Weekly News (2011-01-29)

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Editorial

Conflict seems to be an ever-present part of the human experience. Whether it is in Yemen or Egypt, we continue to struggle against oppression and injustices. And technology has been helping citizens get better organized. Facebook, Twitter and instant messaging and texting have allowed for quick organization and movement of groups for protests and demonstrations. But governments have caught on to those tools and have now implemented procedures to quickly interrupt internet and cell phone services to the masses. Even the governments of countries such as the United States have implemented such methods in anticipation of a variety of scenarios ranging from cyber-terrorism to civil unrest. But, as is the case with censorship, these interruptions of communications will just delay the inevitable. A cyber-attack will happen; it is not if, but when. We have had a taste of such with the WikiLeaks retaliations. It is not far fetched to think that protesters/demonstrators will find ways around the information-sharing blockades, perhaps with help from individuals and groups outside those countries. The important thing to remember is that oppression by governments will not be tolerated for long. Even in places like China there are constant efforts to improve access to information. It may take years or decades but change will come. May it come on the wings of peace. ~Victor

SAFETY

HAZARDS FROM FURNACES, SPACE HEATERS AND FIREPLACES: Tips on how to prevent fires and CO poisoning from the use of these devices.

SECURITY

THE TAX SPAM COMETH: It is income tax season, which means a slew of malware and phishing attacks claiming to be from the tax man.
HACKERS TURN BACK THE CLOCK WITH TELNET ATTACKS: A new report from Akamai Technologies shows that hackers appear to be increasingly using the Telnet remote access protocol to attack corporate servers over …
SMART CARDS NO MATCH FOR ONLINE SPIES: The U.S. government has been stepping up its use of smart cards to help lock down its computer networks, but hackers have found ways around them.
FACEBOOK OFFERS PROTECTION AGAINST WIRELESS FIRESHEEP ATTACK: Facebook is rolling out a more secure way to connect to its website, which will protect users from a widely publicized wireless networking attack called …

WORTHY WEBSITE

BROADBAND REPORTS: This site provides information on high-speed Internet connections. Search for broadband connections in your area along with user reviews on the service. BroadbandReports also offers a wealth of FAQs to keep you up to speed on your high-speed connection.

WORTHY DOWNLOAD

GMAIL BACKUP: SAVE YOUR E-MAIL FOR FREE: This useful attempt at a Gmail backup program is under-supported and feature-light.

WINDOWS

WINDOWS VULNERABLE TO ZERO-DAY XSS ATTACKS: What you should know about the MHTML flaw affecting Windows, and how to protect against potential XSS attacks exploiting it.
SWITCHING TO DESKTOP LINUX? 6 WAYS TO EASE THE MIGRATION: Moving a business from Windows to desktop Linux can be scary for some users. Here are some tricks for smoothing the transition.
PATCH SOFTWARE TO KEEP IT SECURE WITH FREE SECUNIA PSI: Free, handy security utility Secunia PSI helps you make sure all of your software is up-to-date and securely patched.

MAC

MICROSOFT CONSIDERS EMBRACING MAC APP STORE: With the launch of the Mac App Store, Microsoft is exploring the possibility of delivering Microsoft Office 2011 through the app environment.
MAC IT GUY: ACCESS EXCHANGE FROM HOME: I use Mail.app at home for both my home and work e-mail (Mobile Me and Microsoft Exchange 2003 respectively). For a while, it worked great. Then all of a sudden …
FILL OUT RETURNS ON YOUR IPAD WITH TAXSOFTWARE.COM APP: If it's spring, it's tax season--and iPad owners have a growing list of apps that can save them a trip to the accountant's office.
MACBOOK PRO SUPPLIES TIGHTENING AHEAD OF POTENTIAL REFRESH: MacRumors has heard from several sources that supplies of Apple's existing MacBook Pro models, particularly the 15" and 17" sizes, are beginning to run low in Apple stores and at third-party retailers, …

LINUX

LINUX VENDORS TEAMING UP FOR AN APP STORE: Unified application installer will give Linux users a consistently easier way to find and install apps, regardless of the distribution they use.
SWITCHING TO DESKTOP LINUX? 6 WAYS TO EASE THE MIGRATION: Moving a business from Windows to desktop Linux can be scary for some users. Here are some tricks for smoothing the transition.
WEEKEND PROJECT: TACKLE COLOR MANAGEMENT ON LINUX: Linux.com: "Do you see what I see? Maybe, if you have taken the time to tackle color management on your machine. The major desktop environments for Linux give 90 percent of users all the tools they need to see all of their images in device-independent accuracy."
8 OF THE BEST FREE LINUX E-LEARNING TOOLS: LinuxLinks: "To provide an insight into the software that is available, we have compiled a list of 8 of our favorite e-Learning tools. Hopefully, there will be something of interest here for anyone who wants to embrace electronically supported learning and teaching. We give our strongest recommendation to Moodle."

GENERAL/NON-COMPUTER

AVOID MINDLESS EATING: Though there are many tricks and tips for losing weight, packing on the pounds comes down to simple math: Consume more than you burn off, and you’ll gain weight. Sadly, increasing your exercise workload isn’t an effective way to cancel out chronic binging, during the holidays or any time of the year.

DID YOU KNOW?

CLOUD: (1) Also referred to as a network cloud. In telecommunications, a cloud refers to a public or semi-public space on transmission lines (such as T1 or T3) that exists between the end points of a transmission. Data that is transmitted across a WAN enters the network from one end point using a standard protocol suite such as Frame Relay and then enters the network cloud where it shares space with other data transmissions. The data emerges from the cloud -- where it may be encapsulated, translated and transported in myriad ways -- in the same format as when it entered the cloud. A network cloud exists because when data is transmitted across a packet-switched network in a packet, no two packets will necessarily follow the same physical path. The unpredictable area that the data enters before it is received is the cloud.

OFFICE RELATED

6 ADVANCED OPENOFFICE.ORG EXTENSIONS: "The open source OpenOffice productivity suite is a cross-platform powerhouse, and you can add additional functionality by installing extensions. Eric Geier offers six OpenOffice extensions for analyzing readability, special text effects, advanced math functions, and more."

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

HOLOGRAPHIC CREATION WORKS OUTSIDE OF TIME AND SPACE: You have a part of you that exists outside of time and space. Some of you call it your Inner Being or your Higher Self. I've also heard the term Super-Conscious.

WEEKLY VIDEO

MY BLACKBERRY IS NOT WORKING: You just have to love the wit!

