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January 31, 2007
No Sword of ultimate slashing on eBay
eBay has just made a change that is going to force a large amount of people to actually start working for a living:
Auctions of virtual gold, armour and other digital booty amassed in online computer games like World of Warcraft have been banned by Ebay.The internet auction house, based in California, US, announced on Tuesday that it had decided to prohibit the sale of virtual riches, weapons and other items, due to "legal complexities" regarding ownership.
If you are like me you say, who would buy this well you would be surprised:
Some enterprising players can earn a real-world living by selling goods on to players who want to advance quickly through a game without undertaking as many quests. Items, which actually consist of computer code, can be transferred between players within the game, once a deal has been agreed.
Experienced players make cool money off the get a life crowd, now they will have to find jobs, or much more likely find a different auction site.
Posted by Peter at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)
George Ou part 1
Our latest Technobabble podcast features part one of our interview 
with George Ou (pronounced "O" like the great slugger and manager of team Japan's winning World Baseball Classic team) Technical Director of TechRepublic.
We talk about security on both the Enterprise (business level) and the home level, and as usual he sets me straight on a few things concerning security and the mistakes that users, businesses and techs still make on this topic.
This is hands down the most useful podcast we have ever done. If you had to choose just one podcast to hear to help you out, this would be it. If you don't already read his blog, it appears at Tech Republic and at ZDNet.
As always you can catch the podcast at the iTunes music store (keyword HiWired) or you can listen directly right here. Part 2 of our interview will be going up in about two weeks.
Posted by Peter at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
Ok who is this guy and what have you done with Peter?
This has been a very aTypical month for me. In the last 35 days I've dropped $1175 on computers, repairs, printer/scanners, software and gadgets. 
(If you go back to Nov you can include the Car too.) In almost every case I tried to pick up a deal, the Repair was under $200, the Laptop was from the Dell outlet, the Scanner I managed to get $40 kicked back on , the jump drive I paid .99 cents for, but one item I paid full price for.
Today under 30 min ago I dropped down to Office Max and picked up the Vista Upgrade for my new laptop (along with the discount thumb drive. I will during the course of the day between calls upgrade my new Dell Laptop to Vista and will (try to) grab some shots of the upgrade as it runs.
As a tech Its my experience that I can support a OS that I play with regularly much better than one I play with on occasion, so for me it is necessary. As for you I think the advice Michael & Singu and Mickey and everybody else familar with Microsoft upgrades apply, but we shall see anyway.
Wish me luck.
Posted by Peter at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2007
The costs of spyware
I understand some operating system or another was released today, but instead the most interesting news of the day involves spyware:
Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN) Latest News about Priceline.Com, Travelocity Latest News about Travelocity and Cingular Latest News about Cingular have settled a lawsuit over their secret use of adware Internet Free How-To Guide for Small Business Web Strategies - from domain name selection to site promotion. software programs as marketing Email Marketing Software - Free Demo tools filed by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.As part of the settlement, Priceline, Travelocity and Cingular agreed to pay US$35,000, $30,000 and $35,000, respectively, to New York to cover penalties and investigatory costs. While this case won't stop the popular practice, it should have a chilling effect on the industry.
You know it is up to a business to make a profit if it can, but if you aren't good enough to make it without messing up your customers machines than you might not be good enough to get my business.
Posted by Peter at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2007
Early vista and xp holdouts
If you go to the Dell web site and try to purchase a computer today (the only operating system you will find available is Vista. In fact Bernie was helping somebody purchase a system yesterday and found only Vista as the OS option. Since the PC's won't ship till after the release date Microsoft must exempt them from the restriction that my Local Office Max had when I asked.
However if you go to where I like to shop the Dell outlet you will not only find XP systems available but ONLY xp systems available. It will be interesting to see how long that lasts. It will be even more interesting to see much in stock xp systems are discounted to move them off the shelves in the next couple of weeks.
Posted by Peter at 05:08 PM | Comments (1)
Google disarms the bombs
Google is doing a bit of cleanup these days. First the disarmament of the Google Bomb:
Writing on the Google blog, Matt Cutts, the head of the Google’s Webspam team, said that Google bombs had not “been a very high priority for us.” But he added: “Over time, we’ve seen more people assume that they are Google’s opinion, or that Google has hand-coded the results for these Google-bombed queries. That’s not true, and it seemed like it was worth trying to correct that misperception.”Mr. Cutts was not available on Friday to expand on his blog, a Google spokeswoman said. A White House spokesman had no comment on the issue.
Despite the changes by Google, some other Google bombs are still operative. A search for “French military victories” still produces a first result that says, “Your search — French military victories — did not match any documents.” Click there and your find a mockup of a Google search page asking the question “Did you mean: French military defeats.”
I think that google bombing will return as people find other ways of getting around the code.
Google is also rethinking some mistakes with China:
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Brin expressed regret that his company had entered the Chinese market under the terms imposed by the country's government.He added that the decision had hurt Google's image and hinted that the company may reconsider its stance.
This type of talk was a long time coming, lets hope that action follows.
Posted by Peter at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)
And a tiered system for Office 2007 as well
The new release of office 2007 will be out with XP Vista and like XP Vista you have a choice of many different flavors, actually 5 instead of 4. Unlike XP Vista I think that the tier system is a lot better.
The least expensive version is the Home & Student. It contains Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One Note. You will note that it DOESN'T include Outlook. That is a huge subtraction for the $150 that you will be spending.
The outlook standard version includes Outlook 2007 at the cost of losing OneNote. and paying $250 more. (This is for a full version). Outlook is a pretty good program, but I don't know if it is $250 better than Microsoft mail. If you are doing an upgrade install, you will pay $240.
If you are a Small business owner for an extra $50 over the Standard version you get not only the Outlook with Contact manager added on but you get Microsoft Publisher and Accounting Express. Personally I've always thought you can do a lot of what is done in publisher using Word, but that's just me. Since accounting express is a free download and install you are basically paying $50 for Publisher and contact manager.
If you don't consider yourself a small business but a larger business, you might choose Microsoft office Professional, you will pay an extra $50 (on both the full and upgrade levels) and for that $50 you will get the database program Microsoft Access, the part of office that is least used by the home user. For some reason the structure of Access has always been a pain to me. If you are a large business with a large database then it is music to your ears and eyes and queries.
Finally if you don't want to pussyfoot around you can go with the full Ultimate version. You will pay a full $180 more than the Pro version on both upgrades and new purchases. for that $180 (more than the whole cost of the Office/student version) you get Onenote back into the picture, along with Infopath and Groove.
The full pricing chart from Microsoft is here.
The thing I wonder is this: If I have a office version with Outlook I likely don't want go with Home and Student since I would lose outlook. Given the choice between paying the $239 to keep outlook, Paying $150 to lose it or keeping what I have, I think people will keep what they have since there is absolutely nothing wrong with word/excel 2003 et/al.
