Oh My I got the Presidents Attention!!

I just got an email telling me:

Barack H Obama (PresidentBarak) is now following your updates on Twitter.

So I go to the click the link and I see this:

Wow, I didn’t know I was this influental to get the Presidents attention(NOT).

http://www.economygrantprogram.com/

After checking out the profile I see that it has a link to a site that basically asking for your personal address and your email account. After I go check the site I see in really small catch you have to pay 3.95 for Shipping and Handling. Well You know what they say, nothing ever is Free. This looks to be a way to get email addresses to spam in the long run. I wouldn’t give them any information because this is looking to be a scam and I hate scams. You best bet is to go on with your life and report this spam to twitter. This however got my attention because of the who it was, and that is probably why they chose the name. It is however quite funny.

Figuring out the Hole for The USB Cricket Card? UM100C

So you bought and you see:

You probably wondering what that can be used for? Here’s what I know and from what I found out. That little can be used as an external Antenna. You could also use this to boost your signal and be able to use this for places that might not be getting a better speed upward and downward bandwidth. You see it all depends on where the Cell Towers are. Although this will likely help those who are either 1 to Almost Zero signal, it will not help those who are outside of the network. It might help and it might not, it depends on the location your at and the closest coverage area. If your on the edge of the coverage area and you buy this antenna it Should boost your signal and get you a better speed. I will not say it will help but in theory it could help. If you want to find out the other post that I have done on this subject please check my Cricket tag for more information.  Although it varies on person to person, and region to region this is going to be a variable that will always remain in the grey.   Only way to find out is to try it.

Offline Update 5.0, Clone of Autopatcher to Some!!

Offline updater 5.0 has been released a couple months ago and I just realized it now.  This is an excellent tool for IT professionals who want to keep all your Systems up-to-date with the last patches from Microsoft.  The systems it supports are Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64, And Windows Vista / Server 2008.(32 bit and 64 Bit updates).

I find this a very useful program for people who have a multitude of problems, from not being able to get on the net to computer virus infections.  This is really good for big businesses that want to update a lot of systems in easy way without having to wait for downloads of updates to install.   You can take a DVD and update on the fly within Mins.   DVD being Cheap or buying them in bulk helps saves time and money for the company.   Less time spent downloading the updates and more time actually getting work done.  As with the Conflicker, Downadup, and to some the Conflickr Trojan, if you got infected with that little worm.  This would help install the updates that it prevented you from doing in the first place.  I also found that once you download do the update the files are kept on the hard drive so you no longer have to redownload them again.  You just update the updates every second Tuesday of the month and it downloads the newest patches and creates a whole new ISO for you to burn.

Microsoft Keynote CES 2009

Some Key topics talk about in this Keynotes are:

Windows 7 — Lighter, Faster, and Reliability. Windows 7 Should boot quicker and faster, and enables cool new interface touch.

Windows 7 — Beta will be available Worldwide on January 9, 2009 and will be available for download on MSDN and Technet.  Also it will be available at : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7 For those who want to download it from Microsoft directly.

Windows Live Essentials — Windows live Messenger, Mail, and Photo Gallery works with Windows XP, VISTA, and Windows 7. It is available for download worldwide. Dell will also be putting this on their consumer and small business computers.

Windows Mobile — 11 Different Mobile phones.

Verizon Mobile –  Windows Live Search will be available through Verizon and it’s a partnership with Microsoft.

Demo of Windows 7, Live, and Mobile:

Windows 7 will have Windows touch and be able to use net books with Windows 7.

Windows 7 has been designed with the Touch DNA in mind.

Windows Mobile demo with an Panoramic display.

Windows Live Demo –  Various things they discuss here including Photo’s and Silver light.

Windows XBOX:

Viacom might be going to HULU

According to some of the news post people are worried about Viacom leaving Time Warner. Now Here’s where Viacom might be going digital. What do I mean Digital, I am talking about going to HULU. If Viacom doesn’t sign a deal with Time Warner, that would leave a space ope for someone else like Hulu.