OTHER NEWS

NEW SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH LOOKS AT WHY HUMANS FORGET STUFF: Scientists have discovered new information on brain processes, including how we forget things.
BUSYDOCS TAKES GOOGLE DOCS OFFLINE: Google is rumored to be introducing offline storage for Google Docs, but until that happens, the new Busydocs application bridges the gap.
40 SEARCH WARRANTS EXECUTED AS FBI GOES AFTER 'ANONYMOUS': Police agencies worldwide are turning up the heat on a loosely organized group of WikiLeaks activists. On Thursday U.K. police arrested five people, and U.S …
INTERNET PROVIDERS ARE THE NEW SECRET POLICE, SAYS REPORT: A new report released Wednesday says that more and more European Union member states are delegating online policing to Internet service providers.
DO YOU KNOW WHO'S TRACKING YOU ON THE WEB?: Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla say they want to clear the fog around targeted advertising, but it may be too little, too late
FIVE WAYS TO SPEED UP YOUR HOME NETWORK: Maybe you're tired of paying the cable company and want to get your movies and other entertainment from the Web. Naturally you'll want to watch those shows on …
ARE ENTERPRISE APP STORES A GOOD IDEA?: In theory, an enterprise app store would allow employees to easily download the software they need, but the idea faces many hurdles.
GET INTERNET ACCESS WHEN YOUR GOVERNMENT SHUTS IT DOWN: These days, no popular movement goes without an Internet presence of some kind, whether it's organizing on Facebook or spreading the word through Twitter. And as we've seen in Egypt, that means that your Internet connection can be the first to go. Whether you're trying to check in with your family, contact your friends, or simply spread the word, here are a few ways to build some basic network connectivity when you can't rely on your cellular or landline Internet connections.
ADD MORE USB PORTS TO YOUR PC: An inexpensive USB hub can add lots of extra ports--but is there such a thing as too many? Here's what you need to know.
SEND AND RECEIVE INSTANT MESSAGES RIGHT IN YOUR BROWSER: Free service Meebo offers cross-platform instant messaging, with no resource-hogging software to install on your PC. It's arguably the best Web service you're not using.
GMAIL TIPS: 5 GREAT E-MAIL TIMESAVERS: If you're one of Gmail's 193 million users worldwide, you probably rely on the service--and its add-ons--every day. Here are more ways to get more out of Gmail.
HOW TO WATCH VIDEOS IN DIFFERENT FORMATS: Do you have a video file that plays normally on one computer but not another? Here are some tips on making it run everywhere.

Weekly News (2011-01-22)

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Editorial

A friend of mine was lamenting about their money problems. Almost in the same breath she commented about their upcoming travel plans and plans for summer vacations. I was dumbfounded at the realization that what she perceived as money problems was very different to what I perceived as such. And then I realized that my money problems are nothing compared to what others are facing. It is all relative, isn't it?
Another friend and I were talking about politics in our different countries. She pointed out that most people are content as long as the latest gadgets are available in stores and they can charge for them on one of their many credit cards. They seem to still be in the "have more" state. I agreed with her and hoped that more of us will move away from "have more" or "do more" states into the "be more" state. ~Victor

SAFETY

EXTENSION CORDS, POWER STRIPS AND SURGE PROTECTORS: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provides safety tips for the proper use of these common electrical devices.

SECURITY

FACEBOOK GIVES YOUR HOME ADDRESS TO DEVELOPERS: Your home address and phone number are now part of the information dump third-party developers can obtain through Facebook-powered Website logins and applications.
BEWARE GOO.GL FAKE ANTIVIRUS WORM ON TWITTER: A worm is spreading on Twitter using goo.gl shortened URLs to direct users to a malicious fake antivirus site.
ZEUS TROJAN TARGETS ONLINE MONEY SERVICES: After a hit-and-run campaign against consumer online bank accounts in 2010, the Zeus Trojan now appears to be aggressively targeting a clutch of second-tier money exchange and payment services
NAKED ON FACEBOOK? BEWARE THE ANGRY DWEEB: Analysis: The latest Facebook scam reminds us that it's often too easy to hack passwords, so be diligent or be exposed.
MCDONALD'S PHISHING SCAM: I'M NOT LOVIN' IT: A phishing scam is circulating under the guise of a McDonald's survey with a $250 award for participating.
TWITTER TARGETED WITH FAKE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE SCAM: Twitter has been resetting passwords for accounts that started distributing links promoting fake antivirus software in an attack that used Google's Web address...
FACEBOOK PHOTOS: OPT-OUT OR TAG YOU'RE IT: 100 million people tag photos each day on Facebook. One month after Facebook launched its facial recognition feature, non-users may still not be aware that Facebook's photo tagging could be broadcasting their faces.
CAN FACEBOOK LEARN FROM APPLE?: A security firm says Facebook should overhaul its third-party developer program and require that every app go through an approval process.
FACEBOOK HALTS CONTROVERSIAL SHARING FEATURE -- FOR NOW: Facebook said Monday it will temporarily disable a controversial feature that allows application developers and third-party web sites to access users' phone numbers and addresses

WORTHY WEBSITE

RUBISTAR: FREE RUBRICS FOR TEACHERS: Rubistar is a free, online, rubric-creating tool designed to help educators who want to use rubrics in the classroom but don't have the time to develop them from scratch. The site doesn't look like much, but it is actually quite helpful.

WORTHY DOWNLOAD

SUPERCHARGE EXCEL WITH ASAP UTILITIES: ASAP Utilities puts all sorts of tools you've wanted or never imagined onto one Excel ribbon.

WINDOWS

BALLMER TO CHINESE PRESIDENT: 90% OF MICROSOFT CUSTOMERS IN CHINA USING PIRATED SOFTWARE: While Chinese President Hu Jintao knew he'd face some tough questions when he came to the United States this week, he probably didn't figure most of them would come Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
MICROSOFT TECHNET FOR THE REST OF US: Microsoft's TechNet site, dubbed "Resources for IT Professionals," is a rich repository of high-level geek talk plus tips for enterprise-class IT personnel. But don't let that reputation put you off — TechNet is also a gold mine of excellent tips and tricks for individual Windows users as well.

MAC

IPAD 2 FEATURES DUAL-CORE GRAPHICS FOR RETINA DISPLAY, REPORT SAYS: The latest hot expectation: iPad 2 can play 1080p HD video.
IPAD 2 WON'T HAVE 2048 BY 1536 RESOLUTION--BUT IPAD 3 MIGHT: IDC says the 2048 by 1536 resolution predictions are "premature."
MACWORLD 2011 PREVIEW: Next week offers a big event dear to the hearts of Apple enthusiasts--Macworld 2011 (formerly known as Macworld Expo). The man who runs the show--Paul...
APPLE RELEASES MACBOOK AIR, IDVD UPDATES: Apple sure has a funny way of celebrating record-setting holiday quarters. Before the company ended its 2011 kick-off earnings call on Monday, Apple released a...
MAC BASICS: HOW TO ADD/REMOVE DOCK ICONS: Mac Basics: How to add/remove Dock icons Apple’s Mac App Store makes it very easy to buy new software. It’s so easy that you might become a frequent Mac App Store shopper, which means the Dock will become very crowded, if it isn’t already. Here’s how to remove and add icons to your Dock.

