Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Looking for "Freespire" (a free copy of Linspire)?You've come to the right place...

For the next few days, you can obtain a free digital copy of Linspire by following the instructions below.

Hurry! This truly "free” Linspire offer ends September 6th, 2005!

FEMA and RED CROSS reward lawbreakers and punish law-abiders; should be disbanned

Those who obeyed the law and left Lousiana before the storm, are now being turned away from federally funded and privately funded shelter in Houston, Texas, while those who illegally stayed behind and endangered their lives but made it to the SuperDome are being rewareded.

I wouldn't reward bad behaviour in my children and law-abiding citizens being turned away from the Houston Astrodome have a right to be livid. I am.

FEMA and large private "help" organizations are such a waste of tax payers money.

I would not be upset if FEMA were helping those who obeyed the law, but to do the exact opposite makes me outrageously mad.

President Bush, I love you brother, but we have got to clean house. Please do something to change this.

I cannot believe that while national guard can be called in to police the hurricane stricken areas that people have to live in fear of criminals wandering the streets stealing and brandishing fire arms. Is this what America has come to?

Is America no more than public facing buearocrats doing what seems to be right, but is actually DEAD WRONG? Is America no more than a country that allows anarchy in the aftermath of such a disaster? Is this what I served my country in the armed forces for? YUCK!

And, where are the volunteers from other countries? We sent troops, and volunteers when the Tsunami hit. Does the rest of the world think they deserve it by America doesn't?

Unbelievable! Outrageous!

Disban FEMA and Red Cross and the National Guard! Why? They don't mean anything anyway.

Opinion: Five reasons NOT to use Linux

This amazing article cuts through the krap.
this article here
Don't read it unless you mean it.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Vista Gives the Linux Desktop a Chance

Vista Gives the Linux Desktop a Chance: "Opinion: It's late, it's lame and installing it won't be cheap, so now is the perfect time for Linux desktop vendors to make a charge at Microsoft. "

Monday, August 29, 2005

Via Garageband and Podcast Studio, our first official podcast

Our first official podcast



Welcome to the inagural podcast from your favorite Houston Tech-san, CrusaderX.

Tell everyone to subscribe to this feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/crusaderxpod

Sunday, August 28, 2005

It's Not Their Fault | this WEEK in TECH


Leo Laporte said, "I've corresponded with Rick Klau at Feedburner and he's explained what happened. He merely quoted numbers that were already available publicly through the Feedburner Awareness API".

And, I received a comment on my blogspot blog from Rick Klau himself:
"Not sure if you saw Leo's follow-up here. Quick summary: This Week In Tech had our "awareness API" feature enabled, which shared podcast stats with other parties like Podfeed and PodNova, who then use it to rank podcasts.

We've updated our policy on sharing info (even if it is publicly available) - details are here.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to drop me a line. We take our publishers' concerns very seriously, and want to ensure that we are completely upfront about what we do (and why).

Regards,

Rick"

So, I appologize to Feedburner for jumping on Leo's bandwagon. However, what was apparrent in all of this is maturity in communication includes admitting when one is wrong and non-defensive explanation when someone is wrong.

Thanks Rick for commenting on our blog and I hope this counter post helps even the keel.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Boy Was I Dumb | this WEEK in TECH


"Yesterday Information Week published an article about podcasting quoting Feedburner's VP Business Development, Rick Klau. Klau quoted a figure of 41,000 for our subscribers. This is in direct violation of Feedburners stated privacy policy, and I consider it a real breach of trust. This information is proprietary and they don't have my permission to disclose it to any third party. It also damages us materially since he severely understated our subscriber base. We have 100,000 downloads per show from AOL alone." -- Leo Laporte, TWIT
Toyota Prius

Follow-up on our Prius purchase. After finally driving 340.7 miles according to the trip meter on our new Prius, we filled up with 8.4 gallons of $2.49 gas at Costco around the corner. Compared to the 19 mpg we got with the van we traded in for the prius, we got 40 mpg there abouts. This is our first tank of gas.

With gas going up 19 cents this month and it isn't over yet, I am feeling smarter and smarter. You see, we justified the purchase based on a rise in gas prices over the next four years such that the average price of a gallon of gas would be $4.00. If this is true, we figured the gas savings would pay for our increased expense to purchase the Prius since we weren't making any payments on the minivan.

