We’ve Moved!

This site has moved to its permanent location here:

http://www.kortechservices.com/

I will not be updating this site directly anymore.

Countdown to Conficker

Hopefully, many of you know already about the Conficker worm which has been in the news as of late. There are many millions of infected machines out there today, and the clock is ticking on an April 1st deadline. What happens on April 1st 2009 is anybodys guess, but it more than likely won’t be a visible change, some even say that nothing will happen.  I’ll do my part to sound the alarm as well, even if its just going to fizzle out next week.

This is an interesting little worm we’ve got on our hands, it has the ability to attack on multiple fronts and mutate from different vectors.   Go out and make sure your machines are up to date with the latest patches people, this one is based on a vulnerability discovered in September 20008 affecting all Windows products from 2000 on up.  Security blogger Byron Acohido has a great write up on how to see if your machine is infected and what to do about it.  So if you can’t seem to get to websites such as Microsoft.com, Symantec.com, or McAfee.com you most likely could have the infection. Not to worry, there are plenty of free tools out there that remove the worm.

More information about this worm can be found here, here and here.

First experiences with G1 Android

As a public service to you I thought I would share the first 48 hours with my new Tmobile G1 phone, the much anticipated first device featuring the Android operating platform.

Out of the box its very simple and straightforward to setup, seemingly at first glance. When the phone is first powered up it starts a setup wizard asking for your google account information or gives the option to create one. This was my first roadblock. I did not have 3G service enabled yet on my account, and there was no way to bypass this wizard in order to enable wireless. So, after some failed attempts I went online to enable the service, and was forced to go upstairs to get a better signal. Finally! Contact was made and it imported everything from Google including my Calendar, emails and contacts. Neat.

It took me some getting used to using the interface (coming from Windows Mobile 6), but once I learned how to run around the screen its quite easy.  Access and downloading from the Android Market is fantastic, and even though its so early in the game there are many apps already available.   Three apps I have gotten and work very well are Compare everywhere (comparison shopping), Twitdroid (Twitter client), and Shazam (music tagging). Compare everywhere is a fantastic idea, scan a barcode with the camera and coupled with GPS will tell you how much it is elsewhere and online. Shazam is neat because it will actually listen to music playing (even from the phone itself) and identify the song and artist and link to the MP3 on Amazon. How cool is that?

The only complaint so far is the battery life. In order to use the phone all day you need to turn off the GPS, Wireless and dim the screen to almost nothing (which is fine because its very bright).  Hardware wise its very similar to the Wing, they are both from HTC. Its thinner than the Wing and has a wider screen. At least they got rid of those awful flaps that cover the SD slot (although there is one over the USB port). People complain there is no headphone minijack and must use the USB adapter to plug in. Really, thats what my IPod is for so I don’t care.

This is only the beginning, and I love the concept of a Linux phone. I can’t wait to see what else is capable with this platform the sky is the limit.

Microsoft’s Next Operating System will be called..7?

Yep, you heard that right. Just announced yesterday the folks in Redmond are steaming full ahead for the next iteration of Windows which will simply be called..Windows 7. After all these crazy naming schemes, could they not have done this since the beginning (kinda like the Mac OS series names)? I have a feeling this move has something to do with getting away from the Windows Vista name as quickly as possible, as they seem to not be able to get out from the constant negative attention this OS is getting. Although from leaked screen shots this looks a lot like Vista, the code base will be the same with some tweaks. I’ll bet the marketing team will be ramping up the idea that this isn’t even related to its predecessor and is a completely new OS, although under the hood it isn’t.

Other sites are also reporting that this may be released even sooner than 2010, which is only speculation at this point on that date,  possibly even in June 2009. Yeah right, thats a good one. Since when has Microsoft been on time for any major release?  The betas for Windows 7 will be released shortly during some upcoming developer conferences so I’m curious to see what things have changed.  Call me skeptical unless I’m convinced otherwise. I knew there was a reason to wait just a little while longer with Windows XP!

Move over..theres a new browser in town

Today search internet giant Google released its own broswer on the internets dubbed Google Chrome. In an already crowded field occupied by Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari and many other variants why would Google do such a thing?  I don’t know, I suppose the insatiable need to try and dominate another market related to its core businesses. I suspect its another strategic move to the cloud computing thing, as many of Googles software applications exist in online form mostly.  But, in keeping with its “Do no evil” mantra, they did release this as an open source project and it is based on the webkit engine, the same one as Apple’s Safari. 