Update: Yes I said XP instead of Vista. Rob the new guy caught it I didn't. Rob You Da Man.
Posted by Peter at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
A couple of little personal PC things:
Here are some personal PC highlights:
#1. I stopped by Office Max today they were kind enough to credit me the $42 ($40 + $2 tax) that the new Brother printer I purchased Saturday was discounted. Now a normal man will say "Great $42 that won't be on the credit card, but now I find myself even more tempted to pick up the Vista upgrade tomorrow since the effective price for me would be $60 more than what I already spent.
#2. I figured that since I mentioned the new layout of the computer room I should show you the after and before pictures, (the before you saw when I purchased this computer)
You will note that the old HP printer is gone as well, not only because you can't balance it on one PC but because it was so old it doesn't have a USB interface. If you want to see the old layout that used to be there you can check out this post. It makes the whole room look a whole lot less cluttered.
The router and the modem now can go either on top of the desktop or remain on the side. No final decision has been made there.
#3 My old Inspiron has now been repaired. I called up Dell they quoted me $185 if the motherboard didn't need to be touched or $450 if it did. Me being me I wasn't willing to pay that kind of price, so I did some searching online but couldn't get a commitment for a price below $200. I finally broke down and called a local computer repair shop who referred me to a gentleman in Gardner Jeromy Patriquin who does Laptop repair.
He called me that night, and by an odd coincidence was going to be less that 300 yards from my house going to dinner with his lady. He picked up the laptop and had it back fixed within 24 hours for $175. It has worked fine since then and I have no complaints. If you live in Central mass and need a physical laptop repair his e-mail is here.
#4 One problem that has been a pain is the total disappearance of the usb power cord to my external cooling fan for the laptop. I've looked high and low and it hasn't turned up. Brian has one (his fan broke) and I'll get it in a few days from him, but today the old laptop was really heating up. So I needed a quick way to cool the system since as I've said in the past, heat kills laptops.
Lucky for me I'm working from home today so I fixed the problem using two towels. Today is in the low 30's to high 20's When I work from home I usually work next to this window (If I work from home and my family isn't going to be home, I move to the room with the Brother since the desktop is an xp system rather than a ME system) Since I don't want my heating bill to fly out the window I've put the laptop next to the window, and placed a towel on either side of it. I've then closed the windows on the towels leaving the laptop next to the opening. The laptop temp has dropped like a rock and the house temp hasn't fallen. It's as if the PC has just soaked up the cold air. This is the way tech support actually works, coming up with working solutions to current issues.
Posted by Peter at 12:46 PM | Comments (1)
January 28, 2007
I'll take mine basic
Well as you might know windows Vista is coming out is 4 different flavors. Here is a quick rundown of some of the differences:
All versions come with Windows Defender and IE7. I must say I'm not in love with the current version of defender. It beats nothing but not by much. As far as IE 7; it's ok I guess but I don't think it is much better than Firefox if at all.
For the $40 or so extra that you pay for Premium you will get tablet support, windows mobility center, meeting space, media center and interfaces for the xbox 360 and a prettier interface, but that part is in the eye of the beholder. I'm figuring the 3d nav will use extra processor for eyecandy that will get old quick.
If you want to spend an extra $60 ($40 on upgrades) and don't mind losing the Media Center and X-Box 360 stuff you can go for the business version including backup features and remote desktop and other networking features. This choices reminds me of a story that I will be telling at a later date.
Of course if you don't want to to have to cherry pick features you can drop and extra $100 and get everything with Vista Ultimate which has the lot plus bitlocker drive encryption.
If I buy it I'll likely go with the basic. One guess why?
Posted by Peter at 07:35 PM | Comments (1)
Vista -2 days and buying what?
Well windows Vista is only two days away and my local office max is offering not only the upgrade for only $99 (basic home) but a 1/2 gig
jump drive for .99 when I buy it. So naturally yesterday I got in my car, went to Office Max, walked straight to the counter and purchased a Brother MFC 665CW All In One which; of course promptly went on sale the very next day.
My oldest has been anxious for a scanner (yes believe it or not I've never owned one) and with making high honor again I figured it was time to get one in the house, my wife was even happier that the windows 98 machine was retired from the main room and now sits next to the ME system waiting to be set up in a 2-1 monitor system.
The setup of the brother was rather easy, although it is 100% wireless I decided to connect it directly to the router and use it as a network printer since it looks much nicer than the 98 system and gives the room better ambiance. Also if I put the scanner in the kids room then they would use up the ink the first day.
It's already proved useful as a copier, and I'll likely have a lot of league application use for it as well, so it is likely money well spent.
Posted by Peter at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2007
Vista launch is Monday!
Direct from Microsoft's website they announced here
Bill Gates Celebrates Worldwide General Availability of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System
January 29, 20071:45 p.m. PST / 4:45 p.m. EST
From Times Square in New York City, join Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for a live webcast celebrating the worldwide launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System. The celebration pays tribute to the millions of Microsoft customers, partners and product testers around the world who provided input and feedback on these products -- helping Microsoft transform the way people communicate, create and share content, and access information and entertainment in the new digital age.
What do you think about the launch are you excited to see new OS? I know I can't wait for everyone to start making new drivers for it. Some companies haven't even put out drivers as of yet. Others have worked hard during the beta of Vista to get drivers out there for us to work with.
This it, new systems will be out and we can all watch the event live. Good thing we won’t have long lines, like we saw with other launches last year. Still I just might open up the browser and watch the event come Monday. Will you? Let us know if you plan to watch it or upgrade right away. Just add comment if you like.
Posted by Eric at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2007
Hot Spot Security
Ran across a very interesting article today. This article targets a new type of attack in our wireless age. It also explains how to protect your self. I would definitely recommend reading this if you are somebody who commonly uses a hot spot at for example a Airport or other public locations. click on the title below full 4 page article.
You could end up being the target of a "man in the middle" attack, in which a hacker is able to steal the information you send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords. And you could also have your files and identity stolen, end up with a spyware-infested PC and have your PC turned into a spam-spewing zombie. The attack could even leave your laptop open to hackers every time you turn it on, by allowing anyone to connect to it without your knowledge.
Posted by Hector at 01:17 PM | Comments (2)
Wii will Wii will rock you
Well maybe the Wii is your cup of tea and maybe it isn't but it sure is Nintendo's breadbasket:
Booming year-end sales of the wand-wielding Wii game console sent profit at Nintendo Co. soaring 43% for the nine months ended in December, the Japanese manufacturer of Pokemon and Super Mario games said Thursday.
I would however dispute this next sentence:
Wii, inspired by the English word "we," has benefited from its fun image (emphasis mine) built around the wand-like remote controller that players wave around like a tennis racket, fishing rod, drumstick or gun, depending on the game.
Poppycock! It isn't the image of the use of the remote control it is the reality. I've seen the results first hand and in our podcast Shawn Martenau of iGamespot talked about this in part one of our last podcast.
