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Understand Your Digital SLR

2010-02-09T07:56:00.002-05:00

When they were first introduced, digital SLR cameras were enormously expensive and a tool for professionals only. Since then, they have come down in price into the consumer price range. Because of this, many people buy digital SLRs without understanding how they work -- and, consequently, not making the most of them. To find out how you can get the most from your camera through the most common functions that they have, and to show you how to learn to use one by experiment. The principles are the same for any camera; but you will probably not be able to set your shutter and aperture manually on most non-SLR cameras. For more information click here.

Top 5 Gadgets Of 2010

2010-01-02T08:14:00.001-05:00

Lets face it technology is here to stay. We use it everyday in our jobs and personal life. But have you figured out what the top five most wanted gadgets are for 2010? Well I am here to do just that.

1. XBox: Ever heard of Project Natal? If you spend more than half an hour on the Web a day, you probably have. If not I will briefly explain here. After Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft had to do something about its own console. And since the Wii was such a big hit, this one has to be bigger. Project Natal will definitely score some big points for the Redmond company.

2. Ford’s MyKey: If you give your car to your kids frequently, you might find that it sometimes gets hard to sleep when they’re out, you’re worried about what could happen to them. That’s why next year Ford’s releasing MyKey, which uses a chip in the car’s ignition key so that the driver cannot exceed 80 mph. It can also be programmed to limit the car’s audio levels and to sound loud alerts if the driver’s not wearing a seat belt.

3. Dual Touch Screen Laptop: We’ve already witnessed top-notch laptops with touch screens. But what about dual touch screens? Apparently, the Italian firm V12 Designs will launch its new version of Canova, a dual LCD laptop. This time, both will be touch screens.

4. 4G Phones. The real download speed of most 3G phones is not more than 384 Kbps, and sometimes a lot less. That’s because it might have a 3 Mbps announced download speed, but the real one is a lot less. The 4G phones promise data transfers of 100 Mbps, and could reach up to 1 gigabit per second when static. That could mean downloading a full length DVD movie in about a minute.

5. Hydrogen Rulz! Hydrogen powered phones might be the next big thing. French researchers will probably announce by next year that a hydrogen fuel could be used as backup power source for mobile communications, letting users have some independence from electricity supplies to charge up their phones.

Technology tends to surprise us, so probably next year we’ll see a gadget we haven’t ever heard about. But these certainly make any tech-savvy person very much intrigued and anxious about what next year will bring. Don’t you feel the same?

How to Manage Geeks

2009-12-10T20:32:00.000-05:00

Happy geeks are effective geeks. The main reason IT people are unhappy at work is bad relations with management, often because geeks and managers have fundamentally different personalities, professional backgrounds and ambitions. Some people conclude that geeks hate managers and are impossible to lead. The expression “managing geeks is like herding cats” is sometimes used, but that’s just plain wrong. The fact is that IT people hate bad management and have even less tolerance for it than most other kinds of employees

So where does it go wrong? Here are some top ways that managers can lead geeks effectively and respectfully.

Value training. If a boss thinks that training is a waste of money and expects you to teach yourself, you feel pretty de-motivated in any job. Training matters, especially in IT, and managers must realize that and budget for it. Sometimes you get the argument that “if I give them training a competitor will hire them away.” That may be true, but the alternative is to only have employees who are too unskilled to work anywhere else. Also, if you pay them well and have good benefits, they won't go somewhere else.

Give recognition. Since managers may not understand the work geeks do very well, it’s hard for them to recognize and reward a job well done, which hurts motivation. The solution is to work together to define a set of goals that both parties agree on. When these goals are met the geeks are doing a great job. Keep overtime down. Avoid taking the approach of wringing as much as possible out of IT employees just because you figure they don't lead a normal life. Wrong! That’s a huge mistake and overworked geeks burn out or simply quit. It's a complete myth that long work hours are good for business.

Avoid using management-speak. Geeks hate management-speak and see it as superficial and dishonest. Managers shouldn’t learn to speak tech, but they should drop the biz-buzzwords. A manager can say “We need to proactively impact our time-to-market” or simply use plain English and stick to “We gotta be on time with this project”. The latter makes total sense to everyone involved.

Don't try to be smarter than the geeks. When managers don’t know anything about a technical question, they should simply admit it. Geeks respect them for that, but not for pretending to know. And they will catch it - geeks are smart.

