Category: Computers, Science & Technology

Well, it is time to “secure up” your Microsoft operating systems again… so, prepare to patch and reboot!

16 updates on tap for April Patch Tuesday

“An advance notification regarding Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday promises eight security updates to Windows, Office, and IE vulnerabilities and eight more non-security related updates for Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services. Five of the patches are rated as ‘Critical,’ the highest level of severity given to updates, and most of those patches affect Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. The remaining three updates are classified as ‘Important.’ These updates may require a restart. There will also be eight high priority but non-security related updates on Windows Update and Windows Server Update Service.”

So, it is what it is… no more purchasing Windows XP after June 30, 2008. Only Vista after that. Can you say, “Microsoft is doomed?” I knew you could! Well… unless you have a super cheap PC!

Windows XP’s final day still June 30, but low-cost PCs get two more years

“Confirming the rumors that devices such as Asus’ Eee PC are prolonging the life of XP, Microsoft today announced that the previously-established June 30, 2008 cutoff date for OEM and retail Windows XP sales was final, except for the new class of what the company has termed ULCPCs: Ultra Low-Cost PCs. The nebulously-named class of computers including UMPCs, MIDs, Origami devices, subnotebooks and even desktops that offer lower power have received the official Ultra Low Cost PC (ULCPC) moniker from Microsoft. Companies making these devices have also received an extended 2-year period (or until Windows 7 comes out, whichever is latest) in which their machines can come equipped with Windows XP, but only the Home edition of the operating system. Microsoft has said that the extension reflects the company’s commitment to deliver ‘the right version of Windows for new device categories as they emerge.’ The company said today, ‘[We] recognize that there is a growing class of hardware-constrained, lower cost PCs that would benefit from a different Windows based solution. While Windows Vista provides an easier and more secure user experience, Windows XP Home provides an effective solution on these devices from a performance and cost perspective.'”

After years of sticking it to the world with a cruddy operating system, the new management at Microsoft has decided that a token rebate of $25.00 per registered user of either Windows XP or Windows Vista would help compensate computer users for the hassles caused by Windows. “We felt that it was the least that we could do,” said Mark Buerocrite, VP of Public Relations in Redmond.

Oh, and a very warm place under the earth has reported snow for the first time as well… APRIL FOOLS!

Check out the new video netcast!

Click here for the Netcast

Two versions of the Internet craze, “The Evolution of Dance!” Pretty cool!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.0MB) | Embed

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Yep… I lost my audio somewhat during recording the podcast… so you get to here me humming along halfway through the Jonathan Coulton song “The Presidents.” It was like my virtual “mixer” lost the channel that played the songs, bits, etc. and you then only heard my mic recording (even when I had it “off”) … actually, my wife, Belinda, thought it was hilarious! Anyway, no sooner had I posted it to the net… within about two minutes… I got an email from Henry Ratliff, one of my Internet buddy’s and a faithful listener, who said, “Hey, Doc, ya got a problem!”

So, I recorded a mini-podcast to get the full Jonathan Coulton song… it is available here:

Click on the “Streaming MP3” badge below to play Streaming Audio of this Podcast.

 Download MP3
(Right-Click on the Link Above and Choose “Save” to Save the MP3 file locally on your PC.)

Also… for the rest of the original podcast… the audio is wonky. Don’t ya love it!?

Sigh. The environmentalist wackos are getting to everyone. Check out what Google has done to their home page and logo for “Lights Out Day.”

Ah well… that’s cool… more power for the rest of us!

The Miro Project is having a fund raiser! “Whoopie.”, you say. Well, I just contributed some of my hard earned cash to it. Why? Well, I support the idea of community driven “Open Source,” if you will, Internet TV! If you haven’t checked out the Miro IPTV player, go here:

Get Miro

If you are looking for shows and content go here:

The Miro Guide

And while you are at the Miro Guide, type in “Open Source” in the “Channel Search” bar, and scroll down the page! Look familiar? Yep, Dr. Bill.TV is on Miro! Join the IPTV revolution and spread the word about Miro!

And, if you want to contribute, as I did, click the link below!

Help Support Miro!

Check it out! How cool is this?

New features in OpenOffice.org 2.4.0 (available now)

“OpenOffice.org 2.4 is now released and ushers in new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements. OpenOffice.org continues to face stiff competition. Despite the radical interface and file format changes, Microsoft Office 2007 enjoys strong sales and support from third-party developers. A first step in denting Sharepoint’s enterprise dominance, Google recently expanded its software-as-a-service Google Docs suite with JotSpot, a wiki service, and is laboring to push Google Apps from the web to the desktop with Google Gears. Still, OpenOffice.org stands out on price, license, broad platform support, OpenDocument file formats, robust PDF export, and rapid development. Where it took Microsoft four years to make Office 2007, OpenOffice.org comes out every three to six months.”

OpenOffice.Org Web Site

With all the commercials, how could they not know? But, some are still clueless! Hard to imagine if you are a techno-lover like myself, but, maybe we’re talking the sun-enhanced back-of-the-neck crowd. (Ahem!) Anyway, if you didn’t know… the biggest change is coming to TV since color was introduced (sad to say, I remember, that one as well!) So, get ready for Digital TV!

Survey: 6 in 10 Americans know about the DTV transition

“As late as February of this year, only 59 percent of Americans were aware of next year’s slated transition from analog to digital TV, according to a survey by Frank N. Magid Associates. With the change about to happen on February 19, 2009, these results show a big jump from a similar survey by the same company six months before, when merely 34% of Americans had heard about the transition. Still, though, 41% remain totally clueless about the pending advent of digital-only TV. The findings were slightly better, actually, among ‘over-the-air-only’ households that only have analog TV sets without cable or satellite service. In those households, only 37% were unaware of the transition. Also on a relatively positive note, a similar survey undertaken by Consumer Reports in January showed that only 28% of those with at least one analog TV set were completely unaware of the upcoming change to digital. But Magid’s survey results also came up with the alarming finding that the proportion of Americans who erroneously believe the transition means ‘all TV programs will be available in high definition’ actually rose from 23% to 29% in the six months between Magid’s two polls.”

If you have your email or email server set up to use ordb.org (The Open Relay DataBase) … UNSET it! Having it set up in my sendmail settings hosed my email tonight. If you sent me something, I may not have gotten it… sigh! It went down (The Open Relay DataBase) in December… but, for some reason, it is affecting me now. anyway, a word to the wise… take the reference out of your email server settings!