I think it's a great thing as brings the emphasis on doing rather than just sitting.
Posted by Peter at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
Office then and now
Are you thinking of going for office 2007? If so you will have to get used to some different menu/screen styles. Not to worry though. CNET offers this very useful screen comparison of old vs new.
You will note a lot of tabbing.
Posted by Peter at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2007
Lets get the important questions answered
As the release date for Windows Vista gets closer my own decision to upgrade or no there has been one important unanswered questions that needed answering. Looks like Extremetech did the job:
When first installed, and un-patched, the game appeared to run just fine – until we tried to change video options. The whole video options screen was blank. Whoops!Fortunately, everything worked perfectly fine after we ran the game's auto-update feature to patch it to the latest revision.
Now I can breathe easy. They make the rounds on several popular games just keep reading.
Posted by Peter at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
The difference between politicts and profits
Some things the net does can be tolerated:
Matt Drudge broke the media embargo on the full text of the speech, which landed in my inbox around 8:15 last night, 39 minutes early...... As we've been told over and over, the mainstream media has largely lost its gatekeeper function, and there is always someone willing to post all sorts of information online as soon as they can get their hands on it.
White house reaction was subdued:
Concerning the broken embargo, the White House told ABC News, "We have thousands of people on our distribution list, and it's hard police the embargo."
However some things you just can't let stand:
20th Century Fox served YouTube with a subpoena Wednesday demanding the Google-owned viral video site disclose the identity of a user who uploaded copies of entire recent episodes of primetime series "24" and "The Simpsons."
Youtube contains copyrighted content you're kidding!
The "24" episodes in question actually appeared on YouTube prior to their primetime January 14 premiere on the Fox broadcast network, which spread four hourlong episodes of the hit drama over two consecutive nights. Fox became aware the episodes were on YouTube on January 8, according to the subpoena.
The fact that it showed up even before it made it to the air is a real killer.
Posted by Peter at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
It ain't Ivory soap pure he's talking about
If you wonder why I write about China and net censorship so much its because of things like this:
Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao has vowed to "purify" the Internet, state media reported on Wednesday, describing a top-level meeting that discussed ways to master the country's sprawling, unruly online population.
Yup can't have those people searching the web without guidance.
... he made it clear that the Communist Party was looking to ensure it keeps control of China's Internet users, often more interested in salacious pictures, bloodthirsty games and political scandal than Marxist lessons.
Any questions?
(via Glenn)
Posted by Peter at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2007
Here comes another one
As per this post Melissa proves that she is a supervisor by being exactly on time with her 2nd child; Emma Elizabeth who joins Peyton Olivia as a January baby meaning there will likely be a single birthday party each year around the 15th or so until one or both get married.
We at HiWired wish her the best. (If the company keeps growing as it has been we may need a category devoted totally to births and weddings).
Posted by Peter at 10:49 AM | Comments (2)
Vista and DRM
The way Vista handles DRM is not making friends:
In a report looking at the impact Vista would have on video and audio playback, he described Vista's Content Protection specification as "the longest suicide note in history".He said Vista was "broken by design" and intentionally crippled the way it displayed video.
"The sheer obnoxiousness of Vista's content protection may end up being the biggest incentive to piracy yet created," he wrote.
Microsoft's response is here:
Contrary to claims made in the paper, the content protection mechanisms do not make Windows Vista PCs less reliable than they would be otherwise -- if anything they will have the opposite effect, for example because they will lead to better driver quality control.
One of Glenn's readers hits the nail on the head:
I cannot believe Microsoft/Hollywood haven't seen this coming - it's not like pirated movie downloads are an unknown problem; they're ~35% of all internet traffic. HD content is an increasing portion of that. Blu-Ray and HDDVD protection schemes are likely to be completely broken in a matter of months, and once that happens, the various crippled features in Vista will only affect one type of user - the law-abiding ones who would never pirate a movie. Those users will suffer, while the pirates will party on. What's the point, Microsoft?
Sounds like the old only outlaws will have guns argument. Then again perhaps the record labels have figured it out:
Executives of several technology companies meeting here at Midem, the annual global trade fair for the music industry, said this weekend that a move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format from at least one of the four major record companies could come within months.
It is of course all because of those lousy users and their computers:
Should one of the big four take that route, however, it would be a capitulation to the power of the Internet, which has destroyed their monopoly over the worldwide distribution of music in the past decade and allowed file-sharing to take its place.
It is the tech version of the 21st Amendment if it happens.
Posted by Peter at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
The top 25 of the Web According to Forbes
Forbes magazine names the top 25 Web Celebs. It's an interesting list which includes at #7 Glenn Reynolds who we have interviewed here. All of these people have made a difference although I have three issues with the list:
1. I would question Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) not cracking the top ten.
2. I think that both Drudge and Zuniga should have outranked Hilton and Rose.
3. It would be nice if the picture of Charles Johnson was actually Charles Johnson. We include a correct picture with a bonus of Glenn Reynolds (Charles is on the Right)
Posted by Peter at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2007
Don't forget to clean up after yourself
A couple of days ago I had a customer with an internet connection issue. During the course of debugging I discovered the customer had uninstalled the service packs for windows XP as part of their debugging measure.
It is important to remember that when debugging you might take certain steps to isolate and correct a problem, but it is equally important to make sure that you re-establish things you might have shut off, from system restore to security to patches that might protect a system from other issues.
An advantage of having a professional tech doing such work is we take notes on what we are doing so we can follow them to make sure that items disabled on a temp basis are put to rights once the problem is corrected. If you choose to do such work yourself, make a note of things disabled and removed. That will keep you from creating a new problem while trying to solve another.
Posted by Peter at 04:10 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
Thus I am resolved
It doesn't seem like the new year is barely three weeks old, so there is time to make some PC resolutions particularly when the five tips here can keep your PC secure to wit:
4. Beware of Strangers Hackers are known to “war drive,” looking for unsecured, unencrypted wireless networks to break into. Make sure your network is protected, and when you’re not online disconnect from the Internet, reducing the chance of exposure to an attacker.
These tips can make a big difference take them to heart.
As you can see my own resolution to not procrastinate hasn't paid off.
Update: I wish Technorati would resolve to get the info about our blog right
Posted by Peter at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
And now a word from our Bosses
You've heard a lot of opinions on Vista here and will continue to do so. Entrepreneur magazine has asked the bosses here what they think:
Before you consider upgrading to Vista, Srinivas recommends asking yourself whether you have the right hardware and a configuration that will allow it. Surprisingly, Srinivas claims that only a relatively small percentage of the population will be able to immediately answer yes. (Srinivas says that only about 20 percent of HiWired's clients have the key elements needed to install Vista and operate it effectively.) Wexler recommends checking Microsoft's specific guidelines for the minimum requirements needed to run the new operating system before you purchase it.
