The layoffs are part of a plan to cut down some $300 million in annual costs before its spin off from corporate owner Time Warner. The company has asked for volunteers but will make involuntary layoffs if necessary.

AOL expects to incur about $200 million in restructuring costs associated with the spin off from December 9, the date of the spin off, through the first half of 2010.

If you were anywhere but under a rock during the 90s you have probably heard of AOL and many people used to use it when dial-up was the only option for Internet. It was one of the most widely spread ISPs available in the days before broadband—if you didn’t have you at lest saw those free trial discs that were everywhere.

Then came AOL’s merger with Time Warner, which is lampooned by PC Mag as “one of the most disastrous corporate mergers in history.” Nine years later AOL is spinning off and becoming independent once again.

The newly and once again independent AOL will focus primarily on advertiser-supported content.

“While storage costs have dropped naturally in the past few years, we’ve also been working hard to improve our infrastructure to reduce your costs even further,” Google said in an e-mail to users. “On Tuesday, November 10, we increased the size of each of our tiers to make storage even more affordable and accessible. For the same $20.00 per year, you’ll now get 80 GB, 8 times as much storage as before.”

Your plan will be automatically upgraded and your new quota will automatically show up in your account in the next 24 hours, Google said.

“We hope you’ll like the extra space,” Google added.

We talked to Marty Cassidy, the general manager of the northeast district for Microsoft, about what makes Windows 7 tick. Here’s what we got:

BLAST: For people that downgraded or stayed with Windows XP, what will be the biggest differences between XP and 7 for users?

MICROSOFT: For current XP users, there are several reasons to upgrade to Windows 7, including enhancements to security, networking and search.

• Security: while Microsoft prides itself on software security measures, the security levels have increased from XP to Vista to Windows 7 making it the most secure operating system on the market today.
• Networking: previously networking all devices took a few extra steps that were challenging for some: now with Windows 7, connecting to a network can be done with a simple click of the mouse.
• Search: with the ability to search across various networks, Windows 7 takes the search for files to the next step. Search functions can also utilize Internet Explorer 8 to provide assistance to those users looking for computer help.

BLAST: What about Windows gaming on 7?

MICROSOFT: Games Explorer is the center for gaming on Windows 7, providing information about games, such as game play statistics, ratings and requirements. In addition, you can find new games or more information about online providers right from Games Explorer. Also, with the Game Update feature within Games Explorer, you can request to be notified whenever there are updates for your games. Parental Controls features also allow specification for which PC games your children can play.

If you’re a gamer, you know how graphics, sound and interaction capabilities are becoming richer. You probably also know that the hardware limitations of 32-bit PCs can limit the gaming experience. As more people opt for 64-bit PCs, new games will be able to take advantage of more robust and powerful processing. Because Windows 7 fully supports 64-bit PCs, you’ll be ready when they arrive.

As part of the newest DirectX Graphics Technology Platform, Direct3D 11 helps game developers create high performance games with richer, more realistic graphics. With a DirectX 11 compatible graphics card, you’ll be playing games with higher frame rates, more organic, realistic looking characters, smarter artificial intelligence, and more natural-looking effects. A large subset of the Direct3D 11 feature set is also available on existing DirectX 10-compatible graphics cards.

All games built to perform on Windows XP will remain available on XP mode.

BLAST: What are the top differences between Windows Vista and Windows 7?

MICROSOFT: Windows 7 builds upon innovative features from Windows Vista and feedback from our customers. The greatest difference users will notice with Windows 7 is that it works the way people want with less time needed for boot-up sequences and shut down. Some of the top differences include:

• Better and faster performance: start-up times and boot-up sequences have been decreased as users interact with a faster and more efficient operating system
• Increased integration beyond the operating system: Windows 7 has upgraded the pop-up message when connecting a device, as more drivers will be supported and more device-specific options including links to manufacturer’s website which will allow you to see additional related software that supports the device
• Improved taskbar: Windows 7 will improve on the many advancements of Windows Vista by allowing for personalization of icons to display on the taskbar
• Less storage requirement: storage requirement for the operating system has been nearly reduced by half
• Multi-touch capability: users can interact directly with the PC through finger keystrokes
• Enhanced media center: features include Internet TV with greater telecasting capabilities

BLAST: What are the brand new features in 7?

MICROSOFT: Microsoft continues to further innovation and produce technologies that people want to use and that will help manage their busy home and business lives. Many of the latest features in Windows 7 are designed to decrease search times while increasing access across multiple devices. Some of the highlights include:

• Desktop: introducing improved taskbar previews, bigger icons and creative ways to personalize
• HomeGroup: takes the headache out of home networking, so it’s easier to share files and printers
• Jump lists: speedy access to your favorite pictures, songs, websites, and documents
• Snap: a quick (and fun) new way to resize and compare windows on your desktop
• Windows Live Essentials: must-have software for your PC — free. Get Mail, Photo Gallery, and other favorites
• Windows Search: at last, searching your PC is as simple as searching
• Performance improvements: it’s designed to sleep and resume quicker, be less memory hungry, and spot USB devices faster
• Full 64-bit support: Windows 7 makes the most of powerful 64-bit PCs, the new desktop standard
• Power management: new power-saving features are designed to help laptops run longer on battery
• Easier wireless networking: Windows 7 gets you online in fewer clicks
• Windows Media Center: watch, record, and pause live TV (additional hardware required)
• Windows Touch: pair Windows 7 with a touch-sensitive PC and you won’t always need a keyboard or mouse

BLAST: What new programs/apps are there in Windows 7?

MICROSOFT: Those top applications that worked on previous operating systems will continue to operate on Windows 7 as new apps are being continuously developed. Many of the latest programs are designed to connect multiple units, creating greater collaboration amongst devices.

• PC interaction – Windows Touch and improved handwriting recognition provide new and more direct ways of interacting with your PC
• Navigation: the customizable taskbar presents previews in a larger, clearer format. You can get to documents, applications and tasks faster with jump lists
• Home collaboration: creating a home group has easier set-up, easier file and media sharing across multiple PCs, along with one step printer sharing, simple security control
• HomeGroup: connecting multiple devices and sharing music, photos, documents and more
• Direct Access: this feature enables IT managers to provide mobile users with reliable and security-enhanced access to corporate network resources when they are on the Internet, without having to initiate a VPN connection. It also allows servicing and updating of remote PCs, even when they are on the road. This helps ensure that all mobile PCs are always up to date, and Windows Powershell means IT pros can automate many standard tasks to help reduce helpdesk costs, minimize user disruption and ease PC management. Direct Access is delivered by Windows 7 with Windows Server 2008 R2
• BranchCache: delivered jointly by Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, this feature enables IT pros to decrease the time branch office users spend waiting to download files from remote servers by caching the previously accessed content locally in a branch’s network
• Libraries: helps you find files faster. Gives users a single view of content across multiple sources

The Windows 7 upgrade edition costs $119 for the Home Premium version and $219 for the Ultimate edition. We highly recommend it.

Measuring just 9.99mm thick and curiously shapen when its open, the Adamo is intriguing. No word on specs, pricing, etc. Stay tuned on this one.

We talked to Barracuda Networks, a California-based company best known for its spam and virus firewalls. The company also offers storage, backup and e-mail archiving solutions.

The controversy originated from a Boston Globe request to review e-mails from advisers to Mayor Thomas M. Menino. But city hall could only account for 18 e-mails sent or received in a six month period from Michael J. Kineavy, Menino’s Cabinet chief of policy and planning and one of his closest advisers. City hall acknowledged that Kineavy deletes his e-mails on a daily basis, which circumvents the city’s nightly backup process. The city has said Kineavy’s actions exploited a glitch in the backup process because he both deleted his messages from his inbox and cleared his deleted items folder.

