News: Type Anywhere, On Anything

By | November 24, 2011
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 From the This Really Could Be Funky Dept: iBIZ Technology Corporation has introduced its Virtual Laser Keyboard and has promised to start shipping the unit by November for $99.00. The Virtual Keyboard is an infrared device that projects the image of a keyboard onto any surface, allowing you to type straight into a PDA, a desktop, a laptop or a cell phone running Windows and Palm’s operating systems. See a picture here.

News: Beware Of Patches That Don’t Patch

By | November 24, 2011
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 From the This Doesn’t Inspire Confidence Dept comes news that a patch recently released by Microsoft to fix a critical security vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser does not work, according to security experts. CNET says that the vulnerability was discovered by eEye Digital Security around four months ago. The vulnerability in question can be exploited by crafting a malicious HTML file that, when viewed by an Internet Explorer browser, extracts and executes malicious code.
 
Two patches have since been released, but, according to eEye, neither fixes the vulnerability it is supposed to. If you’re worried, disable active scripting in your browser until Microsoft updates the patch. (Go to Tools/Options/Security/Custom Level, and then scroll down until you get to Active Scripting.)

News: Another Shot In The Foot For The RIAA

By | November 24, 2011
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 The RIAA PR dept may not like this, but then again, they must have been pretty busy the past coupla months: The New York Post reports that The Recording Industry Association of America is suing a 12-year-old New York City girl.
 
Brianna LaHara was among 261 people sued for copying thousands of songs via popular Internet file-sharing software ? and thousands more suits could be on the way. They could face penalties of up to $150,000 per song, but the RIAA has already settled some cases for as little as $3,000. The Post quoted RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss as saying, when asked if the association knew Brianna was 12 when it decided to sue her: “We don’t have any personal information on any of the individuals.”

News: Popups Are Legal

By | November 24, 2011
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 Bad news for those of you who hate pop-up ads: A U.S. federal judge has rejected a lawsuit by truck and trailer rental company U-Haul which sought to ban software by Internet advertising company WhenU that launched rival pop-up ads when customers access U-Haul’s Web site, Reuters reports.
 
The judge said the ads don’t violate the law because WhenU’s software didn’t copy or use U-Haul’s trademark or copyright material, and because computer users themselves had chosen to download the pop-up software. He acknowledged that pop-up ads are often troublesome and annoying. “Alas, we computer users must endure pop-up advertising along with her ugly brother unsolicited bulk e-mail, ‘spam’, as a burden of using the Internet,” he wrote. I don’t want to be rude to a judge, but I just don’t buy that argument.

News: Invasion of the iPods

By | November 24, 2011
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 Apple have also just released 20GB and 40GB models of its best-selling iPod digital music player. The new 40GB iPod holds up to 10,000 CD-quality songs in an enclosure that is lighter and thinner than two CDs. iPods are available in three models: a 10GB model for just $299 (US), the new 20GB model for $399 (US) and the new 40GB model for $499 (US); and offer the perfect combination of ease of use, storage capacity, audio performance and ultra-portable design. Pretty amazing, really.
 
(Because of sluggish Internet connections caused by recent worm attacks, I’m not including graphics in most postings for the time being. Normal service will be resumed when normal service resumes elsewhere.)