March 2, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
2013 may become known as the year of hacker. Following sucessful hacks of Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and NBC‘s Web sites and servers, the popular multi-platform, note-taking Web application Evernote servers have been hacked.
March 1, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
What do you think your computer does most of the time? For most of us, most of the time, it just sits there idly spinning its wheels.
It doesn’t have to be that way. There are many distributed computer programs, such as Seti@home, the search for alien life; Folding@home, protein research for understanding how many diseases work; and the just announced Quantum Cures project which seeks to find cures for “orphan” diseases. Most can put your PC to useful work while you’re drinking coffee or asleep in your bed.
February 27, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
No one, but no one, in the Linux community likes Microsoft’s mandated deployment of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Secure Boot option in Windows 8 certified PCs. But, how Linux should handle the fixes required to deal with this problem remains a hot-button issue. Now, as the debate continues hot and heavy, Linus Torvalds, Linux’s founder and de facto leader, spells out how he thinks Linux should deal with Secure Boot keys.
Torvalds was mad as hell with proposals to place Secure Boot keys and their management into the Linux kernel itself. Torvalds called the idea “moronic.”
That said, there still needs to be some way to deal with the necessary evil of Secure Boot key management. Or, does there?
Torvalds clarifies Linux’s Windows 8 Secure Boot position. More >
February 27, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
On my test machine table, I have Google’s brand new Chromebook Pixel. Beside it, I have what had been the fastest Chromebook before it, the Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook. Is the Pixel better? Yes. No question about it. But, here’s the real question: Is it $850 better?
That’s not a mistake. The Pixel lists for $1,299. Some people are still reeling from Chromebook Pixel sticker shock. The Samsung Series 5 550 costs just $449. Yow! All that for a Chrome OS-based laptop which just has the Chrome Web browser running on top of an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution.
Some people are convinced that there’s no way that anyone will buy a Pixel. I find it hard to believe myself so I decide to compare and contrast my Samsung S5 550 with the Pixel to see if I could justify the Pixel’s price tag.
February 26, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
Microsoft has just released its newest browser for Windows 7: Internet Explorer (IE) 10. Days earlier, Google had released Chrome 25, its latest browser, for all platforms. So, now that both are available on the most popular desktop operating system, Windows 7, which is better for Windows 7 users?
February 26, 2013
by sjvn01
0 comments
According to Bob O’Donnell of research firm IDC, “The day they introduce Office for iOS and Android, they’ll start printing money.” And he added this cautionary note: “If they wait too long, they risk people finding alternatives, or workarounds.”
The thing that has turned Microsoft, prince of Redmond, into a vacillating Hamlet is the thought that an Office suite for iPads and Android tablets might well tank already anemic sales of the Surface RT and keep the Surface Pro from taking off.
Its hesitation is understandable. Office on iOS and Android would kill Microsoft’s Surface tablets. That means that the choice Microsoft is facing is huge: whether to continue its foray into being a hardware vendor or go back and shore up its software roots.