It looks to me like we will get to $4.00 a gallon by the end of next summer. So that means three years of extended savings or money back in our wallets!

After resetting the MPG and trip meters on the Prius at the first fillup, we were averaging 40-50 mpg based on our typical driving. Then we took the car into the Toyota dealer to get the tint on that was part of our agreeing to get the car and now our mpg is down around 38 according to the meter. We have to take the car back to the dealer next week. I am sure that will mean even worse MPG, but after that we will need to refill the tank again I am sure. It will be exciting to see what our first entirely us tank of gas will average MPG.

Anyway, blog on.

CopyKat.com - Your home for recipes you'd normally find AWAY from home.



Remember when the recipes software was all the rage? Remember the Recipe BBSes? Oh? Well, I do.

This post is for those in your life who would love to copy that great dish from a restaurant you all love at home.

Dig in.

The home page of GAG - main



As recommended on Call For Help TV program in Canada by Leo Laporte: "GAG (initials, in spanish, of Graphical Boot Manager) is a Boot Manager program. It's loaded when the computer is turned on and allows you to choose the operating system you want to use."

Apple's software for budding vidcasters



Add your touch to on-demand video.

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon are gathering for a beautiful sunset sky show.

Something nice is happening in the sunset sky. Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, are converging, and they're going to be beautifully close together for the next two weeks.

read more | digg story

Friday, August 26, 2005

Sysinternals Freeware - RootkitRevealer



"RootkitRevealer is an advanced patent-pending root kit detection utility."

Security Now Episode 2



You HAVE to listen to this. Microsoft admits that there are sites out there exploiting vulnerabilities in windows boxes yet to have been discovered.

Comments are welcome

Zinio: Download BusinessWeek, PC Mag & more Now!


Save money on digital magazines????
Please comment and tell us what you think.

Reinvented Software - Feeder - Create RSS Feeds on Mac OS X


"Feeder is an application for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds on Mac OS X. With Feeder you don't need to understand RSS to create feeds and publish them to the web."

Leo Laporte's Call For Help Bittorrent tracker site

This site contains the archive of all the Canadian Call For Help shows

read more | digg story

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

GMAIL New feature

For all of those forwarding their other accounts to gmail and just replying with GMAIL, now you can verify an address other than your gmail address and then send as that from gmail.

Just go to your settings and the accounts tab to "Add another email address".

This will bring up the option to verify the address with a link in an email to that address which you click and then you have the ability to email from it.

Now you can get the free spam filtering and great mail functionalities of Gmail with your other email accounts too.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Google does free Instant Messaging!

I am logged in using the GAIM settings for linux.

Try this and IM me asap.

This is one of the BIG buzz items from Google lately.

Eric
MP3's for your podcast

Create your own mixes a simple yet effective way so that you have "hip" music in your podcasts.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Build the best paper airplane in the world! How to build it, how to fly it.

WOW!
A compilation of tech guru Leo Laporte's podcasts from the past week.

Leo is really starting to have a radio station of his own.

Put the feed up on your http://www.google.com/ig : http://feeds.feedburner.com/leo and that way you can know when the latest show is up there.

Leo needs someone to do the techie stuff in the background for him so that he can be putting out more shows. Maybe, if we all beg for it, he will start putting up video copies of his CFH shows and his other shows so we can watch them again.

:D
Light that travels faster than the speed of light

Could this mess up all that we "know" about the universe? Does this change things about relativity and about time travel?

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Leo's back on CFH



...well sorta. It is Canada. Why do the canucks have all the luck?
Flame posts on rise on DIGG

Discouraging novice posters, flamers (those who write excessively negative comments in a voice ranging from chastizement to flat out extreme rudeness) have begun to raise their UGLY heads on the latest community bookmarking site digg.com.

Kevin Rose and gang are the reason I found digg. And I really dugg digg, but sifting through the negativity on the site to get to valuable stuff has become harder and harder. Sorry Kevin and gang, I might listen to Diggnation, but I wont be coming back to digg.com until the flames go away. Why should I post links to a place where the novice readers of my blog would go and end up trying to participate only to get flamed? There is enough negativity in this world to sift through that most people wont go through it on purpose. Oh, well, it was nice while it lasted.

Join On demand Video News from TechWeb

TechWeb.com is looking for contributors to their "Thenewsshow.tv".

