Technological Challenges with The Bluetooth Headset

When it comes to communicating in short range wirelessly, the blue tooth headset makes cell phone use a breeze. Technologically, the blue tooth headset is one of the most complicated and challenging of designs. They promote lightweight communication methods, with a battery and receiver built right into the ear piece. As complicated as they are to create, they are extremely popular for cell phone users everywhere.

Today, when you think of headset, you typically think of those that are extremely small and light to carry. What is great about blue tooth headsets is that they are wireless an, but not so small. What is happening is that there is so much to fit into the ear piece, such as receiver and transmitter, that they are having a difficult time trying to fit that much equipment into a tiny space.

Never fear technology advances each day and blue tooth is working around their obstacles. Consumers demand small and lightweight, blue tooth is working heavily to produce just that. To some people, even though blue tooth headsets are wireless, they tend to weigh slightly more which is considered to be a disadvantage to the technology and the headset. Battery Charge with Blue Tooth

Traditional headsets, with wires, when combined with cell phones did not present much of a problem when it comes to batteries, because they are wired. However, the problem with the blue tooth headset is that it is wireless and contains a battery within the headset. The problem is that the headset only lasts about twenty six hours when not in use and only 2 to 3 hours when talking. Manufacturers are developing ideas to keep the headsets usable for the maximum amount of time. This might mean turning off the headset after calls or having to connect the headset with each call.

Yet another disadvantage of the blue tooth headset is the range of calls. With blue tooth technology even though wireless, you cannot be far from the cell phone, not much further than the backset of your car, and still communicate. Therefore, it is still necessary to keep the phone with you at all times, even though it is meant to be wireless and hands free. Discover the benefits of Bluetooth technology at http://www.discoverbluetooth.com

Send Free SMS messages Online

Every SMS you send is free. Atleast it is free on mobile-sender.com. Now you can fairly reduce your cell phone bills by sending all your SMS to your friends online. Yes! The new way of sending those cheeky, cool, fun filled, romantic and sexy SMS is now here and the best part of it is you don’t have to pay anything for that. Now you can remember the time when you used to hold yourself back by not sending those messages or texts which you really wanted to but couldn’t due to the fees charged by your cell phone service provider for sending the texts.

the free online SMS you can send your message to anyone across the United States without paying anything. That means the service is 100% free and you can now send as many SMS as you want. Online SMS is the easiest and fastest way of sending your messages. There is no catch involved in this and you can send loads of messages without spasm and no advertisement policy. SO reduce your phone bills and get going with the incredible way of Online SMS. Bring back the smiles again on the faces of your friends by sending them some cool online SMS today.

To start with as soon as you hit the home page the first step is to enter the receivers cell phone number in the mentioned field. While doing so remember not to use dashes or other characters other than the number and to enter the area code as well. The second step is to enter the subject of the message you want to send. It helps the receiver in identifying the content of the message. The third step is to enter your message you intend to send to the receiver and here you need to remember that the limit o the message is 140 words. So enter the precise message and continue to the final step. The fourth step is to choose the receivers cellular service provider from the given list. And the final step is to click on the send text message button to send the message. Using these simple steps your message is delivered to the person you want to send it to. Isn’t it a simple way of sending your message across without you or the receiver paying anything for using the service.

It is the simplest way of sending SMS which is getting popular everyday. What you benefit is sending free SMS whenever you want to and whomever you want to. This free SMS are well protected by spammers and a complete privacy is maintained over the data. Plus you never receive any advertisements or spam messages and the messaging always remains clean. It is better to cut down on your phone bill and start using this service which is easy and 100% free. Play prank on your friends by sending anonymous messages using this service.

5 Simple ways to keep your computer secure and virus free

These simple tips will help you stay virus and spyware free, even if
you're connected to the internet 24 hours a day.

1. Protect yourself
   Good protection on the Internet these days consists of 3 components:
   anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and a firewall.
   As for a firewall, Windows XP ships with a decent enough firewall. Just
   make sure it is always enabled. Alternatively you can visit a site like
   www.download.com and search for Zone Alarm, which has an excellent free
   version.
   The most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to keep your
   anti-virus software up to date. An anti-virus program that uses
   definitions that are months old is just about useless.
   Update your anti-virus and anti-spyware software at least once a week.
2. Stop opening every attachment you receive.
   Most of the devastating worms and viruses of recent times were
   distributed via email. These viruses feed on the curiosity and also the
   ignorance of a huge number of email users. People will get an email
   from fakename@weirdsuspiciousdomain and they'll just open whatever file
   is attached to it.
   If you don't know the sender, don't open the attachment - just delete
   it. It doesn't matter if the subject promises you'll see Britney Spears
   dancing nude on the kitchen table, just delete it.
   If the email is from someone you know, always scan any attachments
   first before downloading or opening them.
   If every email user in the world followed these simple guidelines the
   distribution of viruses via email will grind to a halt.
3. Stay clear of pornographic and illegal software sites
   If you want to pick up viruses and spyware quickly, visit some
   pornographic web sites. One wrong click on a subtle little pop-up or
   security warning window (which you'll run into often on these type of
   sites) and you'll have infested yourself with trojan horses, spyware,
   dialers and other unfavorable software that could leave your computer
   wide open to further attacks.
   The same goes for web sites distributing software, serial codes and
   cracks illegally (warez).
   Simply put - keep out of the dark side of the web and the odds of
   keeping your computer clean shifts decidedly in your favor.
4. Watch out what you download
   Spyware is embedded in a lot of software on the Internet - especially
   those related to ripping, converting and playing music and videos. That
   free MP3 player or DVD Ripper you just downloaded may have installed a
   bunch of harmful spyware without you even knowing about it.
5. Keep yourself informed
   Major anti-virus software developers like Symantec and Grisoft updates
   their sites regularly with the latest virus alerts. Visit these sites
   frequently to keep yourself aware of what threats are doing the rounds
   and how to avoid them.
   Using this simple software I have kept my computer virus-free for
   the past 3 years. It's not rocket science. Just stay alert, use some
   common sense and you too can stay bug free while still enjoying your
   Internet experience.