Compatability is always a big issue on upgrades, but the big news is below:
When HiWired's seasoned technicians attempted to upgrade from XP Pro to Vista, they spent as much as six hours getting it configured. Wexler and Srinivas recommend that if you do decide to upgrade your current machine to Vista, the best way to do it is to erase everything on your PC and start from scratch.
To me that is another way of saying don't upgrade. Our bottom line
Wexler says he and Srinivas are telling most of their customers to skip the upgrade and stick with their XP machine for now. Then, when they're ready to upgrade in a year or so, they can buy a fully loaded Vista machine. "By that point," Wexler says, "they'll be on the second or third patch of Vista and you'll get a new Vista machine that's even better than today's Vista machine."
Sounds like a plan to me.
Posted by Peter at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
This is not my day
Everybody has a day like this one, Over the last 24 hours my Car was hit while my wife was driving (only minor but arrugh), The Patriots blew a big halftime lead to the Colts, My son woke me up very early with a phone call from DC, I ended up clearing my alarm at that time and oversleeping, (the nice thing about oversleeping when you work from home is you get to work pretty fast, the sad thing is what do you say about being late? There was a lot of traffic on the stairs?), There was a problem with my time card submission (now corrected) and to top it off the Sound on the PC wasn't working this morning.
Now I was breaking the first rule of debugging by attacking something while I was hurried and still half asleep, but I broke my second, when I allowed the installation of some online pinball sims. I figured he had just muted the system since my wife was on his case yesterday, so I checked and sure enough the mute was on, but when I took it off, still no sound. I started checking the sound setting the device manager and the checkpoints in system restore when I remembered that this particular PC had speakers with an independent volume control, sure enough it was just turned way down.
There are two tips here, 1st attack an issue with a clear mind, and second, check the simple things first.
Posted by Peter at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)
January 21, 2007
I died and went to heaven
This story talks about the ambitious project by Google to get libraries online one at a time:
Google announced that another major US college library had joined its controversial project to put the world's books online.The more than one million written works at the University of Texas library in Austin will be converted to digital format and added to Google Books Library Project, according to the Internet search powerhouse.
As long as copyright issues are addressed I don't see the problem, this can only be good for the world in general.
Posted by Peter at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2007
Personal pages
Hey everyone hope your all enjoying this winter so far. We had our first real snow fall for the winter! Though its only less the 2 inches (shoveled it out this morning). Not enough to break out skis at all over. Any ways while looking at few websites I noticed that many as we all know need you to register on the site. You put in info and other things. Now I noticed someone had cool looking picture with bike that looked very much like one from sci fi like movie. While looking at this it took me into members side of website where you edit your profile and put in info much like sites that we have heard about in news. Myspace for one.
We all know now or I hope that you know to warn your kids not to post Personal info yet here I saw right from the first page a girl under 16 post color picture of her self, Listing her town, age and birth date exact ht+wt all for anyone to see and use to find them.
So I thought I would take moment to remind our blog readers to not only be aware of BIG name sites, but almost any site your kids register on. This info maybe cool to share with kids to say Hey I live one town over or we like same things lets talk which I'm sure was intent when all this started. Yet now its to risky to put out that much info. Leave it to East coast Canada/US or west or central. Stay vague and stay safe.
Take moment to visit with your kids the sites they like, help them make profiles and as you do guide don't lecture them on things. Make sure they see that there is reason other then "Mom/Dad Says".
Hoping your all having fun this year!
Posted by Eric at 10:39 AM | Comments (1)
Blogger on trial in Egypt
The trial of an Egyptian blogger has begun :
An Egyptian blogger went on trial Thursday on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife with his Internet writings. Egypt's first prosecution of a blogger came as Washington has backed away from pressuring its Mideast ally to improve its human rights record and bring democratic reform.
It's hard to decide which sentence is more depressing.
Unlike previous arrests it may be more difficult to rally opinion since the target of his speech was not so much the government as radical Islam:
Nabil is the first blogger Egypt has put on trial for his writings. Other bloggers have been released without charges. But unlike the other detained bloggers, who concentrated on politics, Nabil wrote often on religion - and Seif al-Islam said the government was likely prosecuting him as part of its "competition with the Muslim Brotherhood to show its Islamic credentials."In his blog - where he uses the name Kareem Amer - Nabil was a fierce critic of conservative Muslims and in particularly of al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious religious institutions in the Sunni Muslim world.
It is very sly of the authorities to go after him first, there will be much less of an outcry both locally and internationally over somebody attacking religion, however his fate will become a precedent that will be used against others.
Posted by Peter at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
Going the way of the buggy whip?
The cell phone is no longer just suplementing the land line, it is slowing replacing it:
About one in eight households did not have a landline telephone in the first half of 2006, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected in its National Health Interview Survey. Three years earlier, it was about one in 20.
This is trend that is likely to increase:
Among all adults, 9.6 percent had only a cell phone in the first half of 2006, compared with 7.7 percent in the preceding six months. The overall number without landlines - 13.2 percent - includes those who have no phone at all.
As one of the few cell phone holdouts I've considered getting one as an emergency measure, now let me buck the trend and suggest that if you are functioning on a cell phone alone, you might consider having the land line as the emergency device for the following reasons:
They don't have to be charged
In case of a power outage (such as I had a few days ago) the land lines kept working granted a cell phone can but you lose both charge and minutes in such a case.
It provides a single central line for the family.
If you are one who uses Vontage or some other IP phone, remember as well that when your power goes out, your phone will too.
I'm sure that people can come up with a dozen reason why I'm wrong and I'll be happy to entertain them in comments, but for me, until I decide I need it, I'll do without.
Posted by Peter at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2007
Hey some good news on China
Via Glenn it looks like Google was taking notes after all:
Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Vodaphone are now committed publicly to a process "which aims to produce a set of principles guiding company behavior when faced with laws, regulations and policies that interfere with the achievement of human rights." As BSR's CEO Aron Cramer put it: "This important dialogue reflects a shared commitment to maximize the information available via the internet on the basis of global principles protecting free expression and privacy."
The Free Speech Diva points out that this isn't just right business but smart business:
This is not only the right thing to do, but these three U.S.-based firms plus the European Vodaphone all recognize that in the long run ethical business is smart business: if your users can't trust you to do all you can to uphold their interests and rights, you will be hard-pressed to retain customers globally. When a company is known to be colluding with state censorship in one country, that tarnishes its credibility in other markets. And when another firm hands political dissidents over to the police in one jurisdiction, its users elsewhere will think twice about using its services.
So lets give them a bow for now and see what happens.
Posted by Peter at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
Buy one get 2 cheap
Microsoft continues to push Vista with an interesting offer for homes with multiple PC's:
In what is being billed as a limited time offer, Microsoft will let those who buy a boxed version of Vista Ultimate Edition purchase discounted licenses for up to two more PCs in their house. The cost for each of the additional PC licenses is $50; for that amount, consumers can install the Home Premium version of Vista on the other PCs."It's targeted at what we term the 'super-engaged customers,'" said Bill Mannion, a director in the Windows marketing group. Such customers tend to have more than one PC, he said. "This is a focused program designed to encourage these super-engaged customers to upgrade multiple PCs in the household."
