Wal-Mart’s $200 PC - sold out

Wal-Mart’s $200 PC - sold out by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- About two weeks ago, Wal-Mart began selling $200 Linux-based PC. The initial run was around 10,000 units. Now Wal-Mart is sold out. Has Linux now found a niche?

StarOffice Software Suite to be Distributed Through Google Pack

Sun Microsystems Announces StarOffice Software Suite to be Distributed Through Google Pack
SANTA CLARA, Calif. August 15, 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced that its award-winning office productivity software, StarOffice, is now available through the Google Pack software download service. StarOffice is Sun's commercial implementation of the popular open source office suite OpenOffice.org and supports Open Document Format (ODF). StarOffice is also compatible with Microsoft Office documents and is supported and indemnified by Sun. Google Pack is a free collection of essential software to help users set up their computers, find things faster and stay safe online.

In addition, Sun also announced that it has added web search functionality to all StarOffice products, enabling online search capabilities directly from its productivity suite. This new functionality is now available through the Google Pack download.

"Using ODF within StarOffice allows for interoperability and choice among those seeking free and open standards-based office productivity applications," said Rich Green, executive vice-president of Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "With OpenOffice.org adoption growing at nearly three million downloads a month, we are seeing overwhelming adoption and exciting new opportunities emerging. We are absolutely thrilled to offer a new version of StarOffice that includes Google's web search capabilities."

Google Pack offers users a safe and easy way to install all the essential software they need in a matter of minutes. The addition of Sun's StarOffice gives Google Pack users free access to an enterprise-strength office application. Starting now, users can install StarOffice as part of the Google Pack installation process. For more information about Google Pack, please visit http://pack.google.com.

About StarOffice

StarOffice software is a powerful, affordable, and comprehensive office productivity suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, database, drawing program, web publishing application) that runs on Solaris, Windows and Linux. Compatible with Microsoft Office, it includes a built-in PDF export tool and supports ODF, XML, Flash and HTML. Based on OpenOffice.org software, StarOffice software suite is indemnified and supported by Sun Microsystems.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, Solaris, StarOffice and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

To set up Blind Carbon Copy in Outlook 2003

To protect your email addresses from spammers and cyber bots harvesters all you need to do is the following:

If you put addresses in the BCC field of an email it will be secretly copied to those addresses, and none of the other addresses in the To, CC, or BCC fields will know about it because the BCC field is not displayed on incoming messages.

Example:

To: John Smith

CC: <==Do not use this field

BC: frank@karateka.com, Chandranerd@hotmail.com, etc

When the recipient receives the email, it won't see the BLIND COPY email addresses

Taking revenge on Spammers

This article explains how you can track down a cybercriminal and report him to the appropiate authorities and host server.

Logo is 40 years old

"What is Logo?

"Logo is the name for a philosophy of education and a continually evolving family of programming languages that aid in its realization."
- Harold Abelson
Apple Logo, 1982

This statement sums up two fundamental aspects of Logo and puts them in the proper order. The Logo programming environments that have been developed over the past 28 years are rooted in constructivist educational philosophy, and are designed to support constructive learning.

Constructivism views knowledge as being created by learners in their own minds through interaction with other people and the world around them. This theory is most closely associated with Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist, who spent decades studying and documenting the learning processes of young children."




http://el.media.mit.edu/Logo-foundation/logo/index.html

Take Action and block the russian maffia

If your ISP doesn't already block them, you can add these criminals to your firewall rules.

I.P. address block for Russian Business Network:
81.95.144.0/20 #SBL43489
(81.95.144.0 - 81.95.159.255)

And the address blocks for its equally corrupt cousins at Intercage, Inhoster, and Nevacon:

85.255.112.0/20 #SBL36702
(85.255.112.0 - 85.255.127.255)

69.50.160.0/19
(69.50.160.0 - 69.50.191.255)

194.146.204.0/22 #SBL51152
(194.146.204.0 - 194.146.207.255)

Most popular operating systems on Amazon

Most popular operating systems on Amazon



---------------------------------

(1) Most popular operating systems on Amazon
.
Great work! You have found a good indicator that shows the demand of the people.

Revelation: Ubuntu is now #5 in operating systems! This means Ubuntu is #1 in operating systems for the industry-standard IBM PC on Amazon.

#1 & #2: Mac OS X Leopard. Isn't the Mac supposed to be an "insignificant" computer?

#3 & #4 Windows XP Full Versions. Windows XP is more popular than Windows Vista WHEN CUSTOMERS HAVE A CHOICE X-( Note: Since these are full versions, it is likely that these are being bought by Macintosh users to run on Parallels on the new X86 Macs.