Articles Source - Free Articles

Computer Virus Protection

Learning to use a computer is easy. Learning how to use a computer safely and securely, however, sometimes take a lesson in harsh reality. If your computer has never fallen victim to a virus, consider yourself very, very lucky. Take steps now to protect your investment against damage or even destruction.
All computer users, particularly those who frequently use the Internet, are subjecting their computers to viruses. There is a constant threat of hackers, spam, spyware, phishing, adware, Trojans, scammers, and many more destructive viruses. Once you connect to the web, your computer and files are vulnerable and at serious risk. Without proper computer virus protection, your computer can be rendered virtually useless in just a few seconds.
There is no single computer virus protection software that can guarantee total or lasting protection. New viruses and threats are continually emerging, so it's important to choose one reliable, anti-virus software and have it updated regularly to keep your computer protected from new viruses. It is essential that you fortify your PC with the most recent early automatic virus protection available, and update it as frequently as possible.
There are some easy ways to access computer virus protection software to safeguard your files and your help keep your hardware protected from damage. Anti-virus software can be accessed easily through the Internet. Most online computer virus protection offers integrated firewall, anti-virus and intrusion prevention against known and emerging threats. These programs ensure the protection of your irreplaceable files, such as important personal documents and family photos. Additionally, they identify adware and spyware before they can run to your computer, and they clean automatically clean viruses and virus threats.
It can be difficult to decide on the right anti-virus software at a local computer shop, but the Internet is still the best alternative offering the widest selection. You can find the best software at the best prices online. A simple search is all it takes to find countless sites with full product descriptions. There is no better place than the Internet to shop for computer virus protection.
Here are some of the most highly recommended anti-virus software providers that you can easily access online:
* Norton AntiVirus Norton has been around for quite a while and is respected as an excellent virus protection. Norton has successfully developed its software to match up with emerging viruses. It will automatically scan and eliminate viruses from your computer, including instant message and e-mail attachments
* McAfee VirusScan This program detects, removes and blocks viruses and spyware that could cause irreversible damage to your computer and result in the loss of your irreplaceable documents, such as digital photos, family movies, and financial spreadsheets. These threats can also lead to identity theft and slower PC performance. Many of the things you value and need most are being stored right now on your PC. VirusScan protects the security of your valuable files and documents by automatically scanning and cleaning files, downloads and e-mail messages, as well as instant message and e-mail attachments.
* eTrust EZ Antivirus This is a solid package from Computer Associates that has a relatively simple interface and works well with many computers. A two-year subscription offers great protection at a good price. Your subscription to eTrust EZ Antivirus includes up-to-date protection that can be automatically downloaded when your computer is connected to the Internet. Because this program provides the latest information, you are less likely to become infected.
There are countless other computer virus protection options on the market. You need to find the provider that's right for you. Be diligent in your research; take the time to learn the benefits and drawbacks of each one, and read blogs and forums to see product ratings from previous users.
As with any product, your computer requires a certain amount of upkeep to run effectively, and protection to keep it from harm. It's a big investment, so spend the time and money to get the computer virus protection software you need.

