Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 6, 2010

Google updates Chrome security – Google Chrome has been updated to 7.0.517.44 for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame on the Stable channel. Along with the security fixes below, this build has an updated version of Flash.

GoDaddy-hosted websites injected with malicious code - Webmasters of websites hosted on GoDaddy have to check their source code yet again, as attackers using a number of different domains inject rogue code into their pages, which then redirect visitors to pages serving rogue AV. According to Sucuri Security researchers, many of these domains are registered under the name of Hilary Kneber, an alias often used by criminals groups and sometimes associated with those spreading the ZeuS Trojan.

How It Works: What Happens When You Search Google? – What actually happens when you type a search into Google? Just 5 minutes of your time and this post will have you up to snuff on how Google works — as well as a few SEO takeaways!

Internet Explorer 8 malware filtering problem hits users across the Web – A problem with the Microsoft SmartScreen malware-thwarting technology in Internet Explorer 8 rendered countless users unable to access all kinds of sites throughout the day on November 4. There are numerous tweets from frustrated IE users attempting to access banks, financial sites and other Web properties, noting that those sites were being reported as malicious by IE 8 even though they were not.

10 Firefox extensions you can’t live without – Whether you want to speed access to your favorite Web sites or protect your system from dangerous active content, there’s a Firefox extension ready to help you out.

Review: Ubuntu 10.10 (“Maverick Meerkat”) – Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition marks a major sea change in the usefulness of the free Linux operating system on small notebooks and touch-screen PCs. The concept needs some refinement, but this could be the start of something big.

EU Unveils Strong Online Privacy Rules – The European Commission on Thursday proposed a sweeping overhaul to its data protection laws, which would, among other things, require Internet companies to collect as little data as possible about it users and be more transparent about it processes.

Company News:

Hands-Off with the Microsoft Kinect – Although it has been demoed for over a year, Microsoft finally started shipping Kinect for the Xbox 360 this week. PCMag.com tested the device in PC Labs and was pretty impressed. I am a PS3 fan and there is no disputing that the Nintendo Wii was a breakthrough in motion interface design, but as of today the Kinect is the best technology on the market. Find out if it is worth the upgrade.

Dragon Dictation: An Accurate Voice Transcriber – Featuring very accurate voice transcription and the ability to share messages via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, Naunce’s dictation app is both fun to use and immensely helpful.

Internal Apple Doc Confirms Macbook Air Display Issues – Apple hasn’t publicly acknowledged that there are display issues with the 11- and 13-inch Macbook Air, but Boy Genius Report, which got its hands on an Apple confidential document, is saying otherwise.

Apple’s Mac, iPad, iPhone Invading the Enterprise – Businesses are interested in Apple’s iPad, whether as a laptop replacement for busy executives, a tablet for doctors accessing electronic medical records or a customer interaction tool for retailers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said of iPad’s business momentum: “it’s being grabbed out of our hands.”

Off Topic (Sort of):

Dvorak: The Kinect Crime Connection – Resident tech crank John Dvorak has his own take on the Kinect. In short, he doesn’t like it. Specifically, he says it will cause laughter, noise, rising healthcare costs, and increased crime rates. And yes, he is serious. Suffice to say, Dvorak’s opinions played no role in our giving the Kinect an Editors’ Choice.

Updated Windows Vs. Ubuntu hardware requirements – I have updated the Ubuntu vs Windows Hardware requirements to include Ubuntu 10.10 and Ubuntu 10.04, memory requirements still remains a humble 256MB which hasn’t changed in the last 10 releases. (submitted by Dar)

8 Reasons to Build Your Own PC - It’s true that you can’t beat the convenience of today’s retail PCs. But building your own PC has its own rewards. Fortunately, it still makes plenty of sense, too. Check out 8 good reasons to build your own PC.

3D-Printed Cars May Be the Way of the Future – So far we’ve seen 3D-printed phone cases, shirts, buildings, human veins, braingears, and other random 3D-printed things. What’s next you ask? Believe it or not, two companies have joined forces to build an entirely 3D-printed car called Urbee! Not only is Urrrrrrbeeeeeeeeee a super catchy name, but the car also gets up to 200 miles per gallon on the highway, and up to 100 in the city. Now that’s innovation! (submitted by Michael F.)

Today’s Quote:

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

-    Douglas Adams

Today’s Free Downloads:

WizMouse – WizMouse is a tiny free/donationware utility that has a single, simple, function–if you hover your mouse over an inactive window, and use the mouse scroll wheel, it will scroll that window while keeping it inactive. This can be a boon for anyone copying text manually from an inactive window to an active one, or who needs to see data in one window (perhaps one partially obscured) while reading or working in another. It even scrolls applications that don’t offer mousewheel support by converting the wheel to clicks on the scroll bars. In other words, if you spin the wheel down, WizMouse will virtually click the “down arrow” for you.

Windows Live Mail - If you’re looking for an excellent, free mail client, you’ll do well to install Windows Live Mail 2011. This newest version of Microsoft’s free e-mail client has been significantly upgraded over the previous version, and now includes a host of new features, including a calendar pane and Microsoft Office’s Ribbon interface. It doesn’t include all the bells and whistles of Microsoft Outlook, such as tasks and a full-blown calendar, but given that it’s free, Windows Live Mail is well worth the download.

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