#5: Ubuntu. Because I attribute the XP full version sales to Mac users, Ubuntu is the #1 operating system for industry-standard commodity IBM PCs on Amazon! :0 I like the vision of this keeping Steve Ballmer awake at night. :^0 Maybe he will be less excitable during daytime hours (2).



---------------------------------

(1) Most popular operating systems on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/software/229653/ref=pd_ts_sw_nav/103-5765134-8896641

(2) I...LOVE...THIS...COMPANY!!! (Warning: Has sound!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMU0tzLwhbE

PC Tools Spyware Doctor crashes computer

After installing PC tools Spyware Doctor, my HP amd 64 began to freeze the mouse and The screen blue of death began to appear.

"Spyware Doctor is a top-rated malware & spyware removal utility that detects, removes and protects your PC from thousands of potential spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, spybots and tracking threats."

I found a temporary Solution:

1- Disable OnGuard protection. Now, I only use it to download updates and scan my machine.

Petpeave: The program disables itself completely and when you re-start it to scan the machine, it loads the onguard protection again. I wish there was a feature to disable just the onguard protection and not the whole program. It seems to suck all the system memory and resources.

Positive Outlook: the program excels on removing spyware and trojans. So I highly recommended! if you are having serious problems with spyware, hang in there!

Microsoft regarding the stealth update

More information from Microsoft on stealth update by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- Just to keep you all in the loop, I've just received the following information from Microsoft regarding the stealth update.

Libra free software library

http://www.getlibra.com/files/slideshow/screen1s.jpg


Libra is a beautiful library software to manage your Books, Music, Movies and Games. You can track items you have lent out, or tag them with meaningful terms to organize them effectively. Libra can import your items from other applications, or scan them from either your webcam or any barcode scanner (including CueCat). Once you have built your collection, you can print out beautiful catalog pages of all your items.

http://www.getlibra.com/

Invalid PostTemplate solution to blogger's error

"Invalid Post template bX-t0ou3g
Your post template contains invalid html. This typically means
tags. You can get rid of this error by either removing the
post template altogether or by editing it on Settings->Formatting-
>Post Template. Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code and additional information.
bX-t0ou3g
Additional information "

SOLUTION:

1- Sig in into your blogger account
2- Select Settings
3- Select Formatting
4- Go inside POST TEMPLATE and highlight all test, then COPY and PASTE the information into NOTEPAD and then save file as Bloggercode.txt or whatever.
5- Go back to DASHBOARD and click on New Post, there you have it! no more errors

How to Disable AOL Debug errors

How To Disable AOL Debug Error Popups

–Open Internet Explorer 6 or Internet Explorer 7
–Press ALT+T
–Click Internet Options
–Click Advanced TAB
–Checkmark Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer)
–Checkmark Disable Script Debugging (Other)
–Click OK
–Close Internet Explorer
–Restart Aim 6.0 or Aim 6.1

Can't add new post to Blogger part 2

TEMPORARY SOLUTION STEP BY STEP on Mac OS X:

1- Download blogger.wdgt.zip and install it on Mac OSX, which I found
on http://knownissues.blogspot.com/

Scroll down and look for the topic here:

Update, 6/6: Version 1.0.1 of the widget has been released and works with the new Blogger. Download it. — latest update on Wednesday, June 06, 2007
DOWNLOAD:
http://dl.google.com/macwidgets/Blogger.wdgt.zip

Labels: api, fixed, macintosh, posting


3-Login to your account via Firefox or Safari web browser
2-To access your new installed widget, just click on middle apple button mouse, this will bring the widget on windows view or simply press F12 to bring in the dashboard into view.
3-Login as you normally would through the widget, begin to type your message, then when you are ready you can either publish post or save as draft.
4- from here you can view it in your web browser.

HINT: TO CLOSE AND OPEN WIDGET:

To Close it:
Hold down the option key and keeping moving the mouse pointer around near the upper-left corner of a widget until the circle-X close button appears in that corner just outside the widget's window. It'll be easier finding that "hot zone" to activate the close button after you discover it the first time.
To Open it:
1-Press F12 or click center mouse button, then look at right bottom corner for plus sign, click on it and select appropiate menus options.

Can't add new posting on blogger-part 1

The posting menu of Blogger.com is giving me an error even in Safari or Firefox. This is just started a few days ago and cleaning the cache won't solve the problem or even making sure that java permissions are in place. It is definitely a big bug!
I don't seem to have the same problem on Windows Xp Professional running in my HP athlon. Only on Imac Intel.
======================================
I'm getting the following error every time I try to add a new post in Blogger:

"We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.