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

No foolproof way to beat virus...

"For now, though, computer analysts broadly agree that virus attacks are only to be expected, and users must be proactive by downloading patches as soon as they are issued, as a completely foolproof anti-virus system is still not available."

Digital Life TV with Patrick Norton Tonight!

Ok guys, time to spread the word! Digital Life TV will air LIVE tonight (and every Tuesday) at 9pm eastern/6pm pacific. Just point your browser to the link above. It will also be available on demand tomorrow (not sure when though).

read more | digg story

See the first ever video from inside a tornado!

It's a technological first. A well-placed probe fitted with 7 video cameras�6 with a 60-degree field-of-view designed to achieve a full 360-degree field-of-view (one failed during deployment, resulting in a 300-degree field-of-view) and one pointing upward�captures footage inside a tornado.

read more | digg story

7 Mistakes for your First Week Blogging

"If you take a look at the empty, burned-out shells of abandoned blogs that litter the blogosphere, you can begin to notice common mistakes that set apart the ones that fail in the first seven days."

A quick read on how to create a better blog and not fill up the net with dead sites.

read more | digg story

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

The latest worms got into the hig corporations being hit via unprotected laptops.
Short-Term Energy Outlook - Regional EnhancementsLink
Starting with this edition of the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA is introducing regional projections (the scope of which will vary by fuel) of energy prices, consumption, and production.

Hybrid Supercar

Wow, this Hybrid Supercar can do 0-60 in the low 4-seconds and can get 50mpg. Developed by a bunch of High School kids, the car is call "The Attack" and looks just as good as it performs.

Sign me up, where can I buy one?

read more | digg story

Excuse to get a hybrid based on historical gas prices

DOE's historical data on gas prices



If you are like me and you want to be able to predict statistically how gas prices will rise based on the history of prices in your area, then this is about as thourough as you can get.

This is my excuse to buy a hybrid car: if the average price over the next 48 months will be somewhere around $4.00 (based on anything above 6.7 cent increases on average every month) then my Kia Sedona Minivan getting 14 MPG will cost me about $200-$300 extra to run each month. In other words, the savings I'd see even at a realistic 45 MPG in a prius would pay about $200-$300 of the payments on the new prius. And, that doesn't even take into account the $2000 approx. tax incentive from the government, nor rising maintenance for the now 3 year old minivan... You see where I am going?

Besides, I'd much rather spend $50 a month in gash than $300. At 14 MPG from my minivan now, that works out to $0.17 cents a mile at $2.40 per gallon, so if I average 1000 miles a month then that is $170 right? Then 45 MPG? $0.053 cents a mile is $53 a month, right? Well, that ain't bad and that is based on current prices here in Houston. Average 6.7 cents a month increase and the average price over 48 months would be about $3.93, and at that 14 MPG is $281.04 a month and 45 MPG is $87.43 which is approximately $200 savings, right?

Just hyper analytical food for thought. :D

Correct me if I am wrong.

digg story

Monday, August 15, 2005

Matt Basham's Storefront - Lulu.com

CCNA books, some free, others great prices.
Get Started on Lulu - A Tour of the Publishing Process
This is the publishing demo for how to publish on lulu.com
Lulu.com - Self Publishing - Free

Budding writers, get published! Guaranteed! Lulu.com was founded by the founder of Red Hat Linux and it will overturn the publishing industry just as Red Hat overturned the OS industry.

Try it out. Publish your book, and send us the link and we will blog it here for everyone.

Urine Powered Battery

Scientists have developed a paper-thin urine powered battery. Wonder if they'll be able to spin this into the next generation of Hybrid vehicles. Would make "filling up" the car interesting..

Now, potty breaks would fuel long road trips. :D

read more | digg story

Apple changes podcast rankings

Apple changed the way it lists its most popular podcasts in the iTunes Music Store over the weekend, using the term �Today�s Top Podcasts� in place of �Top Podcasts.� The move came shortly after Podcaster Adam Curry noted that the �Top Podcasts� list was time-based, rather than an aggregate figure.

read more | digg story

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Don't Get Cozy With Ajax Just Yet

AJAX, the web technology that is spreading like wildfire and powers Google Maps, Flickr, Gmail, and even parts of Digg, is on everyone's mind right now. The problem is, AJAX provides the biggest security hole in years, allowing your keystrokes to be monitored, and other negative things. Devs and users, don't get too cozy with AJAX just yet.

read more | digg story

Cracking the code

Why are companies teaching their own staff to hack?

Every size company should be audited for security.

read more | digg story

I hope your windows boxes are patched...

SANS is reporting a new worm variant that makes your machine a zombie FTP server. Oooo! Scary!

read more | digg story
SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System - Current Infosec News and Analysis

This is the reason for all the 445 traffic lately.

"Updated August 14th 2005 18:34 UTC
MS05-039 Worm in the wild

-039 is NOT Microsoft's lucky number"

For home and corporate networks with Microsoft computer, it would be better to just disconnect from the web until you can get an expert to protect the network. If you need an expert just call. ;)

CSS examples galore

If you learn by seeing others work this is the site for you, lots of web pages that apply CSS at full extent, ordered by popularity.

This is also a great place to let clients pick out the style they want to tweak.

read more | digg story

ISPs versus the zombies


"In the next few months, ISPs in the United States will begin receiving reports on the zombies, or PCs open to control by hackers, that lurk on their networks. The data will be sent out by the Federal Trade Commission, which said in May that zombies have become such a serious problem that more industry action is required.
What's new:
Internet service providers face mounting pressure to keep their networks free of zombies, which are increasingly used to launch phishing and other attacks.

Bottom line:
If ISPs don't assume more responsibility for cleaning up, people could lose their trust in online activity and the Internet take a hit, experts warn."



read more | digg story

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Mars closest in 5000 years rumors untrue

Email hoax about Mars being closest in 5000 years untrue, it happened 2 years ago. This year it will happen to a lesser degree on Halloween.

read more | digg story

Friday, August 12, 2005

SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System - Current Infosec News and Analysis

"Infocon Yellow; Windows and Backup Exec exploits are out, where are the exploits, NIST drafts, Snort signatures

Infocon: Yellow"

It has been a LONG time since ISC has raised the infocon to yellow.

Heed the advice in this handler's diary august 12th, 2005.
Unix Review > UnixReview.com > Marcel's Linux Game of the Month : TORCS

Marcel reports, "I'm thankful for TORCS, a beautiful 3-D auto race game for the serious race fan."

Wired News: Mac Hacks Allow OS X on PCs

"Apple wants to avoid the word getting out that (MacIntels) are just PCs, and that (OSx86) works on PCs"

Sorry Mr. Jobs, I know you are known for knowing better than the market, but I think Apple should concentrate on being a software company. TPM sucks. It is a horrible hack. What an eyesore on Apple!

I love my Mac Mini and because OSX doesn't run on intel boxes without TPM out of the box, I cannot recommend it to my clients. You could be worried about the issue of supporting all of that hardware, but FreeBSD/NetBSD already supports a subset of intel-based hardware and with Apple's brain trust, I am sure you can support hardware makers who want to certify Apple ready.

My IT Consultancy doesn't even make a red cent off of hardware anymore because it is sooooo cheap. But, Apple will still sell Apple hardware to those who love the Apple cool.

I am sure that you just feel pressured by everyone like me, and that is probably driving you into your corner even more. But, I think you can see it.

Apple will still be a computer hardware company and come out with great ideas. Just get OSX into the software realm and quit worrying about TPM.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

100-Mbit Cable Internet To Hit U.S. In 2006

Broadband Internet access via TV cables can reach 100 Megabits per second as early as next year, 50 times faster than the average broadband speeds now offered to cable TV homes, a Finnish firm said on Wednesday.

read more | digg story
Personalized Google -- Add our feed and all your favorite feeds.

With all of your favorite feeds on this page you can log in to any computer and get your fix. Plus, you can set this as your home page and everytime you open your browser or press the home page you will get your feeds refreshed.

Add our feed to your personalized version of Google by going to http://www.google.com/ig and pressing the "Add content" button in the upper left hand of the page. Then under custom feed, just copy and paste our feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/crusaderx . Viola, our feed will be your personalized google page.

It has been confirmed through the rumor mill that Google is caching these feeds as we add them, so look for further features soon.

ADD our feed and keep up with the latest CrusaderX.
Dell Ups Wattage of LAMP

This just proves that I was right for the last 3 to 5 years. Hate to say "I told you so", but I did and I was probably obnoxious about it. :D

Dell said at LinuxWorld that they will officially support Linux.
Unix Review > UnixReview.com > Tool of the Month: DenyHosts

Dedicated server users, if you are running Linux you should consider this and portsentry and shorewall as the best combination start. But, the rpm is hard to install. I got it working on one Mandriva 2005 LE webserver, but a Fedora dedicated server I maintain still refuses to work with it. So, I will get it working with the tarball.

This is a very simple (simlistic) list of basic security for Linux servers on the web.
AllowUsers in /etc/ssh/sshd_config for only allowed users
secure passwords for said users
denyhosts.py
portsentry
change default port for webmin to something other than 10000
shorewall's basic setup should work pretty well right out of the box.

Our company specializes in network security and Open Source solutions. Maybe we can help.

iTunes "Clickgate" Hits Major News Outlets

A couple days after the discovery of the iTunes click-until-your-fingers-fall-off free for all. BusinessWeek stands up and takes notice.

Read: you can move your podcast up the list by constantly subscribing to it.

read more | digg story

Spam Zombies; Should users be held responsible if their machine is a zombie

Wouldn't you want the thousands of users whose computers are slowing down due to the large amount of spam they are sending to be held responsible for being used like that? Or, should ISPs put throttles on outbound email from all their users?

read more | digg story
Fergie's Tech Blog: New Keylogger Steals Passwords From IE

"The keylogger behind a major identity theft ring is especially invasive, said an anti-spyware vendor Thursday as it prepared to roll out a free detection and deletion tool."

Ferguson is a member of the NANOG. Google NANOG to find out more. Thanks Paul for alerting us to this problem.

People if you are using IE I hate to say it, but "I TOLD YOU SO." Cease using IE immediately or surf at your own peril.

This sort of thing doesn't happen on Mac and Linux because most people just use Microsoft blindly and crackers know it.

Take advantage of it and avoid these issues. You can still use your other MS products if you need. Need to know more? Ask me.

digg it
Review of SUSE Linux Professional 9.3 | Marcel Gagné

Thanks Marcel for reviewing this distro. There just isn't enough time to review all the distros out there.

I am sticking with my favorite for most solutions, but I am recommending knoppix and especially knoppmyth for some applications. Ask me why.
Long time no see everyone. I just got a very interesting email. I had actually given up on this herb until I read this. Now, my distrust of "modern" medicine is again in the dumps.

"It's time once again to fill in some key details the news anchors left out.

If you've ever successfully used echinacea to help prevent or treat common colds, you might have been surprised to find out that this herb doesn't work.

Well, that's the conclusion researchers from the University of Virginia (UV) School of Medicine came up with, anyway. Problem is...there are some glaring weaknesses in this study. And it's a shame, because 1) many people may now shy away from using echinacea products, and 2) the researchers could have put to use an ideal design for an echinacea study, developed by an HSI Panelist.

--------------------------------------------
Ah, to be young and bulletproof
--------------------------------------------

The UV team recruited about 400 students. All of them received a squirt up the nose of rhinovirus (a common virus that prompts upper respiratory infections). Half of the group began taking echinacea or a placebo seven days before being "challenged" with the rhinovirus. The other subjects began taking echinacea right after they received the virus.

After five days of treatment researchers concluded that echinacea produced no significant effects on rates of infection or severity of symptoms.

Those are the nut and bolts. Now...Problem Number 1: Dosage. Subjects were given 1.5 ml doses of echinacea three times each day. This is the dosage level set by the German government. And while it might be perfect for German regulators, it's only ONE THIRD the dose that's recommended in most echinacea products. So right off the top, echinacea was put at a disadvantage.

Problem Number 2: The researchers prepared the echinacea extract used in the study. And - who knows? - they might have done a very good job of it. But if you were going to use an herbal product, would you choose one manufactured by a reputable company with expertise in this area, or one prepared by researchers with expertise in...research?

Problem Number 3: Remember when you were young and bulletproof? All of the subjects in this study were students. Here's how HSI Panelist Jon Barron looked at this factor in his Baseline of Health e-letter (8/1/05): "College students, tend to be at an age where they have highly competent immune systems to begin with, so the effects of immune system boosting would be less noticeable than in many other groups."

Three strikes and...yer out!

--------------------------------------------
It's an immune system thing
--------------------------------------------

That third problem mentioned above is the key to the way echinacea SHOULD be tested. In many previous studies this botanical has been shown to enhance the immune system. For some people - not all, but some - this enhancement helps prevent colds and flu and may shorten the duration of symptoms.

So instead of squirting virus up the noses of healthy young things, Jon Barron has a better idea. In Baseline of Health, he writes: "If you truly want to test the ability of Echinacea to boost the immune system. Find a test group that has below normal white cell counts. Supplement with high quality Echinacea extract. (Heck, I'll supply the extract for free for any qualified research group.) Test to see if the white cell counts go up."

Sounds like an excellent plan. If only researchers would take it to heart and the media would report it fairly.

And how much do those inaccurate headlines and incomplete reporting hurt? According to NutraIngredients, two large vitamin store chains have noted a sharp drop in vitamin E sales in the wake of a deeply flawed but widely reported vitamin E study published late last year. (For details, see Monday's e-Alert "E on Alert" 8/8/05).

--------------------------------------------
The root of goodness
--------------------------------------------

I'll say this for the University of Virginia study: They got one detail right. In preparing their echinacea extract they used only the roots of the plant, which is the most potent part. As Jon noted in 2003 when he was defending another attack on echinacea: "Potency runs from seed to root to leaf to almost none in the flower."

So when you're shopping for an echinacea product, look for the word "root" on the label, and avoid "flowers." Not only are flowers lowest in potency, they also contain pollen which may trigger allergic reactions in some users."

Friday, August 05, 2005

Learn Japanese for FREE

For those interested in other languages, try them out. It's free after all.

Ever Wanted to Learn to Program but Never Could?

This website is a very well-done tutorial on learning how to program. It uses concepts that are applicable to many languages, and its a great way to get started. Maybe best of all is that it teaches you in Ruby, the base of Ruby on Rails (the future of web development)!

I am just looking at Ruby and still prefer python, but looks fun.

read more | digg story

Sears Weatherbeater doors/windows are good quality, but don't buy them from Sears


The short of it looks like this:

  • Sears = approximately $1000 a window installed

  • Ind. Installer = approximately $350 a window installed


The difference between the windows? No "Sears" on the window locks. All of the window warrantee applies just the same.
We got robbed. Don't let it happen to you.

digg it

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Christmas gift ideas for children
Wired News: Christians Code Heavenly Games


For those who want to avoid violence, some of these games might be worth getting for your children. I can see a christian version of XPLAY here.
CrusaderX Search

Virus authors take a vacation, phishers keep working
SC Magazine - London,UK
by René Millman. [Thu, Aug 4, 2005] Virus authors appear to have gone on holiday, according to a new report. The Malware Report ... digg it
See all stories on this topic

The latest version of Windows isn't even out on the market yet and there are already viruses for it. Ouch!
Windows Vista targeted by virus writers
ZDNet UK - UK
Virus writers have published what are thought to be the first examples of malicious code targeting Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, around a week ... digg it
See all stories on this topic

Google vs. Yahoo usage Stats and Analysis

"Very Interesting Stats about the usage of Google and Yahoo different services, and some Analysis on those Stats."

It would be a shame for Yahoo and, God forbid, MSN to bump Google. As much of a brainshare as they have, they only need to take advantage of the loyal users they have and integrate all of the functionality that Yahoo has.

read more | digg story

Sign in to Yahoo! to create your Yahoo!360 page -- Beta


If you already have a Yahoo ID, check out the latest beta at Yahoo:

"Enjoy all the benefits of Yahoo! 360°.

* Keep connected to your friends and family.
* Create your own place online to share what matters to you.
* Share photos. Create a blog. List favorites. Send a blast.
* Control who can see what you've shared.

Get all the best with one Yahoo! ID.

Your Yahoo! ID gives you access to powerful communications tools like mail and instant messaging, security features like email AntiVirus and Pop-Up Blocker, and favorites like online photos and music — all for free."

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Xmail Hard Drive.com :::::::: turn gmail™into a portable hard drive for FREE


Need to move something very large from one place to another?
This could be the easiest thing for a corporate number who cannot download gmail drive and install it.

Need a gmail invite? Let me know.
From the Hall: GmailThis!

This makes gmailing info from sites you are on VERY easy.

It is as simple as dragging the link "GmailThis!" to your links toolbar on your browser. Now, whichever gmail account you are logged into from that comptuer will send the message you create just clicking the newly created link.
Model Rocket Video Camera Australia - Aussie RocketCam

This is just TOO cool. I cannot wait until I can do this with my kids in a couple of years.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Paul Thurrott Calls for IE boycott !!!

My advice here is simple: Boycott Internet Explorer. It is a cancer on the Web, and must be stopped. IE is insecure and is not standards-compliant, which makes it unworkable for both end users and Web content creators.

read more | digg story
Paul is the editor and chief of Windows IT Pro.

Firefox Popups

You know those annoying flash popups...Well you can say goodbye to them now.

about:config in Firefox gives you the kind of control that open source is notorious for. Thanks Firefox.

read more | digg story

New NASA Space Shuttles

New NASA Space Shuttles - pictures and designs

When this happens, the return to earth could be in your backyard if you live in the Western US.

read more | digg story

CD-R's & DVD-R's could last only 2 years

Writable CD's and DVD's might last less than a few years instead of the 100 years advertised. You know what that means, don't trust valuable data solely to those CD-R's everyone swears by.

read more | digg story

Novell Goes for SCO's Throat


Novell doesn't simply deny that SCO has any rights to Unix's copyrights; the company is claiming that SCO has no rights to sell Unix licenses and that SCO must turn over all its Unix royalties to it.
Wired News: Router Flaw Is a Ticking Bomb: "the version that makes this an unstoppable critical problem is not out yet"

Free Attourney's Advice
Protect your identity


ATTORNEY'S ADVICE -- NO CHARGE

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it
someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice.
A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.


1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first
name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook,
they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your
first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.


2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID
REQUIRED".


3 When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT
put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the
last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and
anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check
processing channels won't have access to it.


4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you
have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO
Box, use your work address. Never have your SSN# printed on your checks.
(DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone
can get it.


5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides
of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in
your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and
cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my
passport when travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories
about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, SSN, credit
cards.


Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet
was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an
expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a
credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from
DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's
some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or
someone you know:


1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the
key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know
whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.


2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit
cards, etc. were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent,
and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).


But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to
do this.)


3. Call the two national credit reporting organizations immediately to
place a fraud alert on your name and Social Insurance number. I had never
heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an
application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert
means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen,
and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time
I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage
had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the
thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert.
Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my
wallet away. This weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped
them dead in their tracks.


Now, here are the numbers and addresses of the U.S. credit reporting
agencies you should contact about identity theft:

1.) Equifax (U.S.) 1-800525-6285
P. O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

2.) TransUnion (U.S.) 1-800-680-7289
P. O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92634

3.) Experian (U. S.) 1-888-397-3742
P. O. Box 9530
Allen, TX 75013


We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything.
But if you are willing to pass this information along, it
could really help someone that you care about.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Looked for scam stuff on acetone on the net. NOTHING really

Octane and Mileage


In fact, this article confirms it very decisively. I bought some today and will try in our next tank. It should take 3 full tanks before we can define our mileage for certain. Let you know.

"ACETONE as an additive is very high in octane. By itself, it is rated at 150. Acetone will increase your mileage more than any other common additive. But watch it and do not get acetone on your paint. It only takes 2 to 3 ounces per ten gallons to greatly improve fuel vaporization. We try not to add too much acetone into our gasoline because it can raise the octane too high for best mileage. Acetone acts like an electron absorber. There is a chart in our ACETONE article explaining the correct use of acetone in your fuel. We treat acetone as a vaporization tool rather than an actual fuel component because the aim is to reduce the amount of unburned fuel speeding out the exhaust."

Dvorak Uncensored » Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act.


This latest examle of tech ignorance in our public servants.

We really want a real Tech Guru CZAR to slap the congress in the face when the make stupid bills like this.

Podscope - Search Podcasts


Search for dictionary words in podcasts.

How To Build Your Own Paper Rocket

its easy,it light, its made of paper, it launches 5 metres..wait launches 5 metres?

read more | digg story

Acetone In Fuel Said to Increase Mileage

"Really works! This has been posted before but with gas so high now thought i'd share.I am getting 4 more miles per gallon..."

Okay, this should be done by everyone so that the Oil Comanies get a gut check and drop the gas prices. Would that work?

read more | digg story