It’s a given that spammers don’t put a lot of effort into filtering their lists to ensure that their marketing messages reach a specific target audience.
Thus, the subject line on a spam received today by my friend Andrew:
Did you suffer a Gallbladder injury while using Birth Control?
Today is Windows 7 Day. What better way to celebrate than to remember the two Windows desktop genealogies?
Let’s begin with the long-forgotten family that started out as a graphical shell for DOS:
Windows 1.0
Windows 2.0
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.1
Windows 3.11
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me)
Then there’s the “New Technology” family, based on a non-DOS bootloader:
Windows NT 3.1
Windows NT 3.5
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
What will come next?
Attention PR and marketing professionals: An announcement that your Windows products support Windows 7 is not news.
It’s fairly safe to assume that every company with Windows desktop products is making darned sure that those products run on Windows 7.
The fact that your specific product runs on Windows 7 on Day 1 is not newsworthy. I’m honestly glad that it does: That’s good for your business, and good for your customers. But unless there’s some special circumstance, it’s not a news story.
What would be news?
Let me know if your Windows products do not run on Windows 7, and that you have no intention of making your Windows products run on Windows 7. That might be a news story, in a “man bites dog” sort of way.
Thank you for listening. And have a nice day.
This is one iPhone app that I won’t be purchasing, even for 99 cents. But I got a laugh from the press release.
Subj: iPhone App to Serve Up Chicken Wings
What’s everyone Kluckin’ about?
NEW YORK, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Kluckr Communications announces today the launch of an iPhone app that will appeal to the tastes of chicken wing connoisseurs nationwide. Kluckr, the hot new app that rates, reviews, and locates wing joints based upon the consumers’ demands is off to a spicy start.
For $.99, what exactly can Kluckr do for you?
— LOCATE: Find the closest Wing location in just one click
— KLUKR-ATE: Rate and review favorite Wing joints
— KLUCKR TIME: Organize a wing-ding of a party
— KLUCKR BUCKS: Pass along the app or review a wing location to earn points
The Kluckr app was created for a wing lover by a wing lover. “One thing you will always see guys disagree about is who has the best wings,” says founding Kluckr, Mark Gilmor. “The argument starts like this: ‘You know who has the best wings?’ … We based the iPhone app on that argument.”
Between Monday Night Football and the World Series, the pop culture of eating chicken wings is on the rise. From major chains like Pizza Hut launching WingStreet at 3,000 of their locations and Buffalo Wild Wings being one of the fastest growing chains in the US… Wings are the craze.
With the tag line: ‘For the Wing Connoisseur, by the Wing Connoisseur,’ the Kluckr consumer determines a location’s popularity. Features of the app can also be accessed through the online community at www.kluckr.com.
Long Live the Wing!
CONTACT: Emily Andrews, C & M Media, email hidden; JavaScript is required,
+1-646-336-1398, for Kluckr Communication; Vanessa LeBlanc, Kluckr
Communication, email hidden; JavaScript is required, +1-347-454-4555
This year’s most coveted Christmas toy should be Tweet Me Elmo. But as far as I can tell, nobody has developed one.
What would Tweet Me Elmo do? When you squeeze his furry tummy, Elmo says,
“Won’t you friend me?”
“Having lots of followers is fun!”
“What are you doing right now?
“Let’s count backward from 140 together!”
“It’s time to play the Shorten the URL game!”
“Elmo is over capacity. Try again later.”
C’mon, Sesame Street, get on the social bandwagon!
(Next year’s toy, of course, would be RT Me Elmo.)
“Symantec Offers New Service Delivery Model that Helps Ensure Specific Business Outcomes”
That’s the headline of a press release received today from Symantec. My hat is off to the company’s marketing copywriters, whose prose is 100% buzzword compliant, but doesn’t appear to say anything.
Here is the first paragraph:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – October 21, 2009 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the availability of a new Managed Outcome service delivery model designed to help customers better align their IT priorities with strategic business objectives to achieve measurable business outcomes. Delivered by Symantec’s Global Services organization, Managed Outcome enables customers to transform their IT environment from its current state to a desired future state while delivering on operational metrics and achieving greater efficiency and lower TCO.
Second paragraph:
The Managed Outcome model is designed around meeting agreed-upon business results based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While traditional Service Level Agreements (SLAs) focus only on operational aspects, the KPIs in the Managed Outcome model are business values that IT organizations are expecting to get from solutions, such as measurable and improved security posture and data backup success rate. Symantec has begun to establish this framework with its Security Operations Management offerings, as well as Managed Backup Services and Managed Endpoint Protection Services.
The third paragraph:
“Traditionally, the vendor/customer relationship has been defined as that of a buyer and seller, with the vendor’s role limited to selling and helping with deployments,” said Ajay Nigam, vice president of product management, Symantec Global Services. “These older, more traditional customer relationships are no longer sufficient, affordable or successful in keeping up with the demands on business critical IT functions. The new Managed Outcome model provides customers with capabilities to deliver increased IT availability and system performance, while reducing IT management complexity, minimizing security risks and speeding deployment.”
It keeps going on and on like that. There’s even a bullet list of key customer benefits. But benefits to what? What is it exactly that Symantec is announcing? What’s new here?
According to the press release, it seems like they’re saying that customers will see measurable business benefits from buying Symantec products and services. If that’s right, then that’s a good idea… but hasn’t that allegedly been the case all along?
Symantec PR team: Great job on buzzwords and corporate doublespeak. Lousy job on communicating what the company’s news actually is.
This afternoon, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. installed a new electric meter at our home. The SmartMeter reports its data over the powerlines – and can be remotely controlled by the utility company. Now, we’re not sure if we can trust our energy bills.
In the old days, before things were networked, possession of your data was 100% of the law. When the wheels on an old-fashioned electricity meter spun, you could tell how much power was consumed by reading the analog gauges. When you bought a book and put it onto your bookshelf, you were sure that it would say there – unless you moved it yourself, or someone broke into your home and stole it.