When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:

* Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
* Provide the following error code and additional information.

bX-mzm63b

Additional information
blogID:XXXXXXX
host: www.blogger.com
uri: /post-create.g

This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience."

http://help.blogger.com/bin/static.py?page=start.cs

REASON I"M DOING PART 1 is because is text is too long Widget Menu dissapear of the screen view :(

Special article on anti-spyware programs

This is a great link to learn more about authentic versus bogus antispyware programs.

http://spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm#special

Feeling Nostalgia for Old DOS ?

Free Dos offers the great opportunity to enjoy again the good old DOS games.

"FreeDOS is a free DOS-compatible operating system for IBM-PC compatible systems. FreeDOS is made of up many different, separate programs that act as "packages" to the overall FreeDOS Project.

These days, there are three main uses of FreeDOS:

1. To run classic DOS games (like Doom, MAME, etc.)
2. To run business software that only supports DOS
3. To support an embedded DOS system, such as a computerized cash register or till"

The Package comes bundled with the following:

1. base - Essential DOS utilities which reproduce the functionality of MS-DOS
2. compress - Free file compression and decompression utilities (7zip, arj, bzip2, cabextract, gzip, tar, zoo ...)
3. driver - Free drivers for network cards and usb
4. edit - A collection of editors (emacs, vim, pg, setedit, ospedit)
5. games - A good choice of free DOS games - Doom, Solitare, BumpNJump, nethack, tetris...
6. gui - Gem Desktop (Very nice)
7. lang - Free compilers and assemblers (Pascal,C,Basic,assembler,Fortran, debuggers,make tool...)
8. media - Free multimedia applications (cdrtools, ogg vorbis, mpxplay,lame ...)
9. net - Networking programs (wget, VNC, SSH client, lynx, arachne, mail client, wattcp - a free TCP/IP stack for DOS).
10. util - Free file, directory and other utilities (fprot anti virus, locate, head, du, cal, dos32ax, tail, tee, 4dos, uptime ...)

For more information regarding installation in Linux Systems read:

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/09/concise-guide-to-installing-and-using.html

For those fond of retro-games check this out:

http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/

AT&T Reduces Broadband Price for Some Customers

AT&T Reduces Broadband Price for Some Customers

ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 19, 2007; Page B5

NEW YORK -- AT&T Inc. has started offering a broadband Internet service for $10 a month, cheaper than any of its advertised plans.

The DSL, or digital subscriber line, plan introduced Saturday is part of the concessions made by AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission to get its $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. approved last December.

The $10 offer is available to customers in the 22-state AT&T service region, which includes former BellSouth areas, who have never had AT&T or BellSouth broadband, spokesman Michael Coe said. Local-phone service and a one-year contract are required; the modem is free of charge.

The plan wasn't mentioned in a Friday news release about AT&T's DSL plans and is slightly hidden on the AT&T Web site. A page describing DSL options doesn't mention it, but clicking a link for "Term contract plans" reveals it. It is also presented to customers who go into the application process, Mr. Coe said.

The service provides download speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and upload speeds of up to 128 kbps, matching the speeds of the cheapest advertised AT&T plan, which costs $19.95 per month in the nine-state former BellSouth area and $14.99 in the 13 states covered by AT&T before the acquisition.

BellSouth generally had higher prices for DSL before it was acquired, and the price difference persists, though AT&T did cut the price of the cheapest advertised plan in the Southeast region by $5 from $24.95 on Saturday.

The agreement with the FCC required the company to offer the plan for at least two and a half years. Mr. Coe said he couldn't comment on future advertising plans for the offer.

The introduction of the plan was earlier reported by The Tennessean in Nashville.

The Entry-Level Dilemma

I highly recommend this book:

"The Entry-Level Dilemma by Mattew Moran

One of the most frustrating elements of breaking into a career in technology is that initial job. This chapter identifies the quandary facing the entry-level professional.

This chapter analyzes the "need experience to get experience" dilemma that those who are new to the field often encounter. More importantly, however, this chapter discusses methods you can use to break past this barrier.

For many technology graduates, the past few years have been frustrating ones, because they have tried desperately to enter a seemingly shrinking job market. They had bought into the "get a certification—get a job" promise fostered by the marketing of many training programs. These graduates had been excited that their school had placement services to assist them in entering the growing and lucrative field of information technology (IT).

Unfortunately, although some technology graduates might have found their dream job as promised, many discovered a different reality.

Having followed the promised path, these eager students have discovered that many colleges have also struggled with placement. Although the schools have programs to help with résumé, and they work diligently to link graduates with employers, the fact remains that a tighter job market and a more skeptical employer pool have made job placement a nearly impossible task.

