This just came from USA Today, According to them and I’ll quote:

Office Depot plans to close 112 underperforming retail stores in North America over the next three months. In addition, 14 stores will be closed in 2009 as their leases expire or other lease arrangements are completed, it said.

The retailer will also close six of its 33 distribution centers in North America, and says it plans to open about 20 stores in 2009, down from an earlier estimate of 40.

[Via USAToday]

Although this isn’t talking about layoffs but this will greatly impact people who will be jobless due to the closings.   SO I wanted to talk about how many per store,  I estimate it will be like 20 people per store on average.   So that will be around 2,500 people will be jobless in the stores and I don’t know how many people will be jobless from the distribution center.   If you want to check out my other posts just click here.  If you search my site you will find even more tips and tricks to better help you be ready for the job market.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

In a report from Engadget, there seems to be more Layoffs going on.   One such one is Sony.  Here is what Engadget said:

The bad news from the Japanese consumer electronics industry continues. Sony just announced plans to cut about 8,000 global jobs from its beleaguered electronics business while making unspecified reductions to its seasonal and temporary workforce. The move, as Sony explains it, comes “in response to the sudden and rapid changes in the global economic environment.” Ominously, it looks like Sony will also be raising prices in the countries where “Sony makes significant sales” (read: US and Europe) if we’re reading this statement correctly:

[Via Engadget]

• 5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.
• Are you asking to be scammed? (Don’t get scammed while finding a job)
• Google : Job Resources
  

If you have any others you would like to suggest please leave a comment and let everyone know.   These are hard economic times and we all could use the help.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Today, we are announcing a company-wide restructuring plan that includes staffing reductions in all divisions. This will result in a reduction of our worldwide workforce of approximately 7 percent, or about 850 positions. We are also suspending salary increases for the Company’s senior level management in 2009. In addition, after a comprehensive review of our operations, we will write down certain programming and other assets. These three actions will bring us significant cost savings and other efficiencies.

[via Gawker]

AT&T Inc. joined the recession’s parade of layoffs Thursday by announcing plans to cut 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its work force.

[Via Associated Press]

So in all today total that is 12,850 people who are going to be laid off. This is another set of layoffs but isn’t the last to see the whole list of of Layoffs in the Tech industry that I’ve talked about please click this link. You may find some usefull tidbits if you search my blog enough, I’ve got some great tips on getting hired and what you should do to be prepared.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

As you can see that looks to be the final release of the start screen. In the past they haven’t change the start screen, it looks to be really polished and ready for use with Windows 7. If anything, I think the boot screen will be permanent and definitely not temporary. On a Side note, I found this video as well:

I also found one more little Video that looks to be promising, it’s called Windows 7 Super bar. This little Video looks convincingly like this will be kept in Windows 7 but you know how Microsoft is on beta’s. Any how, Here’s this one:

Windows 7 Super Bar from Paul Jenkins on Vimeo.

As you can see the super bar feature looks to be quite interesting and quite nice to have. I will bet that will be a great productivity improve in Windows and it might even be more like MAC OS X. I don’t know but it seems to be something that Apple should of done a long time ago!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Just saw this on PcWorld Reviews and thought I’d talk about the specs. I would love to get one of these for my self. It comes with:

• Silverstone Temjin TJ03 full tower case
• Intel Core i7 965 Extreme processor — Overclocked to 3.8 GHZ

12GB of DDR3-1066

7200-rpm Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 hard drive

dual 2GB ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics

• 22-inch Samsung 2243 LCD

All these are links are for those who would like to make this computer yourself.   The links are where you could go to buy the parts. The price after you buy the parts are estimated at $7395 price and I think you could get that down to 5000$ if you look for rebates and other incentives.   I wouldn’t mind having this computer for gaming myself.   It sure would be nice to give for someone on the holidays.  This would be good for people wh o are looking to computer game developers or people who are into 3D rendering.  Just though I share this little  review with you.   They really did a fantastic review of this product on there site.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Kb957321

An update rollup is available for the Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC) in Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2008. This update rollup resolves the problems that are documented in the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

954708 An update to add support for the serialization of complex Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data types in the Windows Imaging Component

945060 There may be inconsistencies in the Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) and Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) values for an image file in Windows Vista and in Windows XP

KB959108

The Windows Portable Device (WPD) API collects and transfers Software Quality Metrics (SQM) data to Microsoft servers. The SQM data is collected only on an opt-in basis through the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program. An update is available that disables the collection and transfer of SQL data to Microsoft servers.

This update affects Windows Vista-based computers, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computers, and Windows Server 2008-based computers that are in the Microsoft Windows Media Player Customer Experience Improvement Program.

