News Humor Common PC Mac CUCUG
The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, December 18th, at 7:00 pm, at the First Baptist Church of Champaign in Savoy. Directions to the FBC-CS are at the end of this newsletter.
The December 18 gathering will be our Annual meetings. Club officers will be elected. We will also have an open forum and a swap meet for those who'd like to sell or exchange hardware and software in line with the usual ground rules. This is a social event and should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there.
ToC
It's that time of year again to renew your membership in CUCUG. We rely on our members and their talents for our strength and vitality. We'd love to see you as an involved member next year. You can renew at the December meeting with Treasurer Richard Hall or by mail to our address given at the end of each newsletter. Again, we sincerely hope to have you with us in the new year.
ToC
We'd like to thank the members of our group renewing their memberships this last month: Elaine Avner, Max Curtis, Joe Dewalt, Jerry Feltner, Norris Hansell, Kevin Hopkins, Keith Peregrine and Harold Ravlin.
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Run across an interesting item or tidbit on the net? Just send the link to the editor. Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment? Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force of any user group. Welcome to the group.
ToC
Elections for the officers of CUCUG to serve in 2009 will be held at the December Annual Meeting. Nominations will be entertained from the floor. As it stands, these are the gentlemen officially nominated and standing for re-election.
President:
Richard Rollins
Vice-President:
Emil Cobb
Secretary:
Kevin Hopkins
Treasurer:
Richard Hall
Corporate Agent: Kevin Hisel
By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
December 1, 2008 - 10:03 PM
URL: <http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2008-12-01-free-broadband_N.htm>
Free broadband for America has inched closer to reality: The plan, after two years of debate, is finally on the calendar for a full vote by the Federal Communications Commission.
Assuming the plan is approved at the FCC's Dec. 18 meeting, one of the agency's last before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, free broadband could become reality within a year.
First proposed in 2006, the plan calls for a chunk of airwaves called AWS-3 (now idle) to be used for wireless broadband across the USA. Under terms contemplated by the FCC, the winner of the AWS-3 auction would have to reserve at least 25% of network capacity for free broadband.
The winner would be allowed to charge for other services, including premium broadband that would offer faster speeds.
Assuming there are no last-minute snags, the AWS-3 auction will take place next year.
The FCC plans to impose several conditions. Among them: The winner will be required to launch free broadband with a filter that automatically blocks adult content. Users can remove the filter once they've confirmed that they are at least 18 years old.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has championed the idea of free broadband. Martin is particularly concerned about rural areas, where dial-up and satellite-based Internet still rule. Dial-up isn't fast enough to handle interactive fare, including video streaming. Satellite has the muscle, but broadband-strength speeds can cost $100 or more a month.
About 38% of rural households have broadband. In urban and suburban areas, where competition for customers can be fierce, the numbers are a lot higher, 57% and 60%, respectively. Martin says free broadband can help bridge the gap. "This initiative brings with it the promise of a free basic broadband service to hundreds of thousands of Americans who currently have limited or no access to the high-speed Internet," Martin said in a statement prepared for USA TODAY.
Big wireless carriers, which stand to lose customers -- and profits -- if free broadband takes off, have criticized the FCC's plan.
The harshest critic is T-Mobile. The carrier paid $4 billion two years ago to buy the spectrum that abuts the AWS-3 block. T-Mobile claims the FCC's plan will cause service disruptions for its customers. The FCC disagrees.
Despite opposition from incumbents, the plan has a number of strong supporters. Chief among them is the company that dreamed up the idea initially, M2Z, a wireless start-up backed by Kleiner Perkins, the big Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
Milo Medin, M2Z's co-founder and a broadband pioneer, says that in addition to being a big positive for consumers, the plan is consistent with Obama's belief in the power of private-public partnerships. While free broadband alone won't close the divide between digital haves and have nots, Medin says it's a good start.
[Editor's Note: My thanks to David Stevens for submitting this article for the newsletter.]
ToC
By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
December 4th, 2008
URL: <http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/6249>
According to DSL Reports, an anonymous tipster has told them that as of January 5th, users will be able to access a tool to monitor their usage. The stats the tool reports will be delayed by three hours, and will store three months worth of data.
DSL Reports also managed to get a screenshot of the tool (below).
Surprisingly, it looks like something most people will be able to easily understand. When Comcast first announced the cap, they claimed less than 1% of all users will hit it. That's true, with a 250 GB cap. Still, with media companies like Netflix pushing us to use more bandwidth, and with more of us working from home via VPN, I certainly think offering a meter makes a heck of a lot of sense. At least if we can't have all-you-can-eat usage, anyway.
[Editor's Note: My thanks to Jon Bjerke for submitting this article for the newsletter.]
ToC
Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 9:14 am
December 11th, 2008
URL: <http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=625&tag=nl.e539>
Comcast says it will debut its new ultra-high-speed Internet service in the Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Fort Wayne, Ind. markets, according to the Associated Press.
The Philadelphia-based company says the next-generation Docsis 3.0, or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 3.0, technology will include some of the fastest speeds available today, including a tier with download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second. This "wideband" service will also enable the company to double speeds for most of its existing high-speed Internet customers at no additional cost.
The service is expected to debut this month in areas of Annapolis and Anne Arundel and Howard counties, with the remainder of the Baltimore region online in 2009. The service is already available in Minneapolis and St. Paul; the Boston metro area; parts of southern New Hampshire; the Philadelphia metro area; New Jersey; Seattle; Portland; Spokane, Wash.; and Eugene, Ore.
Which leaves the question: Can Wi-Fi go head-to-head with WiMax or other approaches to broadband access to the Internet, over the air?
[Editor's Note: My thanks to Jon Bjerke for submitting this article for the newsletter.]
ToC
Read to the end . . . A new Twist
Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital; ship by truck and send cargo by ship; have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?
You lovers of the English language m**ight** enjoy this.
There is a two-letter word t**hat** perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
It's easy to understand *_ _*...*
UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ...
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so........it is time to shut UP!
Oh . . . one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U-P.
[Editor's Note: My thanks to David Stevens for bringing this article to my attention.]
ToC
by Rich Mogull <rich@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9890>
The annual American tradition of Black Friday shopping madness, with its irresistible deals and steep discounts for those willing to brave the crowds of the local shopping malls, has come and gone, but the rest of the mad shopping season is still going strong. These days, however, thanks to the wonder of the Internet, we can all experience the hustle and bustle of the mall from the comfort of our own homes. And to help keep your shopping experience authentic, there's no shortage of cheats and thieves ready to yank your painstakingly chosen gifts right out of the virtual trunk of your Web browser, along with your credit card number.
In the spirit of safe and happy holidays, TidBITS presents our top tips for safe online shopping. Some of these tips also apply to the real world for those of you who just can't resist the mall. (For your Windows-using friends and family I have a non-Mac version of this article available at my security blog).
<http://securosis.com/2008/11/26/our-annual-black-fridaysafe-shopping-post/>
Consumers have a number of relatively new options to protect their credit cards and bank accounts when shopping online. I recommend you use a dedicated credit card, temporary credit card number, or PayPal account for holiday shopping.
The most basic option is to pick your credit card with the lowest limit and use it exclusively for holiday shopping. Choose one you can monitor online, and check the activity at least weekly through the holidays. Also make sure your chosen card isn't also a debit card, since debit cards don't have the same fraud protections as credit cards, and you may be responsible for fraudulent charges. While you can always dispute a credit card charge, only some banks, on some accounts, allow you to dispute debit card charges (even if your card has a Visa or MasterCard logo on it).
To keep your card statement simple, turn off any automatic payments so you can dispute any spurious charges before making a payment. Keep tracking activity at least monthly after the holidays are over, and consider canceling the card if you notice any unusual charges that you can't account for, even if they are low dollar amounts (a technique bad guys use to test for valid cards and people who aren't paying attention). Save all email receipts for online purchases in a mail folder, since they're extremely helpful when trying to remember what you might have ordered for $25.92 on November 30th.
I recommend you restrict your credit card use to major online retailers, and for smaller shops instead use either a PayPal debit account or temporary credit card. While you might get a better deal from Billy-Bobs-Bait-Shop-And-Diamond-Wholesaler.com, many smaller retailers don't have security as strong as their bigger brethren. Those hosted or selling through a major service are usually safe, but few consumers really want to check the pedigree for specialty shops.