Now seemingly everything is connected via the Internet, cellular data networks or even power-grid networks – and you don’t have control over your own data.
Take the power meter – technically speaking, a Watt-Hour Meter. The old analog meters were basic electrical devices. No microprocessors, just motors and some circuitry. The model on our house was a Sangamo J5S, manufactured beginning in 1984. It is as simple as can be. The replacement, called a SmartMeter, is a totally computerized device. Who knows what it’s programmed to do?
Early receipients of the new SmartMeter have accused PG&E of playing games with the device. See “Customers say new PG&E meters not always smart,” in the San Francisco Chronicle.
About books – well, the books on your bookshelf are still safe, but what about your digital books? As was widely reported, Amazon.com erased books from customers’ Kindle e-book readers earlier this year. The company said that it wouldn’t do it again – but given that the devices are hooked up to a wireless data network, there’s no technological barrier from stopping Amazon.com (or a hacker) from going into your device and adding, removing or changing its contents at any time, without your permission or knowledge.
As more and more data is stored on connected systems, your ability to maintain control over that data is eroded. This applies to connected systems which are in your own home or offices, and of course, also to data stored in the Cloud. You don’t know who has access to “your” data, and who can manipulate it for their own means.
And that’s why we’re going to keep an eye on that SmartMeter… and on our utility bills.
“Sir, your reservation is correct. That’s what it says in the computer,” the young lady said for the fifth time, pointing at her screen.
I was at the Hertz rental desk at New York’s JFK Airport on Tuesday, picking up a car for my regular trip to BZ Media’s Long Island offices. The return flight is on Saturday, Oct. 17, and that’s what I made the car reservation for. However, the rental ticket in the car listed the return date as Thursday, Dec. 3 — that’s an eight-week rental. Oops.
Fortunately, I noticed the error before leaving the lot, and went inside the Hertz office to correct the return date. Easier said than done.
I tried explaining again. “I don’t know why it says that in your computer, but it’s wrong. I’m returning the car this Saturday, Oct. 17. That’s what I want to do. Not December. And that’s what it says on my reservation confirmation.”
I again handed her the reservation confirmation — I obsessively travel with a full set of confirmation printouts from the airline, car rental service and hotel. The Hertz confirmation listed the correct return date of October 17.
She looked again at the printout, and compared it to her screen. “It’s the same reservation number. The computer says you’re returning the car on December 3. You’re all set.” She handed the paper back.
“No, no. That’s not what I want…” I started again, and then caught myself. “May I speak to the manager?”
The manager came over. I handed her the confirmation sheet and the rental ticket. “Your computer is wrong,” I said. “I’m returning the car on October 17, and that’s what my reservation confirmation says.”
She looked at the documents. The young clerk looked at her. The manager said, “Change it to an October 17 return.” The clerk seemed totally confused.
The manager sighed, reached over to the computer keyboard herself, typed for a minute. The printer spit out a new rental ticket — with the correct return date, and a significantly lower rental rate than I’d originally reserved. “Here you go, sir. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
Break out the bubbly! My blog, Z Trek, has made the “Top 200 Tech Blogs: The Datamation 2009 List,” published on Monday.
My humble blog scored #186, with the description:
186) Z Trek: The Alan Zeichick Weblog
IT, software development, security, and networking, with a touch of humor from the Bay Area consultant-editor.
Yay, me! You can see the page with my recognition (covering 169-189) here.
I’m even more excited for my dear friend Esther Schindler, whose blog outranked mine — and deservedly so. You can see her at #112 here.
Do I pick up the award in Oslo?
(Can’t believe that Z Trek beat Pogue’s Posts, #190, and the Scobleizer, #200, both of which are fantastic. Wow.)
“The Status of the P versus NP Problem” is the title of an excellent paper in September’s Communications of the ACM. For many developers, it may be a look at the world you live in, where solving complicated problems in a reasonable amount of time may be easy – or it may be difficult. For others, it’s a rare peek into the world of algorithmic computer science.
My own state is somewhere in the middle. I clearly remember studying the classes of problems deemed NP – non-polynomial time as I think of it, but more properly defined as nondeterministic polynomial time. However, that was a long time ago.
P problems – those solvable in polynomial time – are generally easy to code. NP problems aren’t. They seek to do tasks like determining if a large integer is prime, or finding the absolute best way to pack load a delivery truck with odd-sized packages, or working out the gravitational paths of multiple objects. Generally speaking, NP problems can be only solved in exponential time; however, the solution often can be verified in polynomial time. (It might take years to factor a 512-bit number, but you can verify in a couple of nanoseconds that the factors are correct simply by multiplying them together.)
The CACM paper, by Lance Fortnow (pictured), a professor at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, discusses the ancient question: Is there a way of transforming NP problems so that they can be solved in polynomial time? In other words, does P = NP? (If I remember my computer science correctly, there is a hypothesis that says that if any NP problem can be transformed into a P problem, then all NP problems can be so transformed.)
Should we find out that P = NP, then a whole range of problems will become easier. Long-range weather forecasting is an NP problem. Wouldn’t it be nice to solve? On the other hand, public-key encryption only works because the factoring of very large integers is an NP problem. If P = NP, then the underpinnings of today’s best crypto algorithms will be washed away.
In a nutshell, it still seems that P ≠ NP. However, there is no proof one way or another. As Prof. Fortnow says, the question is still open. There’s a lot more to the subject – I recommend reading the paper. You’ll enjoy it; at least, I did.
My hats are off to the gang at GameStreamer for today’s press release. I have no idea about the games, but who cares? They’ve got a great sense of humor, and have delivered a solid marketing message.
GameStreamer, Inc. Today Announced a New Plan to Keep America Cool, Starting With Congress
GameStreamer vows to arm congress with better games to play during budget meetings.
