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Printer

Submission + - The Inkjet Investigation

Submitted by Tikelaed
Tikelaed writes: http://www.trustedreviews.com/printers/review/2007 The single biggest complaint that customers have against manufacturers of ink-jet printers and all-in-ones is the cost of consumables. While hardware prices continue to drop, the costs of ink and paper stay pretty much the same and, each year, can well add up to a good proportion of the purchase price of a machine. This is why third-party ink and paper has proved so popular. At a fraction of the price of manufacturer's own products, you can buy look-alike consumables which appear to do exactly the same job as the originals. But there's a nagging doubt in the back of the mind that the quality of the resulting prints won't be up to the original manufacturers' standard — a doubt which is played upon by all the main printer makers.
Microsoft

Submission + - Gates-in-space report a fabrication?

Submitted by
netbuzz
netbuzz writes: "A Russian media fabrication, says Charles Simonyi, who should know given that he was reportedly the source who told a Russian cosmonaut that the world's richest man would soon be taking an expensive out-of-this-world vacation. However, the cosmonaut is said to have made his remarks about Simonyi's comments and Gates' intentions on Russian television, which if true would put this media "fabrication" on a par with the NASA's fake moon landing.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1443 0"
Security

Submission + - How I'd Hack Your Weak Passwords

Submitted by Tikelaed
Tikelaed writes: http://onemansblog.com/2007/03/26/how-id-hack-your -weak-passwords/ you invited me to try and crack your password, you know the one that you use over and over for like every web page you visit, how many guesses would it take before I got it? Let's see... here is my top 10 list. I can obtain most of this information much easier than you think, then I might just be able to get into your e-mail, computer, or online banking. After all, if I get into one I'll probably get into all of them. 1. Your partner, child, or pet's name, possibly followed by a 0 or 1 (because they're always making you use a number, aren't they?) 2. The last 4 digits of your social security number. 3. 123 or 1234 or 123456. 4. "password" 5. Your city, or college, football team name. 6. Date of birth — yours, your partner's or your child's. 7. "god" 8. "letmein" 9. "money" 10. "love"
Operating Systems

Submission + - IDE cables and Unmountable Boot Volume error

Submitted by
toinks
toinks writes: "Its surprising that there are still people out there that actually used a 40-pin IDE cable instead of an 80-pin one. Result? The blue screen Unmountable Boot Volume error. Good thing a simple IDE cable change is all that's needed. But there are two more that could be the cause of this annoyance... as I have found out at this unmountable boot volume error fix page ."
Linux Business

Submission + - Linux's target: 1Bn users by 2015

Submitted by bWareiWare.co.uk
bWareiWare.co.uk writes: Microsoft's business plan is to double the number of Windows users by 2015. What is stopping Linux winning these new users instead and breaking Microsoft's monopoly?

Most of these users will be from markets where Microsoft's current monopoly is easier to overcome, and have a large incentive to keep there money in the local economy rather then flowing out to a US firm. The growing tend for copyright protectionism is making even pirate copies of Windows less attractive.

Surely Linux evangelists could do more could here then fighting on Microsoft's home ground.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Has Leopard fallen into a Copland-Vista Conundrum?

Submitted by mail.app
mail.app writes: Is Apple's delay of Leopard turning into a new Copland/Vista style catastrophe? RDM presents the events behind Apple's Copland problems in the mid 90s and Microsoft's more recent Vista crisis and compares them to today's delay of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The factors that held up both Copland and Vista had many parallels, including excessive legacy baggage and a reliance on closed, proprietary development. Has Leopard fallen into a similar Copland-Vista Conundrum?
Power

Submission + - An Inconvenient Truth, Indeed.

Submitted by Radon360
Radon360 writes: The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has checked into Al Gore's carbon footprint with the Nashville Electric Service, and the results were not very promising. It turns out, according to their records, Gore's mansion and guest house consumed twice as much energy in one month than the average American household consumes in a year. Energy use at the Gore homestead has also risen markedly after the release of the movie "An Inconvenient Truth". While electrical consumption was more than 20 times average, natural gas consumption is well above average as well.

It appears that Al Gore has an inconvenient truth of his own.
The Matrix

Submission + - Do we need to make voting mandatory?