Articles Source - Free Articles

The Battle of the Browsers – The History and the Future of Internet Browsers

With Internet Explorer 8 now available, can Microsoft hope to retain market dominance over fierce open source rivals such as Mozilla's Firefox or the feature packed Opera web browser. Can history give us a clue to what the future of web browsers/browsing might hold? How did Netscape Navigator go from having a dominant 89.36% market share of all web browsers in 1996 and yet only 3.76% by mid 1999? Let us take a journey that will begin long before even the intellectual conception of Internet Explorer, that will glance at its long defeated rivals, examine the current browsers available and will end with a prediction of what the future of browsing will offer us – and which browser(s) will still be around to offer it. People often think that Internet Explorer has been the dominant web browser since the golden age of the internet began. Well for a very long time now it has indeed been the most popular browser and at times been almost totally unrivalled. This was mainly a result of it being packaged free with Microsoft Windows, in what some would later call a brutal monopolisation attempt by Microsoft. The last few years however have heralded the arrival of new, possibly superior browsers. Mozilla's Firefox has been particularly successful at chipping away at Explorers market dominance. So where did it all begin, and why were Microsoft ever allowed to have a hundred percent market dominance? Origins The truth is they never did have total dominance, but at times they have come very close. Microsoft actually entered the Browser Battle quite late on. Infact a man named Neil Larson is credited to be one of the originators of internet browsers, when in 1977 he created a program – The TRS-80 - that allowed browsing between “sites” via hypertext jumps. This was a DOS program and the basis of much to come. Slowly other browsers powered by DOS and inspired by the TRS 80 were developed. Unfortunately they were often constricted by the limitations of the still fairly young internet itself. In 1988, Peter Scott and Earle Fogel created a simple, fast browser called Hytelnet, which by 1990 offered users instant logon and access to the online catalogues of over five thousand libraries around the world – an exhilarating taste of what the internet, and web browsers, would soon be able to offer. In 1989 the original World Wide Web was born. Using a NeXTcube computer, Tim Berners-Lee created a web browser that would change how people used the internet forever. He called his browser the WorldWideWeb(http://www., which is still likely to sound familiar to internet users today. It was a windowed browser capable of displaying simple style sheet, capable of editing sites and able to download and open any file type supported by the NeXTcube. In 1993 the first popular graphical browser was released. Its name was Mosaic and it was created by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina. Mosaic could be run on both Unix, and very importantly, on the highly popular Microsoft Windows operating system (incidentally it could also be used on Amiga and Apple computers). It was the first browser on Windows that could display graphics/pictures on a page where there was also textual content. It is often cited as being responsible for triggering the internet boom due to it making the internet bearable for the masses. (It should be noted that the web browser Cello was the first browser to be used on Windows – but it was non graphical and made very little impact compared to Mosaic). The Browser Wars - Netscape Navigator versus Internet Explorer Mosaic's decline began almost as soon as Netscape Navigator was released (1994). Netscape Navigator was a browser created by Marc Andreessen, one of the men behind Mosaic and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. Netscape was unrivalled in terms of features and usability at the time. For example, one major change from previous browsers was that it allowed surfers to see parts of a website before the whole site was downloaded. This meant that people did not have to wait for minutes simply to see if the site they were loading was the actual one the were after, whilst also allowing them to read information on the site as the rest of it downloaded. By 1996 Netscape had almost 90% market dominance, as shown below. Market Share Comparisons of Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer from 1996 to 1998 ....................Netscape.......IE October 1998..........64%.........32.2% April 1998............70%.........22.7% October 1997..........59.67%......15.13% April 1997............81.13%......12.13% October 1996..........80.45%......12.18% April 1996............89.36%.......3.76% In these two years Netscape clearly dominated the internet browser market, but a new browser named Internet Explorer was quickly gaining ground on it. Microsoft released their own browser (ironically based on the earlier Mosaic browser which was created by one of the men now running Netscape), clearly worried about Netscape's dominance. It was not so much the worry that it would have a 100% market share of internet browsers on their Windows operating system, but more the worry that browsers would soon be capable of running all types programs on them. That would mean foregoing the need for an actual operating system, or at the most only a very basic one would be needed. This in turn would mean Netscape would soon be able to dictate terms to Microsoft, and Microsoft were not going to let that happen easily. Thus in August 1995, Internet Explorer was released. By 1999 Internet explorer had captured an 89.03% market share, whilst Netscape was down to 10.47%. How could Internet Explorer make this much ground in just two years? Well this was down to two things really. The first, and by far the most important was that Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer in with every new copy of Windows, and as Windows was used by about 90% of the computer using population it clearly gave them a huge advantage. Internet Explorer had one other ace it held over Netscape – it was much better. Netscape Navigator was stagnant and had been for some time. The only new features it ever seemed to introduce were often perceived by the public as beneficial for Netscape's parent company rather than Netscape's user base. (i.e., features that would help it monopolise the market). Explorer, on the other hand, was given much attention by Microsoft. Regular updates and excellent usability plus a hundred million dollar investment would prove too much for Netscape Explorer. 2000 – 2005 These years were fairly quiet in the Battle of the Browsers. It seemed as if Internet Explorer had won the war and that nobody could even hope to compete with it. In 2002/2003 it had attained about 95% of the market share – about the time of IE 5/6. With over 1000 people working on it and millions of dollars being poured in, few people had the resources to compete. Then again, who wanted to compete? It was clearly a volatile market, and besides that everybody was content with Internet Explorer. Or were they? Some people saw faults with IE – security issues, incompatibility issues or simply bad programming. Not only that, it was being shoved down peoples throats. There was almost no competition to keep it in line or to turn to as an alternative. Something had to change. The only people with the ability and the power to compete with Microsoft took matters into their own hands. Netscape was now supported by AOL. A few years prior, just after they had lost the Browser Wars to Microsoft, they had released the coding for Netscape into the public domain. This meant anybody could develop their own browser using the Netscape skeleton. And people did. Epiphany, Galeon and Camino, amongst others, were born out of Netscape's ashes. However the two most popular newcomers were called Mozilla and Firefox. Mozilla was originally an open sourced project aimed to improve the Netscape browser. Eventually it was released as Netscape Navigator 7 and then 8. Later it was released as Mozilla 1.0. Mozilla was almost an early version on another open source browser, Firefox. With it being an open source the public were able to contribute to it - adding in what features it needed, the programming it required and the support it deserved. The problems people saw in Internet Explorer were being fixed by members of the open sourced browser community via Firefox. For instance, the many security issues IE 6 had were almost entirely fixed in the very first release of Firefox. Microsoft had another fight on their hands. 2005 – Present Firefox was the browser that grew and grew in these years. Every year capturing an even larger market share percentage than before. More user friendly than most of its rivals along with high security levels and arguably more intelligent programming helped its popularity. With such a large programming community behind it, updates have always been regular and add on programs/features are often released. It prides itself on being the peoples browser. It currently has a 28.38% market share. Apple computers have had their own browser since the mid 1990's – Safari - complete with its own problems, such as (until recently) the inability to run Java scripts. However most Apple users seemed happy with it and a version capable of running on Windows has been released. It has had no major competitor on Apple Macs, and as such has largely been out of the Browser Wars. It currently holds a 2.54% market share and is slowly increasing. Internet Explorer's market share has dropped from over 90% to around 75%, and is falling. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft will attempt to regain such a high market share. Opera currently holds 1.07%. Mozilla itself only has a 0.6% market share these days. The Future of Web Browsing Web browsers come and go. It is the nature of technology (if such a term can be used), to supplant inferior software in very short periods of time. It is almost impossible for a single company to stay ahead of the competition for long. Microsoft have the advantage of being able to release IE with any Windows using PC. That covers over 90% of the market. They also have the advantage of unprecedented resources. They can compete how they wish for as long as they wish. So there is no counting IE out of the future of web browsing. Safari is in a similar position, being easily the most popular Mac web browser. Its long term survival is dependant upon Apple and the sale of their computers. These are the only two browsers that are almost guaranteed another five years of life, at least. Firefox may seem like another candidate, but the public is fickle, and one bad release, or if it seriously lags behind the new Internet Explorer 8 for long, could easily see its popularity quickly descend into virtual oblivion. However, it seems likely community driven browsers, such as Mozilla and Firefox, will be the only types of browser capable of competing with the wealthy internet arm of Microsoft in the near future. As for web browsing itself, will it change any time soon? Well it already has for some online communities. For example, if you want to buy clothes you could try entering an online 'world' creating an online virtual You to go from 'shop to shop' with, looking at products and trying/buying what you see. Some 'worlds' allow you to recreate yourself accurately including weight and height and then try on things apparel such as jeans to give you an idea of how you would look in that particular item. Will 'worlds' like this destroy normal web browsers such as IE ? - It seems unlikely. Traditional web browsers provide such freedom and ease of access that it is hard to see any other alternative taking over. However they are part of the new, 'thinking out of the box' wave of alternatives that some people will find attractive, and really who knows what the future will bring.

Source: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4137.shtml

BlackBerry users can now access Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger

[Source: RIM, Microsoft and http://www.mobiletechnews.com/info/2008/05/12/230946.html]

Seattle, WA and Waterloo, Ontario -- Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion (RIM) announced an agreement to provide Microsoft Windows Live services on BlackBerry smartphones. As a result of this collaboration, BlackBerry smartphone customers will enjoy easy mobile access to Windows Live Messenger and an enhanced level of integration between Windows Live Hotmail and the BlackBerry platform.
The integration of Windows Live services into the BlackBerry platform will allow customers who use Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger on their BlackBerry smartphone to benefit from the BlackBerry platform architecture with the ability to communicate in real-time using push technology, and offering an exceptional mobile communications experience. Customers will also be able to seamlessly access their Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger account from their BlackBerry smartphone by simply entering their Windows Live e-mail address and password once.
"The BlackBerry platform is respected around the world for providing optimized messaging capabilities and RIM continues to look for ways to provide customers with a wide range of communications options and the best possible mobile experience," said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. "Our relationship with Microsoft and the addition of Windows Live services to BlackBerry smartphones helps us build on that strategy for our customers."
Among other features:
Windows Live Hotmail for BlackBerry will allow customers to:
- Use BlackBerry 'push' technology for automatic message delivery and message synchronization so the customers' online account is up-to-date with actions taken on their BlackBerry smartphone
- Use a dedicated inbox for Windows Live Hotmail messages, which are automatically delivered to the smartphone. Customers can also choose to receive their Windows Live Hotmail messages, along with messages from other e-mail accounts, within a single inbox on their BlackBerry smartphone
- Display HTML e-mail with the ability to view graphics, Web links, and contact photos in emails
Windows Live Messenger for BlackBerry will allow customers to:
- Send instant messages and join group chats
- Set status and see the presence of friends and colleagues within Windows Live Messenger or their contact cards
- Customize status messages
- Save conversations
- Showcase their Display Picture (Avatar)
- Send and receive pictures and files
- Use more than 60 emoticons
"Over 430 million people around the world rely on Windows Live to stay in touch," said Brian Arbogast, Vice President of the Mobile Services organization at Microsoft. "Our collaboration with RIM will enable BlackBerry smartphone customers to take full advantage of Windows Live, whether at work or on the go."
Windows Live services for BlackBerry smartphones are expected to be available beginning this summer with support for multiple languages.
More...

