinion it looks more like a tweaked version of Vista than anything.
Neowin.net reports that several BitTorrent sites have been seeded with files posing as the M1 -- for Milestone 1 -- build of Windows 7. But downloaders have confirmed that the disk images are bogus and should be avoided. The potential for virus infection is obvious but as of now no one is reporting any malicious use of code. So far it looks to be a simple prank.
Popular Blogs such as Gizmodo have recently reported that the previous release date of 2009 as been pushed back to 2001 or beyond. Earlier this month Gizmodo posted Video of Windows 7 Ultimate however in my opinion it looks more like a tweaked version of Vista than anything.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
MacWorld MacBook Air Hands On
MacWorld throws the MacBook Air through its paces with some preliminary tests of the standard default-configuration. As you can see from the article the results are pretty much in line with what was expected. Thinner and lighter won't help with performance, but you've got to admit that the MacBook Air looks awesome.
Cell Phone Advertising A Revolution??
Not in my mind my, but according to a recent article on MSNBC.com top technology executives at the World Economic Forum think so. Mobile Internet and video capable cell phones will eventually let advertisers tailor messages based on a user's location.
Several top cell phone companies might eventually employee "location advertising" enabled by the devices' global positioning system. Personally I have to agree with U.S. congressman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, he noted that the prospect of advertisers knowing where users are through GPS was "bone-chilling." Its not bad enough that we can be tracked by "big brother" but now we may have to worry about getting inundated with ads!
Several top cell phone companies might eventually employee "location advertising" enabled by the devices' global positioning system. Personally I have to agree with U.S. congressman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, he noted that the prospect of advertisers knowing where users are through GPS was "bone-chilling." Its not bad enough that we can be tracked by "big brother" but now we may have to worry about getting inundated with ads!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Mahalo Lawsuit Looks Inevitable
It looks as though the inevitable is likely, in less than a week I'll be forced to file a lawsuit against Mahalo.com and Jason Calacanis for failure to pay in accordance to the terms of our contracts. I made pretty much every attempt possible to reach an agreement and avoid going through the court process. However its beginning to look fairly dim.
The only recent contact came shorty after the follow up post to my original post "Mahalo Refuses Mentors Payments". I basically pointed out the fact that the pages they are refusing to pay for are still on Mahalo.com and for the most part they have been untouched or unaltered in anyway. The majority of these pages are still listed under my name and unfortunately I'm still listed on the email for the submitted user links!
To me this more than signifies the acceptance of those pages. Which in turn shows I fully fulfilled the terms of the Mahalo Mentors Agreement and my end of the contracts!
Given the fact they still had to calculate payments for December, of which I'm owed approximately $760, and they are never on time with those payments. I decided to give them until the end of the month to pay in full for all three months. Payment delays have always been an issue with Mahalo so they may surprise me!!
The lack of response to my email, which was a response to them calling, pretty much tells me I'm going to have to go through the legal system and fight to get my payments.
It pretty unfortunate that it has to come to legal action considering from July to December I devoted most of mt time and efforts to working with at Mahalo.com and with the members of the Mahalo Greenhouse.
The only recent contact came shorty after the follow up post to my original post "Mahalo Refuses Mentors Payments". I basically pointed out the fact that the pages they are refusing to pay for are still on Mahalo.com and for the most part they have been untouched or unaltered in anyway. The majority of these pages are still listed under my name and unfortunately I'm still listed on the email for the submitted user links!
To me this more than signifies the acceptance of those pages. Which in turn shows I fully fulfilled the terms of the Mahalo Mentors Agreement and my end of the contracts!
Given the fact they still had to calculate payments for December, of which I'm owed approximately $760, and they are never on time with those payments. I decided to give them until the end of the month to pay in full for all three months. Payment delays have always been an issue with Mahalo so they may surprise me!!
The lack of response to my email, which was a response to them calling, pretty much tells me I'm going to have to go through the legal system and fight to get my payments.
It pretty unfortunate that it has to come to legal action considering from July to December I devoted most of mt time and efforts to working with at Mahalo.com and with the members of the Mahalo Greenhouse.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Meg Whitman to Retire
The Wall Street Journal has announced that EBay CEO Meg Whitman is finally going to step down after 10 years with the company.
In recent years EBay and Whitman have come under fire for rising costs, security issues and fraud prevention as well as the acquisition Skype which led to a $1.4 billion write-down of its investment. Over the past several years sites like Firemeg.com Power Sellers Unite and We hate Ebay have become more and more prevalent.