KB959130

On a Windows Vista-based computer or on a Windows Server 2008-based computer, you install a third-party Web browser. You set the third-party Web browser as the default Web browser. Then, you run the Connect to the Internet Wizard. However, if you select the Browse the Internet now option, Windows Internet Explorer starts instead of the third-party Web browser that you set as the default Web browser.

This seems to be not so important.  All of these are not really security related but it does surprise me that Microsoft wanted to release these out of Cycle.   If your planning on using your Vista laptop during the holidays you might want to update your vista machine before you go.  I don’t think there is going to be any major issues with this but if there is, you can always remove these updates later.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

As the time approaches for the live even for Youtube. There are many confirmed and only one I want to see right now. As many people will agree that Mythbusters is the best show on Discovery Channel. They have been confirmed to be there tomorrow.

Some of the major players confirmed to be there are Mythbusters, Soulja Boy Tell’em, Katy Perry, Esmee Denters, Akon, FRED, and Will. I. Am.   Now I don’t know all these stars.   I do Know Mythbusters and I’ve heard of FRED.   I’m just stating who is going to be there.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Atlantis remains an extremely strong performer in DVR-delayed viewing, though, often building as much as 25 to 30 percent on its premiere night audience.

I kept saying Atlantis should of been on Hulu, just like every other show they would have a more solid audience and more  viewers to count.  The only reason Eureka and others got more ratings was because they could watch the latest shows on Scifi or Even Hulu.  Unlike Stargate Atlantis on Hulu, they only have small clips.   In order to build a fanbase, you need to build around the most current way to show the show off.   Granted it still did rather well with ratings and all but it could of done better by putting it on HULU.   There are sites out there that would like to Save Atlantis and I agree with them.  I would love to see more seasons of Atlantis, and see it on HULU.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

I’ve been doing some research on what might be good to use in case, I was away from my home network.  I was thinking how safe am I at Starbucks or other places that I might doing my web.  So I did a little looking around to see which one I liked and I came to the conclusions that only one I need right now is:

The nice thing about this was the simple installation of the software and how easy it was to set it up. This service is in beta but seems to be really well done with regards to the end users. When you install this software and want to connect it uses the OpenVPN software with there configurations. OpenVPN, is a open sourced SSL VPN solution and is free to use. The way this this free is of Ad Supported banners. Now it is cheaper than paying monthly for a VPN service. The ones I’ve found so far are these few:

• OpenVPN (FREE)(*advertisement)(Linux, and Windows)
• Always VPN (Prepay) (5 GB to 80 GB limit) (Linux, Mac and Windows)*Out of Beta
  
• Hotspot Shield (FREE) (*advertisement) (Windows) (3 gig Cap)
  
• WiTopia (40$/ Year) (Mac, Linux, and Windows)

There is of course others out that but these are just a few that I saw that looks like the cheapest there is.  Others I’ve seen cost 40 to 50 dollars a month.   If you have any other ones that are free or cheap let me know.  I don’t think we need to pay a lot just to have security on an open network. I’m certain that they’re more out there but will keep looking for more later on. I did my initial research and will come back and find more.

*Update Feb 8, 2009*

As of recent a friend emailed me saying telling me to check the site out again and I did.  Not sure when they went out of Beta because I’ve not been using Always VPN lately due to my Broadband Cricket Prepay Internet.  I just checked and yes they are charging here’s the break down:

• 5GB – USD 8.50
• 10GB – USD 15.00
• 20GB – USD 26.00
• 40GB – USD 33.00
• 80GB – USD 47.00

So I must ask why they didn’t just keep the 5 GB limit with the Advertising, I do not know but  I did want to let people know that it is no longer free and no longer in Beta.  I went from Always to OpenVPN which still works despite the fact they are using Always VPN back client.   It’s open source so it will probably change to something else sooner or later.   If you see it changes let me know, I will update more when I find out more!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

GE to Layoff it workers!

According to sources of friends close to me, their seems to be a consensus that there will be a major layoff coming from GE. My source is talking about it being a lot of people will be laid off and that it will start happening in the coming weeks.

According to Yahoo Finance saying this “52 week change of GE is -50.86% from last year. ”

Now I’m not a financial expert in the least.  I just see what I see with stock prices.  These could mean they are doing extremely well, or they could indicate that the company is planning on laying people off.  I’m just trying to provide a background on why they might lay people off.  We are getting to he point of becoming a Depression and no longer a Recession.  What do you think?

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

According to a media reports, Erik Tews and Martin Beck claim that they have found a way to unlock the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key, used by WPA, to read data sent from a wireless router to laptop computers. According to the researchers, the key can be cracked in 12-15 minutes.