One approach is to create a dedicated PayPal account that's not linked to any of your bank accounts or credit cards. You can pre-fund it via bank transfer with as much cash as you think you need and use it for online payments where you're a bit dubious about the retailer. In the absolute worst case, you would lose only what's in that account, and you can easily cancel it anytime.
Another option, depending on your credit card company, is a temporary credit card number for online shopping. These are disposable card numbers you generate yourself using your card issuer's Web site, and they can't be used again or leveraged to run up your account. Charges still appear on the same bill, and are tied to your main credit card account. Check with your credit card company to see if they offer this service, but most of the major card issuers do. I like temporary credit card numbers better than account passwords (such as Verified by Visa and Mastercard SecureCode) since they work everywhere, and you don't have to worry about anyone sniffing them. Two examples are ShopSafe by Bank of America, and Virtual Account Numbers from Citibank.
<http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/index.cfm?template=learn_about_shopsafe> <https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/detail.do?screenID=700>
In the security industry we always see a rise in online fraud during the holidays, but there seems to be a larger spike this year as the bad guys try to take advantage of the economic downturn.
The first rule of Internet security applies here: if an email message relates to anything financial, don't click links in it. Period. And if the message is a retail offer, be very cautious. It doesn't matter if your best friend has seemingly sent you a really good deal in email. It doesn't matter if it's your favorite retailer and you've always gotten email offers from them. No special offers. No eBay member-to-member email messages. No "fraud alerts" to check your account.
Attackers are increasingly refining their phishing attacks, some of which are very hard to distinguish from legitimate email messages. When you see an interesting offer in email, and it's a business you want to deal with, just open your Web browser, type in the company's URL manually, and browse to the item, offer, or account area. Email is the single biggest source of online fraud and this year will be no different.
I also recommend you use an email account with a service provider that offers spam filtering (it's built into MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail). These block most spam and phishing attempts before the messages even hit your inbox. If you have email accounts with providers that don't filter, you should also look at C-Command Software's excellent SpamSieve. Even though all my email accounts are filtered by my service providers and Apple Mail has decent filtering too, I still use SpamSieve to catch those last stragglers. Despite multiple public email addresses, I see only about one to three junk messages per day on even my most-attacked accounts.
<http://www.me.com/>
<http://www.gmail.com/>
<http://www.yahoo.com/mail/>
<http://hotmail.com>
<http://c-command.com/spamsieve/>
Caution in email is great, but the primary avenue of attack is through your Web browser. You can reduce your vulnerability with some easy steps.
First, make sure your Web browser is updated to the latest version and turn on the highest security settings. For Safari 3.2, the two main security options in Preferences are Block Pop-up Windows and the new Warn When Visiting A Fraudulent Website. (For more information on how this works, see my article "Are Safari's New Anti-Phishing Features Useful?" 2008-11-18).
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9862>
Over the past few months, we've seen significant updates of all the major Web browsers to include enhanced security features. Since the Safari update last week, all major browsers now include features to help detect fraudulent sites - if you see such a warning, quit the browser immediately and don't go back to that site.
All these browsers also prompt you before installing any software when you visit a site; when shopping, never allow the site to install anything. Either it's a fraud or they don't deserve your business. Pay particular attention to plug-ins purportedly for watching video or playing free games unless you know you can trust the site (both types of plug-ins are recent vectors for Mac trojans). Most browsers now enable security features by default, so I won't provide detailed instructions here.
You can also install the NoScript plug-in for Firefox. This is a free plug-in that blocks anything from running in your browser that you don't manually allow (like JavaScript, Flash, and so on). You won't need it if you just stick with major sites like Amazon.com, but if you use Google to help you find a too-good-to-be-true deal on a Drink-With-Me Elmo doll, you shouldn't be surfing the Internet without it. If you don't want NoScript bothering you all the time, at least use it during your holiday shopping and turn it off later.
These simple steps won't stop all fraud, but will significantly reduce both the chance that you'll be a victim and the damage if you are. Good luck, and safe shopping!
ToC
David Smith, technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 30 2008 00.01 GMT
The Observer, Sunday November 30 2008
URL: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/30/computer-science-it-mouse>
The name was never meant to stick. When Doug Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute in California designed a computer controller encased in a carved-out wooden block, with wheels mounted on the underbelly, one researcher nicknamed it a 'mouse'. 'We thought that when it had escaped out to the world it would have a more dignified name,' Engelbart recalled later. 'But it didn't.'
Engelbart's invention became the mouse that soared, an essential piece of computer hardware. Its 40th birthday will be celebrated next week when Engelbart returns to Stanford (now known as SRI International). The mouse was first shown to the world when he gave a presentation of a working network computer system in San Francisco on 9 December, 1968, which is still revered as 'the dawn of interactive computing'.
Yet in one sense Engelbart, now 83, was far ahead of his time. He never received royalties, partly because his patent ran out just before the tech revolution that saw the computer and mouse supplant pen and paper. Now the mouse faces growing competition from a new generation of touchscreens.
Engelbart first started making notes for the mouse in 1961, after deciding that he could do better than the standard gadget, a light pen which had been used on radar systems during the Second World War. 'We had a big heavy tracking ball - it was like a cannonball,' he said. 'We had several gadgets that ended up with pivots you could move around. We had a light panel you had to hold up right next to the screen so the computer could see it. And a joystick that you wiggle around to try to steer things.'
One of Engelbart's collaborators, Bill English, built an 'x-y positioning device' made from a wooden shell with wheels and a connecting cord, or 'tail', at the back. The cord got in the way when it was used, however, and so it was moved to the front. 'We set up our experiments and the mouse won in every category, even though it had never been used before,' Engelbart recalls on his website. 'It was faster, and with it people made fewer mistakes. Five or six of us were involved in these tests, but no one can remember who started calling it a mouse. I'm surprised the name stuck.'
Xerox developed the mouse during the Seventies and launched the first commercial product with the Xerox Star computer system in 1981. It failed to take off, but when Apple bought the mouse patent for its Macintosh in 1984 success was assured, and it was eventually taken up by the mass PC market for use with Microsoft Windows.
By then Engelbart's patent had expired, meaning that he missed out on a potential fortune, although later mice used different mechanisms which could have been claimed not to infringe the original patent if the matter had ever gone to court. The Stanford Research Institute licensed the mouse to Apple for just $40,000, according to the book Inventors and Inventions, published by Marshall Cavendish, which tells how in 1989 Engelbart lost both his laboratory and his house - the latter burnt down while he and his family stood outside helpless. But together with his daughter, he set up the Bootstrap Institute to promote his ideas, and in 1998 he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Bill Clinton for 'creating the foundations of modern computing'.
The mouse now faces unprecedented competition. Laptops which make no use of a mouse are an increasingly popular alternative to desktop computers for workers on the move. Apple's popular iPhone and Nintendo's Wii have shown the potential for touchscreens and movement sensors. HP is pushing a mouse-less TouchSmart PC. Microsoft has invested millions of dollars in a coffee table-shaped 'Surface' computer which responds to natural hand gestures, touch and physical objects.
Splendid, a digital innovations agency in London, is one of the first companies to adopt Surface. Paul Bishop, its managing director, said: 'It's much more collaborative and natural and people find it very intuitive.' Steve Prentice, an analyst at Gartner Research, also predicts the mouse's demise.
'I very much doubt that we'll be using the mouse in 40 years' time,' he said. 'They will be still be around in four or five years, but will they be the standard we see today? We're starting to see more complex and intuitive controls develop and the mouse will be left behind.'
[Editor's Note: My thanks to my friend Skal Loret for bringing this article to my attention.]
ToC
EdgeWord: A Note from the Publisher
by Jack Dunning
URL: <http://webserver.computoredge.com/online.mvc?zone=SD&issue=2648&article=edge>
The names of the people behind the fiasco that accompanied the release of Windows Vista in 2006 are now coming to light (not just Bill Gates). Now that there is a class-action suit against Microsoft for misleading customers by allowing computers to be labeled "Vista capable" when they could barely run Vista Basic, the story behind it all is available everywhere on the Web. As is being widely shown (and has been known since the beginning), Microsoft is responsible for one of the worst introductions of software, well, ever.