LINUX

IPAD LOOKALIKE DUAL-BOOTS UBUNTU AND WINDOWS: Hard on the heels of the news earlier this month that Taiwanese firm Tenq has an Ubuntu-powered tablet on the way comes word of yet another iPad challenger running Canonical's popular Linux distribution.
VIRTUALBOX 4.0: December saw the release of the latest major update to VirtualBox, Oracle's desktop virtualization tool. In its previous incarnation, it was voted as our readers' favorite virtualizer, so let's look at what 4.0 has to offer.
MAKING MUSIC IN LINUX AND BEYOND: You can do a lot with free open-source software, also known as FOSS. Musicians with a yen for Linux are in luck; the array of choices for creating, editing, producing, and publishing music using nothing but FOSS software is staggering.
SPLIT AND MERGE PDF FILES WITH PDF-SHUFFLER: "If you have two or more Words documents, you can easily open them in any Office suite and cut/paste the content to split or merge them. What about PDF files?"
EXPECT SCRIPT TUTORIAL: EXPRESSIONS, IF CONDITIONS, FOR LOOP, AND WHILE LOOP EXAMPLES: "Expect scripting language is easy to learn. It expects specific string, and sends (or responds) strings accordingly. If you are new to expect, read our 6 expect script examples (including hello world example) to get a jump start."
7 OF THE BEST FREE LINUX PASSWORD MANAGERS: "To provide an insight into the quality of software available for Linux, we have compiled a list of 7 of the best free password managers."
YET ANOTHER 5 UBUNTU ADDICTIVE GAMES: "My last post about Ubuntu gaming generated a lot of interest, and I was kindly asked to write about more cool Ubuntu games. So, here you go, another five Ubuntu games for your pleasure"
HOW UNEMPLOYED DEVELOPERS USE OPEN SOURCE TO GET HIRED: "It's a tough economy out there. It doesn't matter which industry you happen to be experienced in, people need to be focused on keeping themselves as competitive as possible."

GENERAL/NON-COMPUTER

BEST SORE FEET SOOTHERS: It's time to treat your poor tired feet! The editors at our partner site Daily Glow tried the newest foot creams, sprays, and soaks to find solutions for your worst foot problems.

DID YOU KNOW?

DATA VIRTUALIZATION: Data virtualization is a methodology that takes a layered approach to dealing with huge volumes of data from disparate sources. The phrase virtualization is used because data virtualization is the aggregation of the data from disparate sources, including databases, systems and storage, to create a single virtual view from within a front-end systems; such as applications or dashboards. Data virtualization is commonly associated with business or enterprise applications including sales force automation (SFA), customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business intelligence (BI).

OFFICE RELATED

A FIND AND REPLACE TRICK FOR INSERTING NEW TEXT: Want to insert new text? Use Find and Replace.
WORKING IN GOOGLE DOCS KEEPS GETTING BETTER: The last few months have seen a raft of new features added to Google Docs. Here's a look at some of the most useful improvements to the free, online productivity software.
OPENOFFICE.ORG AND LIBREOFFICE RELEASE CANDIDATES DUKE IT OUT: Oracle-owned OpenOffice.org and independent LibreOffice are both nearing their freely available 3.3.0 versions and show their wares with recent release candidates.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

HOW TO IMPRINT YOUR GOALS: Deciding to change a habit, attitude or personal situation does not automatically bring about the change desired. The decision to make the change is only the first step. Further action is required in order to effect a change in your subconscious self-image. You have learned that your goal is the mental picture of what you want. When you write down the goal, it becomes an affirmation.

WEEKLY VIDEO

WISH YOU WERE HERE: This video is an example of how powerful it can be to simply slow down and feel the moment. After watching, it'll be hard not to see that beauty that surrounds us, and the realization that we can find calm in many different places.

OTHER NEWS

THE FACEBOOK OBSESSION: 48% of FB users check FB right when they wake up...
HP LASERJET PRO CP1025NW: The HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw Color Printer is best understood as a personal color laser that connects to a network.
DNA MOLECULES CAN 'TELEPORT,' NOBEL WINNER SAYS: In an experiment, a fragment of DNA appeared to imprint itself between test tubes.
HACKS TO SPEED UP FIREFOX: Here's a handful of tips, add-ons and exercises to get Mozilla's browser into top form.
FREE/LOW-COST TECH CLASSES: Did you resolve to learn a new skill in 2011? Here are a few options if you can't commit to attending an in-person class.
VIEWSONIC VIEWPAD 7: On paper, Viewsonic Viewpad 7 has a long and impressive feature list, but its flaws far outnumber its features.
WESTERN DIGITAL 3TB CAVIAR GREEN HD: The big buzz in hard drives right now is Western Digital's 3TB WD Caviar Green internal drive. Along with its cavernous capacity, the drive boasts a 64MB cache and is SATA 3Gbit/sec.-compatible.
GEEK 101: WHY YOUR IP ADDRESS MAY SOON BE AN ANTIQUE: The IPv4 address space is set to fill up within days. Here's a quick primer on what IPv4 is, and how the Internet is handling this problem.
UPDATE A CAMERA'S FIRMWARE: Much of your digital camera, including its sensor, LCD screen, lens, buffer, and auto-focus, is controlled by microprocessors running firmware. Firmware is...
YAHOO: USERS CAN LOGIN WITH FACEBOOK OR GOOGLE CREDENTIALS: Yahoo is allowing web users to sign in to its web services using Google and Facebook logins.
STARBUCKS EXPANDS MOBILE PAYMENT SYSTEM TO ALL STORES: Coffee drinkers with iPhones, iPod Touches or certain BlackBerry devices can pay for their cup of joe with a smartphone app.
SLIDESHOW: A BRIEF VISUAL HISTORY OF COMPUTERS: Slideshow: A brief visual history of computers The Computer History Museum's new 25,000 square-foot exhibit entitled "Computer History: The First 2,000 Years" opened this week and includes media and artifact-rich galleries with an in-depth focus on more than 20 major areas of computer history. Here are some highlights.

Weekly News (2011-01-15)

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Editorial

One of the greatest tragedies is the loss of a child. Last week, during the assassination attempt on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a nine-year old girl lost her life. Christina Taylor Green was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sadly, we cannot bring her back. But we can do two things for the sake of all of us: first, let's remember her and her family in our thoughts and prayers; second, let us all work toward ending violence anywhere we see it. Whether it is in the playground, in sporting events, or in battle fields, we must unite to end violence in our world. When we unite to end violence we will save many more innocent lives. ~Victor

SAFETY

HAIR DRYER SAFETY: Hand-held hair dryers are so compact and easy to use, you might not give a second thought to where you use or store them.
IS YOUR DRYWALL MAKING YOU SICK?: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Monday that it's been unsuccessful in persuading Chinese makers of defective drywall to compensate American homeowners. What types of problems have Chinese drywall caused?