Government officials’ e-mails are a matter of public record.

Kineavy has since taken an unpaid leave of absence. But could this all have been prevented?

After talking with Barracuda and doing some of our own research, it is clear that City Hall addressed the issue of preserving its e-mail messages incorrectly. Boston’s backup process is a poor solution for archiving e-mails, and it runs contrary to accepted best practices.

“Relying on users to save e-mails (i.e. ‘do the right thing’) and not delete e-mails is prone to failure as people can mistakes,” said Barracuda spokeswoman Kylie Heintz.

Having faith in traditional backup systems is not the right answer. Even without the “glitch” that allowed e-mails to be permanently deleted, the City of Boston’s approach to ensuring all e-mails are saved by backing up the e-mail system was not ideal.

–

There is a functional difference between “archiving” and “backing up.”

Archiving is like storing e-mails in a filing cabinet in your office or an alphabetized library card catalog. Backup is like locking them all in a safe deposit box in the bank, behind a time-lock and a password that only the bank manager knows.

Backup systems typically compress all the files and messages into a single file — similar to “zipping” your photos so they take up less room on your hard drive. This creates another problem, because it’s more difficult to search inside these compressed files.

Even if Kineavy hadn’t deleted his e-mails, it still may have been difficult for the city to find, isolate and release his messages.

A backup process is routine, predictable and easy for an end-user to avoid. These processes rely on the end-user’s system. Products like the Barracuda Message Archiver and many of its competitors completely take the end-user out of the equation. An archiver is ideal in these situations, because these products save messages at the server level. Whenever an e-mail is sent or received by the server, the archiver takes it, copies it, saves it and makes a search-able index so that messages can be found later on.

Since public officials’ e-mails need to be saved, it is expected that they will need to be searched through at some point in time — like if a journalist requests copies of them. Backup systems are not designed with archiving in mind. The only way to access e-mails from backup systems is to restore the backup file and then manually search through the results. This is very time consuming, error prone and expensive.

Several cities in Massachusetts use hardware archiving solutions, and Heintz confirmed that some used Barracuda’s Message Archiver. None of the cities would go on the record for Blast, however, given the controversy surrounding e-mail

Boston’s backup script was a good solution for a disaster or system failure, but not necessarily the best solution for a public records request. Archiving is a superior method for public records requests.

“Organizations have needs for both,” according to Aseem Asthana, Message Archiver Product Manager at Barracuda Networks. Backup is vital to organizations. If something happens to an e-mail server, or a natural disaster wipes the server out, a backup can be used to restore all the data present at the time of the backup. But pulling individual files is more difficult. Often, an information technology professional is required to restore individual files from a backup.

An archiver, as opposed to a backup, allows e-mails to be accessed readily and seamlessly.

Menino’s office did not respond to a request to comment on this story.

We acknowledge that Barracuda is a for-profit company. Its Message Archiver starts at $1,999, but it would cost about 10 times that for a model amped up to serve a major city like Boston.

But it would also have saved a few headaches and maybe prevented Boston’s E-mailgate scandal.

John M. Guilfoil of the Blast staff contributed to this report.

Clarification: We changed the sentence “A backup process is routine, predictable and avoidable.” to “A backup process is routine, predictable and easy for an end-user to avoid.”

The software uses Microsoft’s own Dynamic Signature Service which fingerprints threats constantly, without having to wait for new definitional updates. The tool is low-resource, and minimizes CPU and memory usage while the computer in use. Of course, the biggest advantage will come when the vast majority of users have installed the software, preventing the spread of malware between users. While Microsoft has no plans to push MSE out to its users, the real benefit will come when it decides to do so.

MSE has remained largely unchanged since the beta tests, and requires no registration, trials or renewals and will be available for download directly from Microsoft for XP SP2 through Windows 7, although users will have to pass a Windows Genuine Advantage test to download the product.

Acting US Attorney Michael K. Loucks and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Boston Field Division announced September 15 that Francis G. Janosko, 43 pleaded guilty to one count of intentional damage to a protected computer in Federal District Court in Boston.

During 2006 and 2007 While an Inmate at Plymouth, Janosko hacked a computer provided to inmates for legal research. The computer had restrictions disallowing use of email or Internet and various other functionality. Janosko was also able to gain access to a file containing names, addresses and social security of around 1,000 current and former employees of Plymouth County Correctional Facility. Janosko also attempted, albeit unsuccessfully to access a vital prison management software.

Janosko had been released from Plymouth County Correctional for some time but has been incarcerated since his apprehension in November 2008. The FBI and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office investigated this case. Assistant US Attorney Scott L. Garland of Michael K. Loucks’s Computer Crime Unit is prosecuting the case.

Judge O’Toole set the sentencing date for December 15. Under the terms set forth in a plea bargain Janosko faces 18 months in prison.

China was added, amongst other things, for “increasing natural resource-focused diplomacy and military modernization,” while Russia was singed out because, despite a growing partnership with the US on fighting things like nuclear terrorism, “it may continue to seek avenues for reasserting power and influence in ways that complicate US interests,” according to the AFP.

The National Intelligence Strategy (NIS), a report released every four years, calls China and Russia “aggressive” in the cyberworld and while the NIS did not explicitly name either countries as a cyber threat, it did outline cause for concern.

“At the tactical level, they are intent on penetrating our critical infrastructure, information systems, and leading industries,” it said, AFP reports. The report went on to recommend the US employ tactical strategies “across the cyber domain to protect critical infrastructure.”

The report also lists Iran and North Korea, unsurprisingly, as parts of its main opposition. It stressed the possibility of further partnerships with China and Russia to help strengthen relationships, however saw no hope of immediate reconciliation with either countries.

“Iran poses an array of challenges to US security objectives in the Middle East and beyond because of its nuclear and missile programs, support of terrorism, and provision of lethal aid to US and coalition adversaries…North Korea continues to threaten peace and security in East Asia because of its sustained pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, its transfer of these capabilities to third parties, its erratic behavior, and its large conventional military capability.”

Its assessment of Iran and North Korea was much harsher than of its two newcomers.

The report also highlighted Al-Qaeda as a continuing threat to both Americans and American interests at home and abroad and said the US’ main objective for the next four years will be to enhance “cyber security”, combat extreme terrorism and ensure weapons of mass destruction are not created or bought by any opposing nations.

The promotion and spread of democracy was not listed as a main priority.

Take Acer for example. The last year has seen an explosion in the popularity of netbook computers, and Acer’s Apsire One line of $270 netbooks are all the rage. Previously, no one has heard of MSI, but now everyone and their mother is hacking their $300 Wind to run OS X. Same with Asus and their EEE PC line.

Some companies ready to break onto the scene are more familiar for their other products. At the Nokia World conference in Germany last week, Nokia announced their Booklet 3G, a sleek, 2 cm thin aluminum netbook, signifying that the company who previously made their mark on the electronics world by manufacturing phones is now trying to expand themselves back onto the PC market after selling that division more than fifteen years ago.

The Booklet 3G is powered by the same Intel Atom processor in the MSI Wind and Acer One lines, but whereas those netbooks are only wi-fi capable, the Booklet 3G will come built in with a 3G/HSPA antenna, giving the netbook data network access wherever cell reception is available, along with the assisted GPS found in mobile phones. The netbook will also have a 10.1-inch HD-ready screen and HDMI port, something typically reserved for higher-end laptops and desktop, and certainly not something offered on current netbooks.