Act consistently. Geeks have an ingrained sense of fairness, probably related to the fact that in IT, structure and consistency is critical. The documentation can’t say one thing while the code does something else, and similarly, managers can’t say one thing and then do something else.

Don't make the mistake of ignoring the geeks. Because managers and geeks are different types of people, managers may end up leaving the geeks alone. This makes leading them difficult, and geeks need good leadership - the same as all other personnel groups.

Include them in decisions. Never make decisions without consulting geeks. Geeks usually know the technical side of the business better than the manager, so making a technical decision without consulting them is one of the biggest mistakes a leader can make.

Give them the tools needed. A fast computer may cost more money than an older one and it may not be corporate standard, but geeks use computers differently. A slow computer lowers productivity and is a daily annoyance. So is outdated software. Give them the tools they need.

Remember that geeks are creative workers. Programming is a creative process, not an industrial one. Geeks must constantly come up with solutions to new problems and rarely ever solve the same problem twice. Therefore they need leeway and flexibility. Strict dress codes and too much red tape kill all innovation. They also need creative surroundings to avoid “death by cubicle”.

Recognize the outcomes of not treating geeks with respect as outlined above. Happy geeks are productive geeks, and the most important factor is good management, tailored to their situation. Doing the opposite to what has been outlined in this article has serious consequences for your organization, including:

- Low motivation
- High employee turnover
- Increased absenteeism
- Lower productivity
- Lower quality
- Bad service

Advice

- Caveat: not all geeks are the same; geeks are wildly different people and this article does generalize dangerously. And this article is not saying that all IT-people are geeks. Some are, some aren’t.

- This advice would work well with most employees, not just geeks.

- The word 'geek' in this article is not used in a derogatory manner.

WinRAR a Subsitute For WinZip

2009-01-02T20:58:00.002-05:00

WinRAR can create multiple-volume archives (popular with file sharers) and use 128-bit AES encryption to password-protect them. Like most of its competition, it also has an option to hide file names inside an encrypted archive: someone without the password won't even see what files you've archived, let alone view their contents.

In our maximum-compression tests, WinRAR 3.61 archived our files faster than most competitors; except for StuffIt Standard 9.5. Though we found .rar archives to be smaller than conventional .zip 2.0 archives, they weren't as small as .7z files created by PowerArchiver 2006 and ZipGenius 6 Standard or .zip files created with WinZip 11's new Best Method option.

Like most other file compression programs. WinRAR can also compress .zip 2.0 files, hide file names, and split archives into multiple files of user-definable size.

WinRAR boasts some powerful automation tools--surprisingly so for a program in this price range. After you've set up an archive job in the incredibly powerful but intimidating six-tabbed 'Archive name and parameters'' dialog box, you can save those parameters as a profile for future use. That lets you, for instance, simplify an incremental backup by creating the appropriate profile (among the relevant options you'll find among the tabs are ones for backing up only changed files and for shutting down the computer when you're done).

You can automate chores even further with WinRAR's powerful command-line parameters, which let you create Windows shortcuts and old-fashioned DOS-style batch files to do particular jobs.

Download Here

To all My Friends And Visitors

2008-12-04T21:09:00.001-05:00

First I would like to take this moment to thank all my friends and visitors who have been visiting this blog. I would like to say I am sorry for the lack of posts and visits on my part. Between my business booming and I have been sick for the past few weeks. I have not had much chance to keep up with the blog. I hope this will change and I will be able to devote sometime each day. Thank you in advance for understanding. And I hope all my friends in the cyber world will continue to visit.

Have a Great Day...

Editor's Review of Ad-Aware 2008 Free

2008-11-21T19:32:00.001-05:00

Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free 2008 ferrets out harmful Trojans, rootkits and other spyware, along with privacy concerns such as tracking cookies, that may have wormed their way onto your PC.
The feature-limited free version doesn't offer real-time protection, and it will discover security or privacy threats only when you run a manual scan. But it should run happily alongside your existing antivirus (which likely has antispyware features of its own), and can offer an extra layer of protection for your PC.

Ad-Aware's free version also doesn't automatically update, so before you run a scan, be sure to click the Update button on the main program window get the latest spyware definitions. Then hit Scan Now to kick off your first scan.

