The Relative Risk Of Malware – Trend Micro reports there are 3.5 new malware released every second, up from 1 new malware every 1.5 seconds a year ago. But what’s your actual risk?
Mozilla blocks Skype’s Firefox-crashing add-on - Developers of the open-source browser, saying Skype’s Firefox toolbar slows page loads and is a top cause of crashes, block it from running.
How to Buy a Wireless Router – A wireless router is the heart of any home or small business network. But with so many choices out there, how do you know which one’s right for you? Our guide will help you choose.
How Can I Find Out If Someone’s Stealing My Wi-Fi? – Besides the fact that your Wi-Fi moocher may be slowing down your connection, people connected to your network may also have access to some of your shared folders (depending on what security measures you use), and if someone’s using your connection to do illegal things, it could even bring the authorities to your doorstep. Don’t worry, though, we can help you find out if, indeed, your Wi-Fi is being stolen and help you put an end to it.
Trapster Hacked: 10 Million Mobile Users Potentially Affected – Popular online speed trap locator Trapster has been hacked and is notifying its 10 million users their email and password may have been compromised.
Internet Building the Hive, Driving Engagement: Pew – Propelled by the rise of social media hubs, the Internet has become a primary vehicle for Americans to organize in communities and engage in volunteer activities and other forms of group participation, according to new research from the Pew Internet Project.
Report finds smart-grid security lacking – Certain smart meters have not been designed with a strong security architecture and lack important security features like event logging and forensics capabilities used to detect and analyze cyberattacks, while smart-grid home area networks that manage electricity usage of appliances also lack adequate built-in security, according to the report (PDF) released last week by the GAO, the auditing and investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.
Cybercriminals shifting focus to non-Windows systems – In a major cybercrime turning point, scammers have begun shifting their focus away from Windows-based PCs to other operating systems and platforms, including smart phones, tablet computers, and mobile platforms in general, according to the Cisco 2010 Annual Security Report.
Twitter worm hits goo.gl, redirects to fake anti-virus – A fast-moving Twitter worm is in circulation, using Google’s goo.gl redirection service to push unsuspecting users to a notorious scareware (fake anti-virus) malware campaign.
Company News:
Schmidt to Step Aside as Google CEO, Page Taking Over – Google co-founder Larry Page will take over as Google CEO in April from Eric Schmidt, who will remain with the company as executive chairman.
Porn in Apple’s App Store? Keep Dreaming – Sorry, Charlie, but despite what you may have heard, naked ladies won’t be appearing in the App Store anytime soon.
Nitro PDF Software Releases Update for Nitro PDF Professional – Nitro PDF Software, the company behind the award-winning Nitro PDF Reader, today announced the latest update for its flagship solution, Nitro PDF Professional, by introducing highly requested functionality, performance enhancements, and usability improvements. Free to all currently licensed version 6 users, the release infuses significant new functionality into the software.
QuickBooks Alternative Offered by Zoho – Users of Intuit’s QuickBooks online now have an alternative – Zoho Books – a new cloud-based accounting software offering for businesses with up to 1,000 employees.
Off Topic (Sort of):
When “open source” software isn’t truly open source – The meaning of “open source” may seem self-evident, but what many people call open source is not. Chad Perrin illustrates the difference between pretend and actual open source software.
NASA tech breakthroughs that led to innovations – NASA has long been one of two major government science and technology incubators (the other is DARPA). One of the best things about the space agency is also one of the least known outside the scientific community: NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program has allowed the organization to share many technologies with the private sector, spurring other technological breakthroughs and helping to commercialize these innovations.
Five tips for migrating from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice – If your organization is moving its users over to LibreOffice, there might be some initial confusion. Here are a few things you can do to make sure the experience is as painless as possible.
10 Most Technophobic Movies – Although a technophobe sounds like a neo-Luddite, it actually goes a lot deeper than that. What’s more, technophobia pops up in movies far more often than you might think. The easy target when it comes to tech-based movies are those films that show an egregious misunderstanding of how the Internet works, or that show older generations struggling to get along in a digital age. The films below are some of the most technophobic ever made, though some of the titles might surprise you. Next time you’re at the movies, keep an eye out for the real villain.
Today’s Quote:
“When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of putting it into practice.”
- Otto von Bismarck
Today’s Free Downloads:
DownThemAll 2.0 – Download accelerator and manager DownThemAll gives a swift kick in the pants to Firefox’s download manager, providing the browser not only with heightened downloading chops, but with an effective tool for sniffing out media content on Web pages and getting it on your hard drive quickly.
LastPass for Chrome 1.72 – Passwords drive us crazy. With bank accounts, credit cards, insurance policies, social networking sites, student loans, pharmacies, and many other sites all demanding passwords, it’s a lot to keep up with. LastPass for Chrome is an easy and secure way to manage passwords, and we wish we’d had it a long time ago.
If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.
RE: Mozilla blocks Skype’s Firefox-crashing add-on; Skype’s toolbars seem to have a history of this problem, I remember it was an issue last year with IE.
Hey Dave,
You’d think they would learn – no?
Best,
Bill