RadioShack lays off 403 via e-mail

What happened to the good ole days when your employer would isolate you while the system administrator cut off your network access?

"Imagine getting your pink slip via email. Radioshack lays off their employees online, that has to suck."

read more | digg story

Digg Community Hates Posts About Digg

I'm curious as to why most stories that are about Digg tend to always be buried by the community. I guess no one wants to hear about the site they just want it to be there. I posted an update this morning that was about Digg adding duplicate checker back to the site. This is a great feature to add back as the dupe level has become insane. I just have to think had Kevin Rose submitted this article from the Digg the blog it would have been front page within hours, and hundreds of diggers would be praising them. I'm not whining so don't tell me to call the wambulance or anything this is just my observation.

CA Passes Law to Requires Wireless Security Warning

I don't think this will be the end of "stealing wireless Internet access from your neighbor." If they put a warning label on a wireless device telling you that you need to secure it most people will still ignore it. I guarantee most common users just get a wireless router take it out of the box, don't even look at the instructions, and just plug it into their network. The warning label will just be ignored.

"The days of easily stealing wireless Internet access from your neighbor may soon be over.
The California Assembly has approved rules requiring wireless manufacturers to instruct consumers on how to stop would-be piggybackers from accessing their personal networks. "

read more | digg story

Digg Adds Duplicate Check

Good news for Digg I just submitted a story and it said it might be a duplicate and gave me a list of all the similar posts.  In case you missed it they had this feature in before the latest version. It didn't catch everything before so you still probably need to run your own search. I'm glad this is back should help cut down on the dupes.

Microsoft investigates leak of "Office" videos

I hope they hire dog the bounty hunter to find the culprits.

"Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it was investigating how two in-house training videos made by British comedian Ricky Gervais, creator of "The Office" television series, appeared on two Web sites."

read more | digg story

Windows Live Question and Answer Up and Running

This looks very much like Yahoo answers. Oh well I don't remember the last time if ever Microsoft has had an original product.

"After four months of private beta, Windows Live QnA (Question and Answer) opens to the public today. There is no shortage of question and answer services online, it's almost becoming a requirement for portals. If the number of users is important in such a service, though, then the Live offering may be particularly appealing as it ramps up."

read more | digg story

Verbatim Builds Security into USB Flash Drives

"The Charlotte, N.C., storage maker said the new drives, called Store 'n' Go Corporate Secure USB Flash Drives, will include "mandatory security features," such as a hardware-based AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) data encryption and anti-tamper password entry protection."

read more | digg story

Netscape Adds in Site Mail

This is a pretty cool feature I hope Digg implements something like this. "If you go to a story page (permalink page) you will see "Send Message" next to people's names now (see images below). We have this for both the person who submitted the story and for the people who are commenting."

read more | digg story

Are you a phisher? Looking for free hosting?

I thought I would try out some google search of my own you should check out this google search site:tripod.com inurl:bank of america look at the first result. I can't belive people fall for this stuff. What is so bad is that crooks are getting free web-hosting.

Apparently Tripod doesn't put much effort into keeping phishers out of their free web-hosting.

read more | digg story

Educ. Dept. exposes student loan data

You have to hope that the wrong people didn't find this hole. This could be a major problem for the department of education just think if they have to send out letters to 6.4 million people telling them that someone might have their data. I guess they will probably just increase rates (nice to be in a business where you can pass your screwup on to your victims.

The Education Department was working to fix a software glitch in its student loan Web site after users complained that they could see other people's personal data. The department said Wednesday that only a "limited number" of the program's 6.4 million borrowers were believed to be affected after the problem began Sunday.

read more | digg story

Viruses and Spyware Cost Users $7.8 Billion

Are viruses a vital part of our economy? How would that little computer shop down the road stay in business if it wasn't for viruses? I'm not promoting virus writers or saying they are performing a great service, but $7.8 billion is quite a bit of money to be circulated through. I'm sure much of that is antivirus renewal and software purchases. I always wonder how they come up with the numbers on these types of reports.