Adding to a tighter market is the fact that more experienced technology professionals have been forced to take a cut in pay and position. This has increased the competition for entry-level positions. Sometimes new graduates are competing with senior-level technologists for the same job.

Part of the fault of unsuccessful job placement lies squarely on the shoulders of the job seeker. Unrealistic expectations have many believing that a certification or degree qualifies them for positions that require hands-on knowledge.

I know of individuals who received their MCSE certification after attending several months of class. They passed the test, did some lab work, and got into the job market. Many of them expected to be hired as network engineers with salaries of $60,000 to $80,000. Their logic was that they were, as the certification implied, "certified engineers." As they perused want ads, lesser jobs, such as those of help desk or IT clerical support, were undesirable to them.

This attitude contributed to the current wave of "certification cynicism" that many employers have adopted. Employers hired the "certified engineers" only to discover that many could not complete the most basic and mundane tasks effectively.

A correction has taken place in the corporate world. Companies are no longer willing to provide pay and opportunity to an unproven commodity—the entry-level technology professional. Many new technologists are unwilling to give up the idealistic dream of instantaneous job satisfaction and a high salary. Unfortunately, this is also leading some to listen to the doomsayers moaning about the lack of opportunity in IT. Talent that would do well in the IT industry is leaving to find opportunity elsewhere.

If you are in that group—ready to leave your hopes of IT success and find greener pastures—wait!

I understand that you are frustrated and disenchanted, but I ask that you seriously consider the corrective behavior described in the section that follows. In it, I believe you will find a rekindled hope that comes with understanding the reality of the situation.
Correcting Perception

The first battle in overcoming frustration in not finding the "job you deserve" is to correct the perception of the new technologist. As discussed earlier, IT will remain a great career choice. However, it is no different from many other good careers. You must make a degree of sacrifice to reach the heights of professional success.

A perspective that places emphasis on long-term career goals and month-to-month personal growth is critical. You must understand where you want to be in the coming months and years. You must also set about creating the short-term plans to achieve that longer-term success.

I'm not necessarily advocating a start-at-the-bottom mentality. I don't perceive that each person's path, even with similar goals, will be the same. I advocate more of a start-where-you-can mentality.

If a company is willing to hire you as a full-fledged network engineer based entirely on your schooling, more power to you. However, beware of overselling yourself without first developing the aptitude that is required. Taking a job where the expectations greatly exceed your production capacity can be just as professionally damaging as it is to take a job that never makes use of, or stretches, the talents you have. In fact, I would say the former is more damaging.

It is more difficult—both mentally and from a perception standpoint—to move down the corporate ladder. It does not look good on a r?um , and more importantly, it can damage your confidence.

IT is an industry that provides ample opportunity to learn new and challenging skills. However, substantial failure early in a career can create a professional timidity that stops you from taking the necessary chances to take on the challenges that come your way.

The perception that you need when breaking into IT is one that seeks opportunity over position. If you have been trained as a network engineer but you find an opportunity to take a position in a clerical capacity, consider what opportunities that job might offer.

Some of the factors to consider in whether to take this slight shift in employment are as follows:

*

Does the company have an effective training program?
*

Is it possible to find mentors in the field you want to enter?
*

Is the company growing?
*

Does the opportunity exist to greatly expand your professional network of contacts?

Remember: You can safely make this consideration because the job itself is not your career. You have the freedom and ability to move within the company or to a new company when needed.

The most important factor is that you are moving toward a career goal. You might not get the title or job you want right out of school. If you can master those skills at your current position, while simultaneously building your network of contacts that lead to your dream position, you should be satisfied. You must build your career piece by piece. It won't happen all at once."

Microsoft didn’t invent the personal computer

"Microsoft didn’t invent the personal computer and they didn’t invent the first PC operating system. They didn’t even invent the first MS-DOS (they bought and re-branded 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products.) Nor were they the first to use a “window-like” GUI (Xerox PARC was). What Microsoft did (and still does to this day) is innovate — take what they’ve got, and improve upon it in unique ways! This is the key to their success"

see completed article here:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5427&tag=nl.e539

Web Browser won't load images- (Explorer or firefox)

On a yahoo newsgroup web site I tried to view some pictures or images and Firefox Web Browser version 2.0 or Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 7.0 failed to download the jpeg images. As soon as I disabled Zone Alarm Pro firewall the problem was solved.

The firewall was blocking access to those images and I did not know why.

To solve the problem I just opened Zone Alarm Pro console and clicked on PRIVACY then on site LISTING menu I selected MSN.com and allowed PRIVATE HEADER. When I reloaded the page on both web browsers then the images were visible.