Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – August 19, 2011

3 handy tools – Buried in Windows 7 are three useful tools to help you work faster, and get a little more out of your system’s built-in features.

9 Apps You Can’t Live Without – Food, water, shelter…software? On an existential level, you really can live without the applications you love. But, as the rabbi in the old joke says, “You call that living?” To settle the argument (or actually start it) over which software is truly necessary to our day-to-day function, Ranker.com is inviting users to weigh in on its list of essential software. You probably could have predicted that a couple of Google innovations would be riding high, but it may surprise you to find out which ones dominate.

Kaspersky: 12 different vulnerabilities detected on every PC – Researchers from Kaspersky have sampled their customer base, and found out that on average, every PC has 12 different vulnerabilities.

Did Linux dominate at Black Hat? – Just before Black Hat started, I suggested that Linux was the right choice for people headed to Black Hat. According to stats from Aruba Networks, the wi-fi provider for Black Hat – attendees apparently took my advice. Aruba did some device fingerprinting for those that connected to the Black Hat network. Linux users comprised 35 percent of the total. No, Linux doesn’t magically make you safer than other operating systems. It won’t protect you from XSS, CSRF or insecure SSL. But it will protect you from the myriad of malware executables and trojans that are out there.

Leave the Tablet, Take the Laptop – If you’re taking a computer with you on vacation, chances are you’ve brought your tablet and left your laptop at home — but that might be a mistake. Here’s why.

Mass injection attack compromised 20,000+ domains, delivers fake AV – A simple mistake on the part of cyber attackers has revealed another mass malicious iFrames injection attack that is currently under way, according to Armorize’s researchers.  Initially, they forgot to include a tag before the actual malicious code, so it was indexed by Google and, therefore, searchable. The initial number of compromised domains was around 22,400, with a total of 536,000+ infected pages.

Confidence in online retailers sinks – According to a study of consumer sentiment toward online shopping and security by McAfee, only about a third of online consumers believe that most websites are safe for shopping, an 11 percent decrease since McAfee conducted the survey in 2009.

Survey Says Consumers Taking The Bait In Phishing Scams – Even respondents aware of the idea of phishing often engage in dangerous online activities, according to ProtectMyID

Company News:

HP punts on WebOS, discontinues TouchPad, cuts outlook – The company said it ”will discontinue operations for webOS devices”, specifically the TouchPad and WebOS phones. In April 2010, HP talked about doubling down on Palm and the WebOS. And that WebOS unit will cost HP some dough to discontinue. HP will also spin off its PC unit—almost 10 years after the company bought Compaq.

AT&T to axe $10 texting plan, pushing new customers to go unlimited – AT&T is making some big changes to its texting plans for new customers. And you won’t like them. It begins with a jettisoning of its $10 texting plan, which offered users a thousand texts a month for a flat price. In its place, AT&T is offering new customers two alternatives: a $20 (or $30 for families) unlimited texting plan or a pay-per-text plan. Neither is a particularly good deal.

Amazon releases secure cloud for government – Amazon Web Services is bringing secure cloud computing to government agencies and contractors with a new service region.

IBM Unveils Chip That Mimics Human Brain – IBM on Thursday unveiled a next-generation computer chip that mimics the human brain, essentially “learning” as it goes along rather than responding to programmed commands.

Off Topic (Sort of):

Here’s how Facebook keeps track of who you are stalking – Summary: Whenever you search for someone on Facebook, the social network seems to order your friends in a very specific way. It turns out the company is paying close attention to who you are Facebook stalking.

Microsoft Offers Free eBook for Office 365 – Microsoft today announced the availability of a new, free eBook: Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime by Katherine Murray. It’s currently available in PDF format, but as with other Microsoft Press eBooks, it will soon ship DRM-free ePUB and MOBI formats too.

Watch a Competitive Lockpicker Who Truly Loves Locks Talk About Locks – If you were curious about how locks work and/or curious about what kind of person is a competitive lockpicker (as in they pick locks for sport) meet Schuyler Towne. He’s completely obsessed with locks and loves to talk about ’em. (submitted by Michael F.)

Shareholder Sues Motorola Over Google Deal Price Tag – Motorola Mobility and CEO Sanjay Jha were sued this week by shareholder John W. Keating over the $12.5 billion price tag of its recent Google deal.

Today’s Quote:

“Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.”

–    Annie Lennox

Today’s Free Downloads:

Cocoon for Firefox – Protect your privacy and security online with this Firefox add-on, which has on-the-fly e-mail dropboxes and lets you watch Netflix from outside the U.S.

Listen N Write – Listen and transcribe school lessons, interviews, and conferences easily.

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