"Consumers paid as much $7.8 billion over two years to repair or replace computers that got infected with viruses and spyware, a Consumer Reports survey found."

read more | digg story

Dell Battery Replacement Fast

I filled out the form on Monday to replace a battery on a laptop. I received the battery today on Wednesday. They said could take up to 20 business days and I expected to wait a few days but 2 days is really fast. I will have to give props to Dell on the response time with the battery recall.

Dell orders about 2 million AMD PCs

According to the link Dell is awarding AMD with 15 to 16 percent of their desktop market, and 18 to 19 percent of their laptop market. This is positive news for Dell at a time when they really need positive news.

"Dell has ordered between 1 million and 1.2 million desktop computers with Advanced Micro Devices processors and about 800,000 notebooks, Bank of America financial analyst Sumit Dhanda said in a report Thursday."

read more | digg story

Spicy Spam Kabobs Anyone?

I love the ads I get in my Gmail account when I'm checking the spam box. I thought this one was very interesting. How many recipes for spam can you have?

Japan PC Makers Say No Sony Battery Recall Needed

Bad news for Dell other PC makers saying that they do not have these kinds of problems. I could see an Apple commercial with the dude you are getting a Dell guy blowing up and the Apple guy just watching. I'm sure they could get him to do the commercial unless he is in prison now. Just a side note I know Apple is not a Japanese PC maker.

"Fujitsu Ltd. and other Japanese computer makers said on Thursday that no recall of batteries made by Sony Corp. was necessary as their computers were designed to avoid overheating."

read more | digg story

Calacanis Announces Five New Netscape Navigators Hired

First off I want to tell these guys congratulations. This is really no big surprise the people listed have been posting on Netscape for about 2 weeks now. I'm not sure as to if this will hurt Digg or not because it seems like when more people leave someone else just comes along and starts posting more. These guys are great at what they do, but I don't think this will kill Digg.

I'm curious though as to why they started posting at about the same time as the other guys who went but it was not announced until now that they were being paid. Is it to look like some of the top users on Digg were tired of Digg and think is the cool new hip place? I just think that it is odd that stories were being posted by Netscape editor CKS about how Digg is being unfair to their users and it wasn't announced that these guys were being paid to go there. It is kind of like they wanted to start a revolt against Digg. I could be wrong about this and they could have went just to see if they would be paid or they really might like Netscape more than Digg. I would love to hear from someone involved with the deals take on this.

As a result of the success I'm thrilled to announce we are hiring 10 more Navigators. We've filled five of these ten positions so far, so we have 15 or 20 slots filled. You'll know many of the names...

read more | digg story

What to Buy While Waiting For Your New Dell Battery

I used to be a huge Dell fan before they outsourced their support to India and I had to deal with the scripted support just to get a power supply replacement. I know that has nothing to do with this but I'm just stating they are losing me more and more every day. This is not directly Dell's fault and is not the first time they have had a major battery recall (though I think this is the biggest.) I just keep hearing negativity about the company and their desktops and laptops just seem like they are being cheaper and cheaper made. I did buy some Lenovo Thinkpads and they seem pretty rock solid I really like them. I also received a letter in the mail about a lawsuit against Dell Financial Services yesterday even more negative publicity. They are going to need some major renovations to keep customers around.

"If you're the (un)proud owner of a newly recalled Dell notebook battery, you'll need a portable, alternative power source to keep your laptop alive until a replacement battery arrives in the mail. The good news is that you do have options; the bad news is that the best (and safest) ones won't come cheap."

read more | digg story

HSN to offer point and shop by TV remote

This is bad news for those shopping addicts out there.

See something you like on Home Shopping Network? Point your remote at the TV. Hit "select." And buy, buy, buy!

read more | digg story

VA to Encrypt All Computers

This is pretty cool they will be encrypting everything even the servers. This is a good thing for them considering all the publicity they have had after all the lost laptops.