The big problem I see with this deal is the number of pc's in the home that are likely vista ready. Only one in my house is. I suppose people who are big gamers and bigger geeks than me might be interested. It will also be interesting to see how they keep such people from giving the extra copy to a friend.
I think they are doing their best to avoid the Mickey Kaus syndrome.
Posted by Peter at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
Because that's where the money is
Apparently the music industry is not taking the example of the NYC shopkeeper who is suing 4 homeless people for 1 million. They are going after the people with the money:
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, said it would take action against internet companies that carry vast amounts of illegally shared files over their networks. It stressed that it would prefer not to pursue such a strategy and is keen to work in partnership with internet providers.John Kennedy, the chairman of the IFPI, said he had been frustrated by internet companies that have not acted against customers involved in illegal activity. He warned that litigation against ISPs would be instigated "in weeks rather than months". Barney Wragg, the head of EMI's digital music division, said the industry had been left "with no other option" but to pursue ISPs in the courts.
This is a much smarter move than suing individuals. There are tens of thousands of individuals out there dealing with illegal music but the number of ISPs is not only considerably smaller but more likely to result in monetary damages and changes in behavior.
Posted by Peter at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
The Empire Strikes Back
Well this is an interesting development:
An amendment has been attached, which requires registration of bloggers with more than 500 readers, and who comment on policy issues. Violation would be a criminal offense.
This has been offered by Sen Harry Reid, Gee I wonder if this story had anything to do with it?
You know we've argued for internet free speech a lot over here. It's a shame that we might have to make that that argument here in the land of the 1st Amendment.
via Glenn.
Posted by Peter at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
How well did the Zune sell?
Well Microsoft says it sold pretty good:
Today, Microsoft announced that its Zune MP3 player was the number two selling device in the hard drive-based MP3 player market for the month of December
Some of the comments on the page seem to think the quote is being parsed.
Meanwhile I have yet to take a call on the Zune (a tribute no doubt to its reliability) and the joke mill continues to run strong:
Owning a Microsoft Zune player in an iPhone dominated world can become a huge social stigma. Especially if you're one of those trendy up-and-comers. We've solved the stigma associated with owning a Microsoft Zune by creating the "iFace." The iFace attaches to your Microsoft Zune using a hinge & latch mechanism. Once installed it transforms the outer appearance of your Zune player to resemble and iPhone INSTANTLY.
Still ZdNet implies something interesting might be in the works for the device:
According to the recently granted trademark application, the Zune mark includes not just multimedia player services, but also telecommunication and Internet services. The Zune trademark applies to current and potential future services including "telecommunication services; electronic transmission of data files, documents, music and videos over the Internet and wireless networks; electronic mail services; web messaging services; text messaging services; paging services; streaming of audio and video material over the Internet and wireless networks; wireless voice mail services; voice-activated dialing services; providing wireless access to computer networks and the Internet; cellular telephone services; and audio, video and television broadcasting and transmission."Wonder if this means there's a version of Microsoft Office in the works that could work on the Zune — the same way Microsoft Office competitor ThinkFree offers a version of its online-office product for Apple's iPod? You never know….
That implication could be huge.
Posted by Peter at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
Bloggers saving you money
If next year the congress ends up spending less of your money on Earmarks you can thank the bloggers:
a coalition of bloggers, led by Andy Roth at the Club for Growth, documented Reid’s strong-arm tactics. The Examiner’s own Mark Tapscott and Ed Frank at Americans for Prosperity jumped on the story. I posted video on YouTube of Reid and DeMint’s clash on the Senate floor.
Once info got out things started to happen:
By the next day, Henke was keeping bloggers appraised of the latest developments.The debate had captivated the blogosphere. As Roth noted at the Club for Growth, more than 1,700 blogs had been written about earmark reform over a 24-hour period.
Three of the most well-trafficked liberal blogs — Daily Kos, MyDD and TPMmuckraker — also turned on the Democrat leader. “Sen. Harry Reid is fast losing whatever credibility he had on earmark reform,” wrote a blogger at Daily Kos. “Who’s the arm-twister now?” asked Paul Kiel at TPMmuckraker.
By Friday afternoon, Reid had reversed course
The whole episode shows how from humble beginnings (PorkBusters was only launched in September of 2005) people can make a difference particularly when bloggers on both side of the aisle agree.
The strongest power of the internet is as a bright light.
Update: Didn't give Glenn Credit on this one, tsk tsk, I guess I'm too tied up over a cool podcast interview today (details later)
Posted by Peter at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
Download that OS
One consequence of the prevalence of high speed internet in the avg home is that ability of Microsoft to offer this choice:
Microsoft Corp. will make its new Windows Vista operating system available for sale and download online, marking a new step for the software company, which has previously sold Windows only on packaged discs or pre-loaded on computers.
In the old days such a large download would be totally impractical:
The download program, being announced late Wednesday by the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker, will also include the Office 2007 line of software when both are released for consumers Jan. 30. At least initially, the huge downloads will be available in North America only.
I'm wondering how they will prevent piracy of the files available in this fashion. I'm also wondering how easy it will be to uninstall, burn and save a copy for reinstall.
I don't know if the inclusion of office is the perk for the download but it does make things tempting. With a download of that size my normal paranoia about corrupted downloads would likely kick into high gear.
Posted by Peter at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2007
Netflix Streaming
NetFlix the premier off site DVD rental site is about to add streaming video movies as a service:
Netflix will begin IP rental of films and television this week. Those with better plans get more hours, from 6 to 48 hours a month. Although limited in selection to about 1,000 titles and available initially to a few subscribers, this is the beginning of Netflix's main business plan to net rent video straight over IP that just wasn't technically feasible back when they started. It's limited to the PC right now, on XP and IE only. Over time, they plan to expand the service to the livingroom, and beyond.
Considering the speed of the shipping I don't see the huge advantage unless you are traveling and using your laptop in that capacity. I've never really seen the computer as a the primary conduit for movies.
Posted by Peter at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
Voodoo update
We haven't checked Rahul Sood's blog in a while so I took a peek today his latest post concerns a big Voodoo event:
The feedback that we have received has been extremely positive -- there was one thing someone that to us over dinner that I will not soon forget: He was impressed when he saw how HP openly embraced the Voodoo brand. From the party at Club Pure with the dedicated Voodoo Lounge, to the unofficial HP House of Voodoo tent inside the HP booth – it all shows that HP has no intentions of changing what we do. In fact, rather than hide us or ignore us HP made an effort to showcase our stuff, and a few pieces of I.P directly that we selected out of HP Labs.
Well my own fears have so far been groundless, but considering the eye candy at the event, the positive feedback isn't a big shock.
