Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon
Join Dr. Bill as he examines the wild and wacky world of the web, computers, and all things geeky! Hot Tech Tips, Tech News, and Geek Culture are examined… with plenty of good humor as well!
This Monday night’s (April 3rd at 7:00 PM) GLUG (Greensboro Linux User’s Group) meeting will be on Linux-based media players like MythTV. More info on MythTV is here:
The meeting will be out at the Center for Creative Leadership, where I work. Directions can be found here:
Come out and enjoy learning about a REAL operating system!
Although how one “sues Linux” is open to question… M$ (the Evil Empire) may be considering trying to destroy Linux, since they can’t beat it in the marketplace.
Microsoft set to attack Linux with patents?
“Is Microsoft getting ready to attack Linux and open-source software with its patents? Florian Mueller, spokesman for the European NoSoftwarePatents.com and a leading anti-patent activist, thinks that may be the case. Mueller sees a recent Forbes interview with Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer as stopping just ‘short of announcing patent litigation against Linux.’ In the interview, Ballmer said, ‘Well, I think there are experts who claim Linux violates our intellectual property. I’m not going to comment. But to the degree that that’s the case, of course we owe it to our shareholders to have a strategy. And when there is something interesting to say, you’ll be the first to hear it.'”
Here’s a great article on the history of M$’s FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) campaign over the years!
We just saw how some hackers got Windows XP to run on the new Intel based Macs. Now, there is a rumor that Apple may come out with emulation for the next edition of OSX that will allow Windows apps to run under OSX. Dewd! That will change things, if true!
Is Apple Getting Ready to Run Windows?
“Notable curmudgeon John Dvorak raised hackles last month when he suggested that an Intel-powered Apple would dump OS X and switch to Windows. Turns out he may have been right — sort of. Word is out now that Apple has joined BAPco, an industry group that does one thing and one thing only: create benchmarks for testing the performance of Windows-based PCs. The move comes on top of rumors that Apple will include VMWare-style virtualization capabilities in the next version of OS X, which could enable the Mac OS to run Windows apps without requiring a third-party emulator or a reboot. While those rumors have yet to be confirmed, it does seem possible that Apple is indeed working on a way for OS X users to run Windows apps, and wants to use BAPco’s tools to benchmark the Windows-on-OS X performance (though the tools are said not to work all that well in virtual environments). Either that or they just want to confirm the rumors that the MacBookPro is the fastest Windows laptop out there.”
Now, I can play albums, or collections of media again! And, MediaMonkey has assembled their free “jukebox-like” player using Open Source software bundled into their software! Cool!
“Manage a music library consisting of small to very large collections (50,000+ ) of audio files and playlists*, whether they’re located on your hard drive, CDs, or a network. Organize, browse, or search music by Genre, Artist, Year, Rating, etc., and never waste your time trying to find mp3s you know you have. MediaMonkey is the music organizer for the serious collector.
*Supports MP3, OGG, WMA, FLAC, MPC, WAV, CDA, M3U, PLS, etc.
Synchronize with iPods and other Portable Audio Devices in seconds. Simply configure MediaMonkey once, and then click the Synchronize button to synchronize tracks and related properties including Album Art, ratings, play history, and playlists with a broad range of portable devices. With Volume Leveling, the tracks will even play back on your device at consistent volumes!”
This is a GOOD ONE!
I reported last week that there was a big, and grievous exploit that was targeting a hole in Internet Explorer. Well, turns out there are two OTHER big holes in IE as well. So big, that M$ is thinking about releasing a special patch BEFORE the normal April patch cycle.
MSRC Program Manager Stephen Toulouse said, “…the IE patch is ‘on schedule’ to ship as part of next month’s Patch Tuesday, which will take place on April 11, but the company is not ruling out an emergency, out-of-cycle release if the threat escalates. ‘We’ll release it sooner if warranted,’ Toulouse said.”
Again… Mozilla Firefox. ‘Nuff said.
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Dr. Bill Podcast – 29 – (03/25/06)
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xp-AntiSpy: Geek Software of the Week!, Microsoft Delays Vista Again… at least to 2007, Dell buys Alienware to beef up it’s gaming “cred,” the fastest Windows XP laptop is and Apple? Yep! It’s the MacBook Pro!, another good security reason to dump Internet Explorer, Background on Linspire, and talk of it’s new “Mac-Mini”-like system! Sneak Peak… not even on their website yet!
Linspire is my favorite Linux-that-works-like-Windows. I use CentOS on my servers, and Debian Sarge on my home file server, but I use Linspire as my desktop of choice. In fact, this weekend, I am setting up my son, Ben’s, laptop with Linspire! Now, Linspire has announced a “Mac-Mini”-like PC!
“Chalk one up for the Linux guys. Linspire, the creators of the Debian/GNU Linux based Linspire OS, showcased a self-branded mini PC at CES 2006 that somehow slipped under the radar. According to TUX Magazine, the sweet little $399 (approx.) PC takes its looks from Apple’s Mac mini but the similarities end there. The 2.8 pound PC features a front panel backlit power button, a slot loading combo DVD drive, two rear USB ports, one Firewire connector, S-Video/DVI video outputs, 10/100 Ethernet port, speaker/mic jacks, Pentium M 740 processor (or Celeron M), a single slot for DDR2 memory, and a choice of a 40 or 80GB hard drive.”
The Doctor has warned you that Internet Explorer should not be trusted and is unsafe to use as your browser. Now, there has been yet another serious exploit released for a gaping security hole in IE.
Gaping Security Hole in IE Exploited
“The advisory confirms the existence of a code execution hole that was discovered and publicly reported by Secunia Research of Copenhagen, Denmark. ‘When Internet Explorer displays a Web page that contains certain unexpected method calls to HTML objects, system memory may be corrupted in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code,’ the software maker said. Separately, the SANS ISC (Internet Storm Center) warned that a proof-of-concept code has already been unleashed that could be easily modified into a dangerous exploit. The ISC’s threat meter has been raised to ‘yellow’ to sound alarm bells for what is deemed a ‘significant’ new threat.”
Again, use Firefox. It is safe, and it rocks!
The fastest laptop tested running Windows XP is… an Apple? What?!!? Yep. Check it out!
“The two Mac desktops outran even blazing-fast single core systems, which typically do the Windows Media Encoder test in 10-13 minutes. We haven’t tested any other Intel Core Duo desktops, but the iMac competes well against a Polywell machine with a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 3800+, while the Mini and MacBook Pro are held back a little by their slower laptop hard drives. Predictably, all the Macs blow away the Shuttle XPC M1000, which has the previous generation single-core Pentium M processor. That system scored 16 minutes on Windows Media Encoder, and took 2:52 to complete the Photoshop script.”
So, again I ask, folks: “Should I buy a MacBook Pro?” What to do?
Looks like all those cute, colorful aliens (PCs) will be coming from Austin, TX soon!
“Dell confirmed on Wednesday what had been rumored on blogs for nearly a week: its purchase of trendy gaming PC manufacturer Alienware. The company said the buy was aimed at strengthening its position among computer enthusiasts. Alienware fans should not fear that their favorite PCs will soon bear the Dell logo — the company would be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell, yet operate separately. The move is merely mainly aimed at bettering the company’s supply chain, says Dell and Alienware.”