Storm Worms Target Blogs

The Storm Worm appeared in January and has spread around the globe, infecting blogs and bulletin boards. As with most worms, the Storm worm is delivered via email and the user must open an attachment to become infected.

The full story from C|NET

My God, Jim! It's a Tricorder!

Apparently scientists have fulfilled yet another Star Trek prophecy and created a workable spectrometer in a handheld device. Now you can touch an object with the device and determine its chemical makeup.

Full Story from C|NET

Cisco Wifi

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Cisco offer the mobility of a wireless mobile network with the security and management of a wired network.

Cisco is prepped to be the number one provider of products for this growing segment of technology. They offer a number of products such as outdoor mesh access points, switchers and routers and service control for wireless networks.

Wireless wifi LANS are fast becoming the standard in business telephony and computing. Cisco offers not only the equipment for meeting the challenge of anytime connectivity, but also provides for the security to back up this emerging technology. The Cisco Unified Wireless Network is the industry's only unified wired and wireless solution to deliver cost-effective wireless networks for business critical mobility.

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Blackberry = Kaching?

This is one of those stories where you gotta wonder: which came first the workaholic or the tool?

According to a study, Blackberry users work longer and earn more. Duh.

Personally, I believe it's a case of the average Blackberry user already being a workaholic to begin with and already likely to be working longer hours and concordantly, making more moolah. Not exactly brain surgery.

BlackBerry Users Work Longer and Earn More

Feb 21, 2007 - By Richard Karpinski and Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Sometimes, it's just nice to confirm the obvious.

Owners of BlackBerry and other smartphone devices typically work longer hours and make more money (in part due to the fact that execs tend to get new technology first), but are also deeply ambivalent about whether their devices are a boon to or a drag on their ability to be productive yet have a life.


A recent study by Digital Life America, funded by Solutions Research Group, surveyed more than 2600 Americans by phone and online to get their thoughts on wireless devices.

Full Story from Network Computing.com

Cool New Widget

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It seems like new widgets, little applets you can add to your site or blog, come out everyday, but many are not very useful or so cumbersome they detract from your site. This is actually a very cool widget that I would use.
Box.net Widget allows you to share certain files with whoever surfs your site. A piece of music or a picture, for example. I would use it to display some of my artwork probably. Pretty cool.

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Saweet! Docs Who Are Console Jockeys Make the Best Surgeons

According to a recent study, surgeons who play video games are more adept at certain operations, particularly laproscopic surgeries, which are performed using cameras and television screens to see the work being performed.

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Playing video games appears to help surgeons with skills that truly count: how well they operate using a precise technique, a study said Monday.

There was a strong correlation between video game skills and a surgeon's capabilities performing laparoscopic surgery in the study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery.

Laparoscopy and related surgeries involve manipulating instruments through a small incision or body opening where the surgeon's movements are guided by watching a television screen.

Full Story from CNN Tech News

Slammer Worm Still an Issue

It's been more than four years since the Slammer worm burrowed its way into user's computers, exploiting a hole in Microsoft's SQL Server. As of the today, it's still considered the number one threat to computer users.

February 21st, 2007
As the worm squirms: Slammer still runs amok
Posted by Ryan Naraine

More than four years after Slammer started exploiting holes in Microsoft’s SQL Server and Desktop Engine database products, the worm continues to squirm in machines that some believe will never be disinfected.

Over the past two days, SQL Slammer was listed as the number one threat on Arbor Network’s new ATLAS (Active Threat Level Analysis System), accounting for a whopping 25 percent of all malicious Internet activity detected by Arbor’s censors. The bulk of the Slammer attacks are coming from infected hosts in China.

Full Story from ZDnet

Nasa and Virgin Galactic Workingon Hypersonic Spacecraft

Richard Branson's fledgling aerospace company, Virgin Galactic, is teaming up with Nasa to develop a hypersonic vehicle which will hopefully be the next step in air travel - low orbit aircraft.

By Stefanie Olsen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Published: February 21, 2007, 4:56 PM PST

NASA said Wednesday it has inked a two-year agreement with space-tourism company Virgin Galactic to collaborate on future technologies for commercial spaceflight.

As part of the deal, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic will work with the scientists and facilities at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley to support its current plans for suborbital spaceflight. By 2008, Virgin Galactic, a U.S. subsidiary of Branson's Virgin Group, plans to take six passengers up to a low-Earth orbit in its SpaceShipTwo. How exactly NASA will assist in that effort is still up for discussion, according to a NASA representative.

Full Story from CNET

PayPerPost - Rockstartup Favorite Episode

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Payperpost's online reality show, Rockstartup has been going for a while now and they ask the question: Which is your favorite episode?

It was a contest between the Vegas Wedding and the SF/FSU Game, X-Factor. The SF/FSU episode was pretty cool, even though I'm not a fan of college football. I think I like it simply because it's got some fairly hot women in it LOL.

The Wedding one is good too. There's a good bit of footage of the bachelor/bachelorette party and some nice shots of Vegas. Getting the buss to stop in front of the Vegas sign was pretty cool. I like this one too for the simple reason that I wished I could have been the person getting married with the Posties. That would have been very cool, but the timing was just way off for us. I was just beginning my journey west to be with my fiance and there was no way we'd have been able to make arrangements for the Postie Wedding.