Under her leadership, eBay has turned into one of the most-visited sites on the Internet. But the company's growth has weakened in recent years cutting cut its stock price by half from a peak of just over $56 in late 2004 to just about $28 today.
In recent years EBay and Whitman have come under fire for rising costs, security issues and fraud prevention as well as the acquisition Skype which led to a $1.4 billion write-down of its investment. Over the past several years sites like Firemeg.com Power Sellers Unite and We hate Ebay have become more and more prevalent.
Under her leadership, eBay has turned into one of the most-visited sites on the Internet. But the company's growth has weakened in recent years cutting cut its stock price by half from a peak of just over $56 in late 2004 to just about $28 today.
Hack of Legitimate Web Sites Larger Than First Thought
In a follow up to a story posted last week "Massive Hacking Attack Hits Hundreds of Sites" Computerworld writes "Mass host hack bigger than first thought, hits 10,000 sites.
Some hacked Apache servers reinfected even after clean-up and Linux reinstall".
Last week a senior security researcher at ScanSafe Inc., said that they had uncovered hundreds of sites which had been hacked and were feeding exploits to visitors. According to ScanSafe the number is far higher than originally thought. Reaching approximately 10,000 sites hosted on Linux servers running Apache.
Those servers have been infected with a pair of files that generate constantly-changing malicious JavaScript. When visitors reach the hacked site, the script calls up an exploit cocktail that includes attack code targeting recent QuickTime vulnerabilities, the long-running Windows MDAC bug, and even a fixed flaw in Yahoo Messenger.
ScanSafe originally drew a link between the security breach at U.K.-based Fasthosts Ltd., and the site hacks, saying then that the domains ScanSafe had found infected had, or had recently had, a relationship with Fasthosts.
Fasthosts denied such a cause-and-effect, and cited what it called "technical discrepancies" with Landesman's claims, but said it was investigating nonetheless.
For more information check out the full article at Computerworld.com
Some hacked Apache servers reinfected even after clean-up and Linux reinstall".
Last week a senior security researcher at ScanSafe Inc., said that they had uncovered hundreds of sites which had been hacked and were feeding exploits to visitors. According to ScanSafe the number is far higher than originally thought. Reaching approximately 10,000 sites hosted on Linux servers running Apache.
Those servers have been infected with a pair of files that generate constantly-changing malicious JavaScript. When visitors reach the hacked site, the script calls up an exploit cocktail that includes attack code targeting recent QuickTime vulnerabilities, the long-running Windows MDAC bug, and even a fixed flaw in Yahoo Messenger.
ScanSafe originally drew a link between the security breach at U.K.-based Fasthosts Ltd., and the site hacks, saying then that the domains ScanSafe had found infected had, or had recently had, a relationship with Fasthosts.
Fasthosts denied such a cause-and-effect, and cited what it called "technical discrepancies" with Landesman's claims, but said it was investigating nonetheless.
For more information check out the full article at Computerworld.com
Friday, January 18, 2008
DeviceVM's SplashTop the Instant On Desktop
Device VM, a startup based in Silicon Valley, has recently released a tiny piece of software that is integrated with a PC's motherboard. The software gives users the option to boot either Windows or a faster, less-complex linux based operating system "SplashTop".
SplashTop users can start surfing the Web or watching a DVD in less than 20 seconds, and, in some cases, in less than five. Splashtop is embedded in the motherboards BIOS, so it starts before the operating system is up and running. The user will see a simple menu screen offering a handful of options, including launching the Firefox Web browser, a media player, Skype, or an instant-messaging program, or allowing Windows to boot.
The applications are stored in a flash-memory chip on the motherboard, so they can be quickly accessed--even if the hard drive fails. And since the software is linux based it is inherently safer than surfing the web with a slimmed down version of windows. The threat of viruses or hacking would be minimal.
Splashtop is currently available on motherboards from Asus. David Speiser, director of business development at DeviceVM said, "within the next couple of months, desktops and laptops with Splashtop-enabled hardware will be available to consumers."
DeviceVM is not the only company looking to cut boot times. BIOS company Phoenix Technologies announced a technology called HyperSpace, which is expected to be available in laptops in the second half of this year. And Intel is developing both hardware and software that will shorten boot times. They are currently shipping Intel Turbo Memory, which boots Windows faster by caching data in flash memory instead of on the hard drive.