If you read any of the articles referring to the current lawsuit, you'll find that a key Microsoft associate resigned on the day that Vista was launched because of his disagreement with the decision to allow the lowering of acceptable hardware standards - at least in labeling. In 2006, Hewlett-Packard was poised to take advantage of the Vista launch because it was in a position to tout its computers as truly being capable of handling the Vista graphics demands. Then, when virtually all other computer manufacturers were allowed to claim they were selling adequate equipment, HP lost its natural marketing advantage.
As I have noted in past columns, Microsoft totally mishandled the Vista marketing, thereby severely injuring its reputation and angering its customers. It gave a boost to both Apple's Macintosh and the Linux community. It didn't need to happen that way. There are two main reasons - even at that time it was obvious to observers - that the introduction of Vista was guaranteed to have problems.
Windows Vista was ahead of its time in 2006 - at least when it came to hardware. While computers become more powerful every year, the Vista operating system was built for computer power that is only now standard in new computers. As a replacement operating system, Vista was doomed to choke and crash on those machines. Windows XP was running well, and by comparison, the average Vista experience had users fighting to find a way back to XP.
As for upgrading from XP to Vista, very few of the older computers should have been involved. It would have been better to tell people to wait until they had a machine with enough power (dual core with 4GB). However, there were no warnings from Microsoft. People who tried to upgrade quickly announced that Vista was a pig.
Microsoft wasn't going to tolerate laggards. XP had been banned from the shelves. It was Vista or nothing - and Vista was choking on underpowered computers. Eventually, Microsoft relented and started allowing people to downgrade to XP. The damage was done. If Vista were being introduced today, then people would not be experiencing the same bloat and choke - the hardware can handle it now.
The other problem for Vista was that it wasn't ready to be released as a new, replacement operating system in 2006. It wasn't until Service Pack 1 came out earlier this year that I felt Vista was truly ready from a stability point of view. Before that time, I had been recommending that people stick with XP, even though I knew that there were many capabilities in Vista that made it far superior to XP. Today, I don't hesitate to recommend Vista, yet the damage has been done.
There are so many people that have experienced horror stories with Vista that a hardened core of Vista haters has emerged. (This is why Microsoft is looking at changing the name without much change to the product - Windows 7.) If Microsoft had not forced people to move to software that wasn't ready, it could have averted many of these marketing problems. Some of these people will never be won back.
Microsoft could have been in a far superior position today if it had shown a little more respect for its users and had been more open about the status of the product. First, Microsoft should have been forthcoming about the hardware demands of Vista. The company never should have allowed computer companies to claim that their machines were Vista ready merely because they would load the Basic version.
Second, Vista should not have been forced on the consumer as a replacement for XP. Vista could have been released on a parallel path for those machines with enough power to handle the requirements. The early adopters would have understood that there would be problems, and would have helped Microsoft to work through them. The vast majority of users would have been happy to take XP with a future Vista upgrade in hand. They would move when the experts said that Vista was ready.
Microsoft was disingenuous and heavy-handed in the Vista introduction, and has paid the price in disgruntled customers and surging competition. I think that Vista is a good operating system with an excellent future. It will do fine in the market once the blunders of the 2006 introduction are overcome.
[Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He's been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer . His Web site is <www.computoredge.com> . He can be reached at <ceeditor@computoredge.com> ]
[Editor's Note: My thanks to Jim Berger for submitting this article for the newsletter.]
ToC
By Joel Hruska | Published: November 30, 2008 - 09:15PM CT
URL: <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081130-sandisk-plans-hat-trick-of-ssd-performance-improvements.html>
For all the performance advantages that a solid state drives (SSDs) can offer, the technology's mass-market appeal is limited by high costs, low drive capacities, and decidedly mediocre (given the first two factors) random write performance. SanDisk believes it has found a way to address all three of these multi-level cell (MLC) flash drive issues, and the company plans to present the details of its solutions - including information on its brand-new ExtremeFFS technology - at CES in January.
The first two components of SanDisk's plan are entirely unsurprising: the company will begin the transition to a smaller, 34nm manufacturing process by the end of 2009. It also plans to introduce 3-bit and 4-bit MLC drives. At present, SLC drives store two states (1 bit) per block of memory, while MLC drives store four states (two bits). Increasing the number of bits (and, by extension, the number of states) stored in a single block of memory will increase drive capacities (improve cost-per-gigabyte), while a smaller manufacturing process allows the company to build more flash on a single wafer (decreasing drive cost).
Adding additional bits to MLC drives, however, has a direct effect on write performance, and MLC can't afford to get any slower here. (For an example of SLC, MLC, and HDD write performance, see Tech Report). This is where ExtremeFFS enters the picture. According to SanDisk, ExtremeFFS (Flash File System) "has the potential to accelerate random write speeds by up to 100 times over existing systems," and will appear in shipping products within 2009. The company is playing coy on exactly how ExtremeFFS works, but has at least given a high-level overview.
Currently, SanDisk products (and presumably quite a few others) use TrueFFS, which SanDisk pioneered back in 1994. TrueFFS's read-modify-write cycle is performed as follows. First, the drive finds the block of flash it wants to write data into. If that block is empty, the write is performed in a millisecond or less. If, however, that block already contains data, the file system reads the current data block, moves the information within it to another location, and writes the new data in its place. The entire operation takes about 100 milliseconds - two orders of magnitude longer than it took to write data to an empty flash block.
SanDisk's ExtremeFFS will resolve this performance hit by decoupling the write cycle from the Modify/Delete cycle. Under ExtremeFFS, when new data comes in, it's immediately written to an empty location on the drive. Because the flash is multithreaded and uses a non-blocking architecture, one segment of the drive controller can be occupied with handling writes, while another part flags outdated blocks for erase or overwrite. ExtremeFFS maintains a lookup table where block states are categorized and processed, in order to avoid mistakenly overwriting a block of "good" information.
One thing we don't know yet is how ExtremeFFS will impact drive reliability. Multi Level Cell drives are inherently less reliable than their SLC brethren, and while a number of major companies have been working on this issue, adding more cells per block will only make the problem worse again. Hopefully SanDisk will address this point in their CES presentation. ExtremeFFS, however, should work just fine for current 2-bit MLC drives. If the file system lives up to SanDisk's claims, faster SSDs could arrive more quickly than we previously thought.
Further reading:
[Editor's Note: My thanks to my friend Tony Cooke for bringing this article to my attention.]
ToC
by Doug McLean <doug_mclean@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9876>
Google's just-announced SearchWiki, despite its name indicating a focus on collaborative capabilities or a lightweight Web editing tool, is essentially a collection of customization tools for the Google search engine. Features include the capability to comment on search results, view other user comments, rearrange the search results, delete results to prevent them from appearing in similar searches, and have desired-but-missing URLs appear when conducting similar searches. With the exception of added comments, none of your actions will be seen by others or affect their search results. Even your comments won't be visible unless others explicitly activate the user comments for a particular search result.
<http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/searchwiki-make-search-your-own.html>
These features at first sounded relatively useful and interesting (could there be a Google Reality Distortion Field?), but I slowly became confused by them and unconvinced that they would improve my search experience. Google's big win is that they've made results smart without you having to do anything beyond enter search terms and click links. Conceptually, these new features muddle that simplicity without adding any major benefit.
Typically when you're searching you don't know where to go or even necessarily what you're looking for - that's why you're searching and not simply navigating to the desired site. Rearranging, adding, and deleting results seem counterintuitive to that basic principle - these actions imply familiarity with the material. Granted, sometimes you've searched for something and want to get back to it, but typically the desire to return to the information is coupled with a previous lack of foresight that you would want to do so. Otherwise, why not just bookmark the page?
In particular, adding URLs and rearranging results seem incompatible with the essential function of a search engine. If you already know the address of the Web site you'd like to visit, why not just bookmark it rather than add it to your Google results page? The same issue exists with rearranging results; if there are a few sites that you consistently want to see at the top of a results page, why not just bookmark them and cut out the middleman?
