Microsoft Says Google Circumvents IE Privacy Policies Too – Microsoft says Google bypassed privacy protections in Internet Explorer, following accusations last week that Google was doing so in Apple’s Safari browser.
Get Better Caller ID on Your Android Phone – Free app WhoAreYou not only shows you who’s calling and where they’re calling from, but also lets you block callers with just one tap.
Create a Bootable Linux Flash Drive in Three Easy Steps – Why would you want to do that? Two reasons: to see how the other half lives, so to speak, and to create a rescue tool that can work around nearly any Windows-related disaster.
Bluetooth Giving You the Blues? Here’s Your Cure – Bluetooth–so great when it works–can drive you crazy with dropped connections or with pairing and sound-quality problems. Here’s how to cope when it goes haywire.
Facebook’s Troubling Trend Down Under: Time spent by Australians on social networking site down 21% over past year – If I were an advertiser, I’d consider this to be a pretty negative trend. On the other hand, maybe Australia’s just receding back to the norm and this will bottom out.
BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is Now Available – RIM promised to release an official version of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 in February. Today is February 21st and RIM has made good on that promise. The official version of the QNX-based, BlackBerry PlayBook OS is now 2.0 and is available via software update on your PlayBook.
My PC Doesn’t See My Hard Drive – When Wendell tries to boot his PC, an error message announces a disk read error. It’s as if his hard drive–with three year’s worth of work on it–doesn’t exist.
Syrian dissidents claim government uses malware to spy on them – Syrian opposition activists have been targeted by the government since the start of the massive anti-government protests in January 2011, but only recently they have began to worry about malware spying on their activities. According to the CNN and Dlshad Othman, a software engineer that joined the regime opponents and helps them with their IT security, two separate pieces of malware have been discovered after
Iranians cut off from Internet again – Iranians suffered a wide spread Internet outage today, the second disruption of in the past 10 days to leave millions without access to e-mail and social networks. The latest disruption blocked access to all encrypted International sites outside the country that operate on Secure Sockets Layer protocol, Reuters reports.
10 ways tech can boost sales for SMBs – SMBs that are smart about leveraging technology can see impressive sales increases. Here are some ways to use your IT resources to accomplish great things.
Researchers break video CAPTCHAs, offer solutions – After creating the “Decaptcha” software to solve audio CAPTCHAs, Standford University’s researchers modified it and turned it against text and, quite recently, video CAPTCHAs with considerable success. Video CAPTCHAs have been touted by its developer, NuCaptcha, as the best and most secure method of spotting bots trying to pass themselves off as human users.
Company News:
Microsoft confirms SkyDrive app for Windows 8 – Integration to include Metro-style app and the ability to fetch files from across the Web, Microsoft reveals.
Patent Reveals Google TV With Siri-Like Voice Recognition – A patent filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office last fall shows that Google is creating a Siri-like voice interface for controlling television via Android phones. According to Patently Apple, the patent describes a cloud-based system for issuing voice commands to an Android phone, which will then control a set-top box, smart TV, DVR, or other device.
Iomega Intros Server-grade NAS for SMBs – Iomega narrows the gap between enterprise-grade and small business storage with new NAS hardware and cloud-based video surveillance features.
Twitter, American Express Partner on Small Business Advertising – Financial services firm American Express announced that its card members and merchants would be the first to have access to Twitter’s new advertising solution for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), which is scheduled to launch in late March. The company said it would give $100 in free Twitter advertising when using this solution to the first 10,000 eligible businesses that register starting this week.
Webopedia Daily:
Linux virtualization – Linux virtualization refers to running one or more virtual machines on a physical computer that’s operated by the Linux open source operating system. Linux virtualization can be used for isolating specific apps, programming code or even an operating system itself, as well as for security and performance testing purposes.
Off Topic (Sort of):
When Larry Met Sergy – The evolution of Google from Grad school to a $150 Billion company shown in an amazing interactive graphic.
Mass Surveillance and No Privacy Bill is ‘For the Children’ – What happens when stupid non-geeks write bills like SOPA and HR 1981? Rep. Lamar Smith says it’s for the children, of course, and if you object to being spied upon online then you are some kind of guilty pro-child-porn lowlife pond scum sucker. Where does the stupidity stop?
Google Privacy Fiasco Lesson: There Is No Privacy – Google may have crossed a line with respect to user privacy, but it’s not the first, it won’t be the last, and you need to have realistic expectations about this concept of privacy.
Feds Yank Another Site — Even Without SOPA Analysis – The Secret Service takes down JotForm and restores it without explanation; perhaps the anti-SOPA hysteria wasn’t alarming enough.
Today’s Quote:
“I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, “Ain’t that the truth.”
– Quincy Jones
Today’s Free Downloads:
Rainmeter – Rainmeter lets you craft your very own desktop environment. It’s a system resource monitor that presents the information you want to see in the format that works for you, in a very attractive desktop environment. Think of it as a customizable dashboard.
Windows 8 Start Screen Full 3.0 – Windows 8 Start Screen Full is a Windows 8 Start Screen clone for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. It resembles the same screen with live tiles on your Desktop. Tiles include News, Weather, Gmail, iSocialite for Facebook, various shortcut tiles which can be configured and more.
AceMoney Lite – AceMoney helps you organize and manage your personal finances quickly and easily. AceMoney is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian and Swedish, with more languages to come.