SECURITY

6 CRITICAL CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES FACING THE ELECTRICAL GRID: As the country's electricity grid undergoes a transformation and moves toward a more intelligently networked, automated system, it faces an increasing amount of cybersecurity issues.
PARENTAL CONTROL PROGRAMS PERFORM POORLY WITH WEB 2.0 SITES: A survey by the European Commission has found that parental control programs aimed at keeping children safe online do not function well with Web 2.0 content.
'PATRIOT ACT' PHISHING E-MAILS RESURFACE, FDIC WARNS: Scammers are trying to steal banking information using fake e-mails that look like they've come from the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the FDIC...

WORTHY WEBSITE

SUDOKU: Enjoy a free online Sudoku game today!

WORTHY DOWNLOAD

10 SYSINTERNALS TOOLS YOU SHOULDN'T BE WITHOUT: The Sysinternals utilities offer a powerful, convenient way to knock out all kinds of Windows tasks.

WINDOWS

FREE AND EASY BASIC IMAGE EDITING WITH WINDOWS LIVE PHOTO GALLERY: Microsoft's free photo editor offers very good organization tools, but only basic image editing.
HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT WITH WINDOWS' PROBLEM STEPS RECORDER: Here's how to use the Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder to make remote troubleshooting for your family, friends, and co-workers as painless as possible.
OBJECTDOCK: Bring something like the OS X launch dock to Windows with this handy application.
CLEAN UP WINDOWS AND YOUR HARD DRIVE: Is your PC dragging at boot time? Does it take too long to do common tasks? Put snap back into your PC's step with these free and low-cost cleanup utilities.
WINDOWS ON VERGE OF DROPPING BELOW 90% MARKET SHARE: Windows is on the verge of dropping below 90% market share, with Macs, smartphones and tablets posing an increasingly serious threat.

MAC

WHAT YOU SHOULD BACK UP AND HOW YOU SHOULD DO IT: You know you should back up your data. And many of you also know that Apple’s made it easy to do with the Time Machine technology that's built into Leopard and...
HYPERMAC ADDS EXTERNAL POWER OPTIONS FOR MACBOOKS: MacBook and MacBook Pro owners looking for extra juice on long-haul trips away from the convenience of electrical outlets have two new options from Sanho, makers...
APPLE JUICZ CHARGES YOUR MACBOOK AIR WITH SOLAR POWER: If your idea of mobile computing includes going places where there are no wall outlets, QuickerTek can keep your MacBook charged.
SCALING AND CROPPING IMAGES ON THE CHEAP: For exactly no money you could attempt to create images of the correct size when you capture them or you could later crop and/or scale your images after you've captured them.
NO GPL APPS FOR APPLE'S APP STORE: ZDNet: "Some people swore to me that just because the free-software General Public License (GPL) clashes with the Apple App Store's Terms of Service (ToS), didn't mean that Apple would actually pull down GPLed apps. Well, Apple just did."
BEST BUY RUMORED TO ADD APPLE GENIUS BARS, DISPLAY MORE MACS IN STORES: Best Buy later this year may update its Apple store-within-a-store boutiques to feature a larger display of Macs in addition to staffed Genius Bars that would mirror those found in every Apple retail store.

LINUX

LEARN LINUX, 101: RUNLEVELS, SHUTDOWN, AND REBOOT: IBM Developerworks: "Learn to shut down or reboot your Linux system, warn users that the system is going down, and switch to a more or less restrictive runlevel. You can use the material in this article to study for the LPI 101 exam for Linux system administrator certification, or just to learn about shutting down, rebooting, and changing runlevels."
SKYPE CALL RECORDER: Shawn Powers shows us how to install and use Skype Call Recorder for Linux.
VBOXHEADLESS - RUNNING VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH VIRTUALBOX 4.0 ON A HEADLESS FEDORA 14 SERVER: This guide explains how you can run virtual machines with VirtualBox 4.0 on a headless Fedora 14 server. Normally you use the VirtualBox GUI to manage your virtual machines, but a server does not have a...
HOW TO INSTALL LIBREOFFICE IN UBUNTU 10.10 AND UBUNTU 10.04: Softpedia: "The following tutorial will teach every Ubuntu 10.10 and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS user how to install the new LibreOffice open source office suite and replace the old OpenOffice.org office suite from Oracle."
GET AN OLD PC WORKING AGAIN WITH PUPPY LINUX: TechWorld: "There's no doubt Canonical's popular Ubuntu Linux distribution gets the majority of attention in the Linux world these days, but there are myriad others equally worthy of consideration."
TOP 10 MYSQL BEST PRACTICES: Database Journal: "Rob Gravelle lists his top 10 MySQL best practices for database administrators, architects, developers, and security personnel."
HOW ARE LINUX DRIVES NAMED BEYOND DRIVE 26 (/DEV/SDZ, ..)?: Richard WM Jones: "It's surprisingly hard to find a definitive answer to the question of what happens with Linux block device names when you get past drive 26"
TOP 20 OPEN SOURCE APPLICATIONS TO CUT BUSINESS COSTS: In this economy, employees who can save their employers money are highly regarded and will potentially be in line for advancement. Using open source technology is one great way to help your company cut down on costs across the board.

GENERAL/NON-COMPUTER

CREDIT CARD VIDEOS: Watch this Money Talks News video to learn how to avoid the most common overdraft traps. Debit cards are perhaps the most dangerous because of NSF (non-sufficient funds) charges.

DID YOU KNOW?

VERTICAL CLOUD COMPUTING: A vertical cloud, or vertical cloud computing, is the phrase used to describe the optimization of cloud computing and cloud services for a particular vertical (e.g., a specific industry) or specific use application. The cloud provider will offer specialized functions and options that best meet industry-use and specifications. Today, the vertical health-care cloud is one of the more well-established vertical clouds.

OFFICE RELATED

TWO FEATURES FOR REDUCING DATA ENTRY IN EXCEL: Reduce data entry by training users to use Excel's AutoComplete and pick list features.
MAKE THE OFFICE 2007/2010 TOOLBARS MORE FAMILIAR: Not a fan of the Ribbon? Free plug-in UBitMenu restores the "classic" Office menus, making it easier for you to transition to the new versions.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

HOW BELIEFS WORK: A belief is merely a perception of reality.

WEEKLY VIDEO

THE KINGS' DESSERT: Amazing artistry with a string of honey. How strong is honey? Watch this video!

OTHER NEWS

AMBER ALERTS DEBUT ON FACEBOOK TO HELP FIND MISSING KIDS: Facebook announced Wednesday that it has created 53 Amber alert pages.
FREEBIE HELP BY LEO WALKS YOU THROUGH SOFTWARE HELP: This free tech support doesn't just tell you what to do; Help By Leo shows you how to do it, too.
RECUVA UNDELETES FILES--AND OFTEN CONDUCTS SECTOR-BASED RECOVERY--AT AN UNBEATABLE PRICE: Great donationware undelete utility Recuva includes sector-based recovery that works most of the time.
CONNECT A THIRD MONITOR TO YOUR PC: What's better than running two monitors at a time? Running three, of course. It may require some extra hardware, but at least you have several easy options.
MOBILE INTERNET SURVIVAL GUIDE: 10 TIPS TO STAY CONNECTED ANYWHERE: Just because you have a smartphone and a USB 3G dongle doesn't mean you're prepared to hit the road. Here are 10 tips for weathering worst-case scenarios and getting your work done.
7 TECHNOLOGY HABITS OF SMART PEOPLE: I can't help you lose weight or stop smoking, but I can give you a few ideas to make technology work better for you.
HARDWARE Q&A: CONNECT PC TO TV, ADD A MONITOR: Answers on connecting a PC to TV and hooking up additional monitors.
HOW TO CLEAN UP YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION: Taking control of how you appear in search results and on social networking sites may seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be difficult.
LEARN SOME PHOTOGRAPHY TRICKS FOR THE NEW YEAR: Start the year off right by learning some exciting photo editing techniques.
CONNECT A SECOND MONITOR TO YOUR PC: A reader wants to know the hardware requirements for driving a second screen. They're lower than you might think.
TABLET BATTLE TO HEAT UP, PRICES TO FALL IN 2011: CES provided a much clearer picture of the likely evolution of the tablet market in 2011 and provided consumers a few tips on what to look for and when to buy.
GOOGLE ACQUIRES EBOOK TECHNOLOGIES: Google is accelerating its push in the e-book space by acquiring eBook Technologies, a company that specializes in both hardware and content distribution
MOZILLA PLOTS FEBRUARY FIREFOX 4 RELEASE: 'Tired and stressed' team prepare for lift off Firefox 4 is nearly ready for showtime, according to a recent post on Mozilla's mailing list...
PUSH A BUTTON, CHANGE YOUR EYEGLASS PRESCRIPTION: Can electronics improve eyewear? A company called PixelOptics says it has developed technology that can make better glasses for people who wear glasses.
FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, YAHOO COMMIT TO 'WORLD IPV6 DAY' TRIAL: Several of the Internet's most popular Web sites - including Facebook, Google and Yahoo - have agreed to participate in the first global-scale trial of IPv6
DECIDE IF A MOTHERBOARD IS WORTH REPLACING: Before you spend your time and money trying to resurrect an old PC, ask if it's not time to cut bait and invest in something new.

Weekly News (2011-01-08)

Please visit protonic.com for excellent, FREE technical support!

Editorial

It is that time of the year -- time for New Year resolutions and goals. Here is one you can add to your list: I will avoid idling my vehicle! Check out this article about the disadvantages of idling. Most modern cars no longer need to be warmed up before they are driven. So … save some money and save the environment! ~Victor

SAFETY

INSPECT AND SECURE TVS, FURNITURE, AND APPLIANCES: On average, one child dies every two weeks due to tip-overs.

SECURITY

TEXT MESSAGE OF 'DEATH' THREATENS PHONE SECURITY: Security researchers have shown that many popular phones can be knocked offline by carefully crafted text messages, which could lead to a new type of denial of service attack.

WORTHY WEBSITE

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE: We know—just punching http://www.irs.gov into your browser can send chills down your spine. But the site really is useful, with FAQs, articles, and tax forms for both individuals and businesses.

WORTHY DOWNLOAD

GENEALOGY PROGRAM: GRAMPS: "Research, organize and share your family tree with Gramps."
GNUCASH 2.4.0 RELEASED: The Gnucash 2.4.0 release is out at last. The biggest change in this release is the ability to store its data in an SQL database; SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL are supported. LWN looked at Gnucash 2.4 last May.

WINDOWS

MICROSOFT WARNS OF NEW WINDOWS VULNERABILITY: A flaw in the graphics rendering engine could allow many versions of Windows to be exploited and compromised.
JANUARY PATCH TUESDAY: Two patches affecting Windows will be released next Tuesday.
ERROR ACCESSING AND DISPLAYING CHM FILES: REASONS AND SOLUTIONS: So, you've got in trouble. Some or even all of your CHM files seem to have gotten corrupted. They show a "The page cannot be displayed" error in the left-hand pane of the CHM viewer. There are several possible reasons why your CHM e-books and documentation files are unreadable. Editor's Note: You may also want to look at this page for more.
SECURITY RESEARCHERS VERIFY IE BUG: An Internet Explorer bug that allows remote takeover of a system, first reported by a Google engineer, is confirmed by other researchers.
RUN OS X, LINUX OR WINDOWS ON CHROME NOTEBOOK: Tom's Hardware: "If you do have one of the Cr-48 notebooks and are desperate to run a more full-featured OS, then you'll be pleased to know that not only is it possible, but you have a choice of Linux, OS X, or Windows 7."

MAC

APPLE UPDATES REMOTE DESKTOP, ADDS WIDGET: It was easy to overlook amid the Mac App Store launch and the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update that accompanied the store, but Apple also posted updates for its remote...
MAC APP STORE DOWNLOADS TOP ONE MILLION IN FIRST DAY: Apple announced today that over one million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store in the first day. "We’re amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is."
DJAY FOR IPAD: Djay for iPad is one of the best iPad apps around. It allows you to use your iTunes music library to create amazingly professional-sounding audio...
MAC APP STORE PIRATE RAID RAISES SECURITY CONCERNS: Easy hack means some apps could be infected with malware, security firm warns.
GET A FREE BOOK OF WINDOWS 7 SHORTCUTS: Ready to turn your keyboard into a power tool? This e-book offers a whopping 200 shortcuts for operating every aspect of Windows 7.
MAC IT GUY: PRINTER PROBLEMS AND DFS: Two more questions this week: one about finding missing printer drivers, the other about accessing Microsoft DFS shares from a Mac.
RUN OS X, LINUX OR WINDOWS ON CHROME NOTEBOOK: Tom's Hardware: "If you do have one of the Cr-48 notebooks and are desperate to run a more full-featured OS, then you'll be pleased to know that not only is it possible, but you have a choice of Linux, OS X, or Windows 7."