Posted by Peter at 01:45 PM | Comments (2)
January 16, 2007
Living (but wounded) example
We have mentioned Project Valor IT on this site before, here is a living example of what it means:
My right arm is healing up nicely now. It’s been two weeks since the final surgery when they closed it up. It won’t be long now and they will be removing the stitches. They have a compression sock on it now to help shape it for my first prosthesis...I want you to all keep in mind that there are a lot of injured soldiers out there, not just myself. In order to reach out to these wounded soldiers use the following organizations. First and foremost, Soldier’s Angels. Soldier’s Angels gave me a laptop with voice recognition software so that I can type even though I have no hands or fingers to type with.
J.R. Salzman has been blogging as a soldier in the field for some time, he blogged his own wounding and is now blogging his recovery. When you donate to Solder's Angels, you are helping people like him, who are not only fighting but providing first hand information faster than any other time in history.
Posted by Peter at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2007
The song ends for AOL
Music might have charms to soothe the savage beast but it didn't have the profits to keep AOL happy:
AOL is giving up on its MusicNow service, and is now teaming with Napster for online song downloads. The service was launched in November 2005 as an updated version of AOL's MusicNet subscription service, according to Online Media Daily.
Aol is not the first nor will it likely be the last to go this route, in the end its all about the C-notes (and I don't mean the ones between B & D)
Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff commented, "You can definitely say that if AOL's music strategy Barracuda Spam Filter – Free Evaluation Unit were working they wouldn't have had to go outside the company.
Maybe AOL should have just started suing, it seems to work for some:
After deciding not to sue a 42 year old mother of five because she had created publicity about her case in the national press, the record industry has successfully sued her 20 year old daughter. Somehow in its death throws, the record industry has persuaded a judge to order Michelle Santangelo, to pay $750 for each of the 41 songs she is accused of downloading illegally — a total of $30,750.
It seems excessive but is .99 cents really too much to pay to avoid a hassle?
Posted by Peter at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
All politics is YouTube
We have mentioned more than once that the digital age has changed some things from free speech issues, to shopping for a car, to financing terror, to voting, , to reporting All of these things have changed because of technology.
There have been major changes in politics as well. The Net fueled Howard Dean's run for the presidency in 2004 and is the primary reason why he is the DNC Chairman now. In our podcast interview with Ed Morrissey we talked about John McCain posting on his blog. Just this week Sen. Norm Coleman appeared on his podcast.
Today Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe mentions how presidental Candidate Mitt Romney was both burned by the net (specifically YouTube)
An even better test of Romney's nimbleness came just two days later, in the form of a video anonymously posted on youtube.com . It showed clips of Romney debating Ted Kennedy during their 1994 Senate race -- clips that showed how avidly Romney had portrayed himself as a social liberal when he first ran for office in Massachusetts. From staunchly defending abortion rights to disavowing Ronald Reagan, Romney came across back then as anything but the unabashed conservative he is running as today.
and attempted damage control via the same method. in particular using Instapundit:
The campaign's response was immediate, decisive -- and very 21st century. Within hours, Romney did an interview with blogosphere eminence Glenn Reynolds and his wife, Helen, who asked him point-blank to explain "this YouTube video from 1994 showing you as a flip-flopper. " They posted Romney's answer on Instapundit, their popular blog. In addition, a video of Romney crisply responding to the Reynoldses was soon up on the campaign's website -- and on YouTube as well. Whatever one thinks of Romney's political views, his campaign is setting new standards for responsiveness, savvy, and speed.
As almost always Glenn has the best line:
That's kind of cool, using a podcast to respond to a YouTube interview. All new media, all the time!
It's likely that in a few years this is how it will be done and be considered no big deal, but right here and right now it is the beginning on a new and interesting era.
Posted by Peter at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
Martin Luther King Day
Today is Martin Luther King Day a National Holiday.
HiWired will be open our normal hours from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. EST.
Something I've noticed about today.
If you are old enough you might remember before MLK day we used to have two February holidays, Lincoln's Birthday (Feb 12) and Washington's Birthday (Feb 22). To make room for MLK day (any additional holiday is expensive since it is a day state and local governments have to pay employees without working or pay overtime to essential workers.) those two days were combined for a generic President's day.
I seem to remember Washington's birthday was a big deal when I was younger, Lincoln's less so but Washington's was always treated with some reverence.
It seems to me that both of the newer holidays are not treated so reverently. Other than the lack of traffic today seemed very much normal. I saw trash trucks collecting today, and people don't seem to be involved at all in the spirit of a holiday.
President's day is even worse. It's basically become a big sale day for car dealers who are celebrating the life of the likes of John Tyler and James Buchanan
I sometimes think Dr. King's day gets short shift because it displaced Washington and Lincoln. That is unfair to his legacy since it was congress' decision not his. I personally think we should bring back Washington's birthday, that way we can celebrate two great men Washington and King in two months. When a society celebrates heroes, those people who made a difference they give their children something to aspire to something greater than the high score on Grand Theft Auto.
Now HiWired is open every holiday day so the fact that we are here today isn't so odd, but it is something to think about.
Posted by Peter at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2007
Unanswered IPhone Questions
Mike Elgan at Computerworld asks some questions about the new iPhone that in the heat of everybody's excitement were not asked:
14. Will people accept iPhone's slow Internet connection? While other phones are embracing 3G, the iPhone's EDGE support gives users a disappointing 2.5 G experience. Jobs showed The New York Times Web page -- how long will that page take to load? For people already using 3G on their phones, going back to a slower device may be too much to ask.
The iPhone may or may not be right for you, but make sure it is before you jump.
Posted by Peter at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2007
Technology Advances
Ever notice that some new technologies cancel out old standards. For example, since the cell phone, when was the last time you saw a phone booth? Alexander Graham Bell probably could not have predicted the reliance our modern culture has on phones, not to mention that your phone can now replace your personal computer, mp3 player, cameras, and much more. Remember the days when you had to buy and develop film? Not anymore, Digital imaging took over that field, now photography has become considerably cheaper, or when you had to rewind the VHS before returning. But with digital media, you can store shows and movies on a hard drive connected to your TV. When Cellular One first introduced their digital cell phone, I wrote a paper about it for my electronics class, and coined the phrase: "Technology shows the advancement of society." Now, What's next? What is going to be the next greatest invention that changes our way of life?
Posted by ChrisDu at 09:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mopeing the sequel
Well this year I managed to make it to the world series but I am forced to offer my congratulations to Ken Anderson (New York Mets) who defeated me 4-1 in a barnburner of a series which included 4 consecutive extra inning games of 12, 23, 14 and 12 innings, a 10 run 9th inning comeback to tie a game and more excitement than I remember in the 19 years of this league.
As I said last year if you live in central Mass and have an interest in face to face tabletop baseball are are willing to pledge yourself to a once a week 26 week league post your e-mail here or contact iGamespot here.
