Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Del.icio.us are just a few “social web” applications on an ever growing list. What, or who, is popular today may not be popular tomorrow, and what’s unknown today might be the “next big thing.” When everything was just a blog, it sure was a whole lot easier. We had Technorati […]

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I was extremely skeptical about Twitter when I first heard about it. I even blasted it as a “fad” in a previous post. And while I’m still not convinced that Twitter has real long term value, I do agree it does have value — at least for right now. And now that I’ve changed my position on the current value of Twitter, I finally signed up and started tweeting.

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On Friday, May 9, 2008, InfoWorld reported that Clear Hat Consulting has developed a rootkit that could run in an obscure part of a computer’s microprocessor making it 100% undetectable. Not only have they written such a rootkit but Clear Hat plans to demonstrate their “proof-of-concept” creation at the Black Hat Security conference in Las Vegas this August. Is it just me, or does anyone else have a fundamental problem with a guided tour of what could be the most malicious piece of software ever written?

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I might not be a twenty-something college student living my life on Facebook, but I do have a LinkedIn account (actually, I also have a Facebook account, I just never use it). I guess you could say LinkedIn is the Facebook for working professionals. Not everyone will agree with that categorization but this 40-ish father of 3 feels more at home on LinkedIn than I do on Facebook. Regardless how I define these virtual communities, they remain extremely popular. And once something on the Internet becomes that popular, it’s only a matter of time before the “spammers” invade.

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Despite all of the buzz about “cloud computer” Microsoft Office still dominates the realm of word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation graphics — the standard office suite. Forget for a moment “how” Microsoft became dominant and ask yourself this question: How do they continue to dominant this area of computing?
Do they dominant because of the features?
Does […]

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Just when you thought Windows Vista was taking over the desktop (or at least that is what Microsoft wants you to believe), the folks in Redmond, Washington have agreed to postpone the Summer 2008 sunset of Windows XP until 2010. Microsoft cited the Asus Eee PC (and other similar low powered cheap laptops) as the reason behind XP’s extended life. While that might be the party line, I suspect it’s not the only reason Microsoft is keeping XP around until 2010.

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Don’t be misled by this article’s title, I love my iPod and don’t mind iTunes. As a music and video library organizing application iTunes isn’t too bad. I would prefer more alternatives to iTunes, but overall I can’t complain…or can I?

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I’ve got 3 kids ranging from 10 to 15 years old. All of them are competent computer users therefore I need to protect them and control them when they’re online. All of the computers in the house have Zone Alarm Security Suite installed which provides spyware protection, virus scanning, firewall, and content filtering (along with a few other features). Recently I’ve become disenchanted with Zone Alarm Security Suite and have begun exploring other options with a focus on content filtering. One possible option I discovered is OpenDNS.

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Forget sales figures. Forget installation statistics. Forget that other more powerful and more stable operating systems exist. Microsoft Windows remains the number one operating system for two simple reason: the competition fails on price and ease of use.

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Even though I previously described how to copy DVD movies to an iPod in a 3 part series, I understand that some people don’t mind paying for a movie a second time if it means they only have to point and click to get what they want easily on their iPod. If you’re one of those individuals, where can you turn to get the movie you want with the press of a button? The iTunes store is the obvious answer, but is there another option?

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