SplashTop users can start surfing the Web or watching a DVD in less than 20 seconds, and, in some cases, in less than five. Splashtop is embedded in the motherboards BIOS, so it starts before the operating system is up and running. The user will see a simple menu screen offering a handful of options, including launching the Firefox Web browser, a media player, Skype, or an instant-messaging program, or allowing Windows to boot.
The applications are stored in a flash-memory chip on the motherboard, so they can be quickly accessed--even if the hard drive fails. And since the software is linux based it is inherently safer than surfing the web with a slimmed down version of windows. The threat of viruses or hacking would be minimal.
Splashtop is currently available on motherboards from Asus. David Speiser, director of business development at DeviceVM said, "within the next couple of months, desktops and laptops with Splashtop-enabled hardware will be available to consumers."
DeviceVM is not the only company looking to cut boot times. BIOS company Phoenix Technologies announced a technology called HyperSpace, which is expected to be available in laptops in the second half of this year. And Intel is developing both hardware and software that will shorten boot times. They are currently shipping Intel Turbo Memory, which boots Windows faster by caching data in flash memory instead of on the hard drive.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
CPU's for 2008 and Beyond
CNet.com and PCMag.com feature two great articles "CPU Road Map: 2007 and beyond" and "CPU Road Map 2008: Maxing Out Moore's Law" mapping the future that Intel and AMD have in store for us.
AMD's Phenoms have hit the market with less than a bang. However it appears as though AMD might have a few CPU's on the horizon to keep an eye on. AMD is expected to move from the 65-nm process to the 45-nm as well, with the Leo platform in dual- and quad-core flavors. We will see Eight-core CPU's coming from AMD sometime in2009, still in 45 nm, with the Python platform. Python is also expected to be on the market when AMD moves from DDR2 to DDR3 memory.
Intel and their new "Core 3" Nehalem processors, which are scheduled for release in late 2008, should be the next big thing on the market. Nehalem will have integrated memory controllers, thus eliminating the FSB entirely (something AMD has done for years). This means that the CPU will talk to the system memory natively at DDR3 speeds. Nehalem will be offered in one- to eight-core versions for the desktop and likely for laptops.
As little as a few years ago the biggest question on the market was which single core cpu was best, which manufacturer could reach the highest Ghz rating and where will they amaze us next. Now the question on everyones mind is dual core or quad core. In a couple years it will be quad core or octo-core!
For me this raises the question of how much computing power does the average user really need? I've always head fast to the idea that "most" users don't need dual core machines. And can in fact get by with single core PCs. However now the view is that most users can benefit from a mid-range dual core setup but don't need quad core. In a couple years we'll have to change that view.
If you are curious how your CPU stacks up against the latest greatest offering from Intel and AMD checkout Tom's Hardware Cpu Charts and the PassMark CPU Benchmark Charts.
AMD's Phenoms have hit the market with less than a bang. However it appears as though AMD might have a few CPU's on the horizon to keep an eye on. AMD is expected to move from the 65-nm process to the 45-nm as well, with the Leo platform in dual- and quad-core flavors. We will see Eight-core CPU's coming from AMD sometime in2009, still in 45 nm, with the Python platform. Python is also expected to be on the market when AMD moves from DDR2 to DDR3 memory.
Intel and their new "Core 3" Nehalem processors, which are scheduled for release in late 2008, should be the next big thing on the market. Nehalem will have integrated memory controllers, thus eliminating the FSB entirely (something AMD has done for years). This means that the CPU will talk to the system memory natively at DDR3 speeds. Nehalem will be offered in one- to eight-core versions for the desktop and likely for laptops.
As little as a few years ago the biggest question on the market was which single core cpu was best, which manufacturer could reach the highest Ghz rating and where will they amaze us next. Now the question on everyones mind is dual core or quad core. In a couple years it will be quad core or octo-core!
For me this raises the question of how much computing power does the average user really need? I've always head fast to the idea that "most" users don't need dual core machines. And can in fact get by with single core PCs. However now the view is that most users can benefit from a mid-range dual core setup but don't need quad core. In a couple years we'll have to change that view.
If you are curious how your CPU stacks up against the latest greatest offering from Intel and AMD checkout Tom's Hardware Cpu Charts and the PassMark CPU Benchmark Charts.
AT&T to Play Big Brother
Even thought the federal government has said that AT&T and other ISP's don't have to police their networks for pirated content, the telecommunications giant is voluntarily looking for ways to play internet cop.
According to CNet.com AT&T executives have said the company is testing technology to filter traffic on its network to look for copyrighted material that is being illegally distributed.
So far, most ISPs such as Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications International have declined comment. Comcast has stated that following last years uproar over their allegedly slowing P2P content that they are no longer using or testing content filtering technology.
Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a digital-rights public interest group has said "Content filtering is like the cops knocking on everyone's door to make sure there are no stolen goods inside, searching packets on a network throws out the whole idea of innocent until proven guilty."
According to CNet.com AT&T executives have said the company is testing technology to filter traffic on its network to look for copyrighted material that is being illegally distributed.
So far, most ISPs such as Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications International have declined comment. Comcast has stated that following last years uproar over their allegedly slowing P2P content that they are no longer using or testing content filtering technology.
Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a digital-rights public interest group has said "Content filtering is like the cops knocking on everyone's door to make sure there are no stolen goods inside, searching packets on a network throws out the whole idea of innocent until proven guilty."
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
MacBook Air Versus the Competition
PC World provides a little perspective on how the MacBook Air fairs against its PC/Windows based competition including products from Sony, Lenovo, and Fujitsu. And in a second great article "MacBook Air: How Incomplete Is It?" they point to some key features that are missing.
Eweek.com has a similarly impressive slideshow. I'll admit the MacBook Air looks impressive however with a starting price tag of $1,799 I won't see one sitting on my desk anytime soon.
For those that are willing to shell out the dough you'll get a very stylish notebook measuring 12.8″ x 8.94″ x 0.16-0.76 inch and weight 3.0 pounds. Powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor 1.6ghz, 80GB 1.8″ disk with a 13.3″ 1280×800 LED-backlit display. Other features include 802.11n draft wireless, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor, and 2GB of RAM standard. Apple also decided to pack in a full-sized keyboard, iSight webcam, and MagSafe power connector.
You'll be limited to a single audio jack, a single USB 2.0 slot, and Micro-DVI out. Unfortunately you do not receive an optical drive nor do you have the option for a wired Ethernet adapter.
Add-ons and upgrades include an optional $19 S-Video adapter, a $29 USB Ethernet adapter and for those willing to spend $3,098 you can opt for the upgraded model which will feature the 1.8GHz processor and a 64GB SSD for storage.
Eweek.com has a similarly impressive slideshow. I'll admit the MacBook Air looks impressive however with a starting price tag of $1,799 I won't see one sitting on my desk anytime soon.
For those that are willing to shell out the dough you'll get a very stylish notebook measuring 12.8″ x 8.94″ x 0.16-0.76 inch and weight 3.0 pounds. Powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor 1.6ghz, 80GB 1.8″ disk with a 13.3″ 1280×800 LED-backlit display. Other features include 802.11n draft wireless, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor, and 2GB of RAM standard. Apple also decided to pack in a full-sized keyboard, iSight webcam, and MagSafe power connector.
You'll be limited to a single audio jack, a single USB 2.0 slot, and Micro-DVI out. Unfortunately you do not receive an optical drive nor do you have the option for a wired Ethernet adapter.
Add-ons and upgrades include an optional $19 S-Video adapter, a $29 USB Ethernet adapter and for those willing to spend $3,098 you can opt for the upgraded model which will feature the 1.8GHz processor and a 64GB SSD for storage.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Massive Hacking Attack Hits Hundreds of Sites
Computerworld.com reports that a massive hack of legitimate UK based Web sites has been spreading malware to visitors' PCs, using a new tactic that has made detection "extraordinarily difficult,". "All of the affected domains either have or have had a relationship in the recent past with Fasthosts, a UK based hosting company" said Mary Landesman, a senior security researcher at ScanSafe Inc..
The hacked sites sites are legitimate URLs, many of which are small mom-and-pop e-commerce sites mainly located in the U.K.