Comment features make sense in some places, such as product reviews. The cost of purchasing and evaluating a product by yourself is high compared to the cost of reading other users' opinions. But when evaluating a Web page, the cost of doing the work yourself is much lower, and it would be far easier and faster to go to a Web page yourself than to read 20 reviews on it - especially when you have to explicitly activate those comments to see them. Additionally, you may find yourself sifting through comments made by trolls, bots, boosters, whackjobs, or simply people who seem way off the mark.
Given these problems, I've yet to see how SearchWiki could be attractive to a widespread population, though there may exist a niche market for this kind of search engine interaction. While it's always valuable to rethink and retool established ideas and methods, this particular attempt seems to fall short of bringing real change and innovation to the search engine. I think it's likely Google will simply use the data generated from this experiment to further refine their search algorithms than to seek to make SearchWiki a widespread release. For the moment, though, SearchWiki is merely a curiosity.
You may not see these features in your Google search results yet, since Google has enabled SearchWiki for only a subset of the massive Google user base. Plus, it may not last. Google's SearchWiki FAQ says, "This is an experimental feature served to a random selection of participants and may be available for only a few weeks."
<http://www.google.com/support/faqs/?editresults>
ToC
by Doug McLean <doug_mclean@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9900>
While you may have been aware of Google's experimental release of CalDAV support in July 2008 for testing purposes, the company has now announced official support for the protocol. CalDAV is an extension to the WebDAV protocol, enabling users to access schedule information on a remote server and use the iCalendar format for the data. Perhaps more important, as many users have already been utilizing the beta functionality to sync their calendars, is the release of Google's new iCal setup program, Calaboration.
<http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2008/12/google-calendar-now-supports-apple-ical.html>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalDAV>
Calaboration automatically finds your Google Calendar account and assists in adding its calendars to iCal on your Mac. To download Calaboration, log into your Google account, go to Google Calendar, and at the top of the page next to your username you should see a "Sync with Apple iCal" link. Click the link to get instructions on how to set up Calaboration and import your Google Calendar information into iCal.
I tested Calaboration to see how well it imports and syncs new calendars, and found it easy to use and efficient. It took only a few quick steps to sync a calendar from Google Calendar into iCal; the process was a breeze. This is a significant improvement over Google's unofficial CalDAV support.
A few months ago, Adam and I went through several failed attempts in trying to share a particular TidBITS calendar to my copy of iCal (iCal constantly threw an error when trying to subscribe to the calendar's public URL; eventually we made it work by Adam sharing the calendar's private URL with me.) The process was confounding and frustrating, but if Google's new official CalDAV support proves reliable in the long run, such irritations may be a relic of the past.
These developments also increase the competition for BusyMac's BusySync, an iCal syncing utility that can bidirectionally sync events both between copies of iCal on different Macs and with Google Calendar. BusySync offers the same basic functionality as Google's official CalDAV syncing, but also provides more advanced setup options and better integration with the iPhone. (With Google's CalDAV syncing to iCal, synced calendars are read-only when synced to an iPhone via USB and iTunes, and don't appear at all if you sync your calendars to the iPhone via MobileMe. BusySync eliminates both problems, enabling calendars from Google Calendar to be synced read/write to the iPhone via either MobileMe or iTunes.) If you're looking to be able to sync your calendars to and from your iPhone or iPod touch, BusySync may be the better program for you.
ToC
Paul Thurrott
URL: <http://www.wininformant.com/>
Nintendo and the two other companies that continue to make video game consoles for some reason all decided that the November 2008 sales numbers were something to celebrate. But my guess is that Microsoft and Sony pretty much have to pretend that Nintendo doesn't exist for such a celebration to make any sense. Nintendo sold an amazing 2 million Wii consoles in November (plus another 1.6 million DS handhelds, and what the heck is up with that?), making that month the biggest yet for non-December sales in video game history. Nintendo has sold 15.4 million Wiis in two years, about 8 million of them in the US alone. Microsoft, meanwhile, touted the fact that it outsold the Sony PlayStation 3 by a 3 to 1 margin, with sales of 836,000 Xbox 360 consoles. As for Sony, they, uh. Well. They have "momentum," apparently. Sony sold 378,000 PS3s in November, along with 206,000 PS2s (up from the same month a year ago if you can believe that) and about 600,000 portable PSP devices. Look, someone has to come in last. That's all I'm saying.
Thus proving that, sometimes at least, Google actually finishes something it starts. Google this week took the rare step of removing the "beta" label from one of its products, the Chrome Web browser that it launched to much fanfare just three months ago. Google is infamous for leaving products in perpetual beta; its most popular non-search product, Gmail, has never left beta, for example. But I guess the company is serious about getting PC makers to consider bundling Chrome, so out of beta it comes. The non-beta version of Chrome adds numerous performance improvements and bug fixes, a revised bookmark manager, consolidated privacy features, and some other improvements, and more changes are expected down the road. Also waiting for a distant future are Mac OS X and Linux versions of the browser. But, really, who cares?
One of the longest-running jokes in the tech industry is, "can you imagine what it would be like if Microsoft made cars?" The joke is intended to lampoon Microsoft's design aesthetic (or lack thereof), of course, and the punch line always involves vehicles that blue screen and the like. Hardy-har-har. But what if Microsoft really did make cars? I'll tell you this: That company would be fiscally solvent, would have quickly embraced innovative technologies like alternative fuel, and would never have had to go to Washington, hat in hand, looking for a multi-billion-dollar handout to keep it from going out of business. In other words, if Microsoft really did make cars, it wouldn't be anything like GM, Ford, or Chrysler. It would be successful.
Five years ago, I argued that Microsoft should simply put anti-virus and other security protections into Windows, providing it free to consumers and business users alike. Microsoft proceeded to charge customers for OneCare, no doubt out of concerns that the Symantecs and McAfees of the world would sue if Microsoft took away their Golden Ticket. This week, however, Microsoft announced a free security tool, codenamed Morro. So how did these erstwhile competitors respond? Oddly enough, they don't seem to care. The key, apparently, is that Microsoft was very clear that morrow would be a stripped down tool with only core anti-malware functionality. I guess what I'm wondering is, why didn't they just do this five years ago?
One of the oldest running PC magazines, which is in fact named PC Magazine, will cease publication in January and move solely to the Web. Ziff Davis, which publishes the magazine, says that the business model is just collapsing, and that's true even though its current subscriber base is 600,000 strong. I don't tend to subscribe to computer magazines, but I do pick up PC Mag at the airport when I'm traveling, so now there will be one fewer option. Well, two fewer, if you include CPU magazine. They could continue publishing that piece of junk forever and I'd still never read it.
ToC
URL: <http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsoft_expect_free_online_versions_of_office>
Microsoft has apparently seen the light, and is readying versions of Office applications that will be available for free on the Web.
Reuters reports that Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, has said Microsoft will launch a wide range of online Office and Office applications, with some of them, including Word and Excel, available for free.
He told Reuters: "We expect fully that the full range of Office utilities, from the most advanced to simpler lightweight versions, will be available with a range of options: ad-funded, subscriptions-based, traditional licensing fees, and so forth. So you should expect to see that full array."
Elop offered no specific dates for when the online versions will be available, although he said that "in 2009 you're going to see a lot of advance in this area."
In fact, he expects that the faltering economy will add impetus to Microsoft's plans to release online versions of Office. He said that within five years, 50 percent of Exchange and Sharepoint use might be Web-based, and added: "Between now and then, a year or two or whatever, if it's going to be tough economic times, that means we expect quite a lot of movement in that direction, a lot of people taking advantage of that. I think the economy will help it."
The move is a smart one, and even though it's taken a while for Microsoft to recognize it needs to make Office available online, it appears as if the company has finally gotten it right. Google Apps and other online Office applications have not yet taken away a significant market share from Office. Because of that, Microsoft will most likely succeed with its plans. In fact, to a great extent, online versions of applications may well be the future of the company.
Elop makes it clear that he recognizes that. At the conclusion of the Reuters article he admits that Microsoft may have underestimated the extent to which its customers want online versions of Office.
Recognizing that now, before the company loses market share, shows that Microsoft may well be headed in the right direction for future versions of Office.
ToC
URL: <http://tinyurl.com/638vhe>
In Windows Vista or Server 2008 you now have an alternative and more options than just pressing F8 while booting. Next time you restart your system, right after the BIOS POST screen and just before you see the Windows boot screen, try pressing the space bar. If you timed it right or hit the space bar enough you'll now be at the Windows Boot Manager.
