Technologizer

5Words: Firefox is Five–and Vulnerable

Monday, November 9, 2009

Happy birthday, Firefox! You’re vulnerable! Firefox: the good, the bad. NVidia won’t take on Intel. Hey, where’s TweetDeck for iPhone? Google invests in mobile advertising. Android’s app storage problem continues. AT&T’s faster laptop broadband adapter. Will Google take on Skype? Shazam launches a paid app. ________________________ Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS.

Art, Game or Trojan? Don’t Be the Judge!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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The folks at Symantec have looked right past the artistic intent behind Lose/Lose, a computer game that deletes your files every time you shoot an alien, because they’ve just classified the game as a Mac Trojan. Lose/Lose is described by its creator as “a game with real life consequences.” It’s a standard space shooter in the [...]

5Words: Bring Back Windows Vista UAC!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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Windows 7 UAC: insufficiently annoying? Verizon hikes early termination fees. Gizmodo gets more Courier details. iPhone apps hit 100K mark. Can’t sell Beatles without permission. More antitrust trouble for Intel. More on Droid pinching, zooming. Tethering coming for Verizon Droid. Second Life launches business version. More Nvidia x86 CPU rumors. What’s up with the CrunchPad? ________________________ Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS.

Malware Inc.: The Criminals Behind the Attacks

Monday, November 2, 2009

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Malware makers–the criminals responsible for viruses and worms –have become increasingly organized and sophisticated, according to a Microsoft security report that was released today. Gamers, the gullible, USB drive users, and people who don’t patch their PCs are their biggest targets. Cybercriminals are organized like corporations, and follow regular software release cycles, said Jeff Williams, [...]

New Norton 360 Arrives as a Beta (and How’s Norton Treating You Lately?)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

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Last month, Symantec released Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton Antivirus 2010, updated versions of its venerable Windows security packages. They incorporated a new approach to threat detection–Symantec calls it Quorum–which attempts to increase accuracy and reduce resource-hogging tendencies by gauging the reputation of files based on data collected from the millions of folks who [...]

5Words: Ten Most Common Passwords

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

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Third most popular password: “Alejandra.” Google explains browsers to newbies. PhotoSketch is cool, cool, cool. Steve Ballmer eats Vista crow. Why tablet PCs never succeeded. What’s up with Microsoft’s “Pink?” Gizmodo tries life without cable. Palm unveils WebOS developer program. Ask.com’s new search offering: coupons. ________________________ Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS.

Should Windows Come With Anti-Virus?

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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Today, Microsoft released Microsoft Security Essentials, a basic security suite that competes with such established anti-virus freebies as Avast Home Edition and AVG Free. BetaNews’s Joe Wilcox raises an interesting question about it: The question: Should Microsoft offer free security software to consumers? Absolutely. There is no choice, and Microsoft would do customers better by fully integrating [...]

5Words: Microsoft’s Release Security Freebie

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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Microsoft’s free security suite ships. More stuff about Microsoft Courier. Newton guy back at Apple. Dell’s cord-free charging Latitude Z. OEM prices for Windows 7. CNN releases an iPhone app. Apple, swipe Zune HD features. T-Mobile’s poised to sell Cliq. More folks get Google Wave. Google Docs caters to students. Wize product search engine redesigned. ________________________ Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS.

Twitter, It’s Time to Fix Short URLs Once and For All

Friday, September 25, 2009

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It’s not a gross exaggeration to say that without short URLs from services such as Bit.ly and TinyURL, Twitter might not have become the sensation that it is. They enable the sharing of interesting links and photos and generally let the service transcend its 140-character limit. But they also bring some major gotchas, such as [...]

Rocky Mountain Bank: Rocky, Rocky Security!

Friday, September 25, 2009

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MediaPost is reporting that Rocky Mountain Bank, a small institution in Wyoming, accidentally e-mailed the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, and loan information to a Gmail address. When it realized its mistake, it e-mailed the address again and got no response–so it went to court, and a California appellate court judge has told Google that [...]

5Words: Microsoft vs. Malware Ads

Friday, September 18, 2009

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Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS. Microsoft sues malware advertisers. Good! Hulu’s readying a subscription service? Hey, yet another Skype lawsuit! Burglars: Don’t check out Facebook! Wireless charging for Dell laptop? Dell and HP doing 3D? Wimax users are apparently nonplussed. The great Apple tablet giveway. Mac application installation’s pretty confusing.

5Words for Tuesday, September 15th 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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Like 5Words? Subscribe via RSS. How NYTimes.com suffered malware attack. Lenovo launches multi-touch laptops. Tearing down the Zune HD. PC games for five bucks. Obligatory Apple tablet rumor story. Seagate’s second-generation TV box. HP MediaSmart servers: Mac friendlier. Bing Visual Search? No thanks. Google wants to liberate data. Aardvark launches cool iPhone app.

Apple Scrubs Snow Leopard’s Spots

Friday, September 11, 2009

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Apple has delivered a service pack for its Snow Leopard operating system just a matter of two weeks after it shipped. The company says that the update will “enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.” The update targets specific issues such as device driver compatibility and performance, stuck DVD drives, and SMTP routing. More [...]

PC Annoyances–and a Security Fix

Thursday, September 10, 2009

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I know you’re not always happy with your PC, so here are three fixes to some of the annoyances you’ve sent to me. Louder. No, Quieter The Annoyance: I have lots of MP3s I’ve ripped onto my hard drive from CDs. Nothing seems to play at the same volume level. When I play Copeland’s “Fanfare,” it’s loud [...]

Mac Security Improves with Snow Leopard

Friday, August 28, 2009

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While Apple still has significant security work ahead of it, its Snow Leopard operating system makes prudent progress toward securing Mac OS X. But a security expert says that Apple is still playing catch up to Windows. That is the opinion of Charlie Miller, a leading Mac security researcher. Miller is co-author of The Mac Hacker’s [...]

In Case of Emergency, Should the White House Control the Internet?

Friday, August 28, 2009

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Cnet’s Declan McCullagh has a good story up on a Senate Bill sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) which would give the White House the power to disconnect private computers from the Internet in the case of a cyberemergency. McCullagh says that the bill, a revised version of one floated last spring, remains troubling [...]