So Viacom isn’t happy with Time Warner, or They want to go IPTV. Some of the Headlines I’m seeing are:

• Time Warner Cable Loses Viacom: MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central To Go Dark
• Dispute Between Time Warner and Viacom May Affect Cable Shows
• Viacom could pull MTV off Time Warner Cable
• Viacom And Time Warner Cable Play Chicken; Programmer To Pull Networks Over Fee Dispute

These are just a few that I am seeing pop up around the internet.  So what does that mean to the internet user?  Well On one of there show’s like Dora the Explorer on Nickelodeon will begin to stream some of the shows previews on Dec 29, 2009 for it’s next show.  When you go to Nickelodeon Site you get this:

Disaster preparation 101 — Data backup

In this one I will talk about Disaster, it happens to all of us from time to time. A fire, a earthquake, a stolen laptop or any number of ways. So what happens to your data, is it stored on the laptop? Is it important very sensitive data? Could you get fired if you lost that data?

These are all questions you must ask yourself when you have laptop. How do you backup your data or even do you have a backup? Having seen this with my own clients, I must wonder if there are people out there who just don’t care. I had a client the other day who gotten a virus and this was a really mean virus. Deleted some very important files when you tried to clean the virus out. She called me in a panic because she couldn’t load up windows? I asked if she had any backups, she said “what’s a backup” . So I sat there discussing this with the client for over 20 minutes. Finally she started to understand, she said she had the OEM Backup DVD but nothing else. She also said she needed help with getting data off the computer. I told her that I would be able to come the next day and I was lucky the virus didn’t do anything else to her data. We were able to retrieve the data from her system. That is where I start my rant , Why would anyone not have backup of there most important data?

Cricket Wireless Broadband Card — How to get better speed!

After buying the card last month,  I did a quick review about the broadband card. I wanted to talk about the speed problems that I had when I first used the modem.  Here is how to possibly getting better speeds when you use your card.   First off, you will need to disconnect from the internet and go to your quicklink mobile application:

You will click on “Tools”  and then hit ‘Activation’.   If you have it fail on your the first time you should reboot your system then try to do the activation after reboot that should fix the activation problem.
As you can see after I did the activation of the modem, my speed went way up from the last review.  I thought I should talk about how you could possibly fix this.  I called tech support over this to get a better speed.  

Xbox Zune? or A Zune Phone?

Could Microsoft be planning to talk about the Zune.   Some blogs are talking about how this will be talked about in next month at CES.  According to some posts and I’ll quote:

The Tech Trader Daily column earlier this week on Barron’s reports that Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry predicts Microsoft will reveal a Zune phone next month at CES. Chowdry expects that much like Apple’s iPhone the device will combine music player capabilities with, he says, “some motion enhancement features.”

[Via 1UP]

Although this is a theory, and I can see this happening due to the fact that Microsoft has always like to tie together there products.    So what makes this even more tangible is the fact that Microsoft hinted about this in the past:

Dated Dec 20, 2006

Xbox European boss Chris Lewis has admitted for the first time that Microsoft is considering games content for the recently released portable multimedia player Zune.

[via Gamasutra]

As you can see Microsoft did hint this and probably will be fact sooner or later.   Some sources are claiming they have this already in the works but it’s still a rumor.   I’ll let you decide for yourself.

Rumor is that Itunes will Remove DRM!

A report from last week brought to AppleInsider’s attention by French technology site ElectronLibre asserts that it’s now “clear” Apple will spark new interest in its music store by removing DRM from tracks published by Sony, Universal and Warner on December 9th.

[Via Apple Insider]

Although, this is somewhat unlikely I’ve got my own theories on this.  You see If Apple did this tomorrow that would be a BIG deal, due to the fact that Microsoft will be releasing there patches on the same day.  I find it would be a momentous occasion.

I can only guess why and the guess is just a guess.  If Itune’s did remove there DRM the same time as Microsoft Patch Tuesday, I’d have to guess they will co-inside because of the difficulty of using the DRM, Digital Rights Management, on other products.  For example, Windows Media Player .  If Apple decided to approach Microsoft and come up with a way to make sure all DRM is stripped this would be the ideal situation.   Although this is highly unlikely, I’d have to think Apple wouldn’t wait till tomorrow to strip the DRM.  They know Microsoft schedule.  We will have to find out in the coming days.