Flaw lets spammers use Gmail for sending bulk e-mail

Source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Flaw_lets_spammers_use_Gmail_for_sending_bulk_email/1210622312
The persistent battle against junk e-mail is already difficult, with 95% of messages sent being spam, but a vulnerability in Gmail could inadvertently worsen the problem until fixed.
The Information Security Research Team (INSERT) has helped to uncover a security flaw that transforms Google's popular Gmail service into a spam machine by turning the Google SMTP servers into open SMTP replays.
Many e-mail providers use a blacklist to block the IP addresses of known spammers, while whitelisted addresses can send e-mails that pass through the filters freely. This can cause major problems if the system of a trusted provider such as Google is compromised and its users able to send spam.
The proof of concept (PoC) test attack used by INSERT allowed the group to use a single Gmail account to send a bulk e-mail to 4,000 people in a six-hour time frame, with no limitations to stop the group from sending more messages. Google typically has a cap of 500 e-mail addresses as a bulk e-mail limit.
The final part of the experiment included sending e-mails from blacklisted IP addresses on the INSERT network to MX servers used by Yahoo and Hotmail and then sending similar messages through the Gmail servers instead. Messages sent to the Yahoo and Hotmail e-mail addresses through blacklisted IPs were much more likely to get blocked, while e-mails sent through the Gmail servers were able to successfully reach their target inboxes.
INSERT has not fully published details of the vulnerability so that Google can have time to fix the problem.
"To our best knowledge this is the first public description of this vulnerability and also the first proof of concept attack. Google has already been notified about this issue ad we are waiting their position to release further details," the group wrote in its advisory.
Google has yet to respond to the published INSERT report, but it's not the first time flaws in Gmail have been exploited to the benefit of spammers. In February, security research firm WebSense discovered that Gmail's CAPTCHA signup test had been compromised, enabling spam bots to register with the service.

News - Google Friend Connect to bring social networks to your site

Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080512-google-friend-connect-to-bring-social-networks-to-your-site.html
The barriers around social networking sites are finally crumbling as all the major players bring out their demolition crews. Both MySpace and Facebook have announced new data portability initiatives that will let users exchange data, make friends, and interact with third-party social networks. Now, Google has donned its own hard hat in the form of Google Friend Connect, promising to bring social networks and their features to the rest of the Internet.
Previewed by Google in a press release, Google Friend Connect will provide secure authorization APIs for any website owner to embed applications and features of any social networking site that hops on board. The advantage, however, is that these features will be provided as snippets of code that website owners simply place where they want on their sites. This removes the expensive overhead of programming these features and brings social networking integration to the "long tail" of the rest of the web.
Google illustrates the potential of this new platform with the website of independent musician Ingrid Michaelson, who used Google Friend Connect to embed music features from iLike into her site. Once Google Friend Connect goes live tonight (for a hand-picked group of whitelisted sites), Michaelson's visitors will be able to see comments from their social networking friends, who's going to one of Michaelson's concerts, add her music to their profiles, and more without having to visit iLike's site.
"We want to bring ourselves to every eyeball, not bring every eyeball to us," said Hadi Partovi, President of iLike. Indeed, the next evolution of social networking has been marked as the liberation of data onto the rest of the web. Facebook Connect, for example, will allow users to see which of their Facebook friends are on digg and what they're digging, and MySpace’s Data Availability initiative will let users plug their profile data into Twitter with links to their MySpace page and even favorite blogs.
As Google has so far failed to make any significant inroads with a social networking site of its own, Google Friend Connect mirrors Google's similar efforts like OpenSocial to position itself as a platform provider with tools that power social networks. While Facebook and MySpace's efforts focus more on plugging into established social networks, Google Friend Connect has the rest of the Internet in its crosshairs with simple tools that any owner can embed in their site. That said, Google Friend Connect is not without its drawbacks.
First, Google Friend Connect is sandboxed in an iframe when embedded in a site, according to ReadWriteWeb. At least for now, it sounds like the features provided through Google Friend Connect are essentially just a doorway to a customized portal for whatever social network is being embedded. While there are obvious and significant privacy implications with this idea, this also means that site owners won’t be able to plug directly into the data transferred from social networks either. From the limited details we have on Google Friend Connect right now, it doesn’t sound like this will allow site owners to tie, for example, Facebook identities to the user profiles, comments, and history that their visitors may have already built up on their site.
Google has a bit of work to do on Google Friend Connect, though, as it will only be a wait-list-based preview release once the switch is flipped later today. As it stands, Google Friend Connect sounds like a compelling way to allow social networking data and features to travel beyond the confines of a single website.

Big update to Windows XP Service Pack 3

Tuesday, Microsoft released its last big update to Windows XP--Service Pack 3.
Like Microsoft's two earlier Service Packs for XP, "SP3" packs earlier bug fixes and some new features into a single download. But unlike Service Pack 2, a must-have update that added numerous, badly needed security upgrades to XP's fragile defenses, SP3 isn't that big of a deal. Its primary value, as I write in this Sunday's Help File column, is giving Windows users a single downloadable file that can get any XP system up to date.
As you might guess, that single file is on the large size. Its "Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers"--the standalone installer that can be used to upgrade any 32-bit edition of XP--weighs in at 316 megabytes.
If you only need to update a single computer, you can also visit Microsoft's Windows Update site (Internet Explorer required) to get a smaller file tailored to your system. Or if you prefer to wait, later this summer, Microsoft says it will provide SP3 via its automatic-update system.
A Microsoft paper summarizes (PDF) the changes in SP3, including a handful of security upgrades not offered in earlier fixes. The company's release notes offer advice on issues that may come up in some circumstances; for example, if you're running XP Media Center Edition 2002, you must have XP's Service Pack 2 update installed first.
Earlier Service Packs have drawn criticism for blowing up the occasional computer, and now SP3 has too. But in my own testing, I haven't encountered any serious issues. (Neither has Security Fix blogger Brian Krebs, as he noted earlier this week.)
So far, I've installed it on five different XP systems---four copies of XP Home Edition running different combinations of security software, plus one copy of XP Professional. All had the previous SP2 update installed and most of Microsoft's subsequent patches to Windows, plus a wide assortment of third-party programs.
On the XP Home systems, everything worked pretty much as advertised.
The installation itself took about an hour, with much of that taken up by a lengthy system-inspection and backup process, in which the installer verified that the system was ready for the update and then made copies of some system files. Afterwards, the only visible evidence of SP3's presence was minor shifts to the Start Menu's "All Programs" list: The borderline-useless "Set Program Access and Defaults" control panel had been added to the top of that sub-menu, and the Accessories folder included a new Remote Desktop Connection item.
The XP Professional system was a different story. That's because it was already largely destroyed when I began the test. Windows Explorer, the program that runs the Windows desktop and lets you browse through folders, crashed repeatedly; I couldn't get to the Add or Remove Programs control panel; and Windows's System Restore utility had stopped working. I figured that SP3 would only make the rubble bounce.
Somehow, it did not. Although the computer froze up on its first two restarts after the SP3 installation, on the third try I was able to boot the machine into "Safe Mode" and could then finally browse the desktop, open the control panel and fire up Add or Remove Programs. The computer is still horribly broken--it stalls out when I try to log into my user account outside of Safe Mode--but at least I can try to fix it now.
Have you installed SP3? How has it worked out for you so far?

Source: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2008/05/windows_xp_service_pack_3.html

News - Spam migrates to cellphones

If you thought spam on your computer was a bother, brace yourself: Spammers want to find you on your cellphone.
Cellphones have become consumers' most personal technological devices. Some industry executives, along with consumer groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted computer messages.
Cell phone spam is particularly annoying to its recipients because it is more invasive - announcing itself with a beep - and can be costly.
Taber Lightfoot, an assistant director for new media at the Yale School of Management, is among those who have paid for the privilege of receiving cellphone spam.
"I was at work and I got so annoyed," she said of the first burst of three messages she received. She got another burst two days later.

"That is when I called Verizon and demanded they reimburse me $1.60 for eight text messages," Lightfoot said. "It wasn't a lot of money, but it was my money."
American consumers are expected to receive an estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages in 2008, according to Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, which tracks mobile messaging trends. That is nearly double what they received in 2006.
Of course that is a small percentage of the overall number of messages: An industry survey showed that consumers in the United States sent and received about 48 billion text messages in December alone. But for many people who are charged as much as 20 cents for an incoming message or are interrupted in the middle of dinner, even one is too many.
"The reason this really burns people up is because they have to pay for messages they don't want, and they shouldn't have to," said Chris Murray, senior counsel for Consumers Union, a nonprofit group.
Now some consumers, like Lightfoot, are monitoring their cellphones more aggressively for unwanted messages and, in some cases, demanding refunds. Computer security companies have developed products to help fight mobile spam. And AT&T, Verizon and others are making it easier for customers to block unsolicited messages and keep spammers at bay.
The fees that customers pay to receive messages are a source of profit for the phone companies. It is hard to estimate how much they make. Many consumers pay for a monthly plan that allows them to send and receive large numbers of messages. But for those without a plan, getting as few as 10 unsolicited text messages a month at 20 cents each would cost an extra $24 a year.
Communications companies say they are not interested in spam as a profit center. They want to one day exploit the power of customized advertising on mobile phones, and tawdry spam pitches threaten to make their customers hostile toward all commercial messages. The companies are trying to head off the problem before consumers revolt.
The carriers regularly adjust spam filters to block offending messages. At Sprint, more than 65 percent of all text messages sent over its network are identified and blocked as spam before they reach customers.
The companies use legal weapons as well. Verizon said it had filed eight lawsuits against spammers since 2004.
"Even if Verizon or AT&T are not the ones sending text messages to customers, there is the perception that the operator is to blame," said Seamus McAteer, a senior analyst at M:Metrics, which tracks mobile phone advertising. "It is not in the companies' best interest to have customers calling and complaining about their bills all the time."
Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T's wireless unit, said wireless companies recently agreed to quickly share information about the sources of spam to fight it more effectively.
Most phone spam is actually e-mail that comes through gateways linking the Internet and cellphone networks, industry executives said.
Most wireless phones have a dedicated e-mail address. At AT&T, for example, it is a customer's cellphone number followed by (AT)text.att.net. Using computers, spammers create millions of possible number combinations, then send messages to those addresses.
One day in March, Anthony Melone, Verizon Wireless' chief technology officer, began getting complaints from customers in the Northeast and Midwest about a wave of unsolicited text messages that were flooding its network. Melone said Verizon technicians tracked down the source and found the messages were coming from someone using e-mail accounts at Microsoft's Internet portal, msn.com.
It took a day to quell the assault because the spammers kept changing their e-mail addresses and the Web sites they were promoting.
By then, nearly five million messages had made it past the network's anti-spam filters, resulting in grumbling and demands for refunds from customers like Lightfoot. More..........

News- Computer hackers hit epilepsy site

Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain.
But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with pictures and helpful- looking links to pages with rapidly flashing images.
The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images.
"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation, which is based in Landover, Md.
Source : http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/11/computer-hackers-hit-epilepsy-site/

Counterfeit Chinese Technology: Gateway for Hackers?

Source: ABCNEWS

The FBI is investigating whether counterfeit routers and computer hardware from China installed in U.S. government computer networks might provide a secret gateway for hackers to tap into secure government databases.

Sources told ABC News the counterfeit hardware could represent a major breach to national security. An FBI PowerPoint presentation, which somehow ended up on a Web site, lays out the concerns and the breadth of what has been a far-reaching investigation.

Friday afternoon a somewhat miffed FBI released a statement that read: "At the request of another federal government agency, on Jan. 11, 2008, the FBI's Cyber Division provided an unclassified PowerPoint presentation and briefing on efforts to counter the production and distribution of counterfeit network hardware," said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director James Finch. "This unclassified briefing was never intended for broad distribution or posting to the Internet."

Finch goes on to talk about Operation Cisco Raider, which "targeted illegal distributors of counterfeit network hardware manufactured in China and included 15 investigations across nine FBI field offices and the execution of 39 search warrants."

According to Finch, the FBI "disrupted a large distribution network and recovered approximately 3,500 counterfeit network components with an estimated retail value of over $3.5 million."

More..........

The future of social networking: mobile phones

Picture this: a young woman goes to a party. She doesn't know anyone but it's fine because she has her mobile with her. A few clicks and she accesses the profiles of a dozen people at the party, including their pictures. She's in luck: two of them turn out to be friends of friends. She messages them and they start to chat.

Or this: an entrepreneur is at a conference. He is on the lookout for a new marketing director. Within minutes he has identified ten people in the hall with the right CV, two of whom are looking to change jobs. His mobile tells him one of them is standing 20ft away. That evening, a record of all the people he has met is automatically displayed with their profiles on his home computer.

This is not science fiction - it is the future of social networking and it is just around the corner. After the explosion in internet-based social networking (MySpace, Facebook) doing the same thing in real life instead of in front of a computer became an obvious next step. Much of it is already happening on a small scale as dozens of companies seek to exploit social networking on the go.

So how does it work? The key is the coming together of internet-connected mobile phones and location or proximity technology.

You can browse the internet quickly and easily on most new phones. Phones know where they are, thanks to in-built GPS satellite technology or triangulation from mobile phone masts. They can then tell if other phones are in the same area. Bluetooth short-range radio technology is also standard on most mobiles and with this phones can pick up the presence of other Bluetooth-enabled phones within about 20 metres.

Effectively, by linking these two developments, your phone can tell if someone is near you and can access lots of information about them - the perfect ingredients for real social interaction.

The possibilities are endless. Can't ever put names to faces? Want to check the background of that chief executive officer so you can remind him that he owes you a favour? Want to avoid all accountants/lawyers/journalists? Keep seeing that handsome man at the bar and need a common interest to get the ball rolling? All these scenarios are being solved by the new wave of mobile applications.

One company based in Berlin has just gone live with its mobile social network. More than 3,000 young Germans have signed up to the aka-aki service in just over a month.

Users of the service download an application on to their mobile phones free. The software uses Bluetooth, and when another member's phone comes within range, it pings. The user can then check who it is and choose to access that person's profile, message them and, if they want, go over and have a chat.

In just over an hour on a sunny day in the centre of Berlin I had more than a dozen “encounters” with aka-aki members. Everyone was buzzing with the possibilities of the network and eager to chat.

Stefanie Hoffman, 30, one of aka-aki's founders, said that although she met her boyfriend through aka-aki it was not just about dating. “The business applications are real,” she said. “I went to a conference the other day - one girl and 80 guys - and normally I would feel very reluctant to go up to someone to talk. It can be very difficult if you are a woman in those circumstances. But my phone told me there were half a dozen aka-aki members there and so I could introduce myself.”

That privileged sense of belonging is both the key to the success of mobile social networking and the greatest barrier. People will want to join because they can be part of a connected community. But until enough people join, these mobile networks will not take off. It is probably going to take one of the big beasts of internet social networks such as Facebook, which already has many millions of members, to achieve this.

The other big question mark is privacy. Why would people want total strangers to have access to their details?

In the Mitte district of Berlin, Sehnaz Sensan, 27, a student and aka-aki member, was unconcerned. After I had messaged her to ask if we could talk, she said that she “encountered” mainly men (the ratio for men and women signing up for aka-aki is about 70/30 - early adopters of new technology tend to be young men). “I can control what is on my profile and what people can know about me,” she said. “They message me to say hello and I can message back and we can meet up or I can ignore it. It is a way of breaking the ice.”

What about being bothered by strangers? “Men can come up to you anyway without knowing anything about you,” Ms Sensan said. “That's much more insulting. If I don't want an encounter then I don't switch it on.”

Michael Arrington, one of the most influential technology bloggers in the world, says that the days when people are not happy to broadcast their CV/personal life electronically are over. “People always trade off privacy for removal of friction,” he said.

As he notes on his TechCrunch blog there are more than a dozen mobile social network start-ups in Silicon Valley. “A few years from now we will use our mobile devices to help us to remember details of people we know. It will help us to meet new people for dating, business and friendship. Using your phone to create or enhance real world interactions is a killer application, but no one has cracked the nut yet. Once it happens, look out.”

Arrington has blogged that Apple's hugely successful iPhone would be a great place to start. He has seen an “awesome” application being developed and says that iPhone users are the perfect group for a mobile social network - they are technological, elitist and identify with their brand.

Analysts and commentators are predicting huge growth in the sector. Aka-aki, which was developed from a university diploma project, now has serious funding from a leading German venture capitalist.

It is not difficult to see how networks like aka-aki might make money. Anyone who has watched the film Minority Report with Tom Cruise will have seen how shops could message those on the network with offers when they pass by.

In another scenario, businesses such as restaurants could pay to access the service and when a member walks in, the store's profile appears. The member chooses to add the restaurant to a list of favoured brands and the next week receives a two-for-one meal offer. The restaurant gets targeted “permission” advertising and more diners on a slow night.

But in the end are mobile social networks not just a nerdy replacement for people simply talking to each other? As one blogger put it: “I am pretty sure that an actual conversation will do the same thing. Is this the evolution of geek dating?” More.................

Sexist culture drives women out of science

source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3908362.ece

A time warp of 1970s sexist attitudes is driving women in their late thirties from careers in science and technology and undermining key sectors of the economy, according to an international study.

Researchers claim to have discovered a “hidden brain drain” as women opt out when facing a choice between family life and pushing for promotion at work.

The majority choose their children and alternative careers instead of struggling with the hurdles of a macho “lab coat culture” with long hours, old boys’ networks and the risk of sexual harassment.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, an economist at the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York and the lead author of the study, said the research had revealed a world with values seemingly stuck in the 1970s.

She said: “It has been a bit like a time warp. This predatory or condescending culture [towards women] was more common across the workplace 20 to 30 years ago but has somehow survived in an engineering, science and technology context.

“It is the hidden brain drain. We have this amazing, talented pool of women who have left the industry. It is highly destructive to our society and economy.”

In Britain more than 225,000 science, engineering and technology (SET) graduates are not working in the industries for which they are qualified, and 50,000 of those are not working at all, according to official statistics.

The report claims the “sexist culture” persists despite concerns about dwindling numbers of female graduates staying the course. The European Commission has predicted that Europe will suffer a shortfall of 20m skilled workers in science and technology by 2030.

Hewlett and her colleagues followed the careers of 1,000 women with SET qualifications in companies in America, and surveyed 3,000 staff employed internationally by three multinational companies. They also sought the opinions of women in cities including London, Palo Alto, New York and Shanghai in 28 focus groups.

The study, to be published in the Harvard Business Review on Thursday, found that while women made up 41% of newly qualified technical staff, more than half dropped out by the time they reached their late thirties.

Nearly two-thirds of all women surveyed said they had been victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. A similar number objected to the “lab coat culture”, in which researchers laboured over experiments, “tethered to the microscope”, for up to 12 hours a day.

Nancy Lane, a cell biologist at Cambridge University, recalled the conflict she felt between work and her two children. “I felt forced to make agonising trade-offs, asking myself, ‘Do you abandon an experiment or abandon a needy child?’ ” she said. “I found myself deliberately choosing questions that allowed me to run experiments in a five-day week.”

A total of 43% of female engineers said they had encountered an inherently sexist culture in which it was assumed that only men had the skills to succeed in the most advanced posts.

The situation was familiar to Elspeth MacFadyen, a programme director at BT’s chief technology office who now specialises in fibre optics. MacFadyen is one of 13,000 BT employees who now work from home full-time but says she can recall the days when women deliberately dressed down to blend in.

“I remember having to wear jeans and a shirt; otherwise people would think you were secretarial. It’s better today but the macho culture still exists,” she said.

Olivia Judson, a science television presenter and author, decided against a full-time career in academia. She said: “One of my PhD supervisors told me that a lot of the women he had supervised ended up leaving science. Men were more likely to be overconfident and women were more likely to be underconfident, even though there was no difference in their abilities.”

Even in space women are not immune. In 1991 Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut, was greeted in the Mir space station by Anatoly Artsebarsky, a Russian cosmonaut, with the comment: “Space . . . is hard work, not a woman’s work.” More.........

Google Speaks in Tongues

Teaching a computer to understand languages isn't rocket science -- it's not nearly that easy, said Peter Norvig, director of research at Google

(Nasdaq: GOOG) .

It takes a limited number of calculations to send a spacecraft to the moon, Mars or other planets. And while the calculations aren't so simple, they are fairly easily managed by a computer, he said.

But learning what words mean, how they fit together and how they translate into other languages is much more challenging, he said.

Rules and Exceptions

"In physics, we've been able to use computers very well for a long time. We can get our spacecraft to the moon or Mars very accurately," Norvig said. "But part of the problem with language is there's lots and lots of rules, and there are lots and lots of exceptions to those rules."

Rather than using grammar, about two years ago Google started to take a different approach to teach a computer how to understand languages, which is more like the way humans learn them, he said.

Every Word Counts

What the strategy comes down to is programming the computer to learn through examples. By exposing it to an abundance of texts in a specific language, it can learn to pick out patterns, Norvig said.

And if you teach it to compare two different languages side by side, it can figure out which words or characters generally correspond to one another.

"Most of the answer to how you do this is counting -- it's just the fancy phrase for counting is 'probability theory,'" Norvig said.

What Google's language tools do, for example, is let you do a word or phrase search in English. Then it will find results for that search among Web sites written in Spanish. And it will translate them so the English-language user can sort through those links in English.

Building a Collection

So far, it works with about 15 languages, but the hope is to add more soon, he said.

The tools also let you translate Web pages and text, among other things.

The key to building the language tools program was to feed it lots and lots of texts, gathering them from groups that already have documents translated into several languages, such as international news sites and United Nations archives, Norvig said.

"Then we build a model that says, 'Here's all these translations, and we know this page is a translation of that page, but we don't know exactly which corresponds to which,'" Norvig said. "What we have, though, is probabilities. Like the first sentence in English is similar to the first sentence in Chinese, but it could be the first two sentences, the first three, or it could be one to one."

After one example, the computer is still confused. But after a million examples, it starts to make associations that make sense, he said.

For instance, a Chinese character may come up often in relation to the English word "dog" or "terrier." And from that the computer learns to make a connection, he said.

"We've been able to do this, and our translation software is usually right at the top of a search," Norvig said. "And we've even been able to do this in some languages where nobody on the team speaks the language." More............

India enters green coal technology era in Vijaywada

BHEL and APGENCO have signed an agreement to set up a 125 Mw power plant at Vijaywada using IGCC (integrated gasification combined cycle) technology that BHEL has been working on for the past two decades. A 6 Mw pilot plant has been running at BHEL, Tiruchi since 1983 and this is now being upscaled to commercial size. IGCC produces significantly less greenhouse gases, has operating efficiency of around 40%, reduces water consumption by about 40% and also has lower solid waste production. IGCC also offers a technical pathway for cost-effective separation of carbon dioxide and co-production of hydrogen.

The agreement was signed on the 10th of May,2008 in Vishakapatnam in the presence of the Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, the Union Minister for Heavy Industry, Shri Santosh Mohan Dev and the Minister of State for Power and Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh.

Complimenting BHEL and APGENCO for what he termed a “ truly historic initiative”, Shri Jairam Ramesh said that this project has major implications for India’s energy strategy that has to reckon seriously with international concerns on global warming arising out of expanding coal use. There are seven or eight IGCC plants in the 250-300 Mw range in other countries like the USA but they all use low ash coal, Shri Jairam Ramesh said. The Vijaywada plant will use high ash Indian coals. It will cost around Rs 950 crores, of which roughly Rs 420 crores will come from BHEL and the balance Rs 530 crores from APGENCO. The project is scheduled for commissioning in mid-2011. More...

User Names and Passwords: How to Manage the Keys to the Kingdom

With all the sites that ask for sign-in passwords -- and all the havoc that could be visited upon your life should some thief crack them -- effective account access management is a top job for the savvy surfer. Naturally, you should avoid the obvious choices when setting a password. However, you should also never be obvious when setting up that password reminder failsafe device that asks you for Mom's maiden name.

Creating and remembering strong passwords -- like backing up our computers' contents -- is something many of us know we should do, but don't.

Can you blame us? Having to come up with user names and passwords for virtually everything we do on a computer is enough to make anyone use "Magic123" over and over. I've even heard of people who keep lists of passwords taped to their computer screens.

With a little time and some discipline, you can create strong passwords and do a better job managing them.

Of course, no matter how many precautions you take, no password is ever 100 percent secure. By the same token, you don't have to follow all the advice in this column to avoid password theft.

Be Obscure, Be Weird

By now, most people know that you shouldn't use personal information such as your name, birth date or address in a password. It's also not a good idea to use something obvious such as "1234" or "password."

Passwords should be at least seven or eight characters in length. The longer the password, the stronger it is.

Next, choose a password that would appear as nothing more than a random list of characters to someone else. Use both uppercase and lowercase letters and, if possible, use punctuation marks from all over the keyboard. One technique is to take a phrase that means something to you or a line from a favorite song and create a password by taking the first letter of each word of that phrase or line. Make sure to add in some symbols. For instance, you could replace an "a" with "," but use this technique sparingly in your password.

Although you should never use the same password to secure highly sensitive information on more than one site, it's probably OK to use the same password for low-risk areas, such as news or sports Web sites.

Get Creative

David Liberatore, the director of engineering at AppRiver, an antispam software company, said you should never give out real information in the password helper sections. So for your mother's maiden name, make up a name you can remember. Use your favorite vacation spot instead of your place of birth. Substitute the name of a pet from a TV show or movie for your real pet.

This may seem extreme, but Liberatore, who used to work in online banking, said if a vendor that is storing your personal information gets compromised, then hackers could use that personal information to piece together details about you and access your account on another site.

To be extra careful, change your passwords regularly.

If you are buying a new computer, you may consider getting one that comes with a fingerprint reader so you can just swipe your finger instead of typing in passwords.

Into the Vault

However, since most people need passwords to secure lots of important information, remembering more than one or two long passwords is difficult. That's where password managers come in. These programs typically are encrypted and act as a vault to store all of your user names and passwords. You only need to remember one master password to open them up.

If you use a Mac, you already have a password manager called "Keychain," which stores your passwords and can automatically enter them in login fields on Web sites.

There are also lots of downloadable password managers, such as KeePass Password Safe, RoboForm and PassKeeper.

I tested KeePass, which is free, and found it to be easy to install and use. Once you've set up the program, you create a database for your passwords. KeePass lets you organize passwords in groups, and it can generate secure passwords for you. Once the passwords are set, you can copy and paste them into Web sites or drag and drop them.

If you are the only one using your computer, you can have your Web browser automatically remember them for you. However, this shouldn't be the only place you store passwords, because when data from your browser is cleared (or if your computer dies), your passwords will vanish.