Ah well, we might end up in Vegas anyway. It's close and it would make a nice vacation too. Though the Canyon might be nicer.



I think that I'm going to have to go with the FSU/SF game episode. Can't go wrong with hot chicks.

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Google Shuts Hole in Desktop Product

Google has apparently closed what could have been a seriously devastating hole in their desktop search product. A hole that could have exposed millions of users to data thieves:


By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer
Tue Feb 20, 9:02 PM ET

BOSTON - A potentially devastating hole in Google Inc.'s prevalent desktop search product could have exposed personal files on users' computers to data thieves. Google fixed the defect within weeks of being informed about it and says it has no evidence the vulnerability was exploited.

The flaw was uncovered late last year by Watchfire Corp., a security-analysis provider. While the vulnerability exists in roughly 80 percent of Web applications, this problem appeared far more extreme "given the sensitive nature of what Google Desktop is doing," said Danny Allan, a researcher at Waltham, Mass.-based Watchfire.

Full Story from Yahoo News

Free Norton Downloads

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FreeAntivirusInfo.com is a site that not only offers reviews and descriptions of the features of Norton Antivirus, as the name implies, they also offer a Norton Antivirus free download from Google.
They also seem to be a portal for downloading many different software products for your computer such as Adaware, Realplay, Skype, Firefox and Adobe Reader. All of these are offered free from Google through FreeAntivirusInfo.com. All free and all available for download instantly. Take it from a guy who's had his share of adware and malware, you need some good protection from the scumbags hiding in the cracks of the interweb.

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Cisco Finds Two More Security Holes

After finding and plugging some gaping holes late last week, Cisco announces that they have discovered two new flaws in their Pix 500 series security appliances.

Cisco finds two new flaws

By Richard Thurston
Special to CNET News.com

Cisco Systems has found two more vulnerabilities in its range of networking products.

The latest weaknesses are found in Cisco's Pix 500 series security appliances, its 5500 series of adaptive security appliances, and its firewall services module. Hackers could use the various vulnerabilities to crash a networking appliance and bypass security policies. A related vulnerability could be used to corrupt access control lists, allowing traffic that should be blocked to pass into the corporate network.

Full Story

Payperpost Cash

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How much have I made from Payperpost so far, you ask? So far, I have been paid $1526 and expect to get another $138.00. I would have more, but the move put me out of commission for over a month and the lack of computer for more. Our internet service was down for the count for almost 2 weeks as we switched providers, so there's another slow down. Normally I would make about $300 a month from posting Payperpost ads in my blogs. I have five blogs that I could be posting on, so I can make more if I hustle. There just aren't enough hours in the day LOL

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Company Offers Google Ad Alternative

Fast Ad Momentum offers an alternative to Google's Adsense program, knocking out the middleman in the process.

By Elinor Mills
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Fast Search & Transfer unveiled on Monday a platform that will allow media companies, online classifieds and others to serve private-label, contextually relevant ads on their Web sites without having to turn to Google.

Fast AdMomentum allows companies to make money by selling ads to advertisers without involving an ad agency or network.

"Our customers said, 'We have relationships with advertisers but we need to have a plan that will allow us to build search-driven monetization solutions and we want to be able to do it ourselves,'" said Perry Solomon, vice president and general manager of media solutions at Fast, based in Oslo, Norway. "Companies are trying to preserve their business from the threat of new media companies, like Google," Solomon added.

Full Story

Coupon Chief

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There's nothing more satisfying when shopping online than getting to the checkout and plugging in a magical code that saves you some cheese. Whether it's free shipping or 15% off your order, a coupon code is a wonderful thing.
CouponChief.com has tons and tons of coupon codes for many retailers, from Staples to Best Buy to Home Depot.

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Dell Hell

I have an old account with Dell Financial and it has been paid off for a while. As my computer is getting pretty old, and has RAM that is a pain to find (RDRAM), I figured I'd give myself a late Christmas present and get a new one. So I toddled over to Dell and checked out their outlet site and found a really nice system for a reasonable price.
So I headed to the cart and went through their long, involved checkout process only to get a runtime error everytime I tried to use my Dell Financial account. They'd let me use a regular credit card or a Paypal account, but anything to do with Dell Financial got a runtime error. No, they couldn't help me, since it was an outlet item and the outlet department is closed on the weekends, but they'd be glad to help me set up a new one (that cost twice as much).

4 hours and 6 customer service reps later I bought a Gateway.

Then Gateway called back and said they didn't have the computer THAT I PAID FOR in stock. They'd be happy to give me another - for $300 more. And the 22" monitor doesn't come with it, but they'd be glad to give me another - for another $45.

Cool Optics

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Optics Planet is touting their products as the perfect last minute gift. Somehow I don't think that would apply to Valentine's Day, LOL.
"Happy Valentine's Day Baby."
"Awww, you're so sweet!"
"Yeah, I am."
"It's...a set of night vision goggles..."
"Yeah! Aren't they cool?! I got myself a pair too!"

Yeah... not too romantic, though they could be an interesting addition to your love life, I suppose.

They do have a lot of nice stuff though. I wouldn't mind a good pair of binoculars, or even a good pair of sunglasses. Check out their long list of products, including the surefire flashlight.



This post sponsored by Optics Planet

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