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Check here for stories that catch our eye (like the latest spyware beasties) to more silly news (like a t-shirt that lights up when a wifi hot spot is near).
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- More Facebook
Privacy Concerns 7/31/2009
3rd-party advertisers allowed to access your posted pictures.
Facebook has added privacy options that will allow 3rd-party advertisers to use your posted pictures in their ads. The default setting allows this so to prevent it, click on "Settings" up at the top where you see the "Logout" link. Select "Privacy".Then select "News Feed and Wall". Next, select the tab that reads "Facebook Ads". In the drop down box, select "No One". Then save your changes. More info here - Twitter Psychologist
Analyze your next dinner date or potential employee?
A Here's a fun diversion for a Friday afternoon. TweetPsych.com will analyze a twitter user's tweets for psychological evaluation. More info here - Facebook Worm
Facebook phishing scam hooks us again.
Another Facebook phishing scam is on the loose. This one directs people to visit sites that end in ".im" which look just like the real Facebook login page. In the past, Facebook's record for resisting spam has been exemplary. Recently, however, these spam schemes have been popping up every couple of weeks. We must conclude that Facebook has not addressed the underlying vulnerability that is allowing this new type of attack from spreading. In the meantime, be observant. Look carefully at the real URLs of sites you visit (most browsers display the real URL in the lower, left corner of the window). More info here - Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta
Microsoft has released a tool to check compatibility
Now you can test the water with a toe before diving in. Microsoft has release this tool to scan your computer for any compatibility problems you might face before you upgrade to Windows 7. You are encouraged to plug in all your extra stuff (digital cameras, external drives, etc.) so the tool can scan them too. The Upgrade Advisor will check your hardware and software for any potential problems.
- Coolest VoIP Phone Ever?
Star Trek fans delight in new USB communicator.
For only $45 you own a Star Trek replica communicator. It requires a USB port and a broadband Internet connection. What? No WiFi? More info here - Window 7 Release Candidate
It's available for public download but MS will not support you.
Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) is available for public download. Please note that Microsoft is not supporting Windows 7 RC so if you run it, you're on your own. Windows 7 RC is not an open-ended evaluation: it comes with a hard-coded expiration of June 1, 2010. It will run for two-hour at a time starting March 1, 2010. More info here - Internet Sales-Tax Holiday Over?
Internet shopping may not stay tax free.
A long beloved loophole in the tax laws allows online retailers to sell without collecting sales tax. As long as the retailer is in a different state, they are not required to charge sales tax. That may be about to change. Legislation is almost ready that will close this loophole. The "loophole" exists for a good reason: tax laws vary from state to state and are complex. Expecting an out-of-state mail-order retailer to keep track of all that variety has been deemed too much of a burden and Congress has been reluctant to act. But now, with state budgets at the breaking point across the country, they may be forced to act. More info here - Twitter Worm
Saturday April 11 - 13, 2009
Twitter fights off four worm attacks this weekend. 17-year-old Michael Mooney is taking credit for creating and spreading the worm which infects any twitter account user that clicks on the infected message. The infected accounts then send the worm on to their friends. Twitter has been fighting off the worm by cleaning up the infected accounts but one wonders if they have fixed the under-lying security flaw that is allowing these attacks to succeed. Michael Mooney is the creator of StalkDaily a Twitter copycat site.. More info here - PowerPoint Flaw
An un-patched flaw discovered in PowerPoint allows Trojan download
This flaw is currently under review and effects PowerPoint in Office versions 2000, 2003, XP, and MacOffice 2004. This vulnerability has not yet been patched so there isn't an easy fix right now. To make matters worse, SecurityFocus.com reports that this flaw is being actively used by the bad guys. To protect yourself, never open attachments if you were not expecting them--even if you know who sent them. The PowerPoint Viewer (available from Microsoft as a free download here Viewer 2007 and here Viewer 2003 is not subject to the flaw. So if you really want to see what's in that PowerPoint presentation, it will be a whole lot safer to open it with the viewer instead of the full PowerPoint program. More info here - Register.com was down
They are back up as of 4:00 PM central. Big hosting provider had DNS problems
Register.com (one of the largest domain registrars) was off the net and they are barely commenting on the problem. The outage began last night (April 2,2009). Service was restored but only temporarily. As of now 2:00 PM central, April 3, 2009 Register.com admits they are under a massive denial of service attack. The attack seems to be targeting Register.com's nameservers. They state they are actively employing countermeasures to restore service. They also state that they do not believe the attack is related to the Conficker worm.- A nameserver is responsible to translating a computers numeric Internet address to a more friendly name (like: everylastbyte.com). Without nameservers, you can't find servers by name. Millions of Register.com customers are also down as a result of this attack. More info will be posted as it becomes available.
- Vundo
(aka Virtumonde)
Current worst malware
This one is truly vile and can be very hard to get rid of. It's a Trojan horse spread largely via email. It's most famous for delivering fraudware disguised to look like legitimate security programs. Fraudware tricks you into thinking you must purchase a program to save your computer and peppers you with dire warnings until you cough up your credit card info. More info here - WiFi Detection shirt
For the computer junkie in your life
We love this shirt. It's nerdy, sure, but it's cool nerdy. More info here
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