The hacked sites sites are legitimate URLs, many of which are small mom-and-pop e-commerce sites mainly located in the U.K.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
MySpace Profiles Offering Fake MS Patch
Attackers send new "friend requests" to MySpace users. When clicking on the person's picture or name link to view their profile, it shows a profile page overlaid with what looks like a legitimate Windows "Automatic Updates" pop-up box. Visit EWeek.com for more details.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Mahalo Dropping Payments to Guides
Allen Stern over at CenterNetworks summed it up well with his recent post Mahalo Changes Payment Plan and Yes, Jason Mahalo is an SEO Play - I've Got Charts
Mahalo was supposedly able to run for the first several years without generating revenues from Ads, however we now see that has changed. Jason at one time said they had enough capital to run for several years, however he has been actively searching for more money. ValleyWag seems to think Mahalo is burning money.
What gives Jason are you guys going broke? Do you honestly feel as though your guides are going to work their butts off to create a "great" page for $2.00? I wonder how many of your current guides are planning a mutiny? They've already been complaining about delays in payment and delays in having their SERRS accepted. It sounds as though things are sliding down hill fast over there! Thank god I got out when I could. Now if I could just get paid for the work I did for you guys I'd be a happy man!
Beginning Monday, January 14th, we will be assigning smaller dollar amounts to extremely short SeRPs or very fringe topic SeRPs that aren't of high priority, and likewise, we will be assigning higher prices to SeRPs in especially difficult verticals or which are in high demand.
Mahalo was supposedly able to run for the first several years without generating revenues from Ads, however we now see that has changed. Jason at one time said they had enough capital to run for several years, however he has been actively searching for more money. ValleyWag seems to think Mahalo is burning money.
What gives Jason are you guys going broke? Do you honestly feel as though your guides are going to work their butts off to create a "great" page for $2.00? I wonder how many of your current guides are planning a mutiny? They've already been complaining about delays in payment and delays in having their SERRS accepted. It sounds as though things are sliding down hill fast over there! Thank god I got out when I could. Now if I could just get paid for the work I did for you guys I'd be a happy man!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Best CES 2008 Coverage
Not all of us could make it to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, and don't we all wish we could be there. However there are plenty of great bloggers and technology sites that are there and they are providing great coverage. Here is a list of a few of the sites I personally have been following.
Technology Sites
PC Pro: CES 2008
Tech Web TV (great videos)
CNET: CES 2008
Wired @ CES 2008
PC Magazine
Blogs
Valleywag CES 2008
Auto Blog (The cars of CES) an often overlooked area of CES
PopSci Blog
Technology Sites
PC Pro: CES 2008
Tech Web TV (great videos)
CNET: CES 2008
Wired @ CES 2008
PC Magazine
Blogs
Valleywag CES 2008
Auto Blog (The cars of CES) an often overlooked area of CES
PopSci Blog
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Talk of Recession Looms Over the Fun at CES
The worsening economy, and the combination of a surge in the U.S. jobless rate, high oil and gas prices and a worsening credit and housing crisis has many in the consumer electronics industry on edge.
An article by Eweek.com outlines the many fears and hurdles faced by company executives at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
An article by Eweek.com outlines the many fears and hurdles faced by company executives at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
Geeks.com Website Hacked Customer Data Stolen
According to The Consumerist Geeks.com recently discovered on December 5, 2007 that customer information, including Visa credit card information, may have been compromised. It is advised that anyone that has recently made a purchase from Geeks.com AKA Computer Geeks.com, track all their Visa activity or place a fraud alert on their accounts.
More information on avoiding identity theft.
Update: ComputerWorld.com has this great article on the security breach. Geeks.com has set up this phone number (888) 529-6261 to assist customers with questions and concerns related to the incident.
More information on avoiding identity theft.
Update: ComputerWorld.com has this great article on the security breach. Geeks.com has set up this phone number (888) 529-6261 to assist customers with questions and concerns related to the incident.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Follow up to "Mahalo Refuses to pay it's Mentors"
As there has been a great deal of interest in my recent post "Mahalo Refuses Mentors Payments" and I've received several emails inquiring as to how things are proceeding I figured I'd better post some follow up.
Unfortunately there really isn't much to say. I had to wait until the end of December for them to contact me with the total number of pages they were refusing payment on. All told it ended up being 257 pages for a total of $2,510.00.
Following the legal guidelines I was given I sent them a demand of payment letter. In any situation such as this you must show proof that you contacted them asking for payment. So now the waiting game begins, they have until the end of the month to respond or remit payment.
I found out today that they have removed my greenhouse account, previously it was active even though it was not in use. I didn't plan on building any more pages so thats not really an issue however I found it funny.