Nokia is truly in a unique position too introduce a computer as ground breaking as the Booklet 3G is. Of course, a netbook this exciting is also rather wallet-breaking as well. While only European pricing has been announced so far, the Booklet 3G will sell for 575 euros, which comes to about 820 dollars. However, netbooks often come subsidized if they have a data antenna. No subsidies have been announced yet, but they would have to be hefty to be anywhere near the sub-$300 prices on other netbooks.

It’s also yet to seen whether or not the subsidized notebook market will even prove to be profitable. Many carriers in the US are offering netbooks for as low as $50 with a 2-year data contract. Considering how much iPhone users complain about being locked into their contracts though, the carriers will probably face some stiff resistance.

Curiously and notably absent form the netbook market though is Apple. Apple even poked fun at the concept of a netbook yesterday at their keynote, showing an image of someone failing to shove a Dell Mini into his back pocket. Apple continues to claim that people don’t want an underpowered netbook; they want fast and they want powerful. Of course this is belied by the fact Apple continues to offer their white plastic MacBook for sale, and that their “mobile computing platform” of the iPhone and iPod touch has half the processing power of current netbooks.

More over, an article Wired ran last month argued that we’re in the middle of the “good enough” revolution, stating that “the low end has never been riding higher.” An interesting point to consider.

In any case, netbooks are here to stay. It’ll be interesting to seem some the innovations that trickle down towards the end user from higher end computers. An always on data connection, A-GPS, and HDMI connectivity are a great start. What’s next?

Talk about a victory. Apple has approved a Vonage App while Google Voice can’t even get near the App Store with its own software.

“Vonage is currently conducting a beta test and general availability will be announced at a later date,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “This new service, along with the recent launch of the Vonage World unlimited calling plan, continues Vonage’s heritage of using innovative technology to create significant value for its current and future customers.”

Vonage’s stock (NYSE: VG) soared almost 20 percent on App news.

The networking solutions company Netgear announced August 31 that its ReadyNAS storage appliance line, designed for Small to Medium Businesses (SMB) would now support the Remote Agent for Linux and UNIX Servers (RALUS) for Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers. Now installed directly on the ReadyNAS device, the Symantec developed Backup Exec agent communicates directly with Symantec Backup Exec Software to provide significant performance boosts in backup, restore, archive and disaster recovery.

Ian Moran from UK Reseller Konnexion described his experience as such: “Disk-to-disk backup performance with the RALUS Add-On for ReadyNAS runs at 3GB/minute. Most importantly, I am now managing backups from various systems using a single tool without error messages or concerns. Thanks to Netgear and Symantec, my SMB customers now have a cutting-edge backup and recovery solution to cut costs and reduce management pain even further.”

RALUS extends the Backup Exec technology of Symantec beyond Windows and Netware to Linux and Unix Systems. This helps meet the backup and storage needs of businesses that choose Linux. Netear is the first to offer Small to Medium Businesses sub-$5000 solutions with this functionality.

“Our work with Symantec is indicative of our commitment to providing SMBs with a full range of options in order to store, share and protect their data,” said Paul Tien, vice president and general manager of Netgear’s Networked Storage Business Unit. “As a leading SMB storage vendor, this kind of cross-vendor support is proof of our commitment to this market. ReadyNAS owners and channel partners are building ever more powerful solutions at a more affordable price point with industry leaders like Symantec.”

The RALUS add-on for Backup Exec is priced at $395 and licensed from Symantec; it is supported by Backup Exec versions 10.5 and newer. It is available for download from both Netgear and Symantec. Curious? More information for the entire ReadyNAS product line is available at their site too.

Skype is used by millions of individuals and businesses to make video and voice calls, send instant messages, share files and make cheap calls to landlines and cell phones.

“We are extremely fortunate to have such a talented and seasoned group invest in our company,” said Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype, which will retail the final third of its own company. “This is a group of investors and industry veterans that have a strong track record of taking the technology companies they own to the next level. With their know-how helping to guide our vision, Skype is poised to enter the next phase of its growth and development.”

Skype Technologies showed $551 million in revenue in 2008, up 44 percent from 2007. There were 405 million registered users at teh end of 2008. eBay previously projected Skype revenues to exceed $1 billion by 2011.

Skype service is also available on the iPhone as an app and on new models of the Sony PSP.

The event will open at 10 a.m. at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, Calif., at the Moscone Center, the same site of Macworld Expo and Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).

Since 2005, Apple has used these events, usually near September, to introduce massive changes to its music business. Last year Apple introduced new iPods and iTunes 8 at a similar event.

“It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” Apple says in an email inviting people to the event, Macworld reported. Apple gave no details about the event or what could be announced.

Maybe its a tablet device?

“Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, in a statement. “The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders.”

Homeland security says that only a very minuscule percentage of people crossing the border will be affected (only 46 laptops have been seized in the past 10 months out of more than 221 million people crossing the border) but the implications are serious. Strictly speaking, government agents can seize your electronics, copy all of the files contained therein and store them indefinitely.

But let’s be even more frank. The government is probably not going to take your laptop. Border agents don’t care about your music collection or episodes of “Leverage,” but there are some questions about the effectiveness of this policy. If a terrorist was keeping electronic files, they could store the files in a microSD card that’s smaller than a fingernail. It’s a lot easier to hide a microSD card than it is to hide a laptop.

The ACLU has filed suit, challenging the policy.

One way to ensure your files stay yours is to execute redundancy. If you have files that you need access to wherever you go, you could consider Google Docs or one of the many online file storage sites. Backing up documents at home is, of course, always smart computing practice. Buy a portable hard drive if you don’t already own one.

Millions of Twitter users are unable to Tweet, reTweet, hash, @ and direct message their virtual friends Wednesday as the Twitter service and Twitter.com website were unresponsive.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told reporters that the site had been hit by a denial of service attack.

Twitter went down around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Service was restored briefly before the attack forced the service down again.

A denial of service attack is a common way to bring websites and computer networks to their knees by sending repeated — often a countless number of — requests to the website, bottling up bandwidth on the website literally like a clogged drain pipe.

The new 2TB Deskstar 7K2000 is a high performance, super-high capacity drive with a five-platter design and a 32MB cache and 3GB per second SATA interface.

“The new Deskstar 7K2000 reflects our ongoing commitment to provide customers, channel partners and OEMs with proven, reliable solutions for enabling desktop computers, gaming systems, workstations and desktop RAID arrays,” said Brendan Collins, vice president of marketing of Hitachi GST. “At Hitachi, we continue to offer one of the broadest product lines in the world with a focus on delivering industry-leading hard drives that meet the reliability, performance, capacity and power needs of a variety of traditional and emerging market segments.”

For all intents and purposes, Napster died nine years ago today

Judge Marilyn Patel, of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, granted an injunction filed by the record industry against Napster, forcing it to cease all operations.

That was the death of Napster, though two days later an appeals court granted the peer-to-peer file sharing service a stay of execution, which ended on February 12, 2001, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit announced a decision in A&M Records v. Napster, which upheld the RIAA’s injunction saying Napster was participating in copyright infringement.

Napster’s legal counsel tried to argue the VCR case, citing the Audio Home Recording Act and throwing out phrasaes like “fair use.”

They failed.

The following article appeared on ReviewCenter.com on July 26, 2000.

Here Today … Gone Tomorrow — Is Napster Really Dead?
By Christina Warren, Review Center Staff

On Wednesday, a Federal Judge sided with the Recording Industry Association (RIAA) of America, and ordered a temporary injunction on the popular music program Napster. Napster allows its users to share music files in the form of MP3s without regard to copyright.

