Mar 5 2009

No Patch For Excel Zero-Day Flaw

CWmike writes “Microsoft said today that it will deliver three security updates on Tuesday, one of them marked ‘critical,’ but will not fix an Excel flaw that attackers are now exploiting. ‘It doesn’t look like we’re going to see patches for any open Microsoft security advisories,’ said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, pointing to three that have not yet been closed. Those include two advisories issued last year — one from April 2008, another from December — and the Excel alert published last week. ‘I’m not really surprised that the Excel vulnerability won’t be patched, what with the timeline,’ said Storms, ‘but the others have been open for a long time.'”

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Mar 5 2009

Opinion: Windows 7’s UAC is a broken mess; mend it or end it

The changes Microsoft has made to Windows 7’s UAC render it little more than a pesky annoyance. If this is the path the company wishes to go down, it should stop doing things by halves and kill it off altogether.

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Mar 5 2009

28 Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers

Adobe AIR is marvelous. Simple as that. It takes either or all HTML, JavaScript, Flash or Actionscript and builds you a desktop widget that is compatible across all operating systems and can be used at any time off-line. There are very few limitations, and anyone with even a little programming knowledge could build an app with relative ease.

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Mar 5 2009

Visual History of PC Data Storage – Punch Cards to Blu-Ray

Our storage options weren’t always as fanciful, fast, and fat as they are today. Some of you may remember toting a 3.5-inch floppy to and from school, while others hearken all the way back to cassette tapes. And if you’ve lived long enough to remember the IBM Punch Card first hand, just ask and we’ll SPEAK LOUDER.

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Mar 5 2009

iPhone Apps That Foretell The Future

These are the applications that offer clues as to how mobile users are likely to use their smartphones — whether it’s an iPhone or one of the iPhone’s rivals — in the months and years to come.

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Mar 5 2009

Google Earth: 5 Fun Ways to Waste Time

Let’s face it: You can kill a lot of time with Google Earth 5.0. With this highly-visual, recently-released tool, you can fly anywhere on Earth for free, from your neighborhood to your upcoming fishing spots. You can check out terrain and 3D buildings, plot your ideal vacation tour, explore the ocean floor and even see Mars up close. It’s a rich

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Mar 5 2009

The Coming Facebook-Twitter Collision

Forget about rivalries with MySpace and LinkedIn. Facebook’s real competition is coming from upstart microblogging site Twitter By Sarah Lacy Every time monthly Web traffic numbers are released, you can expect at least a half-dozen blogs to run a graph …

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Mar 5 2009

Can we build a world with open source?

“open source” – has been confined to software through such brilliant communal projects as Wikipedia, the Firefox browser (which now has 21.5% of the global market) or the Linux operating system. Interestingly, such products don’t appear in the figures for gross domestic product (GDP)…

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Mar 5 2009

Amazon.com To Accept Game Trade-Ins

revjtanton writes “Amid all the discussion and argument about Gamestop’s two-billion-dollar trade-in industry it seems Amazon.com is getting in on the action. Like Gamestop, Amazon asks for the games to be in good condition, however they offer just a few more dollars for your discarded game (Gamestop listed Left 4 Dead for the 360 at while Amazon had it at .50 trade-in value). Gamestop had already ruffled feathers in the developer and distribution communities with its practice of accepting used games; does Amazon joining the practice legitimize it?”

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Mar 5 2009

A History of Storage, From Punch Cards To Blu-ray

notthatwillsmith writes “Maximum PC just posted a comprehensive visual retrospective about data storage, starting with the once state of the art punch card and moving through the popular formats of yesteryear, including everything from magtape to Blu-ray discs. It’s amazing how much data you could pack on a few hundred feet of half-inch magnetic tape!”

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