"Once the laptop encryption is complete, the VA will begin encrypting its desktop computers using software from GuardianEdge and Trust Digital. Once that process is complete, SMS will begin encrypting servers and data centers."

read more | digg story

Verizon adds multiroom DVR

I would like one of these I currently have a Scientific Atlanta DVR from Charter (they are all I can get.) I had been thinking about how nice it would be if I could use it in different rooms in my house.

"Verizon Communications said Monday that it plans to offer a digital video recorder that allows its TV customers to watch recorded programs on multiple TVs in any room in the house."

read more | digg story

Netscape Suggests Digg is being Unfair to Top Diggers

I was just reading a story posted by CKS on Digg that suggests Digg is being unfair to their top users. I started thinking about a post I had read a while back where it was believed a top Digg user digging a story carries more weight than an unranked member. This got me to thinking about how many Digg members have left to go to Netscape. I think part of the reason stories that seem to be taking longer to reach the front page could be caused by the algorithm. Just hear me out.

1. Top Digg users leave for Netscape to be paid. Other top Digg member follow them unclear as to whether or not they are paid.

2. I know many of these top users Digg many stories (often submitted by other top members) and now they have suddenly stopped it could be affecting the algorithm.

These are just my thoughts feel free to comment.

Google, MySpace reach $900 million search and ad deal

Looks like google will get to serve ads on MySpace I'm sure they are happy about this.

Google pays more in search deal than News Corp. paid for MySpace in the first place!

read more | digg story

For Sale: Top 20 Digg User Account

Yet Another Digg profile for sale on eBay. The other profile (geekforlife) was only a top 100 user and it went for $822. The Attacks is a top 20 profile so I would think it would go for much more. I'm wondering what Digg thinks about this and if they will try to put a stop to these auctions.

I've decided I'm not going to be needing this account anymore and seeing the success of GeekForLife's sale, I put my account up for bid.

read more | digg story

Digg Profile Sold on Ebay for $822

The auction ended yesterday and the profile sold for $822. I have to think about how much time geekforlife put into his profile. I know he had more posts than I do and I have been posting for 3 months now and I have put in an estimated 120 hours into my Digg profile. So if you go by that rate and my profile was sold for the same cost I would be making about $6.25 an hour. No thanks.

More Hotmail Storage Space

I was just looking at my hotmail account and noticed it was now at 2 gigs of storage. Did I miss something and has it been upgraded for a while? The last time I noticed it was at 256mb I think.

Researchers warn over Web worms

They keep saying this and it is only going to get worse. This is just what happens when you make something more difficult to hack. The hackers will be looking for other ways in and right now massive sites like MySpace are looking great to them.

"Exploiting a lack of security checks in browsers and Web servers, Web worms and viruses are likely to become a major threat to surfers, security researchers speaking at the Black Hat Briefings warned on Thursday." "This isn't a proof of concept; this isn't academic. People are already doing this."

read more | digg story

Microsoft has hacking groups on their payroll

This is the same concept as hiring Kevin Mitnick to do a security evaluation on your company. More companies will start using hackers to test their apps. Some companies will not embrace this because they will refuse to trust hackers.

"Microsoft has recruited some high-profile third-party security consultants to simulate attacks against Windows Vista. Among the pen testers are members of the "Last Stage of Delirium" hacking group that discovered the flaw that caused the Blaster worm"

read more | digg story

Attackers pass on OS, aim for drivers and apps

They have been saying this for a while. Tighten up the OS and you will have hackers looking for new ways of attack. I think the biggest threats right now are through big sites like MySpace, or even Digg for that matter. Since we have seen operating system worms start dying off what better way to infect millions of users than attract them to a bad site. If someone finds a 0 day exploit particularly with an image file, and manages to get a link to it on the front page of Digg the results would be disastrous.