LINUX

VORTEX1.7 IS RELEASED! TURNS YOUR UNUSED COMPUTER INTO A MUSIC SERVER/JUKEBOX: Unixmen: "The big new feature for the latest release is the possibility of ripping DVDs along with audio CDs for streaming."
NOOK COLOR GETS HACKED AGAIN, NOW RUNS UBUNTU: Nook Color hacks steer away from Android and focus on Linux.
BROADCOM JOINS THE LINUX FOUNDATION: Just on the heels of its wireless driver being released in the staging tree of the 2.6.37 kernel, Broadcom has joined the Linux Foundation. "In September, Broadcom® announced it had open sourced its drivers for selected Wi-Fi chipsets, a pivotal move that garnered applause throughout the Linux community. Since then,...
INTRODUCTION TO RAID: Linux Magazine: "In this article I want to review the seven most common standard RAID configurations. But I will also very briefly touch on some of the hybrid RAID configurations."
A LINUX DISTRIBUTION ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR KIDS: DoudouLinux provides tens of applications that suit children as soon as 2 years old and tries to give them an environment as easy to use as a gaming console. Kids can then learn and have fun but... without Dad and Mum watching!
LINUX ADDS DRIVER SUPPORT FOR RAFT OF DEVICES: In addition to improved hardware support, Linux version 2.6.37 sheds Big Kernel Lock, boosts performance, and tightens security.
PARTED MAGIC 5.8 CAN BOOT AND FULLY OPERATE FROM RAM: Based on the 2.6.36 Linux kernel, the latest release of Parted Magic features the addition of the SciTE SCIntilla-based text editor and can be booted completely from RAM...
SYSTEMRESCUECD 2.0.0: François Dupoux has released version 2.0.0 of SystemRescueCd, a Gentoo-based live CD designed for data rescue and disk management tasks. What's new? "Standard kernels based on the long-term supported 2.6.35 kernel (2.6.35.10); alternative kernels based on the more recent 2.6.36 kernel (2.6.36.2); the Squashfs file system is now....
7 CLASSIC GAME ON LINUX: Linuxaria: "What do I mean as classic game ? Games released prior to 2000 on Amiga or perhaps on other operating systems and now ported to Linux."
PREY - AN AWESOME APPLICATION TO TRACK YOUR STOLEN LAPTOP AND ANDROID PHONE: Unixmen: "Prey is a lightweight application that will help you track and find your laptop and android phone if it ever gets stolen."
5 OF THE BEST FREE LINUX SYSTEM CLEANING TOOLS: LinuxLinks: "If a Linux machine is to remain in pristine condition, there is a genuine need for users to run software that vacuums up the detritus, wiping clean applications, deleting cookies, shredding temporary files, removing logs, and other types of system maintenance."
COMPRESSION PROGRAMS ON LINUX: Linuxaria: " Today I will introduce the main methods to compress the file and I'll do some tests to see how they behave. I will consider zip, gzip, bzip2 and xv."
RUN OS X, LINUX OR WINDOWS ON CHROME NOTEBOOK: Tom's Hardware: "If you do have one of the Cr-48 notebooks and are desperate to run a more full-featured OS, then you'll be pleased to know that not only is it possible, but you have a choice of Linux, OS X, or Windows 7."

GENERAL/NON-COMPUTER

STUDENT-MADE DEVICE COULD BRING CLEAN WATER TO THE WORLD: A device built by University of Washington students could help provide clean drinking water to some of the poorest countries in the world for less than $4 each.

DID YOU KNOW?

PRIVATE CLOUD: The phrase used to describe a cloud computing platform that is implemented within the corporate firewall, under the control of the IT department. A private cloud is designed to offer the same features and benefits of cloud systems, but removes a number of objections to the cloud computing model including control over enterprise and customer data, worries about security, and issues connected to regulatory compliance.

OFFICE RELATED

USE WORD'S AUTOSUM TO PERFORM SIMPLE CALCULATIONS: You don't need Excel to calculate values in Word. Just drop your values into a table, insert the right formulas, and you're done!
EDIT GOOGLE DOCS IN OUTLOOK WITH FREE HARMON.IE FOR GOOGLE DOCS: Work with Google Docs from inside Microsoft Outlook.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

HOW DO AFFIRMATIONS PROMOTE VIBRANT HEALTH AND WELL BEING: Whenever someone speaks of healing through affirmations, many people dismiss it as esoteric - or even nonsense - and they tend to not take it seriously. However, there exist volumes of scientific evidence that affirmations are an effective approach to healing and the achievement of vibrant health. They have even been shown to promote regeneration and rejuvenation of the body.

WEEKLY VIDEO

INTENSE 4 EXERCISES CIRCUIT TRAINING: Excellent set of exercises to work out. Enjoy!

OTHER NEWS

5 MYTHS ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT: Each year, hoards of people jump on the weight-loss bandwagon, but many of them enlist in fad diets that are based on nutrition myths. How can some of these misguided tips do more harm than good?
SCOTTISH RESEARCHERS CLAIM 1000-CORE PROCESSOR: Researchers at the University of Glasgow say they've created a 1000-core chip.
HOWTO: MAKE YOUR NEW YEAR'S CELL PHONE PICTURES LOOK LIKE THEY WERE TAKEN WITH A GOOD CAMERA: If you missed our tips on taking top-notch photos New Year's Eve, you may want to tune in for Lifehacker's tutorial on making your smartphone pictures look like they were taken with a quality camera..
10 GREEN NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS: As you make your list of New Year's resolutions, consider what aspects of your lifestyle must change to be more in balance with your health and the environment. Get ideas for green New Year's resolutions for a sustainable future.
CES GETS SERIOUS WITH TABLETS, 4G, NAS, AND POCKET PROJECTORS: Road warriors are about to get a powerful tech makeover as CES 2011 brings mobility advances on every front.
"SMART TVS" ADD THE BEST OF THE INTERNET TO YOUR TV: TV manufacturers are betting big on Internet TV features in 2011. Check out the cutting-edge Internet options for this year in HDTVs.
ULTRAVIOLET COULD MEAN YOU'LL REALLY 'OWN' THAT MOVIE: A group of Hollywood studios and technology companies has come up with a system for buying digital movies and TV shows that's supposed to do away with limits on viewing options.
PANASONIC VIERA CONNECT: GAMING AND EXERCISE: Panasonic's new Viera Connect features let you play games without a dedicated game console, and hook up a treadmill to go on a virtual jog throughout anywhere in the world.
CONNECT A PC TO YOUR TV: It's possible, and easy if you have the right ports on both, but there are better ways to ferry video from the Internet and your PC to your TV.
HOW TO CREATE AND SETUP A VIRTUAL MACHINE USING VIRTUALBOX 4: "Unless you've been on Moon for the last decade, you must have heard of virtualization technologies. In a nutshell, virtualization allows you to run an Operating System inside another, say Windows 7 inside Ubuntu."
SPEEDY USB 3.0 SPEC QUICKLY BECOMES A CONSUMER REALITY: Expect parity in pricing with USB 2.0 and for USB 3.0 everywhere in 2011.
4 OPEN SOURCE APPLICATIONS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED: OSTATIC: "If you or someone you know needs assistive computer software, here are four open source applications you'll want to check out."
DOWNLOADS TO RECOVER YOUR FILES AND SAVE YOUR BACON: Looking to retrieve lost or damaged data? One of these handy data recovery utilities may be able to get it back for you.
THREE APPS TO HELP MANAGE YOUR PHOTOS: The service, which allows users to compare reading lists with friends, share passages and send notes, has some support from Motorola, Samsung and Microsoft.
SELF-ENCRYPTED DRIVES SET TO BECOME STANDARD FARE: As secure data storage becomes more crucial, more companies are moving to on-board data encryption.
FINALLYFAST.COM MAKER TO REFUND THOUSANDS IN SPYWARE CASE: The company whose late-night commercials promised to "make your computer run fast the way it's supposed to," will pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines and...
OVERSUPPLY SENDS DRAM PRICES TO ONE-YEAR LOW: DRAM chip prices reached a one-year low on Tuesday and approached their cheapest ever due to a post-holiday oversupply. The cheap memory chips are pushing PC...
ULTIMATE GUITAR TABS AND TABTOOLKIT: I've been playing the guitar since a very young age. Although I can read music, I prefer to use tablature to help myself work out songs that I can't figure out...