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ — On September 1st, 2009, a story broke on the web that two members of the Connecticut House of Representatives were involved in a scandalous activity, playing Solitaire during a budget vote. The picture of the deed can be seen here: http://bit.ly/2F2cgR
GameStreamer’s Co-Founder and EVP Nathan Lands was shocked and appalled by this development and formally responded to the news as follows:
“When I first heard of this atrocity and degradation to America’s image I was left mortified. We asked ourselves, ‘Can GameStreamer help?’ Unanimously the answer was ‘Yes we can!'”
“Events like these are unfortunate and can be very damaging to the image of America. The USA is perceived as the world leader in gaming. We believe that everyone must do their part and thus GameStreamer has vowed to do its best to keep America cool by taking a first step. GameStreamer is giving a game coupon worth $20 to all 151 members of the Connecticut House of Representatives to be used for any game available through one of our partner sites,
“We believe now is the time for change in this country and it’s just not going to happen playing lame games like solitaire.”
This is but one of many initiatives by GameStreamer to help America and the world be a cooler place to live in. GameStreamer thinks trash and waste is lame and is leading the way in spearheading the digital distribution revolution. GameStreamer sees a future where gaming and media will be available everywhere you are, whether you’re in a car, living room or on a train. This future will be free from the waste inherent with physical distribution of games such as physical media waste and all the cumulative waste that is produced from transporting the games and commuting to buy the games.
About GameStreamer, Inc.
GameStreamer is a leading innovator in digital distribution and streaming solutions for games and operates a massive B2B network with major clients across the globe. GameStreamer is headquartered in Tampa Florida with presence in major cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris and Moscow. GameStreamer is devoted to growing the gaming industry by verticalizing content to reach new niche markets and delivering targeted content to users using the latest in collaborative filtering techniques and social discovery.
GameStreamer has built the first truly Enterprise-Class Game Digital Distribution Network that is offered as a White Label Turnkey Managed Solution. GameStreamer provides custom game store solutions that target various demographics. GameStreamer is working with a wide variety of clients to generate new revenue streams, improve stickiness and grow a community for their websites and brands.
“I love it when a plan comes together.” Those were the memorial words spoken during many episodes of “The A-Team,” a U.S. television show than ran from 1983 through 1986. During the show, a group of good-hearted Army veterans would ride to the rescue of an opposed.
The word “ride” is meant literally, as the team’s mechanic would often improvise a single-use mobile combat vehicle using scrap parts, baling wire and duct tape.
“The A-Team” episodes were funny, if a bit predictable. What I remember most fondly were the montages where Sgt. “B.A.” Baracus assembled the impressive, yet patchwork, combat vehicle.
His work reminds me of what’s going on today in the world of mashups, using internal applications, commercial components and Internet-based APIs. Need a calendar? Repurpose the Google APIs. Need some storage? Throw something onto Amazon S3. And so-on.
While I’d be hesitant to rely upon ad-hoc mashups for a true business-critical applications, it’s hard to deny that they offer a great blend of agility, rapid prototyping, platform neutrality and cost savings. The benefits are seductive – and genuine. On the other hand, ad-hoc mashups don’t offer any type of guarantee on scalability, reliability or even consistency. Documentation? Ha! Support? Good luck! Predictable performance? In your dreams.
What’s worse, of course, is that the more we use mashups – and the more often that the things that we’re mashing up are themselves mashups – the poorer our performance, scalability and reliability are going to be.
If your application depends on two services that each have 99% uptime, then your app will only have 98% uptime. If your app needs ten services that each have 99% uptime, then you’ll experience 90% uptime.
The combat vehicles built by “The A-Team” were perfect for their one-time use, which generally required intimidating some urban bullies. They can’t be compared to genuine mil-spec equipment.
Similarly, ad-hoc mashups are ideal for appropriate uses, including proof-of-concept systems, throw-away apps and rapid prototyping. But don’t even think about driving one into a real battle.
The CueCat is the archetype of the bad business model. Ted Bahr (the “B” of BZ Media) and I often wave off a bad business model as “it’s another CueCat,” which is about as blanket a dismissal as you can have.
Do you remember the CueCat? It was a cute little barcode scanner – shaped like a cat – that appeared about a decade ago. It was going to link print advertisements to websites. The concept was that you’d have one of those CueCats attached to your PC. Ads in magazines would have bar codes. If you were interested in the advertised products, you’d scan the barcode with the CueCat, and a browser would open, bringing you to the advertiser’s special offer.
• The benefit to the consumer was that the CueCat would save them from typing the URL, and might unlocked special discounts.
• The benefit to the advertiser was that the individual barcodes could be tracked, so marketers would know which ads readers were responding to. Because consumers had to register to use the service, the advertiser would know who they were, too.
• The benefit to the CueCat company, Digital Convergence Corp., would be license fees to advertisers for the barcodes and referrals, and additional fees for access to its database.
The CueCat was an epic dot-com failure. While some advertisers initially took to the concept and licensed the barcodes, few consumers used the device — even after Digital Convergence mailed out hundreds of thousands of free scanners. Privacy concerns after a widely publicized security breach sealed the CueCat’s fate. The company lost millions of dollars.
Once upon a time, I had several of the little cat-shaped scanners – they were mailed out in bulk all across the United States. Sadly, they disappeared a long time ago; they were probably thrown out. According to the Wikipedia, people have found other uses for the scanners, which is nice. You can still buy them on eBay.
There are loads of CueCat-like digital-age business models that have either failed or look like they’re going to. How about WebTV? The Iridium satellite phone system? Or spending millions to setup a big marketing presence for your company in Second Life, yeah, that was a good investment. What about vertical search – where’s that going?
Who else is buried in the graveyard of bad business models – and who do you think will be there soon?
We purchased the Playstation 3 in May 2008, for the primary purpose of watching Blu-Ray movies. At $399, a 40GB PS3 was the same price as a dedicated Blu-Ray player. (You can read the story here.)
For the first year, we enjoyed the hi-def movie experience. Since the summer, however, the movie images had been deteriorating, with blinking white speckles showing up on all output from the device. The speckles showed up whether we were using HDMI or not, and no matter which resolution we tried. After some experimentation, we determined that it wasn’t a cabling or television issue, but was a hardware issue with the PS3.