You can also download and install KeePass on portable media, such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive, so you can have access to your passwords when using another computer. Make sure to copy your KeePass database from your computer to the USB drive. There's also a free program called "KeePassX" that can open KeePass databases on a Mac.

© 2008 The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. All rights reserved.
© 2008 ECT News Network. All rights reserved.

Source : http://www.technewsworld.com/story/User-Names-and-Passwords-How-to-Manage-the-Keys-to-the-Kingdom-62916.html

How to present URLs, website addresses & links

There are many ways to present a website address to the world, but which is the best way? Even a simple domain name, there are at least 5 different ways to present the address:

• http://www.wordjot.com/
  
• http://www.wordjot.com
  
• www.wordjot.com
  
• WWW.WORDJOT.COM
  
• wordjot.com

They all work, they all take you to the same place, so which is best to use? Let's run through a few different situations.

Physical Print

Summary: Write as www.wordjot.com

Displaying a website address in print may include business cards, newspaper advertisements, magazines or flyers.

The key to links in is to keep the address as short as possible so it's quick and easy to type. If you're going to be doing a lot of print advertising, having a short domain to start with will make life much easier. If you've got a long address, consider buying a short one as well that can redirect to your proper address.

For print work don't include the http:// part. People just don't need to type it, and it may confuse. If you want to send people to a secure page ie. https://, or an FTP site, ie. ftp:// you're probably better to create a separate webpage as an intermediate step, or simply redirect users to the secure page.

What about the www bit? The main benefit of the www is it makes it obvious that the text is a domain name. If you're using a .com, that might be obvious enough so you can leave the www off.

All sites should work with and without the www bit, but some don't, so check your site does first. Ask your web developer to set up both if needed. Ideally one version will redirect to the other version.

Some domain names are unusual enough to really need the www, for example bla.st. By writing as www.bla.st it makes it more obvious the text is a web address.

Interestingly we've found even if you don't include the www in your print work, many users will type it anyway. Generally we include the www, as people expect it, and it makes things obvious.

TV and Radio

Summary: Write as www.wordjot.com

For both television and radio it's even more critical to have a short, and memorable website address. If you're running a tv or radio campaign and you already have a long website address, it may be worth buying a short domain specifically for the campaign. Domain names are only $10-30/year and can simply redirect to your proper website address.

Email & Chat

Summary: Write as http://www.wordjot.com/

The best way to write a domain in an email or chat application eg. skype is to use the full version including http://. eg. http://wordjot.com/

The reason is simple, by including the http:// these applications will automatically turn the link into a clickable link. Some applications are smart enough to see a .com and turn that into a link, but to play it safe include the full thing.

What about http://wordjot.com without the end slash? While it will work fine, your web server will need to redirect the user to the full address http://wordjot.com/, so to save a tiny amount of work on your server include it in the first place.

Also be careful how long your URL is, it must not wrap onto the next line at all. See below for more details.

On a website

If you're editing a website, perhaps through a content management system, it's important to create proper URLs, that link correctly. An ideal is as follows:

wordjot.com

Which in HTML code looks like this:

wordjot.com

You don't need to display the http:// to the user, but the HTML link requires it to work. The www bit is optional, and can be left off to keep things short.

Case Sensitivity

It's well worth mentioning that the first part of a URL, ie. the domain name, is not case sensitive, while the second part however may or may not be, depending on the web server.

If you're uploading files to a web server, we recommend keeping everything in lower case to make life simple.

When writing URLs be careful to keep them as given.

Extra Long URLs

If you've got to publish an extra long address, perhaps a link to a specific page deep in your site, it's worth using a URL shortening service. These services turn your painful to type URLs into a nice short address. eg:

http://promacblog.com/posts/tips-for-designers-how-to-present-urls-website-addresses-links/

could become:

http://tinyurl.com/6e9tmo

which you could write in an advertisement simply as:

tinyurl.com/6e9tmo

TinyURL is just one such service, and there are a number of others.

Shortening long addresses is essential for sending in email applications. If your address wraps onto the next line, often the automatic link generation may not work, splitting the address in two, and only linking to the first line.

Conclusion

Keep things as short as possible, and use the write format in the right situation. Generally offline use the format www.wordjot.com, and online use http://www.wordjot.com/. Hope that helps, leave any questions or comments below.

Source: http://promacblog.com/posts/tips-for-designers-how-to-present-urls-website-addresses-links/

Awesome. Photoshop online

Adobe finally decided to release photoshop online. found here http://www.splashup.com/ ive messed with it a little bit and think its pretty cool.

Heres an exerpt:

“ Splashup, formerly Fauxto, is a powerful editing tool and photo manager. With all the features professionals use and novices want, it’s easy to use, works in real-time and allows you to edit many images at once. Splashup runs in all browsers, integrates seamlessly with top photosharing sites, and even has its own file format so you can save your work in progress.”

It of course doent have ALL the features of photoshop but its by far the most interactive online imaging program out there.

I suggest at least checking it out.

How to Password protect Word 2007

To password protect a Microsoft Word 2007 file,

1. Click on the Microsoft Office Button.
2. Click Save As.
3. Click Tools.
4. Click General Options.
5. Enter the password to open or modify (one or both).
6. Click OK.Publish Post
7. When prompted, retype your passwords to confirm them, and click OK.
8. Click Save.

How to Password protect PowerPoint 2007

To password protect a Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 file,

1. Click on the Microsoft Office Button.
2. Click Save As.
3. Click Tools.
4. Click General Options.
5. Enter the password to open or modify (one or both).
6. Click OK.
7. When prompted, retype your passwords to confirm them, and click OK.
8. Click Save.

How to create an easy to remember, hard to break password

Choosing a secure password is easy. What you need is a combination of a alphabet in upper and lower cases, numbers, and symbols, and the most important is, it is a nonsense string (not in the dictionary). An example of good password is iH2c&1W. However, can you memorize it (or, a multiple of it)?

A good practice is to have a unique password for each application that you use. Do not share one password for everything. Once the password is revealed, the other person could access to all your applications. Once again, how can you memorize a multiple of nonsense like iH2c&1W.

One way to create the password is by using events or situations, that is relevant and important to you. For example, let say that you have 2 cars and 1 wife. One possible password that could be generated from this situation is iH2c&1W, using the first letter of each word, from the string “i have 2 cars and 1 wife”.

If you find that it is still hard to remember passwords that are generated using this technique, perhaps you need a password manager. A password manager is an application that use a single password to access all your passwords. Some of password manager could also generate a good password for you. However, you don’t have to memorize those passwords, since it is secured inside the password manager. You only need one password to access all your other passwords

As a conclusion, a secure password should be in the form of random alphanumeric and symbols. A password should be unique for each application. To create a password that is easy for you to remember, one possible solution is to generate it based on the events or situation that is related and important to you. The last resort is to use a password manager.