Posted by Peter at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2007
Fun with Animation
I'll amaze my friend Mr. I and make a blog post today. I have a new hobby I am enjoying quite a bit since I got a new digital camcorder. Capturing my friends, family and coworkers in fun situations fit for America's Funniest Video is one thing, but the photoshop vandal inside me went completely nuts when I realized I could take those photoshop skills to a new level in the form of animation and video editing.
Some examples of my feeble but fun attempts at amimation can be found here. Sure they're short, but they're of people I know, and that makes it funny. To us at least. Two of them show coworkers eating smurfs. My favorite to date is turning someone into a music video pimp. It's childish but its fun.
It really isn't very hard to do. It does take alot of patience and time, however. There are a variety of applications for doing this sort of thing. I'm using Pinnacle software. My brother uses Vegas Studio, which seems more robust than what I'm using. He made this movie trailer spoof using Vegas and clips from a DVD series he bought.
There are tons of ways to create these sorts of animations and tons of different styles for creating them. The limit seems only to be your own imagination. So next time you see me with the camera, think twice before smiling and waving at the lens. You never know what could happen with that image.... ;)
Bernie
Posted by Bernie at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
Now it's just getting silly, Moon Maiden update
Apparently Michelle's apology was premature, Captain Hussein has been re-moon maidened.
This is frankly getting too much for me, maybe there is a disadvantage to instant information.
Posted by Peter at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
More games people play
The second part of our Podcast interview with Shawn Martenau owner of IGamespot in Fitchburg Massachusetts deals with the details of Lan gaming. (Part one is here.)
We go into details on the games themselves, we talk a little about the do's and don't of Lan gaming and why one might choose a lan game center over just playing at home.
As always you can listen to the podcast here or find us at the iTunes music store under HiWired.
Posted by Peter at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
The bottom line on wireless
The ever informative George Ou strikes again with a tech republic download The Ultimate Guide to enterprise Wireless Lan Security.
If you are a business owner using wireless this guide is very much for you. As the old saying goes a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and you don't want your business to be that link.
As always free registration is required, but it is really worth it.
Posted by Peter at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2007
What would a new release be without the lawyers?
Well the iPhone is already showing a great profit potential....
....for lawyers:
Cisco, in a statement on its Web site, said it got the iPhone trademark in 2000 after it bought Infogear, which had owned the trademark and had sold iPhone products for several years. According to Cisco, Infogear's original filing for the trademark was on March 20, 1996.
Apparently they have been talking about this for some time...
"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel for Cisco. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.
They do have a legit case but isn't it always true that the lawyers strike first.
Posted by Peter at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
Here comes the replacement
Well the replacement laptop is here. It's a Dell Inspiron E1505 with 1 gig of ram, a 68g hd and an ATI Radeon x1300 display adapter and a DVD burner. (Mentioned this system here).
It's the first media center PC I've owned, haven't noticed much of a difference either way vs home/pro.
I'm using the Dell wireless rather than the built in windows and I'm also using the McAfee that came with the system. Since I've never owned either it will give me more of an edge when I run into systems with them.
Of course today the old 1150 has decided not to give any problem at all. I'll likely get it fixed at the end of the month.
So far it has been a fun system, the kids are happy that I don't need the primary system for CIV IV. The screen is slick and easy on the eyes. I could recommend this to somebody really easy, particularly with the under $700 price tag including shipping.
Of course this doesn't compare to the XPS 710 quad processor the Peter B has been drooling over all day. He says he MUST have it! It will be some time before my money goes in that direction.
BTW I've mentioned CIV IV over and over, here is a screen shot taken from the new laptop:
Posted by Peter at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2007
iPhone Yawn!
You might notice that we didn't put up a single post about the release of the iPhone.
Well there are three reasons for that. The first is I haven't been in for the last few days so I didn't post. Second is that apparently it didn't interest anyone else enough to post about it. The third reason is the big one:
We all knew this was coming, this was not surprise. We've been hearing bit and pieces of this for a long time. The release of the iPhone was to me wasn't news. When it is actually for sale and people start playing with it ,then it will news.
It is analogous to say Hillery Clinton and John McCain announcing they are running for president. We all know it is going to happen, they are hemming and hawing but we all know it. When the announcement actually happens, it will be a non-event.
If you want the meat and potatoes Pajamas Media has a ton.
Posted by Peter at 09:57 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2007
Lexar Memory Stick Pro
I learned something new this week. My parents have a Sony Cybershot 3.2 that they purchased a couple years back. When they bought it the salesman sold them a Lexar 256mb Memory Stick Pro, and told them it would store around 200 pictures. My father asked me the other day why the camera says full after around 95 pictures every time. So I connected the camera to my computer and it showed up as a 128mb card. When I removed the card it said 256mb on the card itself. What I didn't know is that on the other side of the card there is a little slide switch that says A and B. There are 2 separate chips inside the card, both 128mb. After one fills up, you have to remove the card from the camera and slide the switch over and re-insert the card to get your full 256mb.
Posted by ChrisDu at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
Ouch my aching tooth
My blogging will be light for a couple of days as I had some unpleasant dental work done.
Meanwhile the boss and Troy are in Las Vegas at the same show that Glenn is at.
Hopefully the other guys will pick up the slack, particularly since we have so many new ones.
P.S. I of course didn't mean this show.
Posted by Peter at 06:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2007
Moon Maiden no Longer?
It looks like allegged moon maiden Capt Jamal Hussein might actually exist:
I relayed information from multiple sources--CPATT, Centcom, and two other military sources on the ground in Iraq-- that the Associated Press's disputed source, Jamil Hussein, could not be found. As I noted on the 4th, the AP reported that the Ministry of Interior in Iraq has now said a Captain Jamil Hussein does work in the al Khadra police station. I regret the error.
A good recap of the issue is here:
More commentary here here and here.
Apparently Technorati still believes we are moon maidens here.
Posted by Peter at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2007
Verizon Wireless phones with Media players
I recently purchased a Samsung a930 cell phone from Verizon wireless. One of the features that sold me on this phone was the fully capable media player, with a headphone jack. First thing I did when I got the phone home was connect it to my computer via bluetooth. Once the Phone was connected I realized that Verizon blocks the ability to sync contacts, music, and pictures. What this means is if you take a picture with the phone you have to send it via a text message. This also means that if you wanted to listen to music on your phone you would have to purchase it from VCast. My feelings were this: I pay enough for the monthly bill, I shouldn't have to purchase media I already own on a PC again. Like all things, I found a way around purchasing it all from Verizon. This phone (like most modern ones) has a slot for a Micro SD card. I purchased a 512mb Micro SD card I found on pricewatch.com for under $20. First thing you do is put the card in the phone so it can automatically create the folder names you need. Then put the card into a card reader connected to a PC with your media and copy any files over that you would like on your phone. Also, you can copy any pictures and videos you've taken with the camera on the phone to the computer as well. Its a win-win situation.
Posted by ChrisDu at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2007
If you haven't already switched to Firefox...
