Friday, March 11, 2005
And there's a suprius byte of news about Microsoft
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie's software company, Groove Networks Inc., and to hire Ozzie as a chief technical officer.
The big get bigger till they fall over and kill everone.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Doyle wants to tax Internet downloads, no not that Doyle, this is Gov. Jim Doyle's, Gov. of Wisconsin
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Wisconsin residents would have to pay the state sales tax on goods they download from the Internet, including songs, books and movies, under Gov. Jim Doyle's budget, costing them an estimated $3.2 million over the next two years.
State Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, complained Monday that the move contradicted Doyle's pledge to balance the budget without raising taxes.
"The next time you download the latest song from U2 for 99 cents, the governor wants to charge you the sales tax," Jensen said in a release. "It's enough to give iPod users a case of 'vertigo,'" in reference to the group's hit song.
In his example, the sales tax would be about 5 cents.
The governor's budget proposal would make clear that Wisconsin can collect the sales tax for certain purchases, from movie and music downloads to electronic books and artwork.
The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that would amount to $3.2 million in additional taxes on those purchases over the next two years.
Under current state law, most Internet downloads are not taxable, except for computer software and digital photos, according to Doyle's proposal.
But the state now collects sales tax from people who rent movies from a store or buy books from a bricks-and-mortar retailer in the state.
State officials have said the proposal would just level the playing field for those retailers.
Jensen opposes the idea.
"At the same time Governor Doyle is trying to brand Wisconsin as a high-tech haven, he is working overtime to impose high taxes on electronic commerce," Jensen said.
Neal Osten, federal affairs counsel for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said buying an e-book online shouldn't be different from buying a book at a store as far as sales tax is concerned.
"If you are paying taxes in the real world, you should pay taxes downloading from the Internet," he said. "Consumers still owe the sales taxes. But the state is not going to go after the consumer."
Twenty-one states are participating in a streamlined sales and use tax agreement, which asks out-of-state retailers to voluntarily help the states collect sales taxes by providing them with the software to do this and compensation for collecting the taxes, he said.
Legislation has been introduced in Congress to allow states to require out-of-state sellers to collect their sales and use taxes.
Osten said the agreement will soon include Internet downloads as specific definitions are worked out.
END
Please tell your reps. that you don't even want them thinking about it.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Spyware now major Net threat By JOHN MILLAR, London Free Press
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Spyware now major Net threat
By JOHN MILLAR -- Special to the London Free Press
Mid-way through 2004, a study by TheInfoPro, Inc., conducted for Secure Computing, found that many companies did not see spyware as a significant threat. At the time of the study, only 25 per cent of respondents recognized spyware as a major problem.
A 2005 poll by Watchguard Technologies indicates that two-thirds of surveyed IT managers see spyware as the security threat that will keep them awake the most nights this year.
According to the Watchguard study, sixty-five percent of the respondents said that their network is less protected from spyware than from other security threats. Three-quarters said that over half of their employees don't even know what spyware is.
Now, Searchmeup, a malware threat, has appeared using the Microsoft Exploit/LoadImage vulnerability to infect unpatched systems through specially crafted web pages or HTML e-mail messages with malicious code hidden in cursors or image icons.
Seachmeup is designed to infect the user with any number of malicious payloads including Trojans, keyloggers and diallers in addition to changing the users' homepages to a specified search engine that will in turn download even more malware or spyware without the users' knowledge.
Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. It is put into someone's computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties.
Before Searchmeup, spyware got onto a computer as a virus payload or through installing a new program. Now just visiting certain Web sites or opening HTML e-mail messages may cause the installation of spyware and its associated payloads.
To help educate Internet users, Microsoft maintains a series of Web pages (www.microsoft.com/ athome/security/spyware-Protect your computer) providing an introduction to spyware and tips to recognize and deal with it.
The basic signs of spyware are:
- Pop-up advertisements appear all the time;
- Computer settings change and the user can't change them back;
- The user's Web browser contains additional components the user does not remember downloading;
- The computer's performance seems sluggish.
Trying to uninstall spyware the same way you would any other program likely will not remove it.
There are a number of ways to prevent spyware from infecting your computer:
- Keep software updated using automatic updates and downloading all the latest critical and security updates;
- Use a firewall;
- Install anti-spyware protection from anti-virus and spam filter vendors;
- Don't surf questionable Web sites;
- Don't be click-happy; when a window pops up in your browser asking to install something, slow down and read what it says;
- Read the fine print before you click "Accept" for any product or service on the Internet. Watch for wording such as "partners," "sponsors," "third-party," "advertising" and anything that may relate to tracking.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Ladies and Gentlement, an honest man, WALTER S. MOSSBERG; Google Toolbar Inserts Links in Others' Sites, And That's a Bad Idea
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Google Toolbar Inserts Links in Others' Sites, And That's a Bad Idea
By WALTER S. MOSSBERG
What if you had worked hard to design a Web page, carefully placing links just where you wanted them and carefully selecting the Web destinations to which those links led? And then, what if a company with great power on the Web started adding its own links to your page, drawing visitors away from your page to other sites of its own choosing?
You might be more than a little upset. You might wonder what gives any third party the right to edit or alter your Web page without your knowledge or permission.
Yet that's exactly what Google, the powerful search-engine company, is doing. A new feature of the company's popular Google Toolbar for the Internet Explorer browser actually adds links right into the body of any Web page. The links lead to Google's own map site or to other sites Google selects.
Google notes that this feature, called "AutoLink," makes it easier for users to look up certain information. It also is strongly reminiscent of a Microsoft gambit of a few years back in which the software giant planned to program Internet Explorer to automatically add its own links to others' Web sites. Microsoft was forced to drop its "Smart Tags" feature after Web site owners and others complained.
The Google feature is more benign than Microsoft's for several reasons. Still, the way it is being implemented is a bad idea. If it takes hold, it would start the Web down a slippery slope where no owner of a Web site could ever be sure that readers had a chance to view its pages in the way they were composed.
The autolink feature is part of a beta, or test, version of the third edition of Google's popular toolbar, which installs itself as a part of Internet Explorer and is used by millions of people.
When you open a Web page, the new Google Toolbar scans it to see if it contains certain information, such as street addresses, the ISBN numbers that identify books, or the VIN numbers that identify cars. If such information is found, the AutoLink button in the toolbar changes to read "Look for Map," or "Show Book Info," or "Show Auto Info."
If you click on the button, Google turns the addresses, or book and car ID numbers, into links that lead to sites programmed into the toolbar. In the case of addresses, the links lead by default to Google's own new map feature. In the case of book numbers, the links lead to Amazon.com. For car numbers, the links lead to Carfax, a company that sells reports detailing a car's history.
In addition to the in-page links, Google creates an alternate method for getting the added information: A list of the addresses and ID numbers can drop down from the toolbar. Clicking on the items in the list takes you to the map, book and auto sites.
Unlike Microsoft, Google isn't the near-monopoly provider of Web browsers, so its adoption of the link feature isn't as serious a threat as the Microsoft plan was. People have to choose to install the Google toolbar, and they have to click the button each and every time they want to see the links. And, at least in the case of maps, users can choose among several destination sites, including Google competitors Yahoo and MapQuest.
Still, the feature has disturbing consequences for Web site owners. In my tests, for instance, it added links to the addresses of movie theaters I had called up in a Yahoo page, and the links took me to Google Maps, not to Yahoo's own map page. When I looked up a book on eCampus, a book-selling site, AutoLink turned the ISBN numbers on the page into links to Amazon, which competes with eCampus to sell the books. When I looked up a used car for sale on AutoTrader, AutoLink turned the VIN numbers into links to Carfax, not to a competing auto-history-report seller, AutoCheck, used by AutoTrader.
If the principle behind AutoLink were to take hold, there would be nothing to stop Microsoft from adding a feature to Internet Explorer that would replace the ads on a Google search-results page with ads sold by Microsoft's MSN service.
I've had long conversations about this with senior Google officials, and they say they are actively considering changing the way the AutoLink feature works so it might not actually alter the Web pages themselves. They note that the feature is a work in progress. But the Google officials also insist their first principle is user convenience.
A compromise is easy to imagine. Instead of adding links to a page, Google could limit the feature to the drop-down list of information it already creates. Or Google could require the user to highlight the address or ID number in order to get the added information. Or it could allow the user to click on an address or ID number while holding down a key. Or it could invite Web site owners to voluntarily enable their pages to accept AutoLink links.
I take a back seat to nobody in favoring user convenience, but, as with most things in life, every principle must be balanced against others. In this case, that balancing principle is the right of Web publishers to control the content and appearance of their own sites. Users wouldn't benefit if the Web became a sea of uncertainty, where anybody could alter every Web page.
END
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
List to this, What is Anonmizer,
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
Well first of all you can find out more at http://www.anonymizer.com>
But, there's a reason why this virse something else and that is that unlike other nothing is downloaded to your harddrive. So, if your using it at work to keep the IT department of your case, there's nothing on your harddrive for the or the FED. or anyone.
Thier Technology
Anonymizer's core Internet privacy and security platform uses proxy servers armed with proprietary encryption technology to rewrite requested Web pages for its end-users, filtering potential threats like cookies, Web bugs and mobile code while shielding the user from identification and online tracking. When surfing the Internet using the Anonymizer service, users are protected from Web site logging, tracking by online advertisers, hacker attacks and exploits, Web-borne viruses, network monitoring by ISPs or employers, and other threats.
Because Anonymizer's core technology is server-side and platform-independent, end users don't have to download client software or adjust their system configurations. Anonymizer does offer a client-side download, the Anonymizer Privacy Toolbar that allows Internet Explorer for Windows users to activate Anonymizer protection with a single click at any time.
A Commitment to Safety and Freedom on the Internet
In addition to the company's successful commercial Web presence, Anonymizer, Inc. is dedicated to using its technologies to support liberty and security in the U.S. and around the world. Anonymizer's activities on this front have included:
Providing anonymous email and Web surfing services to Internet users in oppressed states in order to report human rights abuses and war crimes, and to spread the message of freedom and democracy.
Deploying "anonymous tip" technology for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation terrorist tip site to help the agency collect information about suspected terrorists.
Supplying law enforcement and media professionals with Anonymizer privacy services in order to ensure safe, effective online investigation.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Remember me talking on Google and how they gave ya stuff for free
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
like the service Blogger and then use everything you put into it as a data base. Well, "Picasa 2" is Google owned too. So, every pic you put there becomes thiers, just in case you cared to know.
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
wonder if YOU should switch from Mirsoft to Apple
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley
As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.
read Yahoo's "Yahoo Insider" from this week
MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".
