Other Stuff

Why not give the gift of safer computing habits this year? This articles outlines how you can give someone the gift of secure computing with very little effort:
“Internet use can be far safer for most home computer users through the use of free tools and services that help protect computers from malicious code that can […]

Don’t copy that floppy, otherwise you might lose your computer, router, and any equipment that may have assisted in some kind of file sharing. The wording of the bill is scary as hell - the proposed group can seize your assets and auction them off before you are ever accused of or found guilty of […]

While Wikipedia has been under fire for its internal policies, the encyclopedia that (almost) anyone can edit is coming under fire in Germany for … being Nazi Sympathizers?
“There’s been no shortage of stories lately alleging that Wikipedia moderators have fascist tendencies, but a new case goes one step further. A German politician has filed charges […]

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, is a truly amazing place. Even if you are not a geek like me, or indeed not a geek at all, it’s a wonderful walk through the evolution of computing, and provides unique and unexpected views into history.

AllTopix (AllTopix.com) is an online teen forum which has taken it upon itself to take the place of Yahoo! Chat, now that Yahoo! Chat is no longer available to those under 18 years of age.
Yahoo! announced last week that it was closing all of its chat rooms to anyone under the age of 18, […]

“What is the precursor to the Internet?” I am often asked. In part that depends on what you mean by “precursor,” because several systems could claim that distinction. Online bulletin board systems, for instance. Or even packet radio, if your definition is a system which allowed people in disparate locations to communicate […]

Displaced Hurricane Katrina victims may file for a special new ZIP code, and may do so online, announced the United States Postal Service (USPS) today.
For example, many of Hurricane Katrina’s displaced are being housed at the Houston Astrodome, and the USPS has assigned the special zip code of 77230 to that facility meaning, at least […]

Tomorrow, September 1, 2005, US cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketing companies and you may start to receive sales calls for which you may be charged.
To save yourself from this plague this is what you can do now!

Camera phones sure seem to bring out the stupid in people. Be it owner or phone thief, there’s something about that little lens that makes people go soft in the head. Take Danny Aquino for instance.
John Clennan, posting as JohnsGoat on a local Long Island Internet bulletin board (BBS), wrote yesterday that “My […]

This is pretty interesting stuff. According to Iraq Museum International, it has detected a pattern of what it calls “eBay sniping”, in which bids are intentionally and artificially inflated to ensure that a legitimate bidder pays top dollar, and has managed to catch the thiefs (for that is surely what they are) in the […]

This would actually be funny if it weren’t so seemingly petty. No, wait, I take that back. It’s funny anyways.
Back on July 14th, CNet News reporter Elinor Mills wrote a story on Google and privacy. As an example of the lack of privacy one may (not) enjoy at the hands of someone […]

Are you rude? Are you more rude online than you are in person?

If you get email claiming to be from the Regulatory Compliance Commission, the International Compliance Commission, the International Regulatory Commission, the International Exchange Regulatory Commission, the International Shareholder Protection Division, or some similar sounding agency, offering you an investment opportunity, the best investment you can make is in the energy to hit ‘delete’.

With the release of the new AIM Fight, Aunty Spam thought that it would be fun to
survey folks to see what their AIM Fight scores are.

Is it a case of sour grapes, or good business? Microsoft this week has sued Google. Not over technology or copyright. Nope. Over poaching one of its top executives, Executive Vice President Kai-Fu Lee.
It’s no secret that Microsoft has recently forayed into the Chinese Internet scene, and Google has been there […]

Even though they can serve such legitimate purposes as preventing cellular eavesdropping, cell phone jammers have always been controversial, and in fact cellphone jammers are illegal in the United States, where, according to the FCC, “The operation of transmitters designed to jam or block wireless communications is a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, […]

TiVo first came to prominence as the company which allowed its customers to record whatever they wanted from television whenever they wanted - anything, any time - with the touch of a button.
And it allowed its customers to skip commercials.

Those wacky people at True.com are up to it again, talking all logical and sciency about online dating, when everyone knows that the Martian/Venusian aspect of dating requires an alchemist, not a psychologist.

There’s something almost laterally recursive about a television show which is about online dating. That in itself seems kind of lame. But there it is, and apparently ABC decided it was a worthy topic, as they aired their “Hooking Up” ABC News Special last night.

A survey of nearly 2,000 people by the Chubb Group of Insurance Agencies has found that one in five Americans believe that they have been the victim of identity fraud.
According to a press release by Chubb, other findings include: