How well does Voice over Internet work for folks who rely on dial-up? I’ve not had much luck with Skype — it comes across as crackly, jerky and fenerky (I made up the last word.) A company called NetZero is now offering a VoIP service it says works well for dial-up users: “We believe consumers should… Read More »
There’s a growing noise about Sony’s apparent attempt to install digital rights management software usually associated with bad guys trying to maintain control of a compromised computer: Mark’s Sysinternals Blog: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far: The entire experience was frustrating and irritating. Not only had Sony put software on my system… Read More »
EVDB.com, a calendaring whats-on website I mentioned a few months back in a column, has renamed and relaunched itself, as Eventful. A Letter from the CEO explains some of the changes: Among today’s changes, you’ll notice lots of new capabilities on the search front. You can now search for events, venues, calendars, and users. We’ve… Read More »
eBay Inc. has agreed to acquire Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA, the global Internet communications company, for approximately $2.6 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock, plus potential performance-based consideration. Here’s the rest of the release: The acquisition will strengthen eBay’s global marketplace and payments platform, while opening several new lines of business and creating significant… Read More »
Good piece in this month’s US Banker magazine on phishing. Some tidbits: Phishing is getting more and more sophisticated. I’ve detailed some of those tricks in this blog, but here’s one I hadn’t heard of: Crooks [the unfortunately named Ted Crooks, vp of identity protection solutions at Fair Isaac] says that “the level of cleverness… Read More »