You can download Chrome and test drive it yourself, although it is only available at this time for Windows users. Don’t worry, the Linux and Apple versions are promised to be not far behind.  In fact I’m wirting this post through Chrome, and I have to say that my first impressions are very positive.  It is lightning fast in redering pages, imports bookmarks from Firefox and has a clean simple interface. If a thriving plugin community starts making add ons for this, Firefox will have a run for its money.  You can read all about Chrome’s features on this page, and there is certainly some cool innovative stuff that will make this browser stand out from the crowd.  

Hey you other browsers, looks like Google is now gunning for your place at the table. We’ll see where this leads, this is going to be interesting time on the web. Its the dawn of a new browser war!

Firefox 2 users prepare to be upgraded

According to the official Mozilla blog, users currently at Firefox version 2.0.0.17 will get an upgrade notification to version 3, which came out last spring.  I know most people who don’t follow tech news probably had no idea this was even out (like my parents), nor would they know how to upgrade. The Firefox folks to the rescue!  Now when presented with the option to upgrade, it will be just matter of a few mouse clicks and you’ll be off to the races as the blog post explains. Lets hear it for making it simple!

Definitely do plan on upgrading to 3. Its worlds better than 2.0 ever was and most plugins (if you have any installed) are Firefox 3.0 compatible. If not, the install process will tell you which is really handy.  So if you have not made the leap I strongly suggest you do so.

Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment

Microsoft has finally come around to the idea that it needs to do something about the poor perceptions in the marketplace about the crappiness of Vista. Sure, the original release was plagued with stability issues and other annoyances which were mostly fixed with the release of Service Pack 1. But that didn’t seem to change peoples minds about it. As a result Apple has taken advantage of this with the Mac Vs. PC ad campaign which has been making a mockery of Microsoft for quite some time now.

Redmond’s first volley back is the “Mojave Experiment“.  Basically they played the Folgers Crystals card and took a bunch of people in a room, with low perceptions of Vista, were told to rate a new operating system code named ‘Mojave’. The after a wiz bang demonstration impressing the hell out of them, and having them answer a bunch of leading questions they are told that it was Vista the entire time! Shock and amazement! Wow! I had no idea! The hidden cameras of course have recorded everything and now its been neatly packaged into a nice infomercial.

Whose idea was this? Mircosoft you think showing a bunch of people (and not actually using it by the way) a demonstration of the OS will change people’s minds? People don’t use the OS they use the applications that run on top of it! A plain jane fresh install is not a real life experience with this thing. How about letting them take it home, using it with actual applications for a month then come back and rate the experience. I would bet the results would be different then.

I am all for Windows Vista, I think it has some great new features but the negatives still out weigh the positives. Heck, I just had to remove it from my father in laws computer and put XP back on just so he can use some music software he is using in class.  I’d like to root for you Microsoft really I do, but this is just too damn embarassing. Its bad enough out there already and this is the crap you come up with? Good luck with this one guys.

Unprecedented response to major DNS flaw

Wow, this is simply unheard of.  Yesterday it was publicly revealed that a major design flaw in the DNS protocol was simultaneously patched by vendors across the entire spectrum of the computer and technology world. The fact that they were able to keep this a secret for six months while they worked to plug the hole is simply amazing.  The idea being of course to let the good guys fix the problem before the bad guys could take advantage of a critical function that runs the Internet. Details of how the exploit works is still forthcoming, but not until after everyone has patched. From what I understand this flaw will allow an attacker to poison the DNS cache which could potentially wreck havoc all over the Internets, causing unwitting users to think they are logging into a certain website only to actually be going somewhere else malicious for example.

DNS, or Domain Name System is what runs the internet. It is the main service that keeps track of the names to numbers so it is easy for you and me to go find a particular web site. In reality, all sites are just a bunch of IP addresses. Instead of having to remember 69.147.76.15 as a web site, we know to go to Yahoo.com, go ahead and paste that number in the address bar of your browser.  Wow, magic! Through the hard work of DNS, this is how we keep our web addresses straight, simply speaking.

This flaw affects software and hardware vendors from a wide spectrum, including Sun, Cisco, Microsoft, Linux, Windows, Apple and a whole host of others out there. Needless to say, its time to start patching your machines pronto! Windows users should perform a Windows Update now, the patch is out there.

So long Windows XP, thanks for all the fish

OK, so the overwhelming reaction to Microsoft’s latest operating system has been, well lets say less than stellar. As of June 30th, Windows XP is no longer a viable purchase option for consumers (although there are other ways to get it). The vast majority of computers bought online from Dell or on retail shelves all come with Vista, which for the most part should function just fine for you, as long as your peripherals and older software still work with it. The new user interface may take some getting used to, and its security features are much better than in XP, as long as they don’t get in the way. I could go on with all the problems people have experienced with Vista, even after Service Pack 1 came out.

