Computers

TonyB makes some observations about Google Notebook in the forum:

<<1. [Google Notebook]’s much faster for me now. I had quit using it mostly because it was so slow. It is very usable now.

2. The Actions drop down has a new option- Export to Google Docs and Spreadsheets. It apparently will only send your entire selected Notebook. I tried just selecting individual entries and Sections, but get the entire Notebook each time. Graphics, layout and everything appears to have moved over just fine.>>

I think it’s interesting to see Google products integrate with each other like this. But is Google running the risk of making it unclear where you’re supposed to create content in the first place? Should you be creating content in Google Notebook, Blogger, Gmail, Google Page Creator or Google Docs? Or do they all have their own unique purpose? Do you think it would it be possible for Google to successfully merge these products, offering them as separate features rather than individual services?

(And has anyone else noticed these speed improvements? Do you think Google has actually improved the performance or have people just stopped using Google Notebook?)

Join the discussion in the forum...

[Thanks TonyB!]

[By Tony Ruscoe | Original post]

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New York, Boston, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta and more... Google Maps now displays live traffic data for about 60 US cities. This functionality has been available on Google Maps for Mobile since July, but it’s now available in many languages on the standard version.

The official Google Blog explains what the colors mean, although the Google Operating System blog seems to be more accurate:

• Green: more than 50 miles per hour
• Yellow: 25 - 50 miles per hour
• Red: less than 25 miles per hour
• Gray: no data available

When you’re viewing an area on Google Maps where traffic information is available, a traffic light is displayed. And there’s also a new button labeled “Traffic”.

Google’s not the first to add live traffic to its maps; Yahoo! and Microsoft have already been doing that for a while now.

Join the discussion in the forum...

[By TomHTML | Original post]

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Yes, I know we should talk about how to protect computers, not about how to infect them, but... aren't you curious? We found a server managed by a hacker that controls more than 40.000 computers. Only yesterday, he created a new trojan and sent a command to all zombies: download & run.

This is not the typical IRC botnet, but a http-based botnet, so the hacker won't find any problem if there is a firewall in the computer. It was just a downloader trojan that installed some malware in the infected computers:

- A spammer trojan (hey, this guy has + 40.000 PCs ready to send out spam and flood all of us!)

- An adware (Adware/Bravesentry) that change your desktop  to black and with big white letters saying that you are infected, and all the typical stuff. This adware intalls in the computer a rogue antispyware (Application/Bravesentry), a tool that is reporting all the time that you are infected until you purchase it. Once you buy it, it leaves you alone.

This was the first time we looked at it, some time latter it was downloading new stuff:

- W32/Nurech.B.worm (more info here).

- Rootkit/Nurech.A (to hide W32/Nurech.B.worm).

- Rootkit/Alanchum.GC (to hide the Trojan Trj/Abwiz.A).

- Trj/Abwiz.A (to steal passwords, e-mail addresses, etc.).

- Application/WinAntivirus2007 (just another rogue antispyware).

So you can see, many malware in many computers at the same time trying to take money and information from the users. And in just one second. Scary, isn't it?

If you want to feel safe, just try a quick scan using our beta NanoScan (memory scan in a few seconds).

(InfoWorld) - By my calculations, based on Steve Jobs’ claim that half of all Macs are sold to first-time buyers, roughly 9,000 people switch to the Mac every day. They’re buying new iMacs, MacBooks, MacBook Pros and Mac Pros, most of which come in at sticker prices of $1,200 and up, plus add-ons. With OS X Leopard and iPhone hitting in June, I expect all hell and hallelujah to knock over those fence-sitting switchers. I’m looking forward to that.

What makes the 9,000 number so impressive is the courage of the users switching from Windows. Let’s face it: Words such as “friendly” and “intuitive” don’t easily tip the scales against “familiar” for professional users who have been running Windows their entire careers. It becomes ingrained that the only roles a platform’s core GUI needs to fulfill are authentication, program launching, and file management. It’s counterintuitive to many professional Windows users that system software should do anything more than that.

I know someone who is of that very mind-set. She has used Windows since 3.0 and has never seen any reason to use anything else. Her computer, she says, is a tool, not a toy (jab); she needs neither a point-and-click nursemaid nor eye candy, and she’s too busy to see how that other half lives just for the sake of broadening her horizons. I can’t argue with any of that. These are the unmistakable words of a hardcore non-switcher.

[Talkback: Mac with virtual Windows hard to resist?]

Nonetheless, I piqued her curiosity when she happened by while I was working a project that brought together the UNIX command line, X Window, Windows, OS X, and Mac application resources. I was running a two-headed Mac Pro, and she said that I made it all look so easy. That’s as much credit as she’s ever given a Mac. I saw in that an opportunity.