When the program gained astounding popularity, the recording industry and a group of vocal artists took exception and filed suit against the company, alleging that the trade of MP3s violated copyrights held by the artists and their recording companies.

“Napster is enjoined from copying or assisting or contributing to the copy or duplication of all copyrighted songs and musical compositions of which the plaintiffs hold rights,” US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered at a hearing in San Francisco federal court.

This ruling will no doubt shock the many users of Napster, as well as supporters who did not think the program would be shut down so quickly.

“When the infringing is of such a wholesale magnitude, the plaintiffs are entitled to enforce their copyrights,” Patel said. Patel ordered that the injunction go into effect at 12 a.m. PDT on July 28, 2000. Patel’s ruling in favor of the RIAA strongly suggests that the trial that will take place against Napster at the end of the year will also find in favor of the RIAA.

The creator and CEO of Napster held a live web broadcast at 7 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, addressing the courts ruling and the future of Napster. Essentially, the message was that while they adamantly opposed the ruling by Judge Patel in the hearing, they would comply with the court’s order. What does that mean?

This means that as of midnight on Friday morning, Napster will basically cease to function as we know it.

The question then becomes for Napster’s users, “What next?” Programs like Gnutella sprouted up as soon as the RIAA filed suit against Napster in December. These programs are even more dangerous to copyright holders, because they allow not only the transfer of music, but of video and text files as well.

It will be hard for anyone to stop people from sharing files. The MP3 format is hardly new, even if it has been making a lot of news with the advent of Napster and the subsequent trials. MP3 files were around before Napster, and they will continue to exist in the wake of this judgment.

Websites are already in the planning stages of trying to keep Napster alive. www.napigator.com has already started posting un-official Napster servers that can be used with the current Napster clients. This will allow Napster users to continue to use Napster after the Friday injunction, but without logging onto “official” servers. As these services become increasingly popular, it is going to be difficult to shut Napster down completely.

Users will have to await a final ruling when the case against Napster goes to trial this fall. The RIAA represents major acts like Metallica and Dr. Dre and represents companies such as Universal Music, BMG, Sony Music, Warner Music Group and EMI.

Until now, Hitachi has only manufactured the hard drives inside your computers, but after acquiring Fabrik, Hitachi has announced a new line of external HDDs. The first, the SimpleTOUGH is a ruggedized HDD wrapped in rubber to protect it from up to three meter drops, water,  or — like the Hitachi rep we spoke with did — if you drive your neighbor’s one ton truck over it. The unit still manages to remain sleek though, which is no small feat.

The other HDD Hitachi announced is the SimpleDRIVE Mini, a small — as in size, not capacity — HDD that’s designed with making backups simple and painless. The drives come in multiple colors come with free backup software for users, as well as 2 GB of online “cloud” storage. Both drives come in 250, 320, and 500 GB sizes for various prices.

On top of these two big announcements, Hitachi also dropped this little gem: the SimpleNET USB/NAS adapter turns any USB device into a networked drive. While it’s not quite capable of streaming HD video, the device can still move files about efficiently from any USB drive, no matter the formatting of the device, useful in our Windows/OS X mixed computing home and office. Hitachi is also openly attracting hackers by installing SHFS server utility which allows any intrepid hacker to edit the underlying Linux code on the device. It’s a simple device now, but who knows what it could become.

These are solid products for Hitachi’s entrance into the HDD market. Hitachi will be expanding their product line over the coming months, rebuilding it so that the entire product line will be new by 2010. While HDDs may not generate a ton of excitement, it’s good to see a big name with quality products enter the market.

I hadn’t seen her since graduation, but the conversation consisted of me asking questions I already knew the answers to.

So you have a child now?

And you’ve moved out of state?

So, you’re thinking of going back to school for nursing, huh?

These days, my conversations all seem to go this way. I just have to pretend like I didn’t know my former classmate’s sister just got engaged, but in fact I already knew about the engagement because I was informed of it as soon as her “relationship status” changed.

This is the crazy, addictive world that is Facebook. Most conversations will always lead to Facebook or Facebook knowledge at some point. It’s even become a regular topic at the dinner table. I have close to 30 family members on Facebook — as young as 9 and as old as 60.

I have to admit, I was a late bloomer when it came to Facebook. I was determined to stay away from the cult phenomenon, but when people slowly started dropping from MySpace, another cult, I was forced to become a Facebooker.

I wasn’t hooked right away though. I just didn’t get what the big deal was. I mean, I was happy for my neighbor because she was enjoying a turkey club for lunch and that her friend Becky liked (thumbs up) that she was enjoying her lunch. But really, why did I care?

It didn’t take long before I was updating my status every couple of hours. I was a fan of bubble wrap, and I found out which 90210 character I was most like. I was officially addicted.

There’s no other forum like this, where a person has 556 friends and many of those friends are people they went to high school with who they’ve probably never even spoken to.

Facebook has been the beginning and the end for many relationships. It has gotten many people in trouble at work, and has even gotten some people fired. But it also keeps you in touch with people you might otherwise never talk to. And for that reason — well, AND so I can stalk people — I will remain a dedicated and pathetically addicted Facebooker.

One of those is Newstex for syndication.

While we can’t discuss how much we make (hint: we’re not buying boats with shorties and T-Pain and SNL cast members) Newstex is a piece of our puzzle, and some kind of syndication should be in yours too. They even get us on Amazon Kindle.

They recently released an ebook about syndication. Here it is. Enjoy.

The MacBook Pro line is being expanded with a new 13-inch model. All sizes will have the new unibody built-in, non-removable battery which Apple claims will last for 7 hours. All models will get a speed bump and come with a standard 4GB of DDR3 memory, expandable to 8GB. The MacBook Pro also now comes with a Secure SD slot, replacing the PCI slot that got (basically) zero use before.  The MacBooks are getting a Firewire 800 port (I guess all that moaning when Apple got rid of it last time actually had an effect) and their brethren’s Secure SD slot.

The prices across all laptops have been slashed; both the 17-inch and the 15-inch Macbook Pro models as well as the Macbook Air will drop $300 to $2499, $1699, and $1499 respectively , while the Macbooks will drop $100 to start at $1199. Yay for the recession and new toys!

No really. You should run far, far away.

Although Circuit City won’t be returning in a physical capacity anytime soon, last month Systemax purchased the Circuit City brand and website, and they’ve since developed it into an online retail venture. The website has a wide selection of electronics, as would be expected, and some of the deals aren’t half bad. The website looks very familiar and is rather easy to shop.

What you actually need to watch out for are the same horrible consumer practices that drove Circuit City into the ground in the first place. For example, the Consumerist points out this quote from Circuit City’s return policy.

Products from manufacturers such as Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson and others are not returnable to CircuitCity.com FOR ANY REASON.

(Emphasis ours, distasteful caps theirs). Basically, this little caveat means that Circuit City can refuse any return for any reason. Do we need to explain why this is bad? What about if you want to sue them for crappy service? Good luck — you also agreed to binding arbitration. You may as well just bend over for them — it would probably be easier.

Compare this policy with those of sites like Amazon or NewEgg and you realize that Circut City is alone in their draconian policies. You know, maybe that great deal at Circuit City won’t turn out to be such a deal at all as soon as you need help with it. Just do yourself a favor and purchase your gizmos and gadgets from a respectable retailer that hasn’t recently filed for bankruptcy.

So thought Pipi Quinlan — at least until she opened her email to find out that she had placed the winning bid on a 20,000 New Zealand dollar ($12,295) bid on an earth-moving digger on the online auction site TradeMe.co.nz. Although she had been bidding on toy trucks earlier that day, she definitely didn’t recall bidding on a multi-ton machine. It turns out her toddler had accidentally placed the rather sizeable bid inadvertently.