But, most people can’t stand it, case in point my father in law.  I get a lot of questions on how revert back to Windows XP. Unless you already have an install disc, and provided that the computer has driver support you could remove Vista and install XP. But as time goes on, and the fact XP is no longer available on retail shelves this will be harder to do. PC manufacturers will eventually stop developing hardware that is XP compatible. Can you find a driver for your newer printer thats for Windows 98 anywhere? Yeah, though so.

So what is one to do? Either you wait until the next version of Windows (possibly out in 2010) which is no guarantee thats any better than Vista or you could even try ditching Microsoft all together. My earlier post about cloud computing is making whatever your platform of choice irrelevant. You could make the jump over to Apple, which makes a strong product. But for me thats just too pricey, and then you get stuck in the Steve Jobs school of obsoletion every time a new product comes out eventually you are forced to upgrade. I’m not an Apple hater by any means but the hardware lock in really limits the choices for options.

I would propose that now is a great time to make the move over to Linux. Its free, the installation process is now very user friendly and it works an all sorts of hardware. There are so many choices to choose from, but I would recommend checking out Ubuntu, Open Suse and Fedora. Sure, there is a bit of a learning curve to using it but once installed its very robust and easy to use. I have been running the latest Ubuntu in dual boot mode on my laptop since May. I have to say, I find myself going into Ubuntu now more than the Windows side. It incredible how fast this laptop comes online compared to XP. Within two minutes I’m surfing the web via wireless. I have to wait forever for XP to do the same, and if Vista were installed? Forget it!

I have all the apps I need, a browser, email, an office program. Heck I don’t really need much else as most of it is web based now anyway. I enjoy the same Firefox browser program as I do in Windows with all the same plugins. And if eye candy is your thing, Gnome and KDE both come with loads of it. Even more so than in Windows Aero glass. Linux could definitely become a major 3rd party choice if more people knew about it and could just break away from the Microsoft habit.

Windows XP, you’ve had a good run but its time to move on. Sorry Vista we’re just not meant for each other and I’m open to exploring other relationships. No, its not you, its me! Please don’t call me anymore.

The move towards cloud computing

I just thought I would relay my experience changing my computing habits this past year to use more ‘cloud computing’ applications. What is cloud computing? According to Wikipedia, “Cloud computing refers to computing resources being accessed which are typically owned and operated by a third-party provider on a consolidated basis.”  Because of easy access to high speed internet, and using multiple computers and platforms, I have slowly migrated my data from the desktop to the internet, thus consolidating where all my data is stored. The computer is now becoming more of a platform for accessing these services, redefining what a dumb terminal is. All I need to get things done is a browser for the most part.

Email is probably the best example of cloud computing. At first I was using gmail online only as a throwaway address. Because I have multiple email accounts, it was becoming harder to manage all of them in Outlook, on multiple computers so I decided to forward everything through my to Gmail account. Gmail is great because it has plenty of storage, its free and has fantastic spam filters. The final stroke came earlier this week when I reconfigured Outlook to use IMAP. Now all email is accessed remotely through Outlook, or the web or any other compatible client (Thunderbird on linux for example) and it stays on there. No email is downloaded locally anymore, I just look at it through Outlook or browser. This technology has been around for a while though, only just now have I found a use for it since I use so many computers. Its just easier to do it this way.

Remote file storage is also another tehnology that I have recently started using. There are plenty of services out there, both for free and subscription based. Although I backup to another drive regularly, the recent flooding we had this past year at the house opened my eyes to the realization that the data for both the backups and originals could have washed away. I now subscribe to the Amazon S3 storage service which has been a great investment. Now all my digital photos and important documents (in encrypted form using Truecrypt of course.) are stored up in the cloud. Its very cheap and it has unlimited data. The more you store the more you pay. So far 6 gigs worth of data is only costing about $1. One buck! Thats amazing. S3 is a bit trickier to setup than other services as it requires another client to access the service, Jungledisk. Once its setup its very easy to use and its also cross platform.

Applications that have traditionally been on the computer are also making their way to online versions. You don’t even need Office anymore, as Google has an entire suite of applications for word processing and number crunching for free. There are also a few others out there in this rapidly expanding segment. Even Adobe is getting in on the act with creating a Photoshop type tool for online photo manipulation.

I could go on about all the social applications that can be integrated into this as well. Sites like Flickr and Facebook are changing the way we interact and share such data but thats a post for another day.