Unfortunately there really isn't much to say. I had to wait until the end of December for them to contact me with the total number of pages they were refusing payment on. All told it ended up being 257 pages for a total of $2,510.00.
Following the legal guidelines I was given I sent them a demand of payment letter. In any situation such as this you must show proof that you contacted them asking for payment. So now the waiting game begins, they have until the end of the month to respond or remit payment.
I found out today that they have removed my greenhouse account, previously it was active even though it was not in use. I didn't plan on building any more pages so thats not really an issue however I found it funny.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Facebook Reinstates Tech blogger Robert Scoble's Account
From: Computerworld
Technology blogger Robert Scoble's Facebook account was reinstated Thursday, just hours after the social network kicked him off the site for running an application to import his contacts from the popular social network,
The incident kicked off a raging debate about who owns the content that a user builds up on a social network. Scoble was testing a new feature of Plaxo Inc.'s Pulse social network that allows users to import Facebook contact information, including names, emails and birthdays to Plaxo.
More on this story
Technology blogger Robert Scoble's Facebook account was reinstated Thursday, just hours after the social network kicked him off the site for running an application to import his contacts from the popular social network,
The incident kicked off a raging debate about who owns the content that a user builds up on a social network. Scoble was testing a new feature of Plaxo Inc.'s Pulse social network that allows users to import Facebook contact information, including names, emails and birthdays to Plaxo.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Trojan Delivers 'Ransomware' Demands Payment for Unlocking PCs
As featured in an article on Techworld.com
Following infection by the Backdoor.Win32.Delf.ctk trojan your computer is completely locked and a very official looking screen prompts you to to dial a 900 number for activation.
Sunbelt-Software has posted more information as well as screen shots on their blog
Update: McAfee has posted removal tools and instructions
Following infection by the Backdoor.Win32.Delf.ctk trojan your computer is completely locked and a very official looking screen prompts you to to dial a 900 number for activation.
Sunbelt-Software has posted more information as well as screen shots on their blog
Update: McAfee has posted removal tools and instructions
Man vs. Machine - Jason Calacanis - Weblogs - Mahalo
From FastCompany.com By: Adam L. Penenberg
Serial Webmeister Jason Calacanis survived the dotcom bust and went on to sell Weblogs Inc. to AOL for $25 million. He says his new search engine--powered by people, of all things--will give Google a run for its money. We almost believe him.
read more | digg story
Serial Webmeister Jason Calacanis survived the dotcom bust and went on to sell Weblogs Inc. to AOL for $25 million. He says his new search engine--powered by people, of all things--will give Google a run for its money. We almost believe him.
read more | digg story
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Mahalo Refuses Mentors Payments
Mahalo Refuses to pay it's Mentors
To make the long story short I've been working with Mahalo as a mentor since back in July. Well things have gone pretty smoothly with the exception of payments being continuously delayed until last month. I got an email informing me that there was a discrepancy with some of the pages that I've "mentored" and they needed to discuss our payment options.
I'm informed that because I spent less than 15mins "QC'ing" some of these pages they are refusing to pay for them. Later I'm told its because there weren't enough edits or major changes. Now as I can see it from the QC process no where does it specify that there even needs to be a change made.
They provide me with a list of about 111 pages they are willing to pay in full for but the rest are "under scrutiny". Basically it works out to 359 out of the 470 pages I reviewed during October.
I'm given two options:
1. they can do a full audit of these pages and they'll pay me for the ones they think had enough work done or have been worked on since they were added to Mahalo. I'm not told what constitutes enough work nor am I given any guidelines for their review!
2. they will pay me 1/3 of the total sum for the remaining pages, this works out to paying me $3.33 per page or $1163 out of the $3590 they owe me.
Well not being one to take things sitting down I ask them to do a full audit of these pages. Which some how they manage to audit 359 pages with 3 full time guides in less than a week. Keep in mind they've told me that its not likely that I could have done the same thing in a full months time. They inform me that they are now willing to pay me in full for an addition 120 pages. Interestingly that works out to just about the 1/3 they wanted to pay in the beginning.
So I reviewed the full list of pages they don't want to pay me for. I noticed that several of the pages we were specifically asked to QC and move to Mahalo. These were either pages from other mentors, previously QC'd page ect. And several of the pages had numerous changes made. Which leads me to believe they infact did not do a full audit of these pages and I in deed should be paid in full.