Submitted by
gd23ka
gd23ka writes: "Australia and Belgium force their electorate to the ballot boxes. Disaffected in Australia and don't want to get out of bed on election day? Pay a fine or go to jail or at least explain why you couldn't come. With these laws on their books both countries enjoy a high percentage of participation in their elections. Proponents say that forced participation in the elections strengthens democracy. What are your thoughts on the matter? You can read Slate's opinion piece first or tell me right away: Is mandatory voting a good idea for America?"
Microsoft

Submission + - Open-source vs. Microsoft in Australian University

Submitted by
AlexGr
AlexGr writes: "ZDNet Australia, By David Braue Organizations considering a change of productivity suites may do well to follow the example of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which has taken a cautious approach to Microsoft Office 2007 and instead focused on sprucing up its back-end messaging environment. The university, which has more than 40,000 students in a variety of disciplines, began revisiting its messaging environment — a concatenation of standalone best-of-breed products that were poorly integrated — after a Gartner review suggested it encourage collaboration by embracing unified messaging. http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Despi te_open_source_ideology_QUT_embraces_Microsoft_int egration/0,139023769,339273682,00.htm"
Google

Submission + - Google: Don't blame heat for disk drive failures

Submitted by
BobB
BobB writes: "Temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit may not be damaging to disk drives, according to new research by Google engineers which casts doubt on previous findings linking heat to elevated failure rates. After studying five years worth of monitoring statistics from Google's massive data centers, researchers say they could find no consistent pattern linking failure rates to high temperatures or high utilization levels. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/022607-googl e-disk-drives.html"
Security

Submission + - Note to new Linux users: No antivirus

Submitted by
Cope57
Cope57 writes: "Linux.com | Note to new Linux users: No antivirus
By: Joe Barr"


Savvy Windows users have to watch their virus checkers as closely as the head nurse in the ICU keeps an eye on patient monitors. Often, the buzz in the Windows security world is about which protection-for-profit firm was the first to discover and offer protection for the malware du jour — or should I say malware de l'heure? The only thing better than having backed the winning Super Bowl team come Monday morning at the office coffeepot is having the virus checker you use be the one winning the malware sweepstakes that weekend.

If a rogue program finds a crack in your Windows armor, paying $200 per infection to have your machine scrubbed and sanitized by the local goon^H^H^H^H geek squad not only helps to reinforce the notion that you have to have malware protection, but that it has to be the right protection, too. The malware firms are aware of this, and all of their advertising plays upon the insecurity fears of Windows users and the paranoia that results. Chronic exposure and vulnerability to malware has conditioned Windows users to accept this security tax.

It's no wonder, then, that when Windows users are finally able to break their chains and experience freedom on a Linux desktop, they stare at me in disbelief when I tell them to lay that burden down. They are reluctant to stop totin' that load. They have come to expect to pay a toll for a modicum of security.

I try to explain that permissions on Linux make such tribute unnecessary. Without quibbling over the definitions of viruses and trojans, I tell them that neither can execute on your machine unless you explicitly give them permission to do so.

Permissions on Linux are universal. They cover three things you can do with files: read, write, and execute. Not only that, they come in three levels: for the root user, for the individual user who is signed in, and for the rest of the world. Typically, software that can impact the system as a whole requires root privileges to run.

Microsoft designed Windows to enable outsiders to execute software on your system. The company justifies that design by saying it enriches the user experience if a Web site can do "cool" things on your desktop. It should be clear by now that the only people being enriched by that design decision are those who make a buck providing additional security or repairing the damage to systems caused by it.

Malware in Windows Land is usually spread by email clients, browser bits, or IM clients, which graciously accept the poisoned fruit from others, then neatly deposit it on their masters' systems, where malware authors know it will likely be executed and do their bidding — without ever asking permission.

Some malware programs require that you open an attachment. Others don't even require that user error. By hook or by crook, malware on Windows often gets executed, infecting the local system first, then spreading itself to others. What a terrible neighborhood. I'm glad I don't live there.

On Linux, there is built-in protection against such craft. Newly deposited files from your email client or Web browser are not given execute privileges. Cleverly renaming executable files as something else doesn't matter, because Linux and its applications don't depend on file extensions to identify the properties of a file, so they won't mistakenly execute malware as they interact with it.

Whether newcomers grok permissions or not, I try to explain the bottom line to them: that because they have chosen Linux, they are now free of having to pay either a security tax up front to protect themselves from malware, or one after the fact to have their systems sterilized after having been infected.

So Linux is bulletproof? No. Bulletproof is one of the last stages of drunkenness, not a state of security. Linux users, like users on every operating system, must always be aware of security issues. They must act intelligently to keep their systems safe and secure. They should not run programs with root privileges when they are not required, and they should apply security patches regularly.

Misleading claims and false advertising by virus protection rackets to the contrary, you simply don't need antivirus products to keep your Linux box free of malware.

"Original post at Linux.com"

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