You can select which OS you'd like to boot, or you can hit F8 for the normal recovery options you'd expect to see. You can also now hit F10 which will take you to Edit Boot Parameters; this will let you edit the one time boot options. For a more permanent method you'd still want to use msconfig, or in previous Windows versions modify the boot.ini. This would be a quick way of turning on debug mode or verifying it after the fact:
[ /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /DEBUGPORT=1394 /CHANNEL=3321 ].
This can also be used when booting to a Vista or Server 2008 setup disc. Right after the system prompts you to "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". Hit the space bar two or three times. You should get the Windows Boot Manager again and the list should show Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]. You can now hit F8 or F10 in the same way.
ToC
Posted by Mary Jo Foley
URL: <http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1753>
Microsoft and Dell have signed a deal via which Dell will be shipping new PCs with the Live Search toolbar preinstalled, according to sources familiar with the arrangement between the two companies.
Microsoft officials declined to comment on the alleged deal, as did Dell officials. Officials with both companies said they would not comment on "rumors and speculation."
I wouldn't put this in the speculation category, myself. My sources say that Microsoft has offered Dell sweet enough terms to entice the PC maker to replace its search-preload deal with Google with a comparable offering from Microsoft.
The Dell-Google deal, cemented in 2006, called for Dell to preload the Google search toolbar on "millions" of consumer and business PCs. The Dell-Google deal also included a co-branded Dell-Google home page. It's not clear whether the alleged Microsoft-Dell deal also includes a new home page.
Microsoft has been seeking to land new OEM search deals with various PC makers as a way to grow more quickly its lagging search market share.
In March 2007, Microsoft signed a search-preload deal with Lenovo. Under terms of that relationship, Lenovo agreed to preload Live Search and Windows Live services — delivered via the integrated MSn toolbar — on new Lenovo consumer laptops.
Word of Microsoft's latest search-preload deal comes a day after Microsoft announced it had hired former Yahoo search expert Qi Lu as the new head of its Online Services business.
OEM deals are just one way Microsoft is looking to grow its search share. The company also is considering rebranding Live Search with a more verb-like term. The leading candidate is thought to be Kumo.Com.
ToC
Paul Thurrott
URL: <http://tinyurl.com/5semhp>
Microsoft on Tuesday announced the availability of the Beta 2 version of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Since both operating systems were developed from the same code base, they have a common servicing structure and thus share the same service packs. That said, SP2 provides somewhat different functionality in each system as well.
"Windows Vista SP2 builds on the solid foundation of Windows Vista SP1, and represents our ongoing commitment to Windows Vista today," Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Nash noted in a post to the Windows Blog. "Windows Vista SP2 includes all of the updates that have been delivered since the release of Windows Vista SP1, and incorporates improvements discovered through automated feedback."
Those improvements vary according to OS. On Windows Vista, SP2 provides Windows Search 4.0, the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, a Service Pack Cleanup tool, and a number of other small changes. Windows Server 2008 gains the release version of Hyper-V (the initial version of the OS included a pre-release version), improved management tools, updated power management functionality, and other changes.
With the release of SP2, Microsoft is also opening up this update to the public. MSDN and TechNet subscribers can download SP2 today, and beginning Thursday, December 4, 2008, anyone will be able to download and test SP2 via a new Customer Preview Program (CPP). Interested users can find out more about this public release from the TechNet Web site.
<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148.aspx>
ToC
Posted by Mary Jo Foley
URL: <http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1745>
Microsoft is continuing to broaden the pool of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) testers beyond the fairly small, select group who've been working with test builds for the past few months.
On December 2, Microsoft made the latest beta build of SP2 available for download by any TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers.
Over on the jkOnTheRun blog, Kevin Tofel posted the most complete list I've seen of what's in Vista SP2. (Tofel's full list has disappeared, but not before I grabbed it. It's now at the bottom of this post.)
In addition to the known Vista SP2 features — such as the ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista and the addition of Windows Connect Now for simpler wifi configuration — Tofel says SP2 also will include:
Note (added on December 3): Even though Microsoft originally listed Hyper-V as one of the features it would make available as part of Vista SP2, that information is incorrect. A company spokeswoman sent me the following update:
"Sorry for any confusion, but Hyper-V is in Windows Server 2008 SP2, not Windows Vista. Apparently it was listed incorrectly and they're correcting it now."
Microsoft made a first beta build of SP2 releases for both Vista and Windows Server 2008 available to select testers in late October. Company officials have said to expect the final Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 builds in the first half of 2009.
Last week, the Tech ARP site reported that Microsoft is targeting April 2009 as its final Vista SP2 release date. Given the Redmondians' desire to get Vista SP2 out the door before Windows 7 is released to manufacturing, April makes a lot of sense. The latest RTM targets I've heard for Windows 7 are in the June/July 2009 realm.
On a related note, speaking of service pack updates, the Windows Home Server team is readying its Power Pack 2 update for mid-2009. The second full-fledged release of Windows Home Server, which will possibly come in Basic and Premium editions, is now looking like a 2010 deliverable, according to APC Magazine.
Back to Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2: Any testers out there anxiously awaiting any particular features?
Update: Tofel's list of Vista SP2 features is gone. Luckily, I saved his original full list. Here it is:
Emerging Hardware Support
- SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
- Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,
- Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,
- exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.
- SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support –example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).
- Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU
Security
- SP2 includes all previously released security updates, and builds on the proven security benefits of Windows Vista
- Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where we identify the root cause of each security bulletin and improve our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities
Reliability
- SP2 addresses previously released reliability updates, as well as addressing crashes, caused by Microsoft code, discovered since the launch of SP1
Performance
- Resume performance when Wi-Fi connection is no longer available after resume from sleep
- Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance, improved relevancy in search, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search,
- Improvements to the RSS feeds sidebar gadget to improve update performance and responsiveness
Application Compatibility
- It is our goal that applications that run on the Windows Vista Operating System today and are written using public APIs will continue to work as designed on Windows Vista SP2.
- Previously released Application Compatibility updates are included in Windows Vista SP2.
- Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm now working with POP3 email accounts
Administration and Support Improvements
- Customers installing .net framework 3.5 service pack 1 will notice shorter download and installation times with Vista service pack 2 or Windows 2008 service pack 2 already installed,
- Service Pack Clean up tool (Compcln.exe): This tool helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM & SP1) that are being serviced by Service Pack 2.
- Single installer for both Vista & Server 2008
- Ability to detect an incompatible driver and block service pack installation or warn users of any loss of functionality
- Better error handling and providing more descriptive error messages where possible
- Better manageability through logging in system event log
- Componentization for Serviceability of the installer
Some Specific Fixes/Additions Include:
- Inclusion of Hyper-V
- Event logging support in SPC
- DNS Server now listens over ISATAP address
- Fixes DRM issues from WMP upgrades
- Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
- Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets
- Improved power settings for WS08
Update No. 2: Microsoft is circulating a list of some of the hotfixes that is rolling up into Vista/Windows Server 2008 SP2. But Microsoft's list does not include all of the features of the service packs. Perhaps that is why Tofel's list was "disappeared."
Here's Microsoft's note on its own list of SP2 features:
ToCThis document contains a list of these updates with links to their descriptive pages on the Microsoft Web site <http://support.microsoft.com>. There are other updates in Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 that have not been released, and they are not presented in this list.
Starship CUCUG Forum
URL: <http://www.cucug.org/starship/viewtopic.php?t=1865>
Jim Huls Posted:
If you have Vista Home or Home Premium you might want the Previous Versions file feature to recover changed or deleted files. This feature is in, I believe, Ultimate and Enterprise only ... don't recall if it's in Business or not ... probably so. Anyways, the service I'm told still runs in Home and Home Premium so someone wrote an app to still make use of it.
<http://www.shadowexplorer.com/>
I've not tried it out and can't since I don't have those versions of Vista, but since I stumbled across it, I thought maybe some here might be interested. If it works well, it would be cheaper than buying Ultimate at home just to get that feature.
Kevin Hisel Posted:
I've installed this on my two lappys that have Premium and it works as advertised. It's not as easy to use as the integrated "Previous Versions" tab in Business and Ultimate, but I think that's a minor flaw since it's not something you would use every day. Once in a blue moon you have an "awshit" moment and need to go dig up a previous backup of a file.
Definitely a keeper if you don't have Vista Business or Ultimate.
ToC
[Editor's Note: My thanks to Kevin Hisel for submitting all the articles above in this section of the newsletter.]
[Editor's Note: My thanks to Jon Bjerke for submitting all the articles below in this section of the newsletter.]
ToC
from Jon Bjerke
Paul Thurrott, <thurrott@windowsitpro.com>
November 20, 2008 - InstantDoc #100858
URL: <http://windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=100858&feed=rss&subj=0>
At Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting this week, CEO Steve Ballmer emphatically closed the door on the possibility that his company was still interested in purchasing ailing Internet giant Yahoo!. His frank assessment of the situation sent Yahoo!'s stock tumbling more than 20 percent to less than $10 a share.
"Let me be clear," Ballmer said at the meeting. "We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo!." You could almost hear the sound of Yahoo!'s stock price shatter as he finished the sentence.
Ballmer did leave one possibility open, however. He said that Microsoft was still "very open" to some sort of Internet search "collaboration." This could take the form of Microsoft purchasing Yahoo!'s Internet search business outright or the software giant entering into an agreement to work together with Yahoo! on Internet search. It's worth noting, however, that Microsoft made both offers to Yahoo! earlier this year and that Yahoo! rejected Microsoft both times. Also, Microsoft and Yahoo! are not formally discussing any kind of arrangement at this time.
Yahoo!, of course, has spent the year in a terrifying death spiral after having also rejected a mammoth $44.6 billion buyout offer from Microsoft in January. This week, co-founder Jerry Yang announced that he had agreed to step down as CEO after his promises of an internal bailout failed to materialize into a plan of any kind.
ToC
Paul Thurrott
URL: <http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/11/20/microsoft-updates-zune-subscription-to-include-free-music.aspx>
Users of Microsoft's Zune Pass subscription currently pay $15 a month to gain access to millions of music tracks via the Zune Marketplace, but until today, that music became inaccessible if they let their subscriptions run out. Now, however, Microsoft has reached agreements with the world's largest recording companies to allow Zune Pass subscribers to receive 10 free songs each month, effectively lowering the cost of the subscription to $5 a month and making it a much better value for consumers.
"The way people consume music has changed," says Microsoft Zune General Manager Chris Stephenson. "With the shift to digital from CDs, it is more challenging than ever to offer the right mix of deep content, music discovery, and economic value. People want the freedom to listen to whatever they want across millions of songs, combined with the confidence that they can keep their favorite tracks forever."
Microsoft says that EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music Group have all agreed to the terms of the agreement, as have several independent music companies. In addition, virtually all of these companies have all agreed to allow Microsoft to sell their music in MP3 format from the Zune Marketplace, and the software giant reports that more than 90 percent of the music it sells will soon be in MP3 format as a result. (The rest is in a protected version of the legacy WMA format.)
Music subscriptions have been around a while but haven't really taken off with consumers because of readily accessible free music online and high prices. According to music industry insiders, market leader Apple has been trying to enter the subscription music market for years, but recording companies have blocked those moves because of Apple's monopolistic pricing practices. Those same companies have instead embraced Apple's competitors, and have also offered them protection-free music, usually in MP3 format, a perk they refuse to provide to Apple.
Despite these moves and the quality of the Zune platform and some of the other competition, Apple still dominates the digital music industry. Microsoft is said to be planning other changes to the Zune in the future as a result, including moving the Zune software to its popular Windows Mobile devices.
UPDATE: It appears that you simply get a 10 song credit each month (with no rollover). So you simply buy music and use the credit to pay for them. That means what you buy will be in whatever format is offered. And as Microsoft notes, over 90 percent of the music it offers will soon be in MP3 format (its about 70 percent today) so chances are, you'll get MP3. (You can tell which it is, by the way: They call out which songs are in MP3 format.) So that's excellent news. And the Zune Pass subscription, suddenly, is very much worth it.
ToC
Paul Thurrott, <thurrott@windowsitpro.com>
December 09, 2008 - InstantDoc #100997
URL: <http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/100997/microsoft-unveils-a-new-product-line-clothing.html>
Microsoft is a big company, and it competes in so many businesses that it's no longer easy to even keep track of them all. But even the most ardent follower of the software giant couldn't have seen this one coming. This week, Microsoft announced a new product line: Clothing.
It's called Softwear, of course, and currently encompasses a range of old-school-looking T-shirts that should appeal to youngsters and the aging pioneers who first plopped an expensive IBM PC on their desks.
"Softwear by Microsoft is a clothing line that taps the nostalgia of when PCs were just starting to change our lives," a Microsoft statement reads. "With retro logos, classic photos, and geek-chic iconography, these pieces showcase the DOS days of the software company that now connects over a billion people."
One of the designs features the rounded, overlapping letters of the MS-DOS logo from 20 years ago. Another features the infamous Bill Gates mug shot from Albuquerque. Yet another highlights Microsoft's 70's-erific original logo.
The clothing will become available in the United States mid-month, Microsoft says. Interestingly, it was conceived by the company's new ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which is also responsible for the recent "I'm a PC" and Zune ad campaigns.
For more information about Microsoft Softwear, please visit the Microsoft website.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows/softwearbymicrosoft/>
ToC
from Paul Thurrott
URL: <http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/12/05/when-will-windows-7-ship-my-prediction-april-2009.aspx>
There's been a lot of speculation about when Microsoft will ship Windows 7, the eagerly awaited follow-up to Windows Vista. So far, I've suggested that the company will ship Windows 7 far earlier than most people think. But now I'm ready to make a number of more specific predictions and add to the speculation.
It's pretty widely known that Microsoft will ship a beta release (and a public one, at that) of Windows 7 in January. This beta will be the only beta, and it will be followed by a single release candidate (RC) build, and then the final version, all in quick succession. I expect Windows 7 to be finalized by April 2009 at the latest and to be completed simultaneously with Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 SP2, which is also due in April. (Windows 7 and SP2 share more code than people realize, by the way.) Windows 7 will be made broadly available to consumers and business customers no later than June 2009. And those, folks, are my predictions for the Windows 7 release.
One other factoid: My understanding is that Vista SP2 and Windows 7 will be the baseline for both application and device compatibility going forward, and that's a big part of the code sharing between these two releases. The idea is that if it works in Vista (with SP2) it will absolutely work in Windows 7 as well.
[Editor's Note: This item was also chosen by Kevin Hisel for inclusion in the newsletter. Thanks, Gents.]
ToC
by Doug McLean <doug_mclean@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9898>
As any self-respecting Apple user/Simpsons fanatic should know by now, a recent installment of The Simpsons indulged in a healthy serving of Apple satire. If you don't follow The Simpsons religiously, you'll want to check out the show's 427th episode, "Mypods and Boomsticks," which begins and ends with a slew of Apple jokes, focusing on Lisa Simpson's newfound love for everything "Mapple."
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-12/Mapple-Lisa.png>
When the Springfield Mall unveils a new Mapple Store, the Simpsons find themselves perusing shelves full of Mypods, Myphones, and mysterious Mycubes that are "fueled by dreams and powered by imagination." We watch Lisa attempt to purchase Myphonies (fake earbuds for those who can't afford a Mypod), the Comic Book Guy harass the Brainiac Bar about mayonnaise in his optical drive, and a keynote speech from Mapple CEO Steve Mobs that's delivered via webcam from the underwater Mapple Headquarters but overdubbed by Bart with some biting commentary. There's also a reference to the classic 1984 Apple commercial introducing the first Macintosh computer, an Itchy and Scratchy episode featuring Mypods, and an underwater meeting
between Lisa and Mobs that echoes a recent act of Apple philanthropy (though with far less heart-warming results).
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8>
<http://www.macworld.com/article/137098/2008/11/final_cut_studio_2_free_if_you_ask_nicely.html>
I won't reveal any more of the Apple references so you can enjoy them for yourself. Currently you can find the full official episode on Hulu.com. Unfortunately, Hulu is available only for U.S. residents; those of you in other countries are probably best off watching the clips linked to by Engadget or searching on YouTube manually.