You can choose between a 'smart' scan which focuses on critical parts of your PC, or a full scan that digs in everywhere. To create a custom scan that only checks particular locations, or to schedule a scan that runs automatically at certain times, you?ll need to upgrade to the paid Plus or Pro versions.

Ad-Aware Free helpfully separates scan results into critical objects that everyone will want to remove, such as Trojans and other harmful spyware, and privacy objects such as tracking cookies or document history that some people might not worry about. You can remove all discovered objects at once or individually.

You'll find one minor annoyance in the scan results. To find out what each individual cookie actually is, you?ll need to greatly expand the size of the column that names it. Otherwise there's far too much data on one line to see what's there. But that's more than offset by the ability to create a Windows System Restore point from within the software before you remove any objects, in case you accidentally remove something you wanted to keep.

In addition to scans, you can run a 'TrackSweep' capable of clearing browsing history, cache elements, cookies and other data from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, though each browser has a similar built-in feature. You'll see additional options in the program for Ad-Watch, which actively monitors for threats, and other additional tools and plug-ins, but you'll need to upgrade to Plus or Pro for the extras. You'll also need to upgrade if you want tech support.
If you suspect you might have spyware on your machine that your current antivirus can't find, grab Ad-Aware Free and run a backup scan. It's an easy-to-use, albeit limited, extra layer of anti-spyware protection.
Read More Here at PCWorld

Yang to Step Down After Microsoft, Google Deals Fail

2008-11-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang will step down amid mounting pressure from investors after he botched takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. and failed to broker an online advertising agreement with Google Inc.

Yang, 40, will stay on the board and remains CEO until Yahoo finds a replacement, the company said today. He took the top job at the 13-year-old Internet company in June 2007, promising to win back users and advertisers lost to market leader Google. Read More Here

Google Quietly Patches Chrome

2008-11-15T20:14:00.001-05:00

Google Inc. has patched Chrome to prevent attackers from stealing files from PCs running the open-source browser.

The update, however, has not been pushed out to most users yet.
Google quashed the bug in a developer-only version of Chrome that has not been sent to all users via the browser's update mechanism. Chrome users, however, can reset the browser to receive all updates, including the developer editions, with the Channel Chooser plug-in.

Chrome 0.4.154.18, which was released Tuesday, fixes a vulnerability that could be used by hackers to read files on a user's machine, then transfer them to their own malicious servers. "We now prevent local files from connecting to the network with XMLHttpRequest() and also prompt you to confirm a download if it is an HTML file," Mark Larson, Chrome's program manager, said in an entry to the browser's developer blog.

Google also enhanced Chrome by adding several new features to the 0.4.154.18 build, including a bookmark manager, more granular control over the browser's built-in privacy mode and a revamped pop-up blocker.

Larson warned users, however, that Chrome continues to have problems synchronizing offline data using Gears, Google's platform for building Web applications that can be used offline as well as when the user is connected to the Internet. "Sites that use Gears to synchronize offline data may occasionally hang," Larson said. "You should disable offline access for sites until a fix is released."

Chrome 0.4.154.18 also includes a newer version of V8, the name for Google's JavaScript interpreter.

The current "official" beta build of Chrome is 0.3.154.9.
Google's browser accounted for only 0.74% of the browser usage share last month, according to data from Web metrics company Net Applications Inc.

Written by http://www.pcworld.com

Picasa 3 (beta) review

2008-11-09T20:57:00.002-05:00

Did you go on a great vacation, and your point-and-shoot digital camera is chock-full of digital still images and maybe a few videos. How do you view them, how do you touch them up a bit, and share them with friends and family? For Windows users, Picasa has been a great way to do this for a while. Google's online offering is a stylish integrated image organizer, editor, and enhancer, with cutting-edge online galleries. And, what's more, it's a free service that competes favorably with others that you'd pay for.

Picasa is one of those unusual programs that are available for Windows and Linux, but not Mac OS. Mac users can, however, take advantage of Picasa Web Albums with an uploader program or an iPhoto plug-in. The installer is a small download of 7.5MB. The install does try to set your Internet Explorer default search to Google, so uncheck that if you're a big fan of Live Search's cashback rewards.

So if you are a photo buff or a wannabe, you should take the time to check out Picasa 3.

Google Adsense - Collected Tips, Tricks and Secrets

2008-11-06T16:02:00.002-05:00

I’ve been reading a few forums and blogs about Google Adsense tips lately, and thought it would be helpful to consolidate as many as possible in one place without the comments. I’ve also thrown in a few tips of my own. We start out with some of the basic general stuff and move to the more specific topics later on.

Build an Empire?

When you’re deciding to become a website publisher you will fall into one of two broad categories:

•Publish 100 websites that each earn $1 a day profit
•Publish 1 website that earns $100 a day profit
The reality of it is, most people end up somewhere in between. Having 100 websites leaves you with maintenance, management and content issues. Having one website leaves you open to all sort of fluctuations (search engines algorithm’s, market trends, etc). You can adapt your plan on the way, but you’ll have an easier time if you start out going in the direction of where you want to end up.

General or Niche

You can build your website around general topics or niche ones. Generally speaking niche websites work better with adsense. First off the ad targeting is much better. Secondly as you have a narrow focus your writing naturally becomes more expert in nature. Hopefully this makes you more authority in your field.

If this is your first try at building an adsense website, make it about something you enjoy. It will make the process much easier and less painful to accomplish. You should however make sure that your topic has enough of an ad inventory and the payout is at a level you are comfortable with. You may love medieval folk dancing, but the pool of advertisers for that subject is very small (in fact it’s currently zero).

Once you’ve gotten the hang of how Adsense works on a website, you are going to want to dabble in some high paying keywords, you may even be tempted to buy a high paying keyword list. This does come with some dangers. First off the level of fraud is much higher on the big money terms. Secondly there is a distortion of the supply and demand relationship for these terms. Everyone wants ads on their website that make $35 or more a click, however the number of advertisers who are willing to pay that much is pretty limited. Additionally the competition for that traffic is going to be stiff. So, don’t try to run with the big dogs if you can’t keep up. If you have to ask if you’re a big dog, then chances are, you’re not. I have used a high dollar keywords report from cashkeywords.com and was pleased with my results (see cash keywords free offer recap).

New Sites, Files and Maintenance

When you’re building a new site don’t put adsense on it until it’s finished. In fact I’d go even farther and say don’t put adsense on it until you have built inbound links and started getting traffic. If you put up a website with “lorem ipsum” dummy or placeholder text, your adsense ads will almost certainly be off topic. This is often true for new files on existing websites, especially if the topic is new or different. It may take days or weeks for google’s media bot to come back to your page and get the ads properly targeted. TIP: If you start getting lots of traffic from a variety of IP’s you will speed this process up dramatically.

I like to build my sites using include files. I put the header, footer and navigation in common files. It makes it much easier to maintain and manage. I also like to put my adsense code in include files. If I want/need to change my adsense code, it’s only one file I have to work with. TIP: I also use programming to turn the adsense on or off. I can change one global variable to true or false and my adsense ads will appear or disappear.

Managing URL’s and channels

Adsense channels is one area where it’s really easy to go overboard with stats. You can set up URL channels to compare how one website is doing to another. You can also set up sub channels for each URL. If you wanted to you do something channels like this:

•domain1.com - 728 banner
•domain1.com - 336 block
•domain1.com - text link
•domain2.com - 728 banner
•domain2.com - image banner
•domain2.com - 336 block
•domain3.com - 300 block

While this is great for testing and knowing who clicks where and why, it makes your reporting a little wonky. Your total number will always be correct but when you look at your reports with a channel break down things will get displayed multiple times and not add up to correct total. Makes things pretty confusing, so decide if you really need/want that level of reporting detail. TIP: At the very least you want to know what URL is generating the income so be sure to enter distinct URL channels.

Using Images

One of the latest ’secrets’ to make the rounds is using images placed directly above or below an adsense leaderboard. This has been used for a while but came out in a digital point forum thread where a member talked about quadrupling their CTR. Basically you set up the adsense code in a table with four images that line up directly with the ads. Whether or not this is deceptive is fuzzy and very subjective. Obviously four blinking arrows would be ‘enticing people to click’ and be against the adsense TOS. However placing pictures of 4 laptops over laptops ads isn’t, so use your best judgment here and look at it from the advertiser or Google’s perspective. If you have a question as to your implementation being ‘over the line’ write to adsense and ask them to take a look.

As far as using the images, I’ve done it and can tell you it definitely works. You get the best results when the images ‘complete the story the ads are telling’. For example if you have ads about apple pies, use pictures of freshly baked apple pies, instead of granny smith, Macintosh, pink lady, and braeburn apples. TIP: Don’t limit yourself to using images only on that size ad unit, it works just as well with the other sizes, like the 336 rectangle.

Added:
I got a little criticizm for this and rightly so, as I wasn’t specific as I could have been. Do not use very identifiable brand name or products for your images. Use generic non-specific stock images whenever possible and appropriate.

Multiple Ad Units

Another way to increase ad revenue is to use multiple ad units. According to Google’s TOS you are allowed to post up to three ad units per page. Similar to standard search results the highest paying ad units will be served first and the lowest being served last. If there is enough of an ad inventory, place all three ad units. However you should pay attention to the payouts. Current assumption is you get 60% of the revenue (on a $0.05 click you get $0.03). So if a click from the third ad unit is only paying between 3 to 5 cents you may want to omit it from your page. This is one are where giving your ad units channels does have value. If one ad unit is getting a higher percentage of click throughs you’ll want to make sure the highest paying ads are being served there. TIP:Use CSS positioning to get your highest paying ads serving in the location with the highest CTR.

Adsense in RSS

With the growth of blogs and RSS feeds you’re starting to see adsense included in the feeds now. IMHO this doesn’t work, and here’s why:

•You only get to place one ad unit.
•You have no control over finding the ’sweet spot’ for the ad unit.
•The ads are usually poorly targeted (this is getting better).
•People develop ‘banner blindness’.

I know people like being able to read full postings in their feed reader, and there are at least a dozen other reasons for full posts from pleasing your users to mobile offline computing, all of which are completely valid. However if your website depends on generating adsense revenue to survive, then bring them to the site and show them the ads there.

Affiliate Sites

Placing Adsense on affiliate sites is tricky. Are you giving up a $10, $20, or $30 sale for a $1 click? This is something you have to test on your own to figure out. If you aren’t converting now it’s definitely worth a try. I like to use adsense on my article pages. For example let’s say you had an affiliate website where you sold shoes. You’re going to need some related articles to ‘flesh out’ the site. Things like ‘getting a shoe shine’ or ‘finding a shoe repair shop’ these are excellent spots for adsense. While you won’t get rich, they will usually provide a small steady income and cover things like hosting costs.TIP: If you find you have pages getting more than 50 clicks per month add more pages about this topic, and link the pages together. Mine you logs for the search terms used.

Obama victory sparks cheers around the globe

2008-11-05T12:04:00.001-05:00

PARIS – Barack Obama's election as America's first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.

People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya — where Obama's father was born — declared a public holiday.
In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted "Obama! Obama!"

"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place," South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.

For complete story click here.

Intel Processors Do It Again

2008-10-31T20:55:00.002-04:00

Presumably in an (utterly futile) attempt to bring down the power grid all around the Mediterranean, print magazine PC World Greece benchmarked three powerful Nehalem desktop processors -- the Core i7 Extreme Edition 965, and the apparently non-extreme Core i7 920 and 940. Names aside, performance from all three was extreme compared to most stuff currently on the market. The data for number nerds: in 3DMark06 the 920 finished ever-so-slightly behind the Core 2 Extreme QX9770's 4,922 marks with 4,818 while the 940 and the 965 both opened a can of you-know-what at 5,282 and 5,716 respectively. More titillating figures await enthusiasts through the read link, but for you normal folk only concerned that Nehalem wouldn't be fast enough to justify an upgrade (and you weren't), rest assured that it triumphed in this no-holds-barred CPU cage match. So should we think about upgrading or wait till it has been on the market awhile?

Free Web Hosting

2008-10-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

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Wireshark - Must Have Tools for the Network Administrator

2008-10-28T16:42:00.003-04:00

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions. Wireshark development thrives thanks to the contributions of networking experts across the globe. It is the continuation of a project that started in 1998.

Features

Wireshark has a rich feature set which includes the following:

Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time
Live capture and offline analysis
Standard three-pane packet browser
Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others
Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility
The most powerful display filters in the industry
Rich VoIP analysis
Read/write many different capture file formats: tcpdump (libpcap), Catapult DCT2000, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, Microsoft Network Monitor, Network General Sniffer® (compressed and uncompressed), Sniffer® Pro, and NetXray®, Network Instruments Observer, Novell LANalyzer, RADCOM WAN/LAN Analyzer, Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor, Tektronix K12xx, Visual Networks Visual UpTime, WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek, and many others
Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly
Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platfrom)
Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2
Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis
Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text

If you are interested in trying the latest version of this software click here.

Another Windows Patch

2008-10-26T22:17:00.002-04:00

If you use a Windows computer connected to a network, a newly discovered bug makes it possible for a bad guy to wreak havoc on the computer without your doing anything. The most vulnerable versions of Windows are XP, 2000 and Server 2003. Vista and Server 2008 are also vulnerable, but not as badly. Microsoft considers the bug important enough to issue the patch immediately rather than waiting for their normal once-a-month patch Tuesday.

Susan Bradley, writing for the Windows Secrets newsletter recommends immediately installing the just-issued patch. Then she offers some unusual advice, suggesting people first restart their computers "to verify that your machine is bootable." Can't hurt. Then she says to install the patch and reboot again. Her article also includes direct links to the patch for each version of Windows. If, for some reason, you can't run Windows/Microsoft Update you can manually download the patch and install it.

A standard of Defensive Computing is that the less software installed and running the better. This particular bug is with a part of Windows known as the Server service. If you are not sharing files and/or printers on a local area network, then you don't need to have the server service running, bug or no bug.

Making a Windows service not run all the time is called disabling and/or stopping. Stopping refers to the instance of the service currently running. Disabling means preventing it from ever starting again. Microsoft describes how to both stop and disable the Server service in Security Bulletin MS08-067. They also suggest doing the same to the Computer Browser service.

Anyone not sharing files and/or printers on a network should also turn off File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks (the Windows XP name) on all network definitions. For example, on a laptop with both wired Ethernet networking and wireless Wi-Fi networking, File and Printer Sharing should be turned off in both network definitions.

If the Server and Computer Browser services are disabled, then some people might consider the last point (and the next) overkill. I think they are a good idea because it means two mistakes would have to be made to enable file and printer sharing as opposed to only one mistake.

For still more safety, look into how your firewall is configured to ensure that it does not allow incoming traffic on TCP port 139 or 445. Again, this is for someone not sharing files and printers. Firewall configuration varies widely, but if you are using the Windows firewall in XP, the exception for this is called "File and Printer sharing."

Firewalls are the first line of defense against this type of problem. With that in mind, you may want to review the series of postings I did recently on adding a second router to a LAN to provide additional firewall protection to your most important computers.

Think Firefox 3 is fast? Try Firefox Minefield

2008-10-24T16:42:00.002-04:00

A colleague today showed me a cool, new browser that he's been using to browse the web at blisteringly fast speeds. The browser? Minefield. The author of the code?

Mozilla.

Yes, that same Mozilla that makes the Firefox browser. Minefield is, in fact, a way to glimpse into the future of Firefox, as it's a pre-release/alpha version of the Firefox browser.

After spending some time with Minefield, one thing is clear: the future of Firefox is fast. Lightning fast.

How fast? Some claim that it has the fastest javascript engine on the planet, which means it leaves Google's Chrome browser in the dust. In my own unscientific tests, I'd say that this assertion is correct. Ars Technica pegs Minefield as 10 percent faster than Chrome.

You can download the latest nightly build for Mac OS X, Linux, or Windows, but be warned: it's alpha code. While a quick scan of the Web shows few complaints as to stability, Minefield may not be for you. It doesn't support some of my favorite Firefox extensions (like Adblock Plus), but it actually has surprisingly good support for extensions, given that it's a fast-moving project.

Feeling brave? Or simply feeling like your browser is too slow? Give Minefield a try. It's a separate install so it won't affect an existing Firefox install. You have nothing to lose but your chains. Review by CNET

Microsoft - Windows 7

2008-10-22T23:28:00.001-04:00

Microsoft have revealed that the name for it's new operating system is going to be "Windows 7", the successor to Windows Vista. This name was previously a code name, with many people suspecting that this would change to something else nearer release."The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense.

Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows." Review by PC Reviews

Traveling Thru Security Check Points

2008-10-19T21:34:00.002-04:00

There's no particular style or type of clothing that you should wear from a security point of view. You are permitted to wear head coverings and religious garments during the screening process.You may be directed to additional screening if your clothing (religious or otherwise) is loose fitting or large enough to hide prohibited items. For more information, click here.

In addition, certain clothing and accessories can set off an alarm on the metal detector and slow you down. Avoid wearing clothing, jewelry or other accessories that contain metal when traveling through the security checkpoints:

1. Heavy jewelry (including pins, necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches, earrings, body piercings, cuff links, lanyards or bolo ties)
2. Clothing with metal buttons, snaps or studs
3. Metal hair barrettes or other hair decoration
4. Belt buckles
5. Under-wire bras
6. Hidden items such as body piercings may result in your being directed to additional screening for a pat-down inspection. If selected for additional screening, you may ask to remove your body piercing in private as an alternative to the pat-down search.
7. Take metal items such as keys, loose change, mobile phones, pagers, and personal data assistants (PDA's) out of your pockets.
8. Place heavy jewelry and other metal items in your carry-on baggage or in plastic bags if they are offered, until you clear security.
9. Pack all your coats and jackets in your baggage when possible. All coats and jackets must go through the X-ray machine for inspection. These include, but are not limited to, trench coats, heavy winter coats, suit jackets, sport coats and blazers. If you choose to wear an outer coat or jacket to the checkpoint, you will need to either place it in your carry-on or put it in the bin that is provided for you.

Disposable booties or slippers may be worn through the checkpoint to help protect your feet, but they must be disposed of prior to leaving the screening area.

Gel-filled bras are permitted through security screening and aboard aircraft.

Security Officers have to identify any metal that is detected at the checkpoint. If you set off the alarm, you will undergo additional screening. This includes a hand-wand and pat-down inspection.

You can remove metal items at the security checkpoint and place them in the plastic bags offered at several airports or in the bins provided. The bins will be sent through the X-ray machine. You can save time by not wearing metal items or by placing them in your carry-on baggage before getting in line.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Reviews by CNET

2008-10-18T11:03:00.000-04:00

With the public release of its second beta, Microsoft said it intends for the Internet Explorer 8 browser to be more customer-oriented than previous versions of its browser. Our initial impression of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is positive: we think Microsoft has not only caught up with Opera, Safari, and Firefox, but in some cases even surpasses these other browsers with its innovative new features. IE8 offers people several enhancements like color-coded tabs, increased privacy options, and greater security features baked right in. Most of the new features require systems to be running Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3. The final version of Internet Explorer 8 is expected in November 2008.

The user interface hasn't changed much since Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, except to add a Security pull-down menu between Page and Tools on the main toolbar. In addition to blocking phishing sites, IE8 now highlights the main domain of any Web site you visit. Thus, if something other than eBay.com is highlighted, chances are you are on the wrong Web site. Perhaps the most anticipated addition is Internet Explorer's new antimalware protection. Opera 9.5 and Firefox 3 both recently added antimalware protection. Safari has so far not announced plans for similar protection. Using mostly its own antimalware technology, Microsoft will block emerging threats by masking the entire IE 8 browser screen with a warning to users. The addition of malware protection to the existing antiphishing protection will be rebranded as the Microsoft SmartScreen filter.

In another feature, known as InPrivate, Microsoft allows the browser to suspend caching functions while you surf. Some scenarios for using InPrivate might be when you're using someone else's computer, when you need to buy a gift for a loved one without ruining the surprise, or when you're at an Internet kiosk and don't want the next person to know which Web site you visited. While you can currently clear the browser cache with a mouse click, it's an all-or-nothing action. InPrivate temporarily suspends the automatic caching functions, allowing you to keep the rest of your browsing history intact.

IE8 also contains a cross-site scripting filter, one of the first in a mainstream browser. Cross-site scripting allows an attacker to execute script on a user's browser without them knowing. When the IE8 filter finds a Web page with a cross-site scripting request, it changes the content on the page with a notice. Users are not presented with an option; IE simply blocks the malicious script from executing and displays the rest of the page.This is just a few of the new features added to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2.

Are you ready to try this version? What are your thoughts about Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2?It is available at Microsoft's Internet Explorer Home Page for downloading if interested.