The site was very forgiving after speaking with the mother and repaid the selling costs, and allowed the digger to be relisted. Clearly something to think about next time you leave your laptop open around a small child.

The eGo series comes in a range of sizes expected for a portable hard drive, between 250GB and 500GB. Iomega promises that the devices can survive falls of over four feet, which is quite decent, though I wouldn’t decide to test these limits on purpose. The devices are USB 2.0 powered, meaning you don’t have to carry around another power brick.

Iomega also included some nifty extras; the device comes with download instructions for McAfee VirusScan Plus to guard against viruses and malware (obviously useless to OS X users), a few backup utilities (slightly redundant for OS X users who know what Time Machine is), and a 2BG cloud storage with MozyHome. An extra all users can appreciate is a Y-shaped USB splitter that frees up the USB port that the hard drive is plugged into.

These are certainly great dad and grad gift ideas; they’re neat looking tools in a neat package.

But what about those times when you want to listen to a certain song — like right now? Sure you can try to prod Pandora into playing the song for you, but it’s hit or miss. Slacker lets you choose some favorites, but these choices are limited, and again, there are no guarantees. And since the RIAA is actually still suing people, despite their assurances otherwise, we’re going for legal methods.

Enter Spotify.

Spotify is essentially a digital version of the iTunes catalog, where every song is available for free streaming. No kidding, you can pick and choose any song you want to listen to, and it will begin playing on demand. (OK, OK, The Beatles are still nowhere to be found, but that’s surprising to no one.) The familiar interface works much like iTunes. Artist names and albums are hyperlinked to the respective pages where you can listen to the artists other songs and albums.

I was very impressed with the selection. While all of the most obvious artists and songs are available, there’s an impressive back catalogue. I found many b-sides and live albums I didn’t know existed for many of my favorite bands as well as many, shall we say, “band nerd” songs from my yesterdays in the high school band.

The software allows you to build playlists drag and drop style but many websites also offer a robust selection of playlists that you can add. The software also comes with the ability to share songs via links.

All in all, this possibly strikes you as too good to be true; and alas, for anyone living state side, it is. Spofity is currently only available in a handful of European countries. Of course, enterprising users have managed to find a way around the IP address checks used to make sure that users are from these allowed countries; a simple Google search will probably reveal the methods.

Though currently in invite only-beta, the site actually allows new users (again, from the appropriate countries) to sign up and download the software, all for free. The company’s revenue model is based on inserting ads in the software and in the audio stream. Users can also sign up for premium service to eliminate these ads.

For the future, the company also has iPhone and Symbian apps in development, an obvious addition considering the limited space on most devices. All in all, free is hard to argue with, and should Spotify manage to strike the right licensing deals, they might just have a winning formula.

Even though naysayers are forecasting the demise of the photocopying industry, Xerox pushed ahead Thursday with their (unfortunately spelled) ColorQube 9200 series which uses solid ink sticks in place of the cartridges in all-in-one workstations.

Blast attended an online press conference to learn the details from Xerox.

The energy savings with the ColorQube are substantial. Apart from the industry standard Energy Star compliance, the ColorQube’s solid ink sticks require only packaging; they’re deposited straight into the copier, without the typical plastic housing of a toner cartridge. For example savings—and this is Xerox’s statistic—imagine an office that prints the complete works of Shakespeare (about 2000 pages) eleven times over a month for four years. This office would produce 815 pounds of solid printer waste! With the ColorQube, the office would have only produced 88 pounds — a rather solid 90 percent reduction. Granted, this statistic is a little extreme, but it goes to show how far smart product design and packaging can go.

The ColorQube also detects the amount of color used on a page, and charges accordingly. Instead of getting charged the same amount for a page that contains a colored headline as a full color photo print, the ColorQube breaks down copies into different tiers that cost differing amounts, which will certainly be a boon to any office that does frequent color copies.

The rest of the specs for the ColorQube are standard for a high-end multi-function machine: 50 pages per minute color, 80 in black, IPv6 networking via Ethernet, 58,000 page capacity for the solid ink sticks, and so on.

It’s certainly nice to see a company as big as Xerox show some concern for environmental thought with how often people through the word “green” around these days.

If you’ve ever had to add a product to your cart on a website in order to see the price, you’ve experienced minimum retail price enforcement in action. Apple is a company well known for such enforcement. This is why an iPod almost always costs the same at the online Apple store or at Amazon.com Similarly, your iPhone cost the same at Best Buy or the AT&T store.

However, some online stores can offer better prices on some of these products, mostly because the overhead costs are so much lower with online retail. Costs for hosting and being able to stock product limited only on the size of your warehouse for an online store will always be less than paying a lease and utility bills on a physical store in which shelf space is limited.

Now, some online retailers are arguing that online stores have an unfair advantage. An oft-cited example of these unfair practices is how consumers will visit a brick and mortar store, play with product displays, use the employees’ time to ask questions, and then go home and order the product cheaper online because it’s cheaper. The physical store has lost time and money, the online store gets a sale.

In Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, the Supreme Court decided (and I’m paraphrasing here with my decidedly non-legal background) to allow for a new standard of stricter enforcement of minimum retail prices to which both online stores and individual people — eBay sellers included — will be held. In fact, some retailers use tools that comb through eBay listings to find products going for below the minimum retail price and then threaten legal action on these sellers. For the most part, individuals selling on eBay don’t have the legal clout to challenge the suit either.

Of course, these anti-trust challenges have to move through the court system, so it will take time for the decision to filter through the market; indeed time will tell what effect this will have on the prices the consumer will pay, but the days of getting a good deal online could very well be numbered.

Hulu’s growth is certainly impressive considering that most of Hulu’s offerings are all from network television, which typically don’t go viral like many of Youtube’s offerings. However as more cash-strapped consumers ditch their cable subscriptions and look to stream their favorite shows online instead, Hulu’s growth could easily continue.

Overall, 75 percent of people who signed online in February viewed at least one video during the month. While Hulu served only 2.5 percent of those videos, a full quarter of video watchers saw at least one video at Hulu (which for those who are still following the math is almost a fifth of the Internet populace).

Google maintained its lead at the largest video provider, showing over 5 million videos to 100 million unique visitors, almost 41 percent of all videos shown.

And as a final note, if productivity is what we need to get us out of this economic rut, these statistics don’t bode very well for us. Over 13 million videos were viewed in February, averaging out to about five hours per user. So much for actually getting work done at the office.

A group at Aberystwyth University in the UK has developed a completely automated workstation, which is capable of developing scientific hypotheses and then designing future experiments to verify them, all without any intervention from scientists. Using this workstation, named “Adam,” the scientists discovered the genetic coding for an orphan enzyme than had no known parent gene. While this may not sound like quite an accomplishment, this is actually an impressive feat that would have been rather labor-intensive and time-consuming for the scientists to carry out by hand.

The workstation is basically a fully fleshed-out molecular biology laboratory. It’s controlled by four computers, and comes with centrifuges, spectrophotometers to measure cell growth, automated liquid handlers and freezers among many different tools. The workstation can carry out 1,000 experiments simultaneously, each lasting five days, while making measurements every thirty minutes on each sample. The software then compiles all of the data it collects, makes statistical inferences, and then designs future experiments, and again carries them out in an iterative process. The human scientists simply added laboratory consumables and removed waste — Adam carried out the rest of the work.