Facebook: Virus Variant comes back from the dead!

In my recent post, I talked about a Virus that is circulating around on Facebook.  It is know as the Koobface virus and has been changed a little by the programers.   So I what is Techworld saying, just this:

In fact, Koobface is now using one of Facebook’s own features against it, Lovet said. The latest variant uses Facebook’s ability to redirect web links to drive users to malicious websites, often hosted on Geocities.com, Lovet said.

[Via Techworld]

If you have been victim to this little virus, you should check out my Virus removal page and download the programs that should fix this little virus for good on your system.  You should also check out my Previous post I also have some good tips and tricks to prevent the user(YOU) from getting hit by this virus in the first place. This virus is a Good social engineered virus, so please be careful.

Viacom and ATT layoff some people. (12,850 People)

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]

This is a Sad day for the telecommunications industry both AT&T and Viacom are laying off people. According to reports Viacom will lay off around 850 people. ATT will layoff 12,000 Jobs. Here’s the quote from Associated Press:

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.

Adobe Lays off 600 people

Adobe might also hire new workers within Europe, he said. The cuts will be formally announced on Dec. 15 when the company releases its fourth-quarter financial report.

[via Infoworld]

This is another technology company to lay off people, there are some talks that it would be around 600 workers on some blogs. Others are just talking about the Management shakedown, and some workers are going to be moved around. I don’t know who is going to be laid off, or if there will be a tremendous amount of people who will need to start looking for a job. I do know that Adobe is looking for ways to cut cost, and I expect they are having problems just because of the Recession.  If you want to check out other jobs that have laid people off, just click this link.

Adobe also announced the implementation of a restructuring program, and has taken steps to reduce its headcount by approximately 600 full-time positions globally. The restructuring will result in anticipated pre-tax charges totaling approximately $44 million to $50 million. The Company expects approximately $28 million to $30 million of the restructuring charges to be recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008.

You asked for it, Now it’s real — Vista SP2 Dec 4,2008

Beginning Thursday Dec. 4^th, we will be making the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta available to everyone through a Customer Preview Program (CPP). The CPP will launch on TechNet and be available to anyone interested in trying out this service pack. The CPP is intended for technology enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros who would like to test Service Pack 2 in their environments and with their applications prior to final release. For most customers, our best advice would be to wait until the final release prior to installing this service pack.

[Via Technet]

Yes you heard right, you can get into the Beta of Vista SP2 and not have to wait till April.  Some things to remember:

• It is a Beta
• It will Have Bugs
• It is for people who want to test it out
• It should only be installed for people who need to test it out

Windows 7 will sport Direct X 10 Compliance!

The new feature is called WARP10, for “Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform,” and it’s essentially a DX10-compliant, software-only rasterizer that was written by Microsoft; it runs directly on the CPU. In a situation where a DX10 app needs to run but can’t find DX10-compliant hardware, it will run on WARP10, albeit very, very slowly. Ultimately, you can think of WARP10 as a “software DX10 GPU” that will exist as a fallback in Windows.

[via Arstechnica]

Podcasters are in up in arms over Ustream.tv

REVISED:

Podcasters and LifeCasters alike are not so happy with Ustream.tv right now. They have started to introduce there own ads overlay to where the lifecaster or podcast involved doesn’t get any revenue. One such Podcast right now is Mike Smith, Host of the Miketechshow Podcast, and Also Todd Cochrane, Host of Geeknewscentral.  In a Recent post from Todd, he stated he is going to leave Ustream.tv.

Mike Smith in his last Podcast talked about this subject and why he is really unhappy with Ustream.tv.  He says that the ads could possible violate his TOS with Techpodcast Network.  He also would like to share the revenue because he was one of the founding podcasters that started to use Ustream.tv.   He’s worried that there will be adult theme ads showing on his video stream and that He wants this to be family friendly.  He’s said before the show if he has to he’ll go to other networks.   Some of the networks that might help him out:

• Mogulus
• Stickam
• Ustream.tv
• Blogtv

Technorati Officially laysoff 6 people!!

Technorati released today they are going to Lay off 6 people and I will quote: