Crime doesn't pay
The ringleader of the "Shadow Crew," an online identity theft ring, is about to lose his own identity. For the next 32 months, he'll have a convict's number instead of a name.
The ringleader of the "Shadow Crew," an online identity theft ring, is about to lose his own identity. For the next 32 months, he'll have a convict's number instead of a name.
Hype notwithstanding, Google is not going to take over the world. Not even close. Most of their non-search offerings have been only modestly successful, it seems.
I'm not surprised. For years, I was mystified by the insistence of some Microsoft critics that the company's dominance in desktop operating systems and office software would lead to total Microsoft domination of every software market. Some of these people may say that it was only the antitrust case that kept this from happening. But I think it's obvious that a totally Microsoft-dominated world was never going to happen.
There are a number of reasons for this, but the most obvious is good old human nature. Businesses began to diversify their software buys, partly because they just didn't want to be totally beholden to any one company. No way were they going to let Microsoft become as dominant in, say, databases as they were in OSes.
Same thing's happening to Google. Just yesterday, I blogged about my refusal to use Google's new payment service. Why? Because it's from Google. They want to create an all-Google world. But that's not where I want to live. Me, or anybody else.
...I'm just talking on my cell phone.
A new study finds that when it comes to safe driving, there's not much difference.
Eef Apple weeshes to sell eets iPods een Fronz, zey must do eet our way! A new law weel see to zat!
Data storage giant EMC buys data security titan RSA for $2.1 billion.
A major Massachusetts tech company gets bought by...a major Massachusetts tech company? Not some out-of-towner? Somebody catch me...I feel faint...
Now the ultra-search service wants to manage my online financial transactions.
I'm not exactly a Google-basher, but this is the proverbial it. The company's relentless effort to make us do everything through one of their online services has begun to remind me of the relentless imperialism of Microsoft. I didn't want to have my entire digital life under Microsoft's thumb; why should I grant as much power, or more, to Google?
How do you kill all the data on a hard drive in just a few seconds? Forget about those "shredder" programs. They take hours, and they've been known to miss a few spots. But a scientist at Georgia Tech has the answer--and a rather obvious answer it is too.
Hint: it involves the use of big 'ol magnets...
BoingBoing reports on a Swedish insurance company that figures the odds favor people who illegally swap files over the Internet. In fact, this company will ensure you against recording industry lawsuits for a measly $19 a year.
From South Korea--a cell phone that knows if you're drunk.
What's the diff between Google Video and YouTube? Which of the various online video sharing sites is best for you? Go figure it out for yourseif. I'm not your mother...
Seems like just yesterday I linked up this report about Samsung and Toshiba planning a hybrid disk player that would accept both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks. Now along comes Samsung to make a liar out of me.
Me, I've got no use for MySpace or other social networking sites. Nothing against them, mind you; they're just not my cuppa.
But that's just me. Looks like the rest of y'all are just living it up.
A Boston-area outfit has come up with a clever new website that combines social networking with shopping. My daughters will go nuts over it...
I encrypt my home wireless router using WPA rather than the older, less secure WEP protocol. Just as well. Turns out cracking WEP, already known to be fairly insecure, is now downright trivial.
Some rather clever Brits think they've found a way to bypass Chinese Internet censorship. Dunno if it'll work, but their proposal sounds deliciously simple...
So says the European Union, which has decided to fine Microsoft Corp. $2.5 million a day for non-compliance with a 2004 antitrust ruling.
Even as it moves to shore up its position in desktop and server chips, Intel is abandoning its long-running effort to become a major player in wireless phone technology.
Oh well. Nobody can be good at everything.
Maybe the struggle between the two next-generation blue-laserdisc formats is headed for a peaceful end. Samsung and Toshiba are working on a hybrid that'll play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disks.
Huzzah.
The Chinese government hates surprises. So it's considering a law that would fine news organizations that run unauthorized stories about "sudden events" like strikes, riots, fire, flood or pestilence.
That might scare off the big Chinese media. But it could provide a big opening for daring Chinese bloggers...
Tired of getting its butt kicked by AMD, the mighty Intel rolls out new server chips that could give AMD's Opteron line a hard time.
According to this amusing little story, it just doesn't matter.
Want a wireless Internet router for just $5? No prob. Just one catch, though--you must let other people use your wireless signal. And that raises another problem for this ambitious plan, launched by a Spanish Internet company. Most home broadband providers in the US don't allow their customers to share their broadband service. A company that urges broadband users to share could find itself in a lot of legal trouble.
Still, it's such a likable idea, I hope there's some way to pull it off.
This website claims it'll generate all the passwords you want for the dozens of sites you visit, by using a single master password. Remember the master password, and you can forget all the others, because you'll always be able to go to the site and find the password for any given site.
Hmmm...but can you trust these guys? Or is it really just a clever way to gain access to all your Internet services? Dunno as I'd want to gamble on this with anything crucial, like the password to my bank account...