Now might be the time! Brian Krebs from the Washington Post put the results of some interesting research on his blog today. In 2006, Microsoft Internet Explorer had security vulnerabilities for 284 days - that’s only 81 days of safe surfing!
I myself got hooked on Firefox about two years ago while trouble shooting a computer. IE 6 would not load any web pages at all but I was to ping the websites. I happened to carry quite a few utilities on my USB drive and the Firefox installer was one of them. I installed it to get the user back up on the net as a "band-aid" but quickly found tabbed browsing to be the best feature I had come across.
Now I am not one of these typical Microsoft bashers. I have my MCSE and various MCP certifications and love most of their products and I actually find their technical support and customer service USEFUL!
If you have not already done so go grab Firefox and give it a shot.
Posted by Jonathan at 09:05 AM | Comments (2)
January 04, 2007
And I thought cell phones in cars annoyed me
Business Week reports (via Glenn) that the day of the Automotive hotspot has come:
The service is optimized for the in-car experience, and is specifically designed to work on 95 percent of U.S. roads, regardless of driving conditions or location. Simply plug the unit into a cigarette lighter or standard wall plug and go.
You aren't just talking about a car either:
Moreover, the device can easily be removed from the car and put into a small bag. Thus, users can shuttle between the car and a residence, hotel or vacation spot, extending the usability of the Autonet Mobile Service beyond the car. For business travelers, families on vacation or couples on the go, bringing connectivity out of the car and into the hotel room is an additional benefit.
As you might guess there is a price tag here:
The Autonet Mobile Unit is priced to retail at US$399 with a monthly service charge of US$49 and turns your car into a secure mobile hotspot,
The monthly fee isn't really that bad and the fact that it is a secure hotspot sounds even better.
It's a really cool item but if I'm passing somebody on the road they're surfing instead of watching where they're driving I'll pull out what few hairs I have left.
Posted by Peter at 02:03 PM | Comments (1)
Wait for the evening news!
McAfee warned us of the virus this today.
Warning—PLEASE READ THIS Here
Posted by pbanacos at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)
Better than a surge protector
Lost power today at the house before I came into work. Being an experienced tech (and having been burnt by a power surge that blew out my Select Comfort bed) I have surge protectors all over the house.
Surge protectors generally have ratings for protection and may even have a guarantee for an amount of dollars of protection. A good surge protector can save the day and likely did when the power started flickering.
I however decided not to take any chances. I went to each PC, each Router and each Modem and unplugged them from the power supplies. It took me maybe 5 min to unplug it all (And took the same 5 min when the power came back) but that 5 min changed the odds from 95-99% that nothing gets shorted out to 100% that nothing gets shorted out.
You might say it's not worth the hassle for that extra 5%. I disagree. If you are making $300+ an hour maybe your time is worth too much to bother but why take the risk when you don't have to?
Posted by Peter at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2007
Games people play
Our first Technobabble Podcast of the new year features an interview with Shawn Martenau owner of IGamespot a Lan gaming store in Fitchburg Massachusetts.
In part 1 of our two part talk we discuss the hot games and systems of the Christmas season. He seems to confirm Hector's post about the popularity of Wii vs PS3.
As always you can listen to the podcast here or find us at the iTunes music store under HiWired.
We will be posting part 2 later in the month.
Posted by Peter at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
All the spiderman comics for under $50? on DVD
If you are an old comic collector you know how hard it is to get comics in high condition at a good price.
When I started collecting in the 70's I wanted to read the stories from the 40's and 50's but the prices were prohibitive. I was reduced to various reprints until the hardcovers came out. They covered about 12 issues at a time, but even then you are spending between $50-80 per volume (less at Amazon), a lot better but still money that can be used for other things.
For my 15 year old son the problem is magnified by the nearly 30 years that separates our dates of birth, but at the local comic store that problem now no longer exists...
For the first time I saw The Amazing Spiderman Complete Comic Book Collection for 98-xp. This contains every issue published over 43 years in Adobe format.
Being a DC fan it didn't get my blood pumping but this fundamentally changes everything in terms of collectors vs readers.
This is a great example how technology changes things. The simple (boring) process of scanning in those comics means that for the price of skipping a family night out at Friendly's you can have every story at your fingertips.
This is one a dozens of little miracles that we enjoy every day without knowing it.
Posted by Peter at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2007
Moon Maiden update on Captain Jamil Hussein
There have been some interesting developments since our last post on the subject.
However me being me I didn't feel compelled to link until the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail was invoked.
Posted by Peter at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
More serious than ads
I think Google's issues with ad placement are a lot less worrisome than stuff like this:
Using a form of cross scripting, it becomes easy to steal a GMail user’s contact list if they visit a certain type of website. The only condition is you have to be logged in to GMail at the time of the attack.
Well if that's not an argument for our Connected on the Go E-Mail I'd like to know what is?
Via Slashdot which is starting the new year busy.
Posted by Peter at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
One more straw one Camel lost.
Via Slashdot the Enquirer reports on one business that has had enough of Microsoft's straws on its back:
It started out quite simply, a client needed to set up a small branch office, something I do almost every week. Four workstation and a repository for files, occasional backups, and a shared printer is all they would need, nothing special. Five HP 5100s, a printer, a Promise TX2300 with mirrored drives and a DVD-R was all I needed. That was the easy part.
The end result was a comedy of errors that ended up as follows:
So, unable to transfer the install easily, unable to legally use a different CD of Windows with my legally purchased key, and unable to install the drivers with the one I had, I was left with only one option. The machine was put in place Saturday running Ubuntu. The owner of the chain was informed of it, why it was done, and what the ramifications, mainly stability and security, were.Luckily, he is a smart man, and from this point on, Linux will be the OS of choice on all his servers, it is cheaper to buy, cheaper to install, and much more secure. Desktops are under evaluation, but Microsoft lost this chain for sure on the server side. If it doesn't think their brain dead policies are costing them money, I am proof positive that they are, and I am willing to bet I am far from alone.
Drip, drip, drip.
Posted by Peter at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)
National Day of Mourning
Today has been declared a national day of mourning for the late President Ford who died at the age of 93.
HiWired will be open our normal hours 9 a.m.- 2 p.m.
HiWired offers our condolences to the Ford family and thanks them for the decades of service to the country by the late President.
What is most interesting is he was born into an era where flight and radio was in its infancy and died in an era with Computers are a everyday item and space travel while not common doesn't give us a second thought.
That's amazing!
Posted by Peter at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2007
Happy New Year from HiWired
A very Happy New Year (and 8th day of Christmas) from HiWired.
We will be opening today at 12 noon EST. till 2 a.m. EST.
Starting tomorrow we will be back to our normal schedule 9 a.m.- 2 a.m. EST. 7 days a week.
We hope the New Year brings a lot of happiness with it, and of course if during the year your PC fails to do so, we'll be here.
Posted by Peter at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)