In an attempt to reach an amicable agreement I offer to review the list of pages and they could pay me in full for the ones I feel I deserve a full payment for and a lump sum or $5/page can be paid for the rest. Or they can simply pay me $5/page for the remaining 239 pages. I still didn't understand why they were refusing payment to begin with as these pages were mentored per their guidelines. I felt no matter how you cut it I worked on all these pages and I should at least be paid a little for my time spent.
I received the inevitable response in the form of a phone call (Mahalo isn't big on putting things in writing} informing me that they are simply refusing to pay anything beyond what they have already paid. I'm still waiting on the payment for the 120 they are now willing to pay. They also inform me that there was an issue with some of the pages from November and they will now be audited.
So now it looks like they are going to refuse payment of anywhere from $2400 to $3200 (maybe more). Its my understanding that at least 2 other mentors had similar issues, with one opting not to fight, and the other asking for a full audit. So I know I'm not alone in this ordeal. But what a way to be treated for someone that worked their butt off for this company.
To make the long story short I've been working with Mahalo as a mentor since back in July. Well things have gone pretty smoothly with the exception of payments being continuously delayed until last month. I got an email informing me that there was a discrepancy with some of the pages that I've "mentored" and they needed to discuss our payment options.
I'm informed that because I spent less than 15mins "QC'ing" some of these pages they are refusing to pay for them. Later I'm told its because there weren't enough edits or major changes. Now as I can see it from the QC process no where does it specify that there even needs to be a change made.
# To check the quality of the work, follow this process:
* STEP 1: Assess the page and make sure it looks complete and well-organized. Are there any sections it needs to have but doesn't? Is there a Guide Note, Fast Facts and related tags? If it's missing anything important or fails to follow Mahalo formatting and style rules, kick back the page.
* STEP 2: Click the "Open Links" button on the guide toolbar. Wait a few moments for all the links on the page to open. Skim quickly over all of the links. If more than 1/3 of the links look questionable or fail to meet Mahalo standards, kick back the page.
* STEP 3: Do a quick Google search. Does Google's Top 20 have quality links that you haven't yet visited? If so, kick back the page.
# If the SeRP is not acceptable, click the "Decline" button and send an email to the PTG explaining what they can do to improve the page.
They provide me with a list of about 111 pages they are willing to pay in full for but the rest are "under scrutiny". Basically it works out to 359 out of the 470 pages I reviewed during October.
I'm given two options:
1. they can do a full audit of these pages and they'll pay me for the ones they think had enough work done or have been worked on since they were added to Mahalo. I'm not told what constitutes enough work nor am I given any guidelines for their review!
2. they will pay me 1/3 of the total sum for the remaining pages, this works out to paying me $3.33 per page or $1163 out of the $3590 they owe me.
Well not being one to take things sitting down I ask them to do a full audit of these pages. Which some how they manage to audit 359 pages with 3 full time guides in less than a week. Keep in mind they've told me that its not likely that I could have done the same thing in a full months time. They inform me that they are now willing to pay me in full for an addition 120 pages. Interestingly that works out to just about the 1/3 they wanted to pay in the beginning.
So I reviewed the full list of pages they don't want to pay me for. I noticed that several of the pages we were specifically asked to QC and move to Mahalo. These were either pages from other mentors, previously QC'd page ect. And several of the pages had numerous changes made. Which leads me to believe they infact did not do a full audit of these pages and I in deed should be paid in full.
In an attempt to reach an amicable agreement I offer to review the list of pages and they could pay me in full for the ones I feel I deserve a full payment for and a lump sum or $5/page can be paid for the rest. Or they can simply pay me $5/page for the remaining 239 pages. I still didn't understand why they were refusing payment to begin with as these pages were mentored per their guidelines. I felt no matter how you cut it I worked on all these pages and I should at least be paid a little for my time spent.
I received the inevitable response in the form of a phone call (Mahalo isn't big on putting things in writing} informing me that they are simply refusing to pay anything beyond what they have already paid. I'm still waiting on the payment for the 120 they are now willing to pay. They also inform me that there was an issue with some of the pages from November and they will now be audited.
So now it looks like they are going to refuse payment of anywhere from $2400 to $3200 (maybe more). Its my understanding that at least 2 other mentors had similar issues, with one opting not to fight, and the other asking for a full audit. So I know I'm not alone in this ordeal. But what a way to be treated for someone that worked their butt off for this company.
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