You're not the only one who has to pay heavily for Apple's popular little music players. The workers who make them pay a stiff price as well.
Warren Buffett is giving away his money. But, apparently unequal to the task of doling out $40 billion, he plans to let Bill Gates do it for him.
Some of them put it to extraordinary use, like looking for surprising sights in Google Earth. Google, you know, offers satellite images of the entire planet, shot from outer space and viewable through its free Google Earth software.
Well, some people like to scour these Google images in search of visual oddities. Among the most exciting finds are photos of airplanes in flight, which just happened to be cruising along when the satellite shot a picture. Here's an especially impressive example. And here's one that's even more remarkable--an image right out of a World War II bombing raid, captured by a 21st century camera in space. Astounding.
Google Maps? Pfui! Two can play at zat game, m'sieur! Ah geeve you Geoportail, France's answer to zees Google of yours!
Now, go away before ah taunt you a second tam!
...in an all-out struggle for total videogaming supremacy!!
Beats the stuffing out of the World Cup, dunnit?
So it would seem, according to this piece in LinuxWorld magazine. It seems Microsoft's new wireless network comes from a company that relies on Linux rather than Windows.
I know AMD has been kicking some serious Intel butt in the microprocessor market lately, but the scrappy little chipmaker is really thinking big. AMD will spend $3.2 billion on a new chipmaking plant in New York State. It'll take four or five years to build the thing, which gives you some idea how confident AMD is feeling these days.
Despite a likely price of $600, Sony thinks it can sell 100 million units of its upcoming PlayStation 3 game console.
Well, maybe. It's hard to bet against the PlayStation empire, but Nintendo's Wii, with its superb motion-sensitive controller and a price of $250, is the console to watch this Christmas.
Just makes you want to run right out and annex the Sudetenland, doesn't it?!
Boeing may bail on its airborne Wi-Fi system.
It seems that cellphones make disturbingly effective lightning rods.
If you ever visit a retailer who offers "free" WiFi, you better buy something. Or else.
Here's a good one from March that I'd missed. A Dutch scientist found that half the electronics products returned to shops because of malfunctions are just fine. But the users simply couldn't figure out how to use the bloody things.
Especially if you want your videogame to succeed. Who in his right mind would buy games with names like these?
..even if you're not a techie. The popular site that lets readers rank their favorite tech news stories has decided to add other kinds of news to the mix.
Wow. An obvious idea, but a very good one. Digg is such a cool idea already. Applying the same approach to all kinds of news could make it one of the Internet's most attractive news sites. Look out, CNN.com...
Companies are usually pretty diplomatic about letting a CEO go. Not Novell. The board ousted Jack Messman this morning, bluntly declaring it was time for a change.
Los Angeles wants to test flying robotic Imperial Probe Droids as a way to patrol the vast city.
Some people might freak out over the idea of flying surveillance robots. Me, I'm spooked by the idea of robotic cops whether winged or earthbound. Policing takes a human touch. Even Robocop was a man inside a machine. Well, at least they'll still need people to steer this thing. And it won't be armed.
It hurts just to think about this little gadget. But I suppose any guy who encountered it would deserve whatever he got. But what would he then do to the poor lady bold enough to use it? It scarcely bears thinking about...
The Pulitzer-winning columnist posts Chinese-language blogs denouncing government censorship.
I've covered the raging Internet neutrality wars here and here. Now net neutraliity advocates are beginning to realize that they need to define their terms a little more precisely. They're putting forward proposals that are less sweeping than some of their early rhetoric, and perhaps with a better chance of passage.
Check out this amazing story from The Enquirer. My sister's been complaining about the heat emanating from her new Apple laptop, but it's nothing compared to this!
Over at Information Week, Fred Langa says there's a simple, quick way to reinstall Windowx XP without having to wipe your hard drive first. I'll file this one away for use during my next XP crisis. I don't have these crises very often, but they can be mighty annoying.
The leader of a rival high-tech charity thinks Nicholas Negroponte's plan to give away millions of dirt-cheap laptops is a load of codswallop.
(I just had to throw in that "faugh!" It's one of those lovely Victorian ejaculations that has nearly vanished from the language. It's right up there with "pshaw!" in my book. And don't get me started on "codswallop!")
Amazing what some people will do to prove a point.
In Boston, and throughout the US, citizens can get the latest local crime news with a click.
IBM has gotten a microprocessor to run at the fastest speed ever--500 gigahertz. Sure, they had to chill the chip to -451 degrees, but still...
Nothing against that cool Scandinavian browser, but I have become rather accustomed to Firefox. Still, a new and improved version of Opera is always worth a download.
New users of the estimable Linux operating system will profit by reading this clever little essay. Old-timers will like it too.
Yes, it's that time again...time for me to get back into the habit of blogging. Sorry it's taken this long.