<http://www.hulu.com/watch/46689/the-simpsons-mypods-and-boomsticks#s-p1-so-i0>
<http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/01/the-simpsons-mocks-m-apple/>
by Jeff Carlson <jeffc@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9903>
It's still early in December, and Apple is already starting the flood of "top" lists, in this case the most popular music, movies, and applications of 2008. (Clicking the link takes you directly to the iTunes Store.)
<http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGrouping?id=26300>
Most interesting are the lists of iPhone and iPod touch applications: the top-selling app was Koi Pond, a wonderful little simulation of a pond filled with koi fish. At just $0.99, it's well done and is fun to show people who want to see what an iPhone can do. (Koi Pond tip: Hold your finger on the screen and wait for a fish to nibble it. And no, I can't believe I just shared a Koi Pond tip.) Apple breaks the apps down into many different categories, giving you a glimpse into what people are downloading (both paid and free apps).
<http://www.theblimppilots.com/The_Blimp_Pilots/Koi_Pond.html>
ToC
by Doug McLean <doug_mclean@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9910>
[Update: The photo previously used in this article was actually of a PowerBook screen that had been circulated and referred to as a MacBook Air screen. The new photo is actually of a late 2008 MacBook Pro, though MacBook Air users agree it demonstrates the same problem as the late 2008 MacBook Air. No clear photos of the MacBook Air screen lines have yet appeared on the user forums.]
Some MacBook Air users have been reporting the appearance of grey horizontal lines across the screens of their late 2008 models. Discussion threads on the issue began in early November 2008 on both Apple's discussion forums and the MacRumors forums. There have been slight variations in the description of the issue, but most accounts agree the lines are grey or white, horizontal or slightly angled, granulated or pixelated in appearance, and are very subtle. Overall the lines are said to give the screen the appearance of a piece of parchment or recycled paper. Also, the lines are said to appear at the initial boot; they do not develop over time. See what the lines look like for yourself in this photo.
<http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1786926&tstart=0>
<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=594520>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-12/MBP-Screen-lines.jpg>
All users experiencing the problem say that while the lines are very subtle, they are definitely noticeable and result in a disappointing display, particularly for a premium laptop.
While Apple has issued no official statement on the matter, forum contributors have been receiving a variety of responses from AppleCare, Genius Bars, and even Apple engineers responding on behalf of Steve Jobs. There's general agreement that Apple employees have acknowledged that there is a problem, they've been receiving numerous reports on the issue, and they're looking into the issue. Only one user I found said he received word from Apple saying that his MacBook Air was showing expected behavior. Several other users said they had heard from Apple engineers indicating that an approaching firmware update would resolve the issue. However, there is no confirmation that this is the case, and no official firmware update has been released.
<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=6678966#post6678966>
The issue appears to be fairly widespread, with the MacRumors discussion thread receiving over 28,000 views, and well over 500 replies; those are high numbers for an issue only a month old. Theories about the lines are scant, but the main ones attribute them to the new anti-glare coating or the new Nvidia graphic chips. Many users seem suspicious, though hopeful, that a firmware update will resolve the problem.
While both the new MacBook and MacBook Pro share much of the same display technology as the MacBook Air, reports of problems with those laptops have been minimal. However, the image above did come from a MacBook Pro user, and MacBook Air users confirm that it displays the same issue.
Given Apple's attention to aesthetic detail, and the large market for Macs within the art and design markets, any display issue is a serious problem in need of attention. Accordingly, we hope Apple recognizes the gravity of the situation and takes the necessary steps to resolve it quickly.
ToC
by Adam C. Engst <ace@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9873>
Apple has released the iPhone 2.2 Software Update for all models of the iPhone and iPod touch, beefing up a number of key features and refining the interface even further. The software is about 248 MB and is available only via iTunes.
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/>
Chief among the new features of the iPhone 2.2 software are enhancements to the Maps app, including the extremely helpful addition of public transit and walking directions, pictures from Google Street View, a Share Location button that creates an email message containing a Google Maps URL to the location, and the capability to display the address of dropped pins. (These features were not added to the iPod touch Maps application.)
<http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/>
Google collects Street View information by driving the streets of major cities around the world with cameras that capture information in a nearly complete sphere (excluding most of the sky) around the vehicle. Street View is shown on Google Maps on the Web and via the desktop version of Google Earth. In the browser version, you click a Street View button, and blue outlines appear around city blocks in which Street View information is available.
No such luck on the iPhone. To use Street View, you must drop a pin (or perform a search and tap on a pin), and then examine whether a tiny Street View icon - an orange person - is tinted fainter or at full intensity on the descriptive bubble that appears. If at full intensity, you tap the tiny icon, and the Maps application rotates into landscape view to display a navigable image.
<http://tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/iphone22_street_view_icon.png>
<http://tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/iphone22_street_view_view.png>
A small circle shows the current cone of sight and street location. You can drag, pinch, and expand, while tapping an arrow moves the view to the next street slice. There's no warning when data runs out; an empty "holodeck" image appears instead.
The iTunes app also gains the capability to download podcasts over either Wi-Fi or the cellular network. Previously, podcasts could be downloaded only to the iPhone or iPod touch's host computer and then synced via USB. However, for reasons I don't yet understand, the iPod touch can't play the TidBITS podcast within the iTunes app, although downloading it works fine.
<http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=276986548>
Although I'm guessing there will be more interface tweaks found by alert users in the days to come, Apple calls out a few in particular:
The main advantage of a "soft" phone like the iPhone (where much of the functionality is in software, rather than burned into the phone's chips) is that it's possible not just to add features, but to fix problems that would bedevil other phones forever. Apple's only copping to "Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls," the same wording used for improvements in previous releases, but if true, it's certainly welcome. Apple also says that the sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages has been improved.
Mail receives two important bug fixes, one that resolves problems with scheduled fetching of incoming email, and another that improves the formatting of wide HTML-formatted messages. Too-wide email can play havoc with the iPhone's narrow screen, as we've discovered with the hard-wrapped text edition of TidBITS, where the lines break tremendously awkwardly. If you want to read TidBITS in email on your iPhone or iPod touch, we strongly recommend that you subscribe to our full-text HTML edition, which displays very nicely.
Other bug fixes include improved performance and stability of Safari and fixes for problems connecting to certain secure WPA Wi-Fi networks.
Not surprisingly in this day and age, there are also quite a few fixes related to security. Along with the usual problems that could result in application crashes or arbitrary code execution (usually from visiting a malicious Web site or viewing a maliciously crafted image), there were a few more interesting items fixed.
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3318>
Overall, it appears that the iPhone 2.2 Software will provide extremely welcome improvements and fixes; the question as always will be if there are other problems introduced by the update, and for that we'll just have to wait for user reports.
Much as the new features and bug fixes in the iPhone 2.2 Software Update are welcome, the wishlist of features for future updates remains largely unchanged.
by Glenn Fleishman <glenn@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9881>
Surfing at public Wi-Fi hotspots can be dangerous: laptops and Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones pass lots of secrets through the air unless you've taken specific measures to use encrypted connections to protect passwords and personal data. AnchorFree would like to encourage you to protect your data by offering you the best possible incentive: a free service.
I've long recommended that hotspot users employ a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which creates an encrypted tunnel from a computer or handheld to a server elsewhere on the Internet. All data entering and leaving the machine is safely wrapped up from prying eyes on the local hotspot network. Corporations make their remote employees use VPNs to ensure that sensitive information is accessible only on the employee's laptop or within the corporation's network, never while in transit between the two.
But individuals have also been able to get VPN protection via rent-a-VPN services like WiTopia's personalVPN. I wrote about that firm and others, along with general security advice, in "Secure Your iPhone Connections at Macworld Expo - and Beyond," 2008-01-09; that advice remains valid!
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9391>
AnchorFree extended an existing free VPN service for laptops - Hotspot Shield - with an offering that works with the iPhone. The laptop version of Hotspot Shield is based on OpenVPN, which uses the SSL/TLS protocol to create a secure session. But Hotspot Shield has two problems for the iPhone. First, it requires that you download and install Mac OS X or Windows software to create a connection; the iPhone doesn't yet allow VPN software to be installed. Second, the iPhone also doesn't yet natively support SSL/TLS VPNs, despite their popularity.