Science is no stranger to automation. The vast majority of drug discovery work is done on liquid handing robot. However, the vast majority of this work is just brute force. For example, in the case of drug discovery, each well of a 384 well plate is loaded with a slightly different version of a molecule to see which version has the most activity. The most promising candidates are selected (in a process called hit-picking), and then further developed. Adam performed a similar process, determining which of the 1,200 known coding regions in the yeast genome actually coded a certain gene. But whereas, in drug development, scientists try every version of a drug they can synthesize, Adam was able to intelligently select which avenues of development were the most promising, eventually determining that three separate genes actually coded together for the one final product.

Clearly a lot of human work went into developing the software and logic algorithms that controlled Adam, so scientists aren’t going to be replaced by robots anytime soon. Adam didn’t design himself, after all. However, work of this kind could accelerate scientific discovery and development. As computers become more powerful, we’ll be able to analyze larger and larger data sets, finding patterns that would otherwise be too difficult for the human mind to tease out. The work done by this group is pioneering, and could be changing the face of science as we know it.

Talk about timing.

When Jeanne Thomas saw four men robbing her house, she called 911 and the cops got there before the thieves could get away with the loot.

In the interview with CBS, Thomas says she used refers to the camera as a “webcam” but Logitech was quick to point out that it was actually their WiLife Digital Video Security System.

The product, while not a traditional webcam per se, is a bunch of webcam-like cameras that you can view from the web.

Names aside, it was a good $250 investment for Thomas.

Actually, the Conficker worm, which has been quietly distributing itself across Windows PCs since 2008, was supposed to start phoning home Wednesday. Reports are conflicted whether or not anything has actually happened yet. Most experts agree that it could be a few days until the effects of the virus are known, though predictions run the gamut from a simple botnet that will send more spam or commit DDoS attacks to more sinister actions like stealing credit card information.

While the whole Conficker situation could be a very elaborate but harmless April Fool’s joke, the fact that everyone is so worked up into a frenzy over it shows that computer viruses are still as much of a threat in the ever-connected, ever-computerized world we live in now as they have been.

Last week marked ten years since the first “malware” virus, the Melissa virus, first started wrecking havoc on users’ computers and overloading email systems. While viruses that hijack email clients and propagate by mailing copies of themselves to everyone in address book are largely extinct now, the Melissa virus was a real problem in 1999.

Dmitry Gryaznov, a member of the original McAfee team who discovered and tracked down the Melissa virus, points out that “Ten years ago, malware writers were interested in creating a name for themselves. It’s a vastly different picture today. Cybercriminals are financially-driven; they’re eager to steal personal information and cash-in on the cyber attacks.” It’s true that most viruses in the past were about being flashy, like by deleting important system files. Most viruses today are Trojan programs that watch your computer in the background to steal credit card information and passwords that could lead to identity theft.

It’s important to point out that running a decent virus scanner or just installing the patches that Windows pushes out over Windows Update would have prevented this whole situation from ever happening. Of course, if you’re on a blog like this one, you probably already knew this-or you just run OS X. And if you haven’t, go scan your system-NOW. There are lots of free (http://free.avg.com/) and open source (http://www.clamwin.com/) tools available, so there are no excuses.

I hate iTunes.

I’m sick and tired of Apple getting a pass on quality control just because they gave us the Holy Roman iPod Empire and, by a roll of the dice, beat out 10 comparable music download services, both of which are jam packed into our worlds and force-fed to us through iTunes, a software title that just about creeps by on 4 GB of RAM.

It started out innocently enough with iTunes for managing and syncing your iPod and downloading new songs. But where did this incompetent “Genius” come from as it utterly paralyzes my computer from doing the one thing I’m actually trying to do — play a single song from my library?

What’s a decent sized audio library for anyone in their mid-20s? I have 2,000 songs that fit into a space under 8 gigs and play perfectly find on both my new Nano and my original third-generation iPod. Why is it that these same songs can bring a multi-core computer to its knees under the banner of iTunes?

And who gave Apple permission to try and install Safari and several other programs on my computer under the false auspices of “upgrading my iTunes to the latest version.” AIM tried to do that around the same time the term “adware” was coined.

Seriously, is Apple still so desperate for exposure that they will literally try and sneak their software into someone’s computer? No I don’t want Mobile Me. Thanks though.

When dragging a song from my library to a playlist is a 45 second, six click ordeal, there’s a problem here.

Strip it down! Turn off automatic art downloading. Save the Geniuses for the chess club.

In a way this is all our fault. We adopted the whole package and forked over our credit card numbers without asking questions. We can’t switch, right?

Now excuse me, there’s a new MGMT song I have to buy off the iTunes Store.

The world wide web has revolutionized they way we do things today, and that includes archiving. Now with a simple search and click of the mouse, primary documents, sometimes fragile, are right at our fingertips. Here’s a listing of some of the most useful and interesting archives or databases we’ve come across.

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

The LIFE photo archive hosted by Google ranks as one of my favorites. There are over a million photographs available by simply going to the Google images page. Also, LIFE archived photos will automatically generate when you add :life to any keyword. Some of these photos have never been published before and date back to the 1750s. The photos are organized by decade or category. and are further broken down into subcategories such as people, places, events, sports or culture.  The LIFE photo archives are simple to navigate and include a wealth of iconic images.

Library of Congress – Digital Collections

The Digital Collections of the Library of Congress are more than just photo archives. One can search through historic newspapers, over 1 million digital photographs, first person veteran accounts of their service, international materials and presentations, legislative records, historic maps, audio and video from American History & Culture, collections of performance art materials, and archived web sites.  Each set of archived material is divided into categories, which makes a specific topic easy to locate. In this dismal economy, who needs to take a trip to Washington when they can access the same treasures online?

Reboot Stereophonics – Archived music, discussions & articles

Reboot Stereophonics collects information pertaining to the Jewish culture. One section of the site, Stereophonics, exhibits lost Jewish audio from music archives as well as long-forgotten albums that were discovered in obscure thrift shops. Reboot Inspired is a collection of articles defining the Jewish identity and “rebooting” the traditions to make that identity resonate in people’s lives today. Another section of the site, Guilt & Pleasure, is a collection of different discussions that occurred regarding Jewish issues and the community. The entire Reboot Stereophics archives help to promote the healthy conversation about the Jewish identity today.

Internet Archive

Another great starting place is the Internet Archive. This is like the hub of all archives. There are sections for moving images, live music, texts, audio, software and even web pages. Using the Wayback Machine, you can surf through 85 billion web pages archived from 1996. Related projects and additional archive websites are also listed. Another great tool is the open education resources. Lectures, videos, free courses and supplemental videos are all available for personal use. There’s also a database of legal downloads including audio books, poetry, collections of the Grateful Dead and more.

IMDb

Although more of a database instead of archive, Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is the Internet’s largest collection of movies, past and present. IMDb has rapidly grown over the years and now includes more than 6,000 full-length feature films and TV episodes that can be watched for free. Up-to-the minute news stories are also generated in their news feeds from a wide variety of entertainment publications. This is my go-to archive when I can’t remember what actor stared in what movie,etc.

Archives.gov

Archives.gov is a good starting place if you’re looking for archived material. The National Archives Records Administration is the organization that is charged with holding Federal Records including those famous documents such as the Declaration of Independence along with public records such as military records. On the site you can access special online exhibits and featured documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Magna Carta. There are also links to genealogy sites if you’re looking to search your personal history.

Of course, now that it’s no longer a Mac-only browser, it’s share has grown as a few (admittedly brave) folks downloaded it for their PCs. Even still, the vast majority of Safari users were Mac users who used Safari by default because they were too lazy to actually choose another (better) browser.

On Tuesday, Apple announced the beta for Safari 4 for both Windows and Mac. Apple has pulled out all the stops to make Safari an attractive browser that people will actually want to use. Heavy on new technical features as well as eye candy, this is quite possibly the first time Safari has resembled a browser that has the brilliant minds behind Apple’s design. Granted, most of the features just appearing now have been in other browsers. This time, however, Apple has put its own spin on them to make them, well… just work.

The first difference greeting users (after a brief, yet fancy, intro movie) is that Safari now offers better visual integration with the Window’s OS, featuring a standard title bar with buttons. While the chrome of Apple’s applications remains on the rest of the window, it is less distracting than before. Also, instead of a tab bar, tabs show up in the title bar like in Google Chrome (a feature Apple calls “Tabs on Top”). While I’m not a personal fan of this style because it prevents tab rearranging, it does take up less screen real estate.

The address bar and search box now have “AwesomeBar” like features, suggesting visited sites and bookmarks. When typing in addresses. The new home screen for empty windows and tabs shows the users’ most visited sites, a feature that Opera users have had for a long time, and intrepid Firefox users can add via plug-in. The screen is constantly updated over time, but can be customized by pinning or hiding links. Clicking on one of the tabs animates it as it moves to fill the window, a small piece of eye candy that is utterly cool to watch. Actually, the browser is full of these small animations that the average user doesn’t notice consciously, but make for a better visual experience, something Apple has always incorporated into its products.

Users can now look through and search their histories and bookmarks using Coverflow. Each entry has a screen shot saved for it. I find this interface for viewing bookmarks and histories actually to be more intuitive for both the average user who is likely to be a bit daunted by the system file structure as well as for native OS X users.

Something I found interesting and rather unique is the built-in RSS viewer. The in-browser RSS reader allows users to scroll through the stories, adjust them for length, sort them by any number of descriptors, and even search them, all from the same window. And while most users who know what RSS is will likely keep using a separate reader, these features are still very useful for quick browsing.

On the technical side, Apple claims that the new Nitro Engine renders Javascript faster than every other browser, and includes benchmarks to support their claims. In a completely biased and unscientific survey, I thought surfing through AJAX heavy sites like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Facebook was indeed snappy, so I’m likely to believe Apple assertions.

Safari still lacks an add-on architecture, which is perhaps Firefox’s best attribute, and the largest thing to keep Safari from gaining significant browser share. Otherwise, Apple has picked the best features of the browsers on the market and wrapped them up in a slick package that certainly deserves a look.

On January 23, PC Tools reported on a new computer worm disguised as a Valentine’s Day program: Waledac worm victims can be infected through links distributed in email or instant messages that redirect consumers to exploited websites, which allows cybercriminals to gain control over the user’s computer.

PC Tools says the “digitally active” are in a higher risk category than other consumers because they frequently use new and alternative  technologies to look for love, such as instant messaging, social networking, dating and adult web sites, popular targets for cybercriminals. According to a recent study by Web of Trust of 19 million web sites, adult websites pose the single most significant security threat for Internet users.

The “digitally active” are also regularly posting their personal information on social networking and dating websites, only to wake up the “morning after” to find their computer has been compromised and that they are a potential victim for identity theft and financial loss.

Here’s a little checklist:

• Do you visit adult websites?
• Do you use your credit card to purchase items when you visit?
• Do you have your birth date, street address, or any other personal information listed on any social networking sites or dating sites?
• Do you often open links through IM or email?
• Do you access the Internet without protection (i.e. security software, browser and firewall protection)?

“Answering ‘yes’ increases a user’s vulnerability to DTD’s,” said Greene.  “That’s why PC Tools has developed a list of common sense tips so the ‘digitally active’ can play safe while online.”

PC Tools’ tips for playing it safe for the “Digitally Active.”

1. PRACTICE SAFE EX-CHANGES – Be careful with e- cards

While many people trade e- cards on Valentine’s Day, birthdays and special occasions, be careful about opening e-cards and the associated links-even during an IM or social networking chat. Check the address of the link carefully before clicking on it. If the email or IM is from an address you are unfamiliar with or the link is to a Web site you are unfamiliar with, don’t open it-you could be exposing yourself to a DTD. Likewise, confirm with your friend that they have sent you a file or link to confirm its legitimacy.

2. LOOK FOR LOVE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES – Looks can be deceiving…

Just as our virtual networking techniques become increasingly sophisticated so too are the techniques applied by cybercriminals such that it is increasingly difficult to tell the difference between legitimate websites and hacker-created websites. Both adult and dating Websites are known to have a high incidence of malicious code that could steal your identity and finances. It is also important to note that legitimate and reputable sites have also been a target for cybercriminals-be warned, looks can be deceiving! To avoid this, first be on the alert and be aware, only visit and download from websites that are recommended by well-known and reputable sources and never visit any website without protection.

3. DON’T BECOME DATE BAIT AND OVERLY PROMISCUOUS – Don’t give out too many personal details

Social networking, Instant Messaging (IM) accounts, adult websites and online dating sites should only require your basic contact details (for example, name, billing address and contact number) to register for services.  Consumers should demonstrate caution if a website requests too much information. Contact them by phone to find out why they need so much information, how they plan to use it and if they have a privacy and security policy to protect you and use your commonsense when updating an online profile. Also, don’t be complacent and use the auto-complete feature in your browser to save your passwords, logins or other personal information-its prime real estate for the cybercriminals.

4. KISS AND TELL – Keep records all online transactions

If a website requires payment for any reason, check out its refund policies, privacy policy and legal notices. These documents should be readily available on the company’s websites and are a good indication that a site is reputable. Consumers should always print and save records of any online transactions, including the product or service description, price and the receipt of payment. If the site turns out to be fraudulent, you’ll need this information to advise the relevant authorities in order to try to get your money back. If you are going to transact online then have a separate credit card for online purchases only that has a low credit limit and is not linked to any other accounts.

5. PRACTICE CONSENTUAL UPDATING – Ensure your computer is up to date

Software companies continually issue updates to fix new security flaws, ensure you update your operating system, browser and security software regularly. Also use a web browser that is known to be relatively safe from Internet threats and vulnerabilities to ensure your computer isn’t exposed to threats where your personal and financial details, as well as your browsing habits, can be accessed by cybercriminals.

6. ALWAYS USE PROTECTION – Install comprehensive security protection

Finally, when being active, both online and offline, always use protection! There are tools consumers can use to protect themselves from DTD’s like spyware, viruses, Trojans, rootkits, and other malware. Leading independent publications recommend installing comprehensive behavior-based security software such as PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus or PC Tools Internet Security.

Make sure your security product of choice has real-time protection, proactive behavioral protection, which helps protect against new and unknown threats, an advanced firewall to block unauthorized parties trying to access your computer via the Internet and browser protection which warns you about potentially malicious sites and identifies browser exploits.

Get a free copy of PC Tools’ Internet Security Suite 2009 on the Blast Magazine freebies page!

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/02/do-you-have-a-digitally-transmitted-disease/feed/ 3 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/01/macworld-2009-big-changes-for-itunes/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/01/macworld-2009-big-changes-for-itunes/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:22:04 +0000 Torrey Meeks http://blastmagazine.com/?p=7145 With its customary flair for sexing up the art of gizmo glorification, Macworld 2009 didn’t disappoint with some big reveals today.

Topping all the charts was Apple’s latest update to its iLife suite, touting major retrofits of iMovie, iPhoto and GarageBand. The changes range from a better system for organizing photos in iPhoto to more powerful video editing functions in iMovie to a series of learning tutorials for various instruments in GarageBand.