[via Sophos]

According to Sophos, they are claim that people can now watch what you are doing on a Wireless router to a laptop. Although this isn’t to be unexpected this is a very serious out come. It is now easier to watch what people are doing online. So does that mean people can see everything you do? Not necessary. According to some people this is harder than it seems, most of the websites you visit are not encrypted, but websites that use the “https” protocol are more safer to use online. You should be safe if you are buying things online as long as you are sure it is secure. Some other steps to take to help make it harder to unencrypte your wireless single is to use Roboform promotion codes you will get for 10% or 20% off the purchase price!!

Some other steps to consider are:

• 10 ways to keep your wireless router Secure
• Understanding your wireless router

If you have a wireless router and want to be secure with any transactions online you might think about hooking up to the internet via the CAT5 cable.  This is one way to prevent anyone from seeing what you are doing online and protects your privacy.  Although this too can be overcome in certain circumstances they are much harder to do and implement so you are safer this way than with most others.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

According to Cnet News:
The test, which began being applied in the Reno, Nev., area on Saturday, limits customers of AT&T’s slowest DSL service to 20 gigabytes of monthly data transfers, while users of the fastest service will be limited to 150 gigabytes. Customers will have access to an online tool to track their usage and will receive notification when they reach 80 percent. Those who exceed their limits will be charged $1 per gigabyte.

[Via Cnet News]

So you just received the information that AT&T is doing this. How do you want to keep track of your online usage. I’ve got some good tools to help you. Although they will only help to a certain point you must remember a few tips and these tips are:

• Limiting use of your Bandwidth!!
• Understanding your Wireless Router
• 10 Ways to keep your wireless router secure!

With these steps you would greatly increase stoping unnecessary use of your bandwidth.  Most people don’t understand that any program you use on your network will be counted on the total bill.  If you know of any good ways to help stop bandwidth by all means tell people and if you find any good programs that might help, please leave a comment.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

I’ve not seen this yet, I will do my research on this Peek Email Device. This is fascinating that I didn’t know that there was something I’ve never heard of.   Anyways, I can’t beleive they don’t have a netbook or the new Gaming Laptop.  Please, a WII fit, Now how did they get there too?   How did The T-Mobile G1 get number 5th in the list.  I’m surprised that the GameBoy Advanced wasn’t one to be on there, After all they sold so many this year.   Why not the Xbox 360?  It seems people can still vote but don’t expect anything to change.

Go Vote and lets make our voice heard!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Vulnerability in Windows Internet Printing Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (KB953155)

This update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in the Windows Internet Printing Service that could allow remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts.

This update is rated Important for all supported editions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.

The security update addresses this vulnerability by changing the way that memory is allocated within the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) service. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.

[via Microsoft Bulletin]

Now from what I understand, if you have a Network attached printer on your system this would make you more vulnerable to someone taking control over your system. So this patch is supposed to fix that. I am recommending to all to update this and fix this update ASAP. I do not know if you don’t have one what that would do so just install this update, because you will undoubtedly still be runing the Internet Printer Protocol even if you don’t have a printer.

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

*Update* Seems to be that they’ve went and changed to another name.  They are now using  Excel Marketing, and I plan on keeping people updated.   Read the comments to find out about what people have said!!!

Hi all,

Just got this nice little letter from Nationwide Marketing.  This was sent snail mail, or Postal mail.   I came home today to find I got mail from 30 Centurian Drive/Markham, ON L3R 8B9 Canada.   I opened it up and find a check from Nationwide Marketing.   it’s the old routine, they want you to cash the check send them $3,500 and you keep the rest.  The fake check that I know is faked, I call the bank in question.   It says you have to do a 2 hour evaluation training and get paid training for 200$ per Hour.   The fake check was for $3,990.00 and $3,500 was supposed to be sent through a Wal-mart Money Gram.   The so called position was Customer Service Evaluator (Rep ID#: KB0C0608).     I am supposed to call 1-905-598-1519 I received this assignment to validate the enclosed payment.Thank goodness I did a little searching and found out this was a scam.

A little more information about this so called fake check is:

Nationwide Marketing

PO BOX 91

Minneapolis, MN 55440

Keybank of UTAH in Price, UT

Check Date 10/06/2008 Vendor ID 6280748  31-0300/1243

Routing number is : 124303007   Bank: KEY BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Peter Goldman Is the So called Co-ordinator.

Along with the letter and check there was a Customer Satisfaction Evaluation Tool (CSET), I’m assuming this is a way for them to get the important information of the money gram.   We are supposed to fax that after the completion of the assignment.

I did posted this to get the word about this scam.  I encourage all of you leave comments about this and warn people of all the variety of this scam.  Thank goodness I did research or I could of been a victim too, thanks Google!!!

There was another form of this starting up and I wanted to let people know:

Well, guess what . . . I just got a “Customer Service Evaluator” letter, check and survey sheet in my mail! The post mark is from Canada, and the check is from The State Bank of Faribault, Minnesota and the survey company letterhead says that they are located in New York. The phone number I am supposed to call is 1-416-831-1673 to let them know that I have gotten the check. Then I keep $100 and wire the rest back using Money Gram.

I did a google search on the name of the company, and they have a scam alert on their site telling people that the letters that they are getting in the mail are NOT from them.

http://www.surveyclub.com/e/ScamAlert.aspx
They should really check WHO they are sending these letters and checks to before they drop them in the mail!

[From Shawn Mosch]

This came from the scam victims site and wanted to inform people of this scam too!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

Having seen this become obviously a big problem.  I have decided to do a podcast on this and talk about the solutions on it.
[display_podcast]
My Social Networks:

• Friendfeed
• Stumbleupon
• Seesmic
• Mixx
• Disqus
• Ustream.tv
• Twitter

My Sponsors:

• http://tinyurl.com/techlinkrobo
• http://tinyurl.com/goodsync1

Show Notes for Shutting Down Vista:

• shutdown /s /f /t 00
• VISTA ShutDown Problem
• Windows Key>Right X 3>Enter
• Changing Hibernation into Shutdown mode
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control (right click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and pick something like 1000 or lower in Milliseconds)
• Nvidia 100.65 Driver Problems

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.

So the new clues are out and I figured we would talk about it!!

Clues that Hulu’s Giving us:

So the clues I just found out are Anagrams:

1. Clue: Hungry Dog Ado
2. Clue: Same Gyp
3. Clue: Oh Salt Rag Toy
4. Clue: Rail Lair
5. Clue: A Flake Mop Thing

So what’s the clue’s about?

1. Monday: Groundhog Day | Columbia Pictrures
2. Tuesday: Spy Game | Universal Pictures
3. Wednesday:  A Shot at Glory | Mojo
   
4. Thursday: Liar Liar | Universal Pictures
5. Friday: The King of Palma | Cast [OR] Taking of Pelham (One two and Three)
   

So here are some of the ones I think are going to come this week.  Although I am sure there are some that I didn’t think about.  That is why your comments on what you think these clues are will help everyone who comes to this blog.  Leave a comment if you know a clue and we will discuss it.  If your right I’ll be sure to give credit to where credit is due.  Let’s get a full discussion of these clues so we can figure this out before Monday!!

*Keep coming back for updates, I will update every day if there is something to update*

*Saturday*

UPDATE: These are all Anagrams, so I changed these around to to show what they really are.  I didn’t think of an anagram.  Thanks to all who left comments.  if anyone can figure out the other two let me know.  I haven’t figure out two of them.  Thanks to all the people who have helped solved this puzzle!!  Great job all of you!!

*Sunday*

The Anagram “A Flake Mop Thing” is been vexing me to the fullest.  I looked in several different online solvers and still can’t come up with anything that is remotely a name of a movie or show that is in the US.  If it’s not going to be in the US I will have to make a robot to do all combination lookup for IMDB.  I’ll do a little more searching.  If someone figures it out, leave a comment for everyone else.

*Monday*

Jim in the comments figured this title out.  I really don’t know anything about this film but if you unmix the anagram that is one of them.  I think this is an independent film, so I am unsure who is distributing it here.  IMDB brings up nothing!!!

*Tuesday*

Yep, it was my bad.  I didn’t realize that the movie someone suggested didn’t have no F.  If someone else figures out the movie for Friday let me know.  I’d like to know what it is before hand.  I’ve tried several different Anagram solvers and still nothing.

*Update #2*

So after having a rough morning this morning.  I have decided that there is two possibilities the first of course was the  original one we thought of.  The second was suggested and It might be possible.  The name of this suggestion is Taking of Pelham any other ideas as to this one?

*Wednesday*

So it was a new show for today and not the movie.  I did not know they had that out.  What do you think?

*Thursday*

It was supposed to be “Liar Liar” so now we have to wait and see.  This morning I look and it says upcoming Hulu Debut.  So I will find out like the rest of you.  I am hoping, this is a system error!! I think it was a system error it seems to be fixed!!

*Friday*

The final one was “Taking of Pelham One Two and Three”.  Great Job everyone.  Now lets get the ready for the next set of clues!!!

©2010 . All Rights Reserved.