Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – October 4, 2012

Facebook hits 1 billion active user milestone – Eight years after launch, the world’s largest social network finally reached the 1 billion active monthly users.

Linux: The big misconceptions – There are two misconceptions about Linux that have plagued the open source platform from the very beginning. Jack Wallen tries to assuage the doubts of those hesitant to learn something new, user-friendly, and powerful.

Ding dong! Wireless doorbell informs you of visitors with a text message – One of the worst things that can happen while expecting a package is not hearing the doorbell ring. Not only do you miss out on getting your cool swag, but now you have to make a trip to the post office the most depressing place on Earth. Someone must felt our collective pain and thought up this sweet doorbell hack.

Learn the secrets of eye-friendly computing – I can think of few bigger computing hassles than destroying your eyesight by using a computer. So, how can you keep your peepers safe? Start by consulting the Vision Council’s 16-page guide: “Screens, Phones, Tablets, and More: Keeping Your Eyes Safe in a Digital Age.” (It’s a PDF that should open right in your browser.)

Facebook Testing Promoted Posts in the U.S. – Facebook is expanding its “promoted posts” feature to the U.S., which lets users pay to highlight their own posts on their friends’ news feeds.

Debate (and Big Bird) generate 10M tweets – Last night’s initial showdown between President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney was the most-tweeted political event in U.S. history.

Google Wallet for content: Google’s latest plan to nickel-and-dime us on the Web – The search engine giant is experimenting with a new business initiative called Google Wallet for content. Google Wallet for content will let people pay for premium content—that is, pay for access to web articles—using the Google Wallet mobile payment system.

PC gaming on Windows 8: Let’s run benchmarks! – Windows 8 improves performance and responsiveness for desktop and Windows 8 apps, but does the same hold true for games?

Create a test machine in Windows 8 Client Hyper-V – Windows 8’s Client Hyper-V isn’t enabled by default, but you can add it rather quickly from the Windows Features tool. To begin, just press the [Windows] key to bring up the Start Screen. Then, type Features, select Settings, and click Turn Windows features on or off, as illustrated.

PlayBook OS 2.1 update boosts security, management – Research in Motion Wednesday released a BlackBerry PlayBook OS update that adds full device encryption to secure personal data stored on the device to go along with the already-available encryption for corporate data. The PlayBook OS 2.1 update, which is fully described on a BlackBerry site, is available for Wi-Fi-only BlackBerry Playbook tablets.

Four new Apple TV features – If you’re an Apple TV owner, the latest update included some great new features. Here are four of them.

Security:

Your pop-up ads may be fraudulent!!! FTC wins $163m settlement against scareware firm – A US federal court has imposed a judgment of more than $163 million against a defendant in a case that pitted the US Federal Trade Commission against purveyors of so-called “scareware” programs designed to trick Internet users into believing their computer is infected.

Cyber Scammers Capitalize on 2012 Election – Security analysts have noticed a uptick in the amount of election-related spam.

Hackers post data from dozens of breached college servers – Group calling itself GhostShell says it posted thousands of usernames, passwords, and phone numbers of students and faculty to call attention to the state of education.

Company News:

Google Motorola Drops Mobile Patent Lawsuit Against Apple – The case, one of two filed by Google Motorola against Apple, claimed that the iPhone maker had infringed on seven patents related to smartphone features.

Nokia: iPhone Needs More Color – Nokia’s commercial attacks Apple for only offering its iPhone in two colors.

FTC Cracks Down on Fake Tech Support Websites – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission today announced a crackdown on tech support websites that tricked users into paying for the removal on non-existent computer viruses.

Samsung Requests New Patent Trial Over Juror ‘Misconduct’ – Samsung this week requested a new patent trial against Apple due to juror misconduct, among other things.

Google obtains patent for Project Glass-like smart-watch – Google’s Project Glass may soon extend to watches. On Tuesday, Google was granted a patent for a smart-watch with a flip-up display that appears to work much like Google’s highly-anticipated augmented-reality glasses.

Webopedia Daily:

White Hat SEO – In search engine optimization (SEO) terminology, White Hat SEO refers to the usage of SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus on a human audience opposed to search engines and completely follows search engine rules and policies. For example, a Web site that is SEO optimized, yet focuses on relevancy and organic ranking is considered to be optimized using White Hat SEO practices. Some examples of White Hat SEO techniques include using keywords and keyword analysis, backlinking, link building to improve link popularity, and writing content for human readers White Hat SEO is more frequently used by those who intend to make a long-term investment on their Web site. Also called Ethical SEO.

Off Topic (Sort of):

Does the consumer hard drive have a future? – Like it or not, there just doesn’t seem to be a ton of advancement happening on the consumer hard drive front. The last big announcement along these lines occurred several months ago, when Western Digital announced its latest 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor drive. But what it is, and about all it can ever be, is a fast mechanical drive that costs $300 and is buried in the dust kicked up by even the slowest solid-state drive on its worst day.

Infographic: A buyer’s guide to cloud apps – Veracode provides this infographic, illustrating the big-picture numbers for the cloud app market and the purchasing decisions that face potential buyers.

Seven awesome, unusual DIY USB flash drives – We sift through the Web to find seven of the most awesome do-it-yourself USB drives out there.

3D Printer Safari at Maker Faire – Maker Faire NY 2012 had one of the most awesome and diverse selections of 3D printers ever assembled by geek-kind. This article is a photo tour of the printers at the event with enough information to get you up to speed on the whole ecosystem.

Linux certificate program launches in North America – Culminating in a single Linux Essentials exam, the program leads to a certificate of achievement recognizing knowledge of a variety of related subjects, including the Linux community and open source careers; popular operating systems and applications; open source software and licensing; and Linux command line basics, files, and scripts.

Today’s Quote:

“Speak when you are angry–and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret.”

–     Laurence J. Peter

Today’s Free Downloads:

TaskUnifier 3.0.1 Beta – TaskUnifier is a task management software based on the well-known GTD (getting things done) methodology. It will help you manage your tasks and therefore your time. TaskUnifier is free and open source.

Microsoft Sysinternals Suite – The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files.