“iLife continues to be one of the biggest reasons our customers choose to get a Mac,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. “With iLife ‘09, we’ve made working with photos, making movies and learning to play music a lot more fun, and iMovie users are especially going to love the advanced but easy-to-use new features.”

Right after the big iLife news hit, Sling Media introduced a real stunner: HD streaming for Macs and iPhones via Sling.com. Sling Media expects to have an iPhone app out soon. Expected release date for SlingPlayer, a downloadable application that will interface with Sling.com to deliver HD content, is sometime in the first fiscal quarter of this year.

“SlingPlayer Mobile is ideally suited for the iPhone’s large touch screen display and I know iPhone users are eagerly anticipating the application’s availability,” said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media.

Following up, a new 17-inch MacBook Pro with unibody construction and a non-removable 8-hour life battery and an optional anti-glare coating on the screen was announced. The computer comes packed with a 2.66ghz Intel Core Duo chip, a 320 GB Hard Drive, and 4 GB of RAM, to name a few updates.

“We’ve developed new battery technology that is better for the user and better for the environment,” said Jobs. “Apple’s advanced chemistry and innovative technology deliver up to eight hours of use on a full charge cycle and up to 1,000 recharges.”

The final move of the day set social networking sites buzzing. Apple announced a new DRM free iTunes with a three tier pricing structure — $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29.

Both moves on the iTunes front were widely regarded as a necessity in order for iTunes to remain competitive with other online music stores, with the DRM removals hailed as long overdue.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/01/macworld-2009-big-changes-for-itunes/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/01/boot-your-computer-in-hyperspeed/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/01/boot-your-computer-in-hyperspeed/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:33:53 +0000 Torrey Meeks http://blastmagazine.com/?p=7142 The notorious Windows boot time can be an onerous necessity when all you want to do is check e-mail or hit up your favorite magazine (like Blast) for a quick hit of news.

Phoenix Technologies latest product, debuting at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, is called HyperSpace. It’s a slick, compact Linux based platform that circumvents the Windows load time by booting straight from BIOS. It installs alongside Windows, and allows the user to switch between the stripped down but aesthetically pleasing HyperSpace interface — which boasts instant web connectivity — and the hard drive based Windows platform at will.

Think of it as a 3G phone version of your laptop.

The boot time for HyperSpace from total shutdown is comparable to bringing a Windows machine out of sleep mode, which is a few seconds. Because the program boots from BIOS, it doesn’t require a spinning hard drive, which saves on battery power by up to 30 percent, according to Phoenix.

HyperSpace boasts a robust security system administered by Phoenix Technologies, disallowing any downloads not cleared by the Phoenix Technology auditing system. For more advanced users, such electronic handholding might not be ideal, but it comes with the package. Time will tell if it’s a winner, but from early glimpses of the system it appears to be a nice solution for those wanting to save on battery power and circumvent hard drive based apps by living online.

The HyperSpace platform starts at $39 for the basic system which runs on single core processors and $59 for the hybrid option which runs on dual core processors.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2009/01/boot-your-computer-in-hyperspeed/feed/ 1 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/12/sony-features-acidplanet-free-xpress-7/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/12/sony-features-acidplanet-free-xpress-7/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:03:27 +0000 Blast Magazine Newsroom http://blastmagazine.com/?p=6643 Sony Creative Software is revamping and adding new features to ACIDplanet.com, its social networking site for music developers.

To coincide with the 10th aniversary of the Acid software family, which Blast loves, Sony is giving away downloads of ACID Xpress 7 for free and adding the following features to the software:

Multiple events per track
Users can now add as many loops or one-shots as desired to a track, so more complex musical compositions can be created. Automatic crossfades between events will allow users to seamlessly tie together different loops and songs.

Video scoring track
Users can quickly create soundtracks for videos by frame-accurately synchronizing music alongside the video track in ACID Xpress 7 software.

Inline MIDI editing
Increase music productivity and flexibility with easy-to-see inline event editing. Inline editing makes MIDI data easier to edit and provides quicker access to MIDI events.

Show Me How interactive tutorials
Sony’s exclusive “Show Me How” tutorials guide users through the entire creative process. Whenever help is needed, just click the “Show Me How” button and choose the tutorial topic.

ACIDplanet.com news and profile access
With ACID Xpress 7 software, users can keep up to date on ACIDplanet.com news, access their profile, and get free music loop content on ACIDplanet.com with the click of a button.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/12/sony-features-acidplanet-free-xpress-7/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/10/spam-is-still-king/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/10/spam-is-still-king/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:44:40 +0000 Blast Magazine Newsroom http://blastmagazine.com/?p=4740 Less than 6 percent of emails sent to businesses over over the last quarter, July through September, were legitimate correspondence. The rest were spam or malware.

PandaLabs, the analysis division of Panda Security, studied a sample of 123 million emails sent through their own TrustLayer Mail filter.

They found that 1.43 percent of all emails contained malware, including Netsky.P, Spamtaload.DO and SpamtaLoad.CZ.

The year so far:

Month        spam       % infected
January      76.27        1.84
February     87.83        3.08
March        86.51        1.32
April        94.75        0.88
May          94.71        0.97
June         93.35        0.87
July         90.43        0.98
August       93.01        0.99
September    91.89        2.34

“The percentage of infected emails increased significantly in September, to more than double the levels that we had witnessed in previous months. This could be related to the financial crisis, as cyber-crooks step up attacks to enhance their chances of success and avoid the effects of the economic recession,” says Panda’s Ryan Sherstobitoff.

PandaLabs found 91.77 percent of emails delivered to business inboxes were spam. This number peaked in August when more than 93 percent of mail traffic analyzed by Panda Security was cataloged as spam.

Much of this illicit traffic was sent from computers infected with bots, a type of malicious code that allows cyber-crooks to take remote control of compromised systems. Once a computer has been infected, it becomes what is colloquially known as a ‘zombie’. These ‘zombie’ computers, under the control of cybercriminals, are then networked together to form ‘botnets’ which are used for a range of malicious activities that includes sending spam. In the last three months alone, over 330,000 new zombies were activated each day.

Top spam topics:

Subject               Percentage
Sexual enhancers      23%
Pharmaceuticals       19%
Loans                 12%
Replicas              10%
Pornography            8%
Other                 18%

New spam trends:

The third quarter of 2008 saw the expansion of the use of .swf (Flash) files to dodge anti-spam filters. This particular strategy involves including links in junk mail with interesting news headlines or erotic photos that then connect to an .swf file. The files themselves are generally hosted on legitimate websites but are actually designed to redirect users to the web page that cyber crooks want to advertise. The most common sites involved in this scheme were fake online pharmacies.

Another popular scam that arose in the third quarter was the use of vertical writing and hidden characters to trick content-based anti-spam engines. The technique involves writing messages vertically instead of horizontally to avoid being caught before it can appear in a user’s inbox. Also included in these emails is an additional message contained in white font that can only be seen once the user selects the content of the mail.

For more information about the latest spam trends, consult the quarterly report published by Commtouch and Panda Security.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/10/spam-is-still-king/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/10/facebook-instant-messaging-spam/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/technology/2008/10/facebook-instant-messaging-spam/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:58:49 +0000 John M. Guilfoil http://blastmagazine.com/?p=4442 Well, it’s happened.

Facebook has been hit with instant messaging spam.

Blast saw it first-hand when a friend who we haven’t talked to in a while randomly IM’d us about a “free” “giftcard” she’d “won” at a certain “website”.

We’ve gotten used to Facebook spam, with people’s accounts being hijacked to write on all their friends’ walls, but not this.

Nothing is sacred. Nothing is pure. You bastards.



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