Last night, we sat down to watch a movie (“The Final Countdown“). When we turned on the PS3, the TV display was corrupted and showed an error message. Then it died — no picture or sound. We tried all the tricks for resetting the video (power cycling with the rear switch, holding down the 1/0 button until there are two or three beeps) for over an hour. It’s dead, stick a fork in it.
Our son is going to see if he can resurrect the unit, but otherwise, we’ve decided that it’s toast. Once he gives up, that’ll be that.
Fortunately, we only own four Blu-Ray movies, and one PS3 game. (The bulk of our Blu-Ray movies came from Netflix.) We’re going to sell the game and PS3 accessories to GameStop — maybe they’ll buy the broken unit too.I’d told Netflix to go back to sending us DVDs again, and we’ll just sit on the movies we own for now.
Are we going to replace the PS3 with a new Blu-Ray player? No. We have a nice up-converting Samsung DVD player that works great with our 1080p flat-screen TV… it’s what we used before purchasing the PS3.
Even though prices have come down, the family consensus is that the Blu-Ray movies weren’t sufficiently better than standard DVDs to warrant purchasing another Blu-Ray player.
When checking one of my bank accounts, I noted that my surname displayed on the welcome screen was misspelled, as “Zeicnick.”
I wrote to the bank’s customer service dept., thinking that my name was somehow wrong in the account database. The reply came in under 30 minutes, which is impressive.
The response, however, is puzzling.
Dear Alan,
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry about the incorrect name.
Upon review, I found that your name is listed correctly in our systems and only the information displayed on the webpage is incorrect. I can assure you that your name that is listed on your online profile will not impact your accounts.
I forwarded your inquiry to our technical team so that your online profile may be corrected. You will receive an email when this update has been processed.
Thank you,
How do you think this could happen? It’s not like I provided my name separately when setting up the online access to my account, and might have typed it wrong at that time. Rather, the name field was auomatically populated when I entered my account number. It’s an interesting puzzle.
Where’s the scam here? This messages, like many scam message, came in from one free email service (Yahoo), but has a reply-to address at another (Gmail). I believe the Yahoo addresses was forged. The recipient list was suppressed, and it came to one of my personal email addresses.
How’s this scam work, do you think? What’s the deal?
From: “Richard Edward”
Subject: Hotel Accommodation Booking !!!
Dear Sir/Ma
I am Richard Edward, Me and my family are coming to your country to spend the our holiday and we will like you accommodate in your Hotel,we will like to make the booking as soon as possible,I want to know if you can accommodate us as follow,we are coming to your country to spend the holiday with the below rooms.
Me & My Wife (Mr & Mrs Edward ) ———- Double Room
My Sons ( James & Theo ) ——— Double Room
Daughter ( Rachael ) ——Single Room
The room will be 2-Double room and 2-Single Room,Make the booking and get back to me with the total cost,also confirm to me if you accept credit card (Master,Visa) for the full payment before arrival. Get back to me now with the booking details so as to send you details of booking, Checkin and Out Date.
I will be expecting your reply soon !!!
Best Regard
Richard Edward
It’s 3,613 miles from Honolulu to San Francisco. If you’re driving, it’ll take you 14 days 19 hours. Be sure to leave plenty of time for kayaking, as you go from the Turtle Bay Hilton in Waikiki (near Diamond Head) to Seattle.
Don’t ask why we were asking Google Maps for directions from Honolulu to San Francisco. Also, don’t ask why the software wants you to make landfall up in Washington State, and then drive down I-5 through Oregon to get to San Francisco. It seems that it would be much shorter to kayak directly to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach.
But it is quite amusing that on the directions it says,
14. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean 2,756 mi
It’s time to hire some new software developers, folks!
I was checking out the Extended Stay America hotel in Bethpage, New York — it’s not far from BZ Media’s headquarters on Long Island. When going for a virtual room tour, I was stopped dead by the system requirements:
System Requirements for Surround Video:
For Windows: Surround Video is viewable on Win3.2, Win95, and WinNT and Internet Explorer 3.02 or higher. To download the latest version of Internet Explorer, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/
For Macintosh: Surround Video is only supported on the Power Macintosh. There is no support for Mac 68000. Make sure you are using Internet Explorer version 3.02 or higher. To download the latest version of Internet Explorer, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/
Needless to say, the room viewer doesn’t run on an Intel-based Mac under Snow Leopard. I guess nobody at Extended Stay America has looked at the company’s own website recently: Internet Explorer 3.02 came out in March 1997.
I made the mistake of wandering over to the News-Computer blog home page, and have wasted too much time there. Here are some of the lead paragraphs for the latest stories published here.
These are clearly stories that were machine-translated from English to another language (I think Russian) and then back again.
(See my previous entry, “The 2009 SD Times 100 String was published online and in the oppressive inscribe.”)
Google s Chrome browser ready for download
The regular probation of the Google browser testament be available in 43 languages in 100 countries, Sundar Pichai, Google s vise head of the state of product government said at a dope convention at the company s Peak View, California headquarters. You truly spend else interval in your browser than you effect in your car, Brian Rakowski, troop product administrator for the browser project, said of the importance of offering a faster browser and forcing in a superior way competition in the market.
Dell Now Selling Microsoft Software Downloads – Software – IT Channel News by CRN
In an treaty unveiled Thursday, Microsoft is letting Dell sell accepted offerings akin Word, Excel and Coming washed-up its Dell Download Store, which opened in January. Unsurprisingly, Dell testament sell Microsoft products at prices that hog been slashed to the bone. Microsoft Profession Microscopic Employment 2007 is listed at 400.99, hale below its MSRP of 449.95. Occupation Efficient 2007, which has an MSRP of 499.95, sells for 448.99. Dell s stance is that the Download Store not isolated gives customers greater pricing and availability, however is too a else environmentally auspicious journey of distributing software thanks to it obviates the committal for packaging material.
