Archive for January, 2009

Interesting development on the coding front.

Google’s free code-hosting Web site for developers is being used to distribute malware, a security researcher said on Friday.

Google Code is a place where programmers can host projects and code. Along with the legitimate code are links to fake videos that direct users to download a missing codec, said Dave Marcus, director of security research for McAfee Avert Labs. The codecs turn out instead to be password-stealing Trojan horses and programs geared toward stealing financial information for identity fraud, he said.

It just goes to prove you can never be too careful.

I love the headline.

Microsoft’s Ballmer: Windows 7 is nearly final

Microsoft Corp.’s next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time.

That’s one message Chief Executive Steve Ballmer delivered on the eve of the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show.

When I first read the headline, I could have sworn it said, “Windows 7 is nearly fatal”. Yeah, I laughed too. So, Windows is almost ready for prime time, huh? Does that mean it will work out of the box or will they need an update the moment it’s released?

On the heels of the MacWorld announcement of the 6.6 pound 1-inch thick 17-inch MacBook Pro, we have this from the PC side of the aisle.

Japan’s Sony Corp (6758.T) plans to launch the world’s lightest 8-inch notebook PC, taking aim squarely at a rapidly growing market for ultra-portalbe personal computers.

The new Sony Vaio PC will come with Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) Windows Vista operating system, supporting all the software programs found in full-sized notebooks, and sell for about $900, setting itself apart from Netbooks.

This new computer will weigh 1.4 pounds and be as thin as a mobile phone yet just as capable of producing a blue screen of death as any other PC running Windows.

Microsoft is a competitor in the search engine business? When did this happen and why didn’t I get the memo?

Verizon Communications Inc said it agreed to a mobile search deal with Microsoft Corp and that details will be announced later on Wednesday.

Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is due to announce their deal at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Seidenberg, speaking at a Citigroup conference, gave no further details.

Weird. Can you find me now?

Did you get a chance to catch the keynote speech from MacWorld?

If not, you can check out Apple Thoughts for all of the announcements, including:

17-inch Unibody MacBook

iLife ‘09

iTunes and DRM-free music

Of course I had to plug Apple Thoughts because, as you will be reminded when you read about the MacBook Pro, I contribute over there.

When it comes to producing video on my PC, there is one application that I cannot live without and it just got better.

The powerful, versatile, and free video encoding and playback app SUPER has released a new version that adds tons of new functionality to the already powerful application.

If you work with any type of video you will love it too.

It’s easy to fall victim to a phishing scam when you aren’t paying attention. Always double check the URL your browser is sitting at before you enter any information.

This weekend, Twitter admitted that it is the most recent target of a phishing scam, and warned users to be wary of messages that redirect them to a look-alike sites and ask them to login using their username and password. Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone wrote on the company’s blog: “We’ve identified a phishing scam directed at Twitter users and we don’t want you to get tricked into giving your password to a scammer.” The scams being sent out by email look like email notifications you might receive when you get a direct message, and say something like: “hey! check out this funny blog about you…” or “Hey, i found a website with your pic on it… LOL check it out here.” The link provided redirects to a site that looks like Twitter’s front page, but has a slightly different URL.

Apparently the people I follow on Twitter are smarter than the average bear because I only received one phishing message.

Check out Wired’s ‘10 Most Awesome iPhone Apps of 2008‘.

I don’t have an iPhone, but if I did have one I am pretty sure Google Earth wouldn’t be my ‘most awesome’ application on it.

Is this a sign that Microsoft didn’t do as well as they thought they were going to this past year?

Rumors about substantial cutbacks at Microsoft have been circulating for at least two months, but have not been confirmed by credible sources. The rumors were reignited by Fudzilla, which claims that the axe will fall on January 15 and affect about 15,000 employees.

Such a cutback would translate into a 17% reduction Microsoft’s global workforce of 90,000 people. Fudzilla’s sources indicate that MSN will take the brunt of the layoffs and the company’s EMEA region will be hit harder than any other geography.

Maybe promoting a crappy operating system and web browser had something to do with it?

My youngest son got some money and a gift card for Christmas, and together with the money he has been saving, he used it to get himself a new Microsoft Zune. I tried to talk him into getting an iPod, but he didn’t like it. Hmmf.

Anyway, he ended up doing okay, because he didn’t get the huge honkin’ Zune. Thank goodness.

Happy New Year from Microsoft Corp.: Your Zune is dead.

Thousands of Microsoft’s Zune media players — the software company’s answer to Apple Inc.’s iPod — unexpectedly conked out Wednesday and showed users an error message, prompting references to “Y2K for Zunes.” The problems appeared when people tried to start up their devices.

Frustrated users lit up Microsoft’s online support forum for Zunes with more than 2,500 messages by Wednesday afternoon.

Late Wednesday, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said the outage affected only the 30-gigabyte Zune models and was caused by a problem with their internal clock.