Keep your PC useful
If you made a resolution to get more organized for the new year, and made specific plans to get your ever-growing music collection under control, you probably will be getting a larger hard drive or maybe an external drive for your music. The process can take a couple of hours, depending on the size of your collection.
For Windows PC (Apple Support):
For Mac and Windows (from cnet):
Microsoft Sign
In a break from tradition, a recent Microsoft updated removed, or deprecated, code in older Windows platforms that had to do with the Indeo Video Codec. Microsoft chose to disable the utilization of this codec instead of patching it to fix some recently discovered security vulnerabilities.
Last year, Microsoft took a similar measure regarding a flaw that was discovered in its Windows 2000 Server’s implementation of TCP/IP, but in that case, Microsoft simply chose to do nothing, which leaves these systems vulnerable.
These actions are siginificant in that Microsoft has always tried to patch the holes that were found in its software and make everything work together. They have always chosen to make their products backwards compatible with older versions of software, but these actions may signal that the software company may be softening this policy.
The Gartner research group reported that worldwide sales of PCs have increased this year. Most analysts had been projecting PC sales to trend downward due to the recession, but buoyed by strong sales in the 3rd quarter, the PC market will show a 2.8% increase over 2008. This trend is expected to continue into 2010 shich should show a 12.6% increase.
However, even with the stronger than expected showing in unit sales, overall market value fell based on unprecedented decline in average PC selling price. Even though the report doesn’t quite say it, this decline in market value is due to the strong showing of the new netbooks or “mini-notebooks”. Since the sales of desktop PCs fell 9% from last year, the laptop segment, augmented by the popularity of the netbooks, has driven the sales increases.
E-Book Reader
The first commercially successful E-book reader (E-Reader) was launched in 2007. The Amazon Kindle sold out in just over 5 hours and had only limited availability for the next 5 months. The market continues to be strong, and this holiday season looks to be very successful for these devices.
Other than for testing, I have yet to use a dedicated reader, but my iPod Touch works amazingly well. I read a couple of books a month and I do most of my reading in bed after the lights are out, but you won’t hear any page turning, and the amount of light that the iPod gives off doesn’t seem to bother my wife. I initially thought that the small format and page size would make it difficult to use, but I don’t notice those things at all while reading.
I would recommend that if you are considering buying a E-Reader, that you test out many different models since the features and overall feel can be very different.
Here’s a rundown on some of the current devices as well as a couple that are in the works:
Computer makers MSI and ASUS also have E-Readers in the works.
Technologizer.com has a very good breakdown on E-Readers and this article provides links to additional information.
Wikipedia has a good list of pros and cons about E-Readers, and I’ve summarized the major points here:
Advantages:
Disadvantages
I really should have knocked on wood when I wrote about passwords last week. I was practicing what I preached and knew that I was safe. But sure enough, my old Yahoo email account was just hijacked.
I stopped using this account after I signed up for Gmail, and it had some really old contacts in it. At one point a while back, and after not logging in for over a year, Yahoo sent me an email saying that the account was going to be deactivated. So I logged back in, deleted old messages, contacts, etc, and moved on.
But apparently, those old contacts were not actually deleted. They must have remained somehow linked to the old account, and available to anyone that would be able to hijack it. When whoever or whatever hijacked the account, they were able to send an email to all the contacts linked to the account and make it appear that it was sent by me. The email contained a hyperlink to a program that could be harmful to your PC.
I’m still trying to contact the folks that may have received the malicious email and make sure they are OK, and so far it doesn’t look like anyone was hurt.
Here is a summary of what this episode teaches us. I think it applies to everyone.
For more information on good password selection, Thoughtpick.com has a very good article on creating strong passwords.
/Steve