"The disappearance of easy-to-find flaws in the major operating systems has pushed vulnerability researchers to branch out from finding security issues in core system software and instead concentrate on the device drivers and client-side agents present on all PCs, security experts said on Wednesday at the Black Hat Briefings."

read more | digg story

Star Wars parodies can stay on youtube

I think this was a good decision on the part of Lucasfilm. We will begin to see many of the companies that complained about Youtube embracing it in the near future. The parodies are just free publicity for Lucasfilm.

"The Force is with Star Wars fan parodies, many of which were just yanked from popular video-sharing site YouTube. StarWars.com has just explained that we can go on about our business, because there's nothing to see here."

read more | digg story

FCC Supports Broadband over Power Lines

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin stated "This technology holds great promise as a ubiquitous broadband solution that would offer a viable alternative to cable, digital subscriber line, fiber and wireless broadband solutions," It is nice to see the FCC working to get consumers more choices.

"The Federal Communications Commission decided Aug. 3 to reaffirm its stance on the deployment of broadband-over-power-line technology." "By adpting this order, the FCC rejected requests by several groups, including the amateur radio community, the aviation industry and broadcasters, to either limit the service or to disallow it completely. "

read more | digg story

Microsoft eyes acquisitions to build security

Big companies have it so nice. If someone comes out with a good product they just buy it. Now if Microsoft can just get their developers to create better apps.

Software giant plans to bolster its business security capabilities through acquisitions, U.K. exec says.

read more | digg story

Dell Lying in TV Ads?

Dell did have a response to this stating "when customers selected a computer on the website they were shown a price that included a number of pre-selected options. It claimed that text, prominently displayed, informed readers that the price included an 'upgraded service package' and that they could reach the advertised price by downgrading elements of the package."

I guess this is standard practice with most big companies. I wonder if they had any fine print in the ad.

"The TV ad said, 'Whatever you need a PC for, Dell has the one you want for less than you might expect. Right now get this Dell Inspiron notebook featuring an Intel Celeron processor for only 299.' A website address and a phone number were displayed on the screen at the same time." There were 23 complaints the laptop was actually 349 online

read more | digg story

Google & XM Satellite Radio Partner

This will be pretty interesting to see how it plays out. The potential is great for Google, and it is fun to watch them grow into different areas of advertising. I just want to know how long it will be before we see Google ads on our tvs.

Google will be providing targeted advertising via dMarc/AdWords to XM Satellite Radio's non-music channels. XM is also working on a "push-to-purchase" technology that will let you push a button for more information about that product you just heard described.

read more | digg story

ActiveX security faces storm before calm

I believe if Microsoft had taken better care of their product we would not be worrying about this now. I hate how Microsoft thought implicit trust was a great idea. I am just glad they have realized some of their mistakes, but I am not one to forgive and forget easy as I will be using Firefox for a long time.

"HD Moore, founder, Metasploit Project claims that, while he found more than 100 vulnerabilities in standard ActiveX components, almost another 100 exist in the ActiveX components installed by popular applications" They state in the article when IE7 comes out all these problems will go away, or you could just use Firefox.

read more | digg story

At Yahoo University Design Expo You Can See Robots Controlled by Lollipops

Yahoo holds an expo at their Sunnyvale headquarters to find talent in universities. One of the designs is a lollipop embedded with sensors that control the movements of robotic toys by licks.

read more | digg story

Using the Geek Squad Harmful to Your Computer

I posted this on Digg for the main reason I wanted to get a good conversation going on what people thought of the Geek Squad. I really have my doubts as I have been a tech for a long time know and know how I was when I first started. The thing I don't like about the Geek Squad most the techs are complete noobs, but Best Buy has the nerve to charge outrageous prices for the services. I wish I could have found a better article about the Geek Squad, but this one had to do.

"But my own experience and that of many others who have shared their pain on many Internet sites is that the youthful Geek Squad agents have nice personalities but lack technical competence. The result is that when customers expose their prized computers to their agents, because they need technical help, they put themselves at risk."

read more | digg story