<http://hotspotshield.com/>
<http://openvpn.net/>
To work around these problems, AnchorFree chose to add to Hotspot Shield a VPN type that the iPhone has built in: L2TP, which stands for Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol over IPsec (Internet Protocol security). L2TP is an extremely strong method of creating a secure connection, and is one of three methods that the iPhone 2.0 Software and later support. (Alas, the iPhone can't maintain a seamless VPN connection when you roam among Wi-Fi networks or between Wi-Fi and cell data networks; you have to disable and then re-enable the VPN connection for each network move.)
To use Hotspot Shield with an iPhone - or an iPod touch with 2.0 or later software, which has the same included VPN support - sign up at the AnchorFree iPhone entry page for a free account, and then follow the directions the company provides for how and what to enter in the iPhone's VPN connection setup area. No additional software for the iPhone is needed.
<http://hotspotshield.com/clientless/iphone/>
The service is offered at no cost, by the way, because AnchorFree uses it as a branding tool. The firm has a federated network of independently operated free Wi-Fi hotspots for which it pushes out ads and shares revenue, as well as offering advertising in its desktop VPN software. There's no advertising - nor any possible - with the iPhone VPN account.
As with any VPN service (whether free or fee), it's critical to remember that the termination of the VPN tunnel is at the VPN operator's network operation center (NOC). That means your data is entirely protected in an extremely secure manner from your laptop to their servers - after that, it could theoretically once again be sniffed en route to its eventual destination.
That said, there's not much to worry about. VPN providers like AnchorFree generally have additional protections in their NOCs, which may be located in their offices or in co-location facilities (like TidBITS's network provider, digital.forest). Traffic from a NOC to a destination, like an email provider or Web site, is usually nearly impossible to intercept (unless you're a government) because of the security of the routers that carry traffic between network hubs. You can't just plug in and gain access, even if you could get into the sealed rooms in which the routers and servers are located.
In any case, using a VPN protects the weakest link when you're working in public: the air around you that vibrates with your sensitive information.
ToC
by David Strom <david@strom.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9858>
I have been a latecomer to the iPhone party, but one of the things that I first noticed, aside from the glaring lack of cut-and-paste, is a more important omission: I want to be able to copy any file on my main Mac to my iPhone and be able to view the file on the iPhone when I am away from my desk. This would come in handy for reminders that I don't want to key in from the phone, or viewing instruction manuals such as the wonderful Take Control ebooks.
While iTunes makes it relatively easy to move photos, videos, and music from my desktop Mac to the iPhone, I want to have access to all the other data on my desktop too.
It's an odd omission: all traditional iPods have the capability to act as a hard drive on which you can store files (you must select Enable Disk Use in the Summary pane in iTunes when the iPod is connected to your computer). Luckily, there is a solution - actually, several solutions, all of which require you to download one of the apps claiming to offer this feature to your iPhone or iPod touch. Sadly, none of them allow the simple configuration of being able to plug your iPhone into your computer via USB and drag files over to it. But since the iPhone is chock full of connectivity, there are several ways to skin the file transfer cat. I tested a variety of apps that connect your computer and iPhone in some interesting, and sometimes confusingly clever, ways.
There are essentially two ways of updating information to an iPhone: push and pull. Push means that you move a file from your Mac to your iPhone by doing something on your computer. Pull means the opposite - that you move the file to your iPhone by doing something on the iPhone itself. Which is the better method? It really depends on how you work and what you are going to do with the file on your iPhone other than view it. For example, if you are going to use your phone as a relay to move a file from your Mac at work to your Mac at home, then you will have to push it one way and pull it the other. I tend to like the pull method myself, but read on and you'll see what is involved.
Some caveats: if you are running the older iPhone 1.x software or a version of Mac OS X older than 10.4 Tiger, now is the time to upgrade because all of these apps require at least the iPhone 2.x software and Tiger. Also, make sure you have some extra storage space available on your iPhone; while the individual apps aren't storage intensive, by the time you collect a bunch of files you may not have room left for your songs, podcasts, and videos. Finally, any file that you move over to your iPhone is accessible only through the particular file transfer app that put it there, unlike on your Mac where you're able to use any application to access any file. This rigidness takes some getting used to.
I compared five of the most popular iPhone file transfer apps, three of which are standalone apps that you must purchase. The remaining two apps are free, but require that you pay for an online account with a particular Web service if you are really going to use them. The five are Avatron's Air Sharing, Magnetism Studios' FileMagnet, Hey Mac Software's Briefcase, Evernote, and Sharpcast's SugarSync.
<http://www.avatron.com/products/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/AirSharing-Help.png>
<http://www.magnetismstudios.com/filemagnet/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/FileMagnet-Browsing.png>
<http://www.heymacsoftware.com/briefcase/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/Briefcase-Connection.png>
<http://www.evernote.com/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/Evernote-Browsing.png>
<http://www.sugarsync.com/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9751>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-11/SugarSync-Main.png>
There is one other product, DigiDNA's free DiskAid, that enables you to transfer files via USB between an iPhone or iPod touch and either a Mac or Windows-based PC, just as I indicated would be useful at the start of this article. However, once you have a file on your iPhone, you can't view it or even know that it is present without using DiskAid to view the contents of the iPhone again. I don't like the fact that the file lurks hidden inside your iPhone, so I'd rather use one of the other solutions.
<http://www.digidna.net/diskaid/download.php>
For other solutions, including plug-ins for the iPhone's Safari browser and open source apps, I recommend checking out Pure-Mac's iPhone File Transfer Apps page.
<http://www.pure-mac.com/iphone/filetransfer.html>
Good luck transferring your files, and let me know if you have found other solutions that work well for you.
ToC[David Strom has held editor-in-chief positions at Network Computing print, Tom's Hardware.com digital, and now freelances for the New York Times and numerous IT publications for Ziff Davis, IDG, CMP, and TechTarget. He is a professional speaker, podcaster, and consultant, and he blogs at strominator.com.]
by Glenn Fleishman <glenn@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9906>
Devicescape has released Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T, a simple iPhone application that lets U.S. iPhone subscribers use the included free access to AT&T's hotspot network with a lot less fuss. AT&T enabled free access a few weeks ago, but requires that you visit a Web page at the hotspot, enter your phone number, wait for a free SMS message, and then click a link in the message. Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T requires only that you enter your phone number once when setting up the program, then never again. (The software was free during a promotion that was scheduled to end on December 5, but may still be available at no cost.)
<http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296273148&mt=8>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-12/easywifiatt.jpg>
Devicescape also makes Easy Wi-Fi, a $1.99 iPhone application that works with the firm's My Devicescape ecosystem, in which a no-cost account at the company's servers acts as a hub for any Wi-Fi accounts you may have, as well as handling passwords for home and work networks. (See "Easy Wi-Fi Enters Hotspot Passwords for You," 2008-10-02.)
<http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288328989&mt=8>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9794>
For instance, I have a Boingo Wireless account and the free AT&T service for my iPhone. I've entered both sets of credentials into my Devicescape account. When I'm at an airport or coffee shop, I launch Easy Wi-Fi, tap Connect, and Devicescape handles all the ugliness of logging in.
The trick with Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T is that it can be upgraded at no cost to the full functionality of Easy Wi-Fi, something the company isn't trying to hide. After installing the free program, tap the "i" icon at lower right, and select Register at Devicescape for More from the Settings screen. Devicescape may opt to charge for this feature upgrade in the future, but it's currently a free change.
You can sign up for a Devicescape account through Safari on the iPhone, or you can set up the account first via a desktop Web browser, and then log in to activate the extra features.
ToC
by Rich Mogull <rich@tidbits.com>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9902>
On 21-Nov-08, a short support article appeared on Apple's Web site, likely placed there by someone with no idea of the chain of events he or she was about to initiate. The article summary was, "Learn about antivirus utilities available for the Mac OS." The bombshell statement in the article? "Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult." The article went on to list three of the major antivirus programs for the Mac.
At first, no one really noticed. Then, on 01-Dec-08, the note gained the attention of Brian Krebs at the Washington Post, who wondered if this statement signified a notable shift in Apple policy. Apple has never formally recommended third part