Weekly News

Please visit protonic.com for excellent, FREE technical support!

SAFETY

DEADLY FIRE AND CARBON MONOXIDE HAZARDS WITH WINTER HOME HEATING: As families look for ways to save money in these tough economic times, the concern over additional fire deaths and carbon monoxide poisonings from alternative heating sources is heightened. The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging consumers to keep safety in mind when it comes to heating their homes this winter.
NINTENDO 3DS: NOT FOR KIDS: The Nintendo 3DS should not be used by kids under the age of 6.

SECURITY

TOP 10 SECURITY SNAFUS OF 2010: Google, Cisco, McAfee, and the U.S. government all grab negative security headlines for the year's dubious honors.
MOZILLA SITE EXPOSED ENCRYPTED PASSWORDS: A Mozilla database was exposed to the Internet, the Mozilla Foundation disclosed.
NEW ANDROID MALWARE COULD PRODUCE CHINESE BOTNET, HARVEST PERSONAL DATA: Security experts are warning that newly discovered malware targeting Chinese users of Google's Android mobile operating system has "botnet-like capabilities" that could take control of an Android phone by communicating with a central command-and-control server.
FACEBOOK SCARE TACTICS KNOCKED BY SECURITY PRO: Security warnings are misleading, even if they're well-intentioned.

WORTHY WEBSITE

FIND MISSING MANUALS FOR PCS, PRINTERS, AND MORE: With a library of more than 100,000 downloadable instruction guides for all manner of electronics, Retrevo is a great place to start your search.

WORTHY DOWNLOAD

GNUCASH 2.4.0 ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE RELEASED: Besides gaming being one of the last strongholds for Microsoft Windows users from switching over to Linux (though this is beginning to change), accounting software is an area that is even in worse shape under Linux -- free software or not -- aside from the available web-based accounting solutions. GnuCash...

WINDOWS

MALWARE TARGETS WORD: Microsoft is warning that hackers are exploiting a Word flaw to attack systems.
WINDOWS 7 FAMILY PACK SALES TO CEASE: Amazon confirms sales of Microsoft's three-license Windows 7 Family Pack will end by December 31.
INSTALL OFFICE 2010 OVER OFFICE 2007: Boghound asked if he could install Office 2010 over Office 2007 and retain settings ...
REPORTS: MICROSOFT SET TO ANNOUNCE TABLET VERSION OF WINDOWS: Rumors swirl around Microsoft preparing a tablet version of Windows for the CES show ...
SPEED UP A 'SLOWLY DETERIORATING' PC: All systems get slower over time. Want to go back in time, to make your PC run like it did when it was new? There's really only one solution.
FIX A PC THAT WAKES UP 'GROGGY' FROM SLEEP MODE: Sleep Mode is notorious for wreaking havoc on PCs. For this user's particular problem, I have two recommendations.
WEBROOT INTERNET SECURITY ESSENTIALS 2011: Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 has plenty of extras, but falls short at keeping your PC safe.
MCAFEE INTERNET SECURITY 2011: McAfee Internet Security 2011 put up fairly mediocre scores in malware detection tests, though it can be had at a reasonable price.
F-SECURE INTERNET SECURITY 2011: F-Secure Internet Security was reasonably successful at blocking threats and is easy to use, but it scans slowly.
BATTLE OF THE SECURITY SUPERPOWERS: We tested the 10 top security packages to see which ones can protect your data without overburdening your PC. Here are the exclusive rankings from the PCWorld Labs.
MAKE YOUR INTERNET EXPLORER FAVORITES BAR SHOW FULL TITLES: Don’t like those abbreviated labels in IE’s Favorites toolbar? There’s an easy (but well-hidden) way to expand them.

MAC

APPLE PARTNERS WITH CHEROKEE TRIBE TO DIGITALLY PRESERVE THE LANGUAGE: Apple has partnered with a Native American tribe to develop Cherokee language software for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, in an effort to ensure the language is not forgotten.
FIND PHOTOS THAT IMAGE CAPTURE LOST: Most of us import photos from our digital cameras directly into iPhoto (or some other photo editor) on our Macs. But some people prefer to use Image Capture...
APPLE I GOES FOR $213K IN CHRISTIE'S AUCTION: Christie's auction house in London today sold an Apple-1 computer for $213,600 to an unidentified bidder.
DROPBOX 1.0.10: One of the most popular bits of code around the Macworld offices is Dropbox. We’ve made videos about it, we’ve written about how to get more out of it, we’ve...
APPLE'S IPAD FINDS A PLACE IN THE ENTERPRISE: Apple's iPad is easily the IT product of the year -- it's reshaped the computing landscape for consumers and opened new opportunities for media companies hoping...
APPLE NO LONGER FLYING UNDER THE SECURITY RADAR: Apple fans have enjoyed a false sense of security, but Apple platforms and devices are increasingly a ripe target for attack.
APP STORE UPDATES NOW PROPAGATING AS HOLIDAY SHUTDOWN ENDS: Following the holiday shutdown that saw updates to the App Store and developer access to iTunes Connect temporarily halted in order to provide Apple employees with some time off, things are up and running again, with access to iTunes Connect ...