Parallels recently made it possible to make an entirely faithful virtual clone of a physical Windows machine, with that clone able to run on either a Mac or a Linux or Windows PC. I offered her a chance to have zero-risk, zero-pressure access to that other half, as she called it, to see how easy she found it to use. Windows would be there, an exact duplicate of her original PC, but behind the OS X Aqua window in which her Windows PC existed, lay a Mac that I wired to give her read-only access to documents on her Windows virtual machine. Beyond that, all I did was prepare for her the briefest of OS X cheat sheets. I put her PC in storage and replaced it with a MacBook wired to her existing LCD panel.

The official start of my study (which you’ll find I am approaching scientifically) was that first moment of discovery. She approached her desk to find her PC and its tangle of cables, along with its noise, gone. I nudged the mouse and her LCD panel lit up with her Windows desktop, only now inside an OS X Aqua window.

I had migrated her to a MacBook, which rested invisibly on her desk with its lid closed. I told her that, if nothing else, she now had a much faster Windows PC for work, and when she needed it, she could take it mobile. I also told her that if she chose to keep using Windows, even indefinitely, I’d make sure that was easy for her. Yet I also explained that I had made it just as easy to explore the Mac platform, and that she couldn’t damage Windows or OS X by experimenting with either one.

Now it’s down to standing back, watching, and discovering what happens when you leave a professional Windows user alone with a Mac. Will she resist? Or will she make the switch? Stay tuned.

(InfoWorld) - Guess this is the big week to write about the Daylight Savings Time snafu. For those who might have missed it, DST starts on March 11 this year -- three weeks earlier than usual -- and ends on November 4, a week later than usual. It's a mite late to be worrying about prepping your systems for the change now, if you ask me. If you're hearing cries of "What do we do?!" from the executive floors feel free to throw a scornful glance or two. Bottom line: If they're complaining now, those guys waited a too long.

Only a couple weeks remain till dooms-time, so what's left to do is painfully obvious. Because there's no time to find or build an all-purpose DST fixit-tool, you're stuck using what you've got. That means using your centralized software management toolbox (if you have one), but it also means double-checking: A software manager such as Microsoft SMS (Systems Management Server) can manage patch deployments for all kinds of apps, but it can't guarantee the patches will be there.

Take a glance at that corporate software portfolio and then tell your hapless intern to Web scan or call each manufacturer and get the lowdown on where the DST patch effort is. Get dates and make sure someone on your staff checks them and makes sure to get those patches in-house. Start that remediation process as soon as you can. After that, make a list of all the manufacturers who answer "Duh, what DST patch?" and plan on managing those changeovers yourself. Tedious, time-consuming, and a real pitfall if you mess it up … so don't. It's not hard, it's just a pain in that fleshy bodily region I'm not supposed to mention by name.

That's all I've got for the DST buzzword. The only other buzzword on everyone's lips is virtualization, mainly because Virtual PC 2007 just became available for free download from the big M. I've got it running on the Gateway E255-M notebook on which I glommed the Vista Business client. The basic package installed on Vista with no trouble. Then I installed Windows XP Pro as a guest operating system — again, no trouble. Dug around a bit and found my Windows 2000 discs and installed that — still no trouble, although the wireless client failed to work. I tore my office apart looking for Windows 98 discs, but all I could find were the MSDN versions and I've long since lost the product keys to those. I suppose I could have checked eBay for some OS/2 Warp disks, but … why?

The rumor mill has it that you can install Fedora Core as a guest OS, but that died hard on my box. I'm not much of a Penguin modifier, though, and the Web says you've got to mod your display drivers, among other things, to get this to run properly, so I gave up pretty quick and went back to watching Patton. Microsoft has made a small deal out of the almost-Linux-compatibility, but I don't see giving the company credit for something it really didn't do. Virtual PC 2007 may be able to manage Fedora with some headaches on my part, but I get enough headaches.

If Redmond won't officially acknowledge the Penguin, and you think you need the Penguin, then forget about Virtual PC 2007. Simple as that. After all, there are other clients out there that can do this with no recourse to Advil whatever. VMware is the big name, and if you use that platform, you won't be sorry. If the VMware price tag bothers you, then check out the Parallels -- between $50 and $80 depending on which version we're talking about, and it supports Windows, Linux, and even OS X in some configurations. I'm using it now, although I'm saving the details of that little venture for future column fodder. Meanwhile, if you're testing Windows software for backwards compatibility, Virtual PC 2007 is fantastic. If you're looking to use your favorite apps on your favorite operating system, look someplace else.

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