2005 December

I’ve already made a few fun predictions, so here are ten more serious ones:

Windows Vista is released to mediocre fanfare. “Too little, too late” will be the cry from hardcore geeks. Newbies will be just as content with Windows XP, as too many of them are still stuck on dial-up (and not broadband). Its UI […]

Lunabean’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” Walkthrough and Strategy Guide is all you need to get through this fantastic adventure. In it you will be guided through the story mode of “Narnia” and will be provided with all Bonus Shield and Statue locations. Ad-free, easy to read, beautifully bookmarked […]

SearchGnome is search tool for eBay auctions that enables you to manage multiple searches, compare them with older (saved) searches, add notes, and create a personal watch list. In addition, you can also run scheduled searches and be automatically notified when watched auctions are about to end. The interface is not overly attractive nor sophisticated, […]

Do you get this annoying message when you’re launching your email merge, address book search or email notification program or a PDA synchronization tool? “A program is trying to access email addresses you have stored in Outlook. Do you want to allow this?”
Don’t panic. This is new Outlook security features introduced in Outlook 2000 (SR2 […]

For a writer, their best friend is the beloved word processor that they use day in and day out to craft original content. As weird as it may seem, a symbiotic relationship of sorts begins to develop between the two. No, I’m not going crazy from staring at the computer screen for way too long […]

There’s nothing quite like taking a look at your New Year’s resolutions for the year past on December 30th, only to realize that you’ve accomplished absolutely nothing on the list. For instance… did I lose weight, get in better shape, keep track of my blood pressure with that snazzy USB blood pressure monitor, and post […]

January 2, 1785
As both readers and writers, we return to fairy tale themes again and again, gleaning new meaning from each encounter. These are stories that survived and evolved for hundreds of years. Read them again (or for the first time) and discover what makes them timeless.

Secunia Research has discovered two vulnerabilities in Pegasus Mail, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user’s system.
1) A boundary error exists when using the reply from a POP3 server to construct trace messages that are displayed to the user if an error occurs when downloading emails. This can be exploited to […]

When Windows Automatic Updates tries to download updates on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, an access violation error may occur in the Esent.dll file.
This problem occurs when Windows Automatic Updates tries to start the storage engine to update the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) database. When Windows Automatic Updates tries to […]

I take a lot of things for granted in being forty-six years old. Things that younger generations can’t relate to.
For instance, there are billions on the Earth with no memories of man walking on the moon. I was nine when Apollo 11 took place, and it was a big impact on my life, to say […]

My all-time favorite New Year’s resolution is 1024×768 (first suggested by the esteemed Weird Al a few years ago). Not sure if I’m resolving to do anything new or different for 2006, though - just refining the things that I’ve been doing. I pretty much quit coffee, I don’t smoke, and I work out every […]

Lemonade Tycoon 2 juices up business simulation & takes to the streets of New York! It’s jam-packed with awesome graphics, tons of customer types, lots of equipment upgrades, & 19 different locations. The challenge of selling lemonade has never been so sweet! Find out if you can dominate the lemonade biz in New York City.
[Download […]

Emsa Save My Work is a simple personal keylogger that is not aimed at snooping, but rather to keep track of everything you are typing. If you have ever experienced a program crash and lost the content of a letter or e-mail you had just typed, then this program can be of help. It automatically […]

While I am a huge fan of movies, I don’t tend to remember the specific lines that help to make or break certain scenes. I can walk out of the theater and go off on the story and characters, but at the same time, some of my friends only seem to retain the dialogue that […]

January 1, 1892
Today’s online field trip takes us to Ellis Island, which served as the portal to almost all American immigrants arriving between 1892 and 1954. Although some were turned away, 98 percent of those examined at Ellis Island were allowed into the country. In 1938, my mother, along with her mother and father, were […]

This is another report on the Windows vulnerability I posted a bit earlier. Suzi Turner of ZDNet.com writes:
…Sunbelt researchers have collected more than 50 variants of the WindowsMetafiles (WMF) and documented a number of domains running this exploit. Email, blog talkbacks, guestbook links, all could be used to spread this infection. In […]

Reuters reports (via Silicon.com):
The Texas attorney general said on Wednesday [Dec. 21] that he added a new claim to a lawsuit charging Sony BMG Music Entertainment with violating the state’s laws on deceptive trade practices by hiding “spyware” on its CDs.

A vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft Windows [XP and 2003 Sever], which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a vulnerable system.
The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of corrupted Windows Metafile files (”.wmf”). This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code by tricking a user into opening a […]

“You’re never too young to get a fun toy for Christmas.” That’s exactly what WowWee was thinking when they unleashed the Robosapien V2 a few weeks ago. I never really spent much time looking at them in the store, but Ponzi thought it would be cute to have another robot roaming throughout the house (to […]

Do you use Outlook Express for your personal or business mail? Is your data safe?
Viruses, worms, trojans, power surges, hard drive failure, and human error are just some of the many ways that you can lose your important e-mail messages.
While most users understand the importance of backing up their e-mail, many find that doing so […]