TechBlog

**Mac: Hi PC, I’m not feeling so hot today… ** PC: Oh, I know ALL about that. I think you have a virus! Security experts by and large agree that security via obscurity is not a wise model for protecting customers over the long term. That’s exactly the model Apple has employed successfully for some time now. However, its luck finally appears to be running short. ...

Mashable: There’s a new stocking stuffer for the social gamer on your holiday shopping list: Facebook Credits. Already available at Target stores, the social networking site is set to offer the credits -– which can be used for in-game purchases in games like FarmVille –- at Walmart and Best Buy too. Walmart will offer $5, $10 and $25 versions of the gift cards, while Best Buy will sell them in denominations of $10, $25 and $50. ...

VLC Media Player, an app that lets you watch videos in several formats that aren’t natively supported by the iPhone, has arrived in Apple’s iTunes store. The app originated on the iPad and is now compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and “recent” versions of the iPod touch. The features include quick decoding of “almost every” video format, playback in landscape and portrait mode, as well as deleting files directly from the application (bypassing iTunes). Check out an early video review of the application over at 9to5Mac. ...

Believe it or not, Google hasn’t forgotten about Feedburner. The RSS feed service has received an experimental new interface that better matches Google Analytics and looks like it might actually integrate into other Google AdSense and Webmaster tools. The interface doesn’t work for every component of Feedburner — if you need to access feed management or change certain settings, you can continue to use the old interface. The new interface — which is accessible via feedburner.google.com/gfb/ — shows real-time stats for clicks, views and podcast downloads from across your feeds. This is really powerful, especially if you use the Feedburner Socialize service to auto-ping Twitter when you publish a post. This can let you track how users are referred and what RSS clients are being used to access feeds. ...

The Internet is growing fast, but Google is growing even faster. According to online security company Arbor Networks, Google now represents an average 6.4% of all Internet traffic. This is a new record for Google, as it gained more than 1% of all Internet traffic share since January. Now, only one global ISP handles more traffic, and a lot of that traffic is – unsurprisingly – Google’s traffic. ...

Paul Mah, on the ITBusiness Edge blog, reported on GFI’s September survey of web filtering practices in small and medium businesses and got some interesting feedback from readers. Web filtering is put in place primarily to improve network security, but another big reason is to stop the loss of productivity, he said. Employees however can be offended by the implied lack of trust. One of Mah’s readers said he dutifully “practices self-censorship to enhance personal productivity.” Another, however, asked: “What makes you think your employees are productive now? A slacker will always find a way to slack around.” ...

Internet is great, and everyday millions of people spend their day surfing it, using Google, Gmail, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Some people buy at ebay, or Amazon. Even some people use it to work, though these cases maybe not that common😉 As a reader of this blog, you are concerned about security and therefore you already know that connecting through public WiFi is a risky sport. But it is also really convenient, how many of you have done it in McDonalds,Starbucks, etc.? Yeah, me too😮 ...

I love computers and technology in general. Actually, I am an advocate of technology and I try to push high tech solution whenever that makes sense. But, what happens when technology fails? We have seen many movies with various apocalyptical scenarios where one or another technology fails on us: computer systems in nuclear power plants, satellites, ground or air traffic and so on. The picture below were taken by me with the mobile’s phone camera in two airports in Europe. ...

Currently cyber criminals try to make fast money by spamming out emails in masses in Germany which allegedly stem from an Advocate specialized in copyright. According to the spam mails, the user was downloading copyrighted material. An IP address is in the email to proof that. To not call the attorney to action, the recipient of the mail is offered to send 100 Euros via a payment system called Ukash. Don’t fall for that social engineering, don’t pay! ...

Mashable: The Wi-Fi Alliance is about to drop a wireless connectivity bombshell called Wi-Fi Direct. It will enable device-to-device connections using current Wi-Fi standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance will begin certifying Wi-Fi Direct devices today. Communication between Wi-Fi devices isn’t specifically new. The Nintendo DS, for instance, has had device-to-device Wi-Fi interaction for some time, but the technology is proprietary. The Wi-Fi Alliance differentiates Wi-Fi Direct by certifying the standard, ensuring interoperability. Devices stamped with the Wi-Fi Direct certification don’t need wireless networks, as they essentially become micro-hotspots. This technology will conceivably allow devices like an Eye-Fi memory card to directly beam an image to a wireless printer. Since Wi-Fi Direct is largely software based, many recent devices should be upgradeable. ...