Maruti launches microsite – Express India
Guide features of the interactive Ritz microsite consist of a countdown ticker showing the chronology left for Ritz to arrive, a pleasant online viral to digital watch and enjoy, captivating screensavers and motorcar wallpaper and a teaser that shows the shape of the automobile bit by bit when the cursor is moved over it. These features apart, the microsite has multiple games and puzzles. The speck further offers prizes such as trolley bags, Puma T-shirts, and Ritz desk sets.
Midland Daily News Archives Local News Summer sizzles at the Grace A. Dow Library
Adults can besides pick up a reading log at the Reference Desk to dawn participating in this year s Summer Reading Program. Summer personal computer classes Looking for something to engage in this summer? Receipts a machine troop at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library. Free, hands-on pc classes testament yield community this summer in the library s Convention Period C. Reservations may be untrue at the Reference Desk or by calling 837-3449. Group sizes are limited.
Taming User Access Control :: SearchSecurity.com.au
This is shown here: In this example, the user is requested to enter Denise s password in plan to perform the privileged function. The user may and choose another administrative novel by clicking Use another account. By default, UAC is turned on. Provided you re using Vista already, you no question noticed it when using Vista for the head time. How to configure User History Force Configuring UAC is simple all you can achieve is turn it on or off.
Apple s IPhone Updates – PC World
Inclined the company s core on the iPhone it seems one shot becoming that we devote the entirety of this chapter of the Macworld Podcast to it as well. We complete that with two interviews. The early is with Mac accessibility expert, Josh de Lioncourt, who discusses what the iPhone 3G S brings to the sight-impaired and blind. We too prelection approximately the accessibility improvements that testament develop in Snow Leopard and why some in the sight-impaired limited may be as well keen to dismiss Apple s accessibility efforts.
My Car Would Have Failed the Safety Lane Exam Today – Memories – Chattanoogan.com
My forenoon commute recently ended with a realization that some automobile prolongation was needed. I always detect two headlights shining on the wall of the parking garage, however not today. One bulb had away out. I then had a flashback to the days of the Chattanooga Safety Lane, and thought, My motorcar would hog failed the confirmation today. In the head scarce decades of engine travel, accidents were caused not one by unsafe drivers on the other hand recurrently by defective mechanical systems.
Digital Picture Frames The Next Big Devices? HULIQ
Honorable scrutinize at the crush the Apple iPod and MP3 players in common acquire unreal on the ragtime industry, and how quickly apartment lodgings shade LCD televisions are practically eliminating traditional CRT TVs, promptly that their prices are dropping. What electronics manufacturers invest heavily in is trying to figure absent what the ensuing bulky gadget testament be that consumers will fall in ardency with. It s a demanding task. One slogan that has downbeat imaginable is the digital picture frame.
TellX Unveils Active Video Technology that Allows Unprecedented Brand Integration for DVD Releases
Technology-savvy film lovers are always looking for the first-class national entertainment experience, said Owen Carton, Founder and President, TellX. We are thrilled to enjoy a better civic retailer showcasing the TellX-enhanced DVD proceeds and deem consumers testament be thankful the astonishing added bill at no supplementary cost. The DVD mart is an huge platform that goes exclusively untapped for advertising and sponsorship, said Carton. Sponsors are attracted in TellX owing to we deliver fresh and innovative ways to activate trade-mark awareness and stimulate sales.
Washington DC Weight Loss Surgery Practice Bluepoint Surgical Group Launches New Website Showcasing Procedures and da Vinci reg Robotic Surgery
The knowledge is unveiling an innovative distinct website showcasing the procedures and programs they offer, and giving patients a diversity of tools to study the benefits of surgery and how their lives can be changed for the better. The advanced location incorporates detailed biographies of surgeons and dieticians at the practice, video interviews, advice and graphic animations on the procedures they perform, nutrition and column collection information, an online BMI Body Bulk Index calculator, and amassed into one easy-to-navigate thing for common people considering surgery to nourishment them lose weight.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Talk about “lost in machine translation.” I was pointed to this interesting page, http://news-computer.com/page_all_1.html, which you may enjoy as much as I did. (Websites are lacework sites!)
The lead story on the page, “Technology News: Social Networking: A Week of Free Updates, Free Advice and Free Speech,” begins with,
That could be a copious poser for the forces against censorship, who look Fresh Dam as equitable one besides pathway for the control to dominion information. Nevertheless it could and be a extensive crunch for the rest of the world, whether a peruse released by security experts at the University of Michigan is correct. That glance at says Half-formed Dam is complete of holes and that installing it renders a pc completely sucker to Web-based attacks.
Someone sent me a link to this blog, because it has a story about the SD Times 100. The story, called, “Klocwork Named to SD Times 100 List in Security Category – MarketWatch,” begins,
SD Times 100 Case for the fifth consecutive year. SD Times names companies and organizations of all sizes who obtain demonstrated headship and innovation that contributes to the advancement of software evolution managers, developers and the production over the elapsed almanac year. SD Times has recognized Klocwork in the Security sort alongside distinct other industry leaders in the software evolvement community.
The 2009 SD Times 100 String was published online and in the oppressive inscribe of the Jun 15, 2009 controversy of SD Times. In preceding years, Klocwork has been recognized in the Check & Merit Assurance (QA) and the Test, QA & Performance Polity categories. This has been a difficult year with legion challenges for divers companies, much the software buildup industry has prevailed and continues to innovate,” said Alan Zeichick, editorial employer of BZ Media’s SD Times.
It was strenuous to choose this year’s SD Times 100 — we carefully procession and acknowledge everyone and every organization’s reputation, innovations and direction capabilities along side its products and services. We flip the companies who participated in this year’s file as they forge ahead to relieve the advancement of the software addition industry.”
That’s not quite what I said, but calling me SD Times’ “editorial employer” puts an interesting spin on my role at the newspaper. The story continues,
Continuance named to the SD Times 100 Folder for the fifth year in a row is an honor,” said Mike Laginski, CEO, Klocwork. Our target has always been on the developers and improving their idiosyncratic and pair productivity. Developers don’t wish to wait for a downstream audit or integration cause conversation when they can purchase feedback at once while they’re coding.”
Mr. Laginski probably didn’t say that, at least not in those words. The story goes on…
Klocwork is a valuable provider of static source regulation argument technology for C, C++, C and Java, and the isolated belief with a Connected Desktop Dialogue capability that enables developers to dash the discussion with adequate action occasion good at their desktops, before they check-in their code.
Approximately BZ Media BZ Media LLC(R) ( www.bzmedia.com ) is a high-tech media association combining the capital of print and Web-based publishing, offering industry-leading magazines, newspapers, Lacework sites and conferences. About SD Times BZ Media’s SD Times(R) ( www.sdtimes.com ) is the twice-monthly newspaper of enter for the software adding to industry.
SD Times reaches added than 60,000 subscribers in 131 countries. SD Times was recognized by Media Career Periodical as the fastest-growing IT book in 2007. About Klocwork Klocwork is an enterprise software gathering providing automated source statute debate software products that aggrandize the productivity and agility of C, C++, C, and Java software developers.
Enhanced than 500 customers acquire integrated Klocwork’s automated source rule review tools into their software augmenting action in establishment to lock up their principle is complimentary of mission-critical flaws while freeing their developers to limelight on what they end finest — innovate. Contact Klocwork for deeper dirt at www.klocwork.com or material klocwork.com.
Please do ask Klocwork about the deeper dirt, and also check out News-Computer’s Terms of Service.
It’s apparently impossible to get the jerks at Vocus Inc. to stop spamming me. My mailbox is filled with messages sent out via their PR spamming service. And now they’re working hard to make sure that you don’t realize that that the spam comes from their company. What a bunch of losers.
I’ve been trying to get Vocus to take me out of their database since April 2009, but to no avail. See three previous posts:
4.29.2009: Can we vaporize Vocus with a medical laser? Please?
5.01.2009: It pays to tweet, and questions for Vocus PR
5.01.2009: Tangible suggestions for Vocus PR
Ready for today’s saga? I was going through my trash mailbox, unsubscribing from PR lists that aren’t relevant; it’s something that gets done every so often. I noticed that a tremendous number of press releases (mostly irrelevant and many coming to email addresses that are inappropriate) containing an identically formatted footer:
If you would rather not receive future communications from xxxx, let us know by clicking here.
with xxxx being the name of the company sending out the press release. The link goes to
http://xxxx.pr-optout.com/OptOut.aspx?
What is pr-optout.com, I wondered? Let’s browse over to http://www.pr-optout.com, and see what it says.
PR-optout allows journalists to optout of receiving future press releases sent by a particular company. Within 24 hours of clicking on the optout link at the bottom of the press release, the journalist will be removed from that company’s mailing list.
That’s all it says. Worthless. It doesn’t tell you who is behind it, and how you can get your email address removed from the service entirely (instead of company-by-company). Googling for “pr-optout.com” didn’t help. But a WHOIS search revealed a name that I honestly didn’t expect to see:
Registrant:
Vocus Inc
4296 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, Maryland 20706
United States
Domain Name: PR-OPTOUT.COM
Created on: 21-May-09
Expires on: 21-May-10
Last Updated on: 09-Jun-09
Administrative Contact:
Inc, Vocus
4296 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, Maryland 20706
United States
(301) 459-2590 Fax —
What a scheme! Using this “secret” domain, Vocus can spam you with press releases, and unless you did a WHOIS search, you wouldn’t know that it’s from them!
Back in May, Robin Lane, Director of PR at Vocus, assured me that Vocus would consider my suggestions to add transparency to their system. My suggestions included providing a means for journalists to either opt out of their database entirely, or set up customizable filters to control who can send them press releases. The solution might be to set up a journalist Web portal, or it might merely consist of a more informative footer on Vocus-based emails, telling journalists about their various list-management options.
In fact, in the spirit of cooperation, I offered to help Vocus create such a system. Nothing came of it.
Instead of following through, Vocus added a layer of misdirection. The company, with its new pr-optout.com domain, makes it ever harder for people to get off their stupid spam mailing list. (Some of the email addresses that they’re spamming do not even belong to editorial members of our team. Others are non-journalistic customer-service addresses they’ve apparently harvested from BZ Media’s websites.)
What can you do about it? Nothing, it seems. In May, I was assured me that my addresses would be removed from the Vocus database — yet those same addresses are still receiving tons of Vocus-originated spam. (Robin left Vocus in June.)
If you dig through the company’s website, you’ll find a page describing a so-called “Vocus Journalist Hotline.” The company claims,
If you believe the information in your profile is incorrect or your contact information is out of date, please contact our media research team at email hidden; JavaScript is required and we will be happy to update your profile. We have found that updating a profile is the best way to reduce the volume of off-target PR pitches.
Simply curious about your profile? Call us and we’ll be happy to read your profile to you, or make changes to it so that the pitches you receive are more useful to your writing.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact our Journalist Hotline at 877-402-5262 or via email at email hidden; JavaScript is required.
The company is careful to never offer to take you out of their database. In fact, further down on the page, they say,
In compliance with the law Vocus’ software includes an opt-out mechanism. If you receive irrelevant material you may opt-out of future e-mails from that particular sender. This feature is standard for every client and cannot be disabled.
Removal from that particular sender, yes. From Vocus’s database, no. Based on my past experience with Vocus, you simply can’t get off their list. In the immortal words of Hotel California, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
What a bunch of complete and total losers.
Where’s the money in the software business? Increasingly, it’s in the consulting or maintenance contracts or in software rental – anything but in the software itself.
Consulting around enterprise software isn’t new. One of the tenants of the open-source software movement is that software itself should be free – and that customers should pay for support. If you don’t need help with the software, great. If you do need help, well, you can sign up for service contracts, buy a maintenance agreement or engage someone to help you on an hourly basis.
That’s obviously the case with the Big Software Companies, as well. When IBM purchased Lotus Development Corp. in 1995, Big Blue knew that the Notes’ software licenses were only part of the prize. The bigger benefit was that Notes customers would need lots of handholding from IBM Global Services. And indeed, Notes has been a cash cow for IBM ever since.
Where IBM has Global Services, Hewlett-Packard has EDS. HP has expanded its services business tremendously since that purchase a year ago – the point where yesterday, HP decided to abandon the EDS brand. Now, customers will work with HP Enterprise Services.
Dell, too, is getting into the services game in a big way, with its announced acquisition of Perot Systems. In Dell’s case, though, the big payoff would be in increasing its enterprise hardware sales; Dell is not a big fish in the bits business.
Of course, betting your business on selling billable hours instead of billable bits doesn’t always pay off. Sun Microsystems moved aggressively into open source software, giving away nearly all of its crown jewels in the hope that customers would sign up for service contracts. Sun also spent US$1 billion buying MySQL in early 2008, betting big that it could make lots of money on services by giving away even more software. That didn’t work out, and of course, Sun is now in the process of being acquired by Oracle.
As companies like Microsoft look to move big-profit software businesses like Office to the Cloud, renting software by the hour seems to be the next model. Is the era of selling a software license dead? What do you think?
A great way to become a better programmer is to read code. As Andrew Binstock began his most recent Integration Watch column,
The programming section of Reddit occasionally receives posts from comp-sci majors and early entrants into professional programming who want to know about best practices for becoming a great developer. One of the consistent answers from experienced commentators is to read a lot of code.
Andrew shares several anecdotes about how he learned new techniques by reading through other codebases, but his essay reminds me of an experience I had while teaching an undergrad programming course in the early 1980s. You’ve possibly had a similar experience.
A student was implementing a complex numerical algorithm in FORTRAN – I forget what it was – and it just wasn’t working. The program compiled and ran through the data set, but the results weren’t correct. We looked at the source-code printout together, and neither of us could spot the flaw. It was late, and we were tired and frustrated.
Then I had an idea. “Let’s flowchart your code. Not what the algorithm is supposed to be, but what you’ve actually written.”
We didn’t have a whiteboard, so we grabbed some greenbar paper, laid it out on a table, and started freehand drawing boxes, diamonds and arrows. We walked line by line down the recalcitrant routine. The task was straightforward, but took some time. It was a complicated algorithm.
As we neared the end, the light went on. “That arrow’s not supposed to go here. It’s supposed to go there,” the student said. Eureka! Needless to say, the fixes to the code were quite simple, and the next iteration of the program returned the desired results.
Okay, this story isn’t about learning new techniques by reading other peoples’ code. Rather, I’m reminiscing about debugging through a code review. However, the point is that mere reading isn’t always sufficient to provide understanding. Sometimes, you have to interact with the code to truly comprehend what it means.
Here’s a sales pitch received today, from an account rep we had trouble with at a service provider three years ago. He came off our account shortly thereafter.
Do you think my response involved the “delete” key? If so… you’re right!
Subject: Touching base
It has been some time since we talked. This is [name], formerly from [vendor] – I was hoping to connect with you to see how things have been progressing at BZ Media. Alan, I do recall you not being happy with my level of support while we worked together in the past. Again, was hoping to connect to see if I could raise some awareness around the new organization I am with – perhaps we could be of service to BZ down the road.
Feel free to check us out at [new vendor] – My contact credentials are below as well.
I hope you are well Alan.
Warmest Regards;
[name]
The first question about the new iPod nano is, how did Apple cram so much stuff into a 1.28 ounce (36.4 gram) package?
(Well, actually, now that the iPod nano can serve as a video camera, sound recorder, FM radio and pedometer, as well as an external hard drive, appointment calendar and contact database, the first question should be, “Is it still accurate to call an iPod a music player?”)
Let’s look past the specific models or manufacturers. The amount of technology going into these tiny devices continues to astound and amaze. Look at any of today’s smartphones, like the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre, or an Android handset. They have large displays, sophisticated user interfaces, powerful microprocessors, lots of RAM, compact batteries, microphones, speakers, and of course, radios operating on the Bluetooth, WiFi and cellular radio bands.
That’s just the hardware. Today’s pocket-sized marvels also contain full-featured operating systems and incredibly sophisticated software stacks, able to run both connected and off-line apps.
In some products, like the iPod nano, the platform is closed. The only way to get new application functionality is for the manufacturer to build it and then push out a firmware upgrade. In other cases, as with many of the industry’s hottest smartphones, there are various models for adding new applications, which run in (we hope) well-crafted sandboxes.
In the enterprise, it’s easy to overlook these devices. Of course, the new iPod nano doesn’t have much of a business case behind it, except as a toy. But let’s not overlook the impact that its bigger cousins are having today. Check your Web server logs – what percentage of your traffic is coming from smartphones? Whether it’s Internet or intranet, that’s only going to go up, up, up. Mobile access and mobile apps are a key part of the future.
Mobile technology is a business enabler, and there’s no going back.
The same guy — Rev. Dr. Paul Adams — has figured in two separate confidence scam emails. One was received today, claiming to be from the FBI’s Robert Mueller. The other came in on July 30, and was signed by Hillary Clinton.
What are the odds that this is a coincidence?
See the messages at:
http://spamscamwatch.blogspot.com/2009/09/fbi-isnt-kidding-they-dont-have-sense.html
http://spamscamwatch.blogspot.com/2009/07/5-million-from-hillary-clinton-secetary.html
“Made with real cheese!” That’s what it says on the bag of Cheetos Twisted Puffs, which I was cheerfully munching last night. “We grow the best snacks on Earth!” adds the brightly colored packaging from Frito Lay, which manufactures the tasty treat.
General hilarity ensured when I read the ingredients out loud. Here’s what it says, with added line breaks to improve readability.
INGREDIENTS
Enriched Corn Meal (Corn Meal, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, and Folic Acid),
Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Corn, Soybean, or Sunflower Oil),
Cheese Seasoning (Whey, Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes], and Less Than 2% of the Following: Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Maltodextrin, Disodium Phosphate, Sour Cream [Cultured Cream, Nonfat Milk], Artificial Flavor, Monosodium Glutamate, Lactic Acid, Artificial Color [Including Yellow 6], Citric Acid),
and Salt.
Contains Milk Ingredients.
Whoever knew that Cheese Seasoning was such a complicated product? Now you know.
Note symptoms. Search for them on Google. Download update or apply fix. Test results. Rinse, repeat. Wait for the next problem to appear.
That’s been my life for the past several days, after updating my MacBook Pro to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the minor update to Apple’s desktop operating system.
Snow Leopard came out last Friday, Aug. 28, and I received my copy on Saturday. There are some nice benefits to Snow Leopard, and the update didn’t take long to install. The new software generally worked well right out of the box. Even so, I’ve spent quite a lot of time fixing things, including one critical app that simply didn’t work. I’ve been installing updates to utilities and diagnosing performance problems ever since.
Bear in mind that Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” truly is a very minor update, that Macs have a tiny market share in the enterprise, and I’m an unabashed Mac expert who can solve all these problems on my own.
Now imagine what happens when Windows 7 hits the market. Granted, many organizations are going to be slow and cautious when updating their Windows Vista and Windows XP machines to Windows 7. That’s the way it should be. Even so, any end-user upgrade means headaches for IT administrators, help-desk staff – and software companies and enterprise software developers. And what about your customers? You can’t control their rollout schedule.
BZ Media is a mixture of Macs and Windows. For the most part, individuals can choose which platform to use. The Macs are split, with most running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but there are still some on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. The Windows machines are mainly Windows XP Professional, though there are a small handful of Windows Vista desktops.
Like other companies, we suffer the pains of upgrading, not just with specific desktop applications and utilities that we use, but even with Web-based applications. It’s particularly painful when we’re working with a third-party Web application which has become essential to part of our operations, whether it’s the hosted CRM system that our salespeople use, or the digital page previewing system at SD Times’ printing plant.
These days, regression testing and rollout schedules are often predicated as much on how websites perform as well as anything else, because different browsers act differently on different operating systems. We had one case where we had to delay the Leopard upgrade because a hosted Web app simply wasn’t ready – and this caused real problems for new users, because their machines came pre-installed with Leopard.
It’s a headache of the first order. My Snow Leopard experience sucked up some time, but as the designated guinea pig, I’ve taken careful notes, and further deployments will be faster. Everything important is working okay now. Even so, I’m sure a major “gotcha” will show up.
Just wait until Windows 7 shows up – not just on our own company desktops and notebooks, but initially for SD Times readers who might experience issues accessing sdtimes.com’s functionality.
Operating system upgrades. Get ready for the coming storm.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission had made my day. In their release entitled, New Rule Prohibiting Unwanted “Robocalls” to Take Effect on September 1, we learn:
Beginning September 1, 2009, prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls to consumers – commonly known as robocalls – will be prohibited, unless the telemarketer has obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such calls, the Federal Trade Commission announced today.
Hurray — except there are many exclusions to the Telemarketing Sales Rule:
The rule amendments going into effect on September 1 do not prohibit calls that deliver purely “informational” recorded messages – those that notify recipients, for example, that their flight has been cancelled, an appliance they ordered will be delivered at a certain time, or that their child’s school opening is delayed. Such calls are not covered by the TSR, as long as they do not attempt to interest consumers in the sale of any goods or services. For the same reason, the rule amendments also do not apply to calls concerning collection of debts where the calls do not seek to promote the sale of any goods or services.
In addition, calls not covered by the TSR – including those from politicians, banks, telephone carriers, and most charitable organizations – are not covered by the new prohibition. The new prohibition on prerecorded messages does not apply to certain healthcare messages. The new rule prohibits telemarketing robocalls to consumers whether or not they previously have done business with the seller.
A big sources of unwanted phone calls at our home are alleged charities claiming to be calling on behalf of our local deputy sheriffs, firefighters associations, etc. Scams, all of them. Plus, there are lots of faux surveys, sponsored by political groups, that are carefully worded to influence public opinion. Those are except as well.
Of course, lots of organizations are going to ignore the new rules anyway. Still, this is great news.
Third-party developers, using Facebook’s published APIs, can gain access to nearly everything on your personal Facebook profile — no matter how your privacy settings are configured. You can learn about this in a disturbing post, “What Facebook Quizzes Know About You,” by Sarah Perez on ReadWriteWeb.
Sarah writes that the American Civil Liberties Union is demonstrating the power of Facebook’s APIs by the use of a simple Facebook quiz. Once you “take” the quiz, the ACLU’s computers have unfettered access to just about all your personal data on Facebook. The ACLU shows that info to you, to demonstrate how significant this problem is.
What’s more, writes Sarah,
The second question is even more disturbing. It informs you that everything on your profile is made available to the developers when your friends take a quiz. To drive this point home, the ACLU’s Quiz loads up information pulled from your friends’ profiles and displays that data below the answer for your perusal. Here, information on your friends is shown including hometowns, favorite books, political views, networks, birthdays, number of wall posts, and even personal photos. Thanks to the quiz, all that info which you can see on your friends’ profiles is now available to the quiz author, too.
As Sarah explains, Facebook does not screen third-party developers for trustworthiness, nor does it require them to conform with Facebook’s own privacy policy.
The ACLU’s recommendation: Pay very strict attention to your Facebook privacy settings, especially those that involve third-party applications.
Alan’s recommendation: Do not put anything on Facebook or any other social media service that you don’t want the entire world to know about. Always assume that everything that you put onto the Internet is available to everyone, at any time, forever.
(PS: Credit goes to my friend Steve Maller for pointing to Sarah’s post.)