LINUX

GET YOUR OWN VIRTUAL DESKTOP WITH THE ALWAYSONPC APP: This powerful app lets you control a cloud-based desktop PC running Fedora Linux with 2GB of storage, the OpenOffice Suite, Firefox, Dropbox, and many other open-source programs.
12 COMMANDS EVERY LINUX NEWBIE SHOULD LEARN: Still scared of the command line? Don’t be. These commands are a quicker and easier way to get things done in Linux.
21 MORE NOTABLE FREE LINUX GAMES (PART 3 OF 3): "This article is the third and final part in this series. If you missed the first two parts, they are available to read here: Part 1, Part 2. We have again tried to cover a wide range of game genres. Hopefully there will be something in this article which will be of interest to any type of gamer."
8 MORE BASH TIPS FOR WORKING FASTER WITH THE SHELL (PART 2 OF 2): "This is the second article in this series, and brings eight additional tips for working faster with the shell. Here is the first article of the series, containing 10 tips."
A GUIDE TO WINE ON UBUNTU FOR BEGINNERS: "This guide is divided in four parts, so that you can jump to whichever you want using the links below:"
DYSART UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SAVES MORE THAN $100,000 BY SWITCHING COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEMS: In a little-known approach to saving money, the Dysart Unified School District has switched about 3,000 of its computers from the Microsoft Windows operating system to Linux.
LINUX-BASED NAS SUPPORTS 45TB OF STORAGE: Synology announced a high-end model in its line of NAS (network attached storage) devices targeting small- and medium-sized business. The DS1511+ has a 1.86GHz dual-core processor, room for up to five hard disk drives and 15TB of storage, two gigabit Ethernet ports, and compatibility with two external storage units, according...
PUTIN ORDERS RUSSIAN GOV'T TO MOVE TO OPEN SOURCE: Russia's prime minister orders government agencies to move to open-source software by 2015.
THE NEWLY UPDATED 1994-2010 LINUX JOURNAL ARCHIVE IS HERE!: In easy-to-use HTML format, the fully searchable, space saving DVD offers immediate access to an essential resource for the Linux enthusiast: Linux Journal. The archive includes all 200 issues of Linux Journal, from the premiere issue in March 1994 thru December 2010.

GENERAL/NON-COMPUTER

HOW TO DEAL WITH A NEW BOSS: Even in the best situations, meeting a new boss can be a bit like going on a blind date -- an uneasy mix of anticipation and anxiety. But what if your boss doesn't know what he or she is doing or is just plain bossy?

DID YOU KNOW?

CLOUD COMPUTING: A type of computing, comparable to grid computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. The goal of cloud computing is to apply traditional supercomputing, or high-performance computing power, normally used by military and research facilities, to perform tens of trillions of computations per second, in consumer-oriented applications such as financial portfolios or even to deliver personalized information, or power immersive computer games.

OFFICE RELATED

8 ADVANCED OPENOFFICE.ORG ADD-ONS: "OpenOffice is the best cross-platform office productivity suite, but it misses a few popular features like a clipart gallery, Google Docs integration, PDF import, and more than basic templates. But they're out there if you know where to look, and Eric Geier shows the way."

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

CAN YOU REALLY CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK USING AFFIRMATIONS?: Have you ever come across people who seem to be lucky in just about every situation and circumstance? They find a good parking space when not even bad ones are available. They just happen to find a $50 bill on the pavement. By some uncanny coincidence, they meet the right people at just the right time. They land their dream jobs. They triumph over misfortune. They get the girl (or guy) in the end -just like in movies with happy endings.

WEEKLY VIDEO

CATS DANCE WITHOUT MUSIC: These guys should have their own dancing show!
HOW DO I HAVE 2 FEEL?: A funny and inspirational video.

WEEKLY NEWS

TIPS FOR TROUBLE-FREE TECH PRODUCT RETURNS: Here are some tips about how to reduce the hassle when you need to return a tech product that you don't want to keep.
IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE: HYPERTHERMOPHILES: Google, Cisco, McAfee, and the U.S. government all grab negative security headlines for the year's dubious honors.
FIND MISSING MANUALS FOR PCS, PRINTERS, AND MORE: With a library of more than 100,000 downloadable instruction guides for all manner of electronics, Retrevo is a great place to start your search.
UPGRADE OR BUY NEW? FIND THE DESKTOP PC THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU: Here's how to improve an old desktop or buy a new one that meets your needs -- without breaking the bank.
GMAIL BACKUP: SAVE YOUR E-MAIL FOR FREE: This useful attempt at a Gmail backup program is under-supported and feature-light.
NEXT FLASH PLAYER TO BE TEN TIMES MORE EFFICIENT: Adobe's John Nack has demonstrated how the next version of Flash Player will see a tenfold reduction in CPU usage.
GET A HUGE WINDOWS SOFTWARE BUNDLE FOR $19: This amazing deal (valued at $255) includes Plants Vs. Zombies, WinX DVD Ripper Platinum, a PlayOn subscription, and a lot more. Plus, your purchase helps an important charity!
THE WEB'S BEST PRODUCTIVITY SITES: From Gmail to Xmarks to Wolfram Alpha, here are the 20 best sites and services for getting work done, keeping your schedule in order, finding useful information, and more.
THE WEB'S BEST ENTERTAINMENT SITES: Looking to enjoy video, music, and photos on the Web? Want to stay on top of your social connections? Keep these 13 sites and services--including Netflix, Facebook, and Tumblr--on your must-visit list.
THE WEB'S BEST TRAVEL, SHOPPING, AND DINING SITES: Whether you need to arrange a flight, find bargains, or make a restaurant reservation, these 13 sites--from Kayak to Craigslist to OpenTable--will make it easy.
A NIMBLE WAY TO MANAGE YOUR ONLINE SOCIAL LIFE: Analysis: Drowning in tweets, updates, comments, e-mails, and the like? Me, too -- but "Social CRM tool" Nimble may help.
GET YOUR OWN VIRTUAL DESKTOP WITH THE ALWAYSONPC APP: This powerful app lets you control a cloud-based desktop PC running Fedora Linux with 2GB of storage, the OpenOffice Suite, Firefox, Dropbox, and many other open-source programs.
COULD MALWARE RENDER YOUR PC UNBOOTABLE?: A lot of people see a PC that won't boot, and assume that it's infected. That's the least likely cause.
EASY WAYS TO PRESERVE YOUR HOLIDAY PHOTOS: Make sure you never lose your photo collection due to a computer failure.
PC REPAIR RIP-OFFS: DON'T GET GOUGED BY FIX-IT SERVICES: When your PC needs a tune-up, upgrade, or overhaul, don't fall prey to the tech shop's worst deals. Here's the truth about computer repair services.
AMAZON PATENT AIMS TO END THE NEED FOR REGIFTING: The system allows Amazon members to create a sort of blacklist of gifts that they can return before it's sent.
ORACLE EXTENDS OPEN SOURCE VIRTUALBOX 4.0: "And guess what? The core product remains licensed under the GPLv2 - but wait there is a catch."
15 MODERN CONVENIENCES THAT ARE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH: Many inventions and ideas of the last century had some potential to be useful, but actually will have negative consequences to our bodies or the environment. Learn about the detriments of everyday items.
MAKE YOUR OWN FLASH CODE WITH WONDERFL: Play with Flash animations or build your own with this awesome site.

My technology corner

Happy New Year!

I hope 2011 is the best year you have ever had!

Starting today, I have split the technology portion of my personal blog and created this journal. Among the things I will publish is a copy of the TechNews newsletter I prepare for the website protonic.com; this is a site where anyone can get free help for technology-related questions, especially as they relate to personal computers.

This blog will contain information on a variety of technology areas. I will include a wide range of topics, from basic PC maintenance to computer programming. I hope you will enjoy it!