Valuing my online privacy, and being highly suspicious of third parties wanting to install software on my laptop, I looked in to the Coupons.com coupon printer again today. Many large corporations use this service, and (rightly, as it turns out) I've always resisted installing the printer software in the past. After re-reading these articles by Professor Ben Edelman and John Stottlemire, it seems that not only can Coupons.com not be trusted, but also that web watchdog TRUSTe has a less than stellar record as far as compliance testing is concerned. They don't go far enough to punish seal holders that break TRUSTe’s own rules and they are not quick enough in revoking the seal on companies that violate privacy standards.
I won't repeat all the arguments here. Read the articles linked to above for yourself.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
PDF Creator - beware of expensive RIP-OFF imitations
PDF Creator is an program that converts documents into PDF format on Windows systems (the newest version even supports the unreleased Windows 7, as well as Vista). Once installed, it lets the user select PDF Creator as their printer, which means that ANY application can print to PDF. Plus, you can merge multiple files into one PDF, encrypt the resulting file, and adjust other settings, such as disallowing printing.
I originally had some reservations about recommending this latest version, since it would be easy to accidentally install the potential-spyware 'toolbar', AND it offers to change your default search engines to Yahoo, neither of which I wanted. As it happened, it was actually easy to prevent both options from being installed.
PDF Creator is so highly regarded, having won several awards, that other companies are deliberately trying to mislead people into buying THEIR expensive commercial versions. The REAL PDF Creator is GPL-licensed free open source software, even for commercial use. This means that you have the freedom to examine the source code and extend the software for your needs, remove unwanted features, and make it look nicer in your environment (free as in freedom). It's also available at no cost (free as in beer). That's one of the beauties of the open source model. The consumer (the little guy - i.e. you and I) wins all round!Just make sure that you go to the correct web site to get it: http://www.pdfforge.org
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Twitter - overvalued and overhyped
When Nielsen Online published the story that Twitter's 'retention rate' is at 40% now (i.e. for every 100 people that sign up this MONTH, only 40 will still be twittering next month) it created a wave of interest and comment around the web. But the findings aren't really that surprising. People who don't know what Twitter is, or what it's good for, will drop it quicker than a hot potato (saying "what a waste of time"). What would be interesting is to see what their ONE YEAR retention rate is.
Twitter is NOT worth $1 billion (or $200 million, or any of those other crazy numbers that people bandy about). As far as I can tell, they employ 20 people, have attracted tens of millions of dollars from venture capitalists, have some occasionally flaky servers, but no real way to MAKE MONEY for themselves. Undoubtedly, at some point in the future, they'll start to insert ads into the streams, and they may offer 'Pro' accounts for a small fee. Other than that, they've got NOTHING.
On NPR this morning, there was a story about how even the government is using Twitter to spread the word about swine flu. "...we're also trying to establish relationships" says Andrew Wilson, who heads a new HHS effort to think about uses of technology for outreach. That's why @CDCemergency has 49,500 followers versus 72 accounts that it is following. Great relationships there, Andrew! In my opinion, all this does is it shows that people are fed up with mainstream media sensationalization, and want to get information straight from a reliable source. Kudos to the government for that but, please, don't make it out to be anything more than that!
The fact is, Twitter is overhyped by the media and by tech commentators, bloggers and the like. For most ordinary people, it is still of very limited value (hence the high attrition rates).
With your Twitter account, you can "protect your profile to keep your Twitter updates private. Approve who can follow you and keep your updates out of search results" or you can allow your ramblings to been seen by everyone and have every attention-grubbing lunatic follow you (think Ashton Kutcher). With protection ON, you run the risk of having almost no followers (if you're "Billy No Mates"), thus rendering the whole experience pointless. With protection OFF, you may end up sharing your thoughts with thousands of random strangers, and you'll spend all of your time online having to Block weirdos.
And, with so many social and business networking sites (think Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc), who has time to maintain yet another one?
The best use of Twitter is when you want to get a steady stream of updates from interesting parties (like from the CDC!). Think of a used car/auto dealership that has a regular change of inventory. Car buyers might (on a short-term basis) 'follow' you to find out the latest deals.
I'd even thought about a local 'grocery shopping bargains' stream for my local town. We have five large supermarkets that have weekly specials. Sometimes they actually have REAL deals, like a 2lb loaf of medium cheddar cheese for $3.99. When I saw that, a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was send an SMS text message to ten people in my cell phone's address book that I though might appreciate that info (since such cheese normally costs about $10). If they were all Twitter users, I could have posted the cheese info there. But how would I (who is putting in all the time and effort to update the stream) make any money from such a service? The subscribers/followers wouldn't pay for it, and the supermarkets don't want to pay either. And why would I risk building a business on the foundation of an overvalued company that may not be here in a year or two?
I don't wish anything bad upon Twitter, but I think people should retain a sense of proportion and realism about it.
Twitter is NOT worth $1 billion (or $200 million, or any of those other crazy numbers that people bandy about). As far as I can tell, they employ 20 people, have attracted tens of millions of dollars from venture capitalists, have some occasionally flaky servers, but no real way to MAKE MONEY for themselves. Undoubtedly, at some point in the future, they'll start to insert ads into the streams, and they may offer 'Pro' accounts for a small fee. Other than that, they've got NOTHING.
On NPR this morning, there was a story about how even the government is using Twitter to spread the word about swine flu. "...we're also trying to establish relationships" says Andrew Wilson, who heads a new HHS effort to think about uses of technology for outreach. That's why @CDCemergency has 49,500 followers versus 72 accounts that it is following. Great relationships there, Andrew! In my opinion, all this does is it shows that people are fed up with mainstream media sensationalization, and want to get information straight from a reliable source. Kudos to the government for that but, please, don't make it out to be anything more than that!
The fact is, Twitter is overhyped by the media and by tech commentators, bloggers and the like. For most ordinary people, it is still of very limited value (hence the high attrition rates).
With your Twitter account, you can "protect your profile to keep your Twitter updates private. Approve who can follow you and keep your updates out of search results" or you can allow your ramblings to been seen by everyone and have every attention-grubbing lunatic follow you (think Ashton Kutcher). With protection ON, you run the risk of having almost no followers (if you're "Billy No Mates"), thus rendering the whole experience pointless. With protection OFF, you may end up sharing your thoughts with thousands of random strangers, and you'll spend all of your time online having to Block weirdos.
And, with so many social and business networking sites (think Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc), who has time to maintain yet another one?
The best use of Twitter is when you want to get a steady stream of updates from interesting parties (like from the CDC!). Think of a used car/auto dealership that has a regular change of inventory. Car buyers might (on a short-term basis) 'follow' you to find out the latest deals.
I'd even thought about a local 'grocery shopping bargains' stream for my local town. We have five large supermarkets that have weekly specials. Sometimes they actually have REAL deals, like a 2lb loaf of medium cheddar cheese for $3.99. When I saw that, a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was send an SMS text message to ten people in my cell phone's address book that I though might appreciate that info (since such cheese normally costs about $10). If they were all Twitter users, I could have posted the cheese info there. But how would I (who is putting in all the time and effort to update the stream) make any money from such a service? The subscribers/followers wouldn't pay for it, and the supermarkets don't want to pay either. And why would I risk building a business on the foundation of an overvalued company that may not be here in a year or two?
I don't wish anything bad upon Twitter, but I think people should retain a sense of proportion and realism about it.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Spyware removal tools
Lifehacker usually has some interesting articles, including the one about Spyware removal tools - (http://lifehacker.com/5227896/five-best-malware-removal-tools).
The article mentions five of them, but the people commenting on the story seem to agree on the same two that I use regularly - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (http://www.malwarebytes.org) and Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html)
. One of my former favorites, Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, has become too bloated and commercial now, and has lost its former effectiveness.
The commentors also agree with me that in order to effectively clean up a infected PC or laptop, you have to use more than one removal tool. And, as you'd expect, there are the usual "use Linux" or "use Mac" comments (which I happen to agree with).
Personally, I don't use any of the 'real-time' protection options. They use too many resources and don't provide any more protection than I can get by surfing the web with care and my own vigilance.
The article mentions five of them, but the people commenting on the story seem to agree on the same two that I use regularly - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (http://www.malwarebytes.org) and Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html)
. One of my former favorites, Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, has become too bloated and commercial now, and has lost its former effectiveness.The commentors also agree with me that in order to effectively clean up a infected PC or laptop, you have to use more than one removal tool. And, as you'd expect, there are the usual "use Linux" or "use Mac" comments (which I happen to agree with).
Personally, I don't use any of the 'real-time' protection options. They use too many resources and don't provide any more protection than I can get by surfing the web with care and my own vigilance.
You CAN use Firefox to watch Netflix movies instantly!
When I signed up with Netflix last summer, I was happy that they have over 12,000 "Watch
Instantly" titles that can be viewed on one's PC or laptop. However, at the time, I was VERY unhappy that you HAD to use Micro$oft's unsafe Internet Explorer to do so. This evening, my daughter discovered that she was able to use our favorite web browser, Firefox, to watch 'Revenge of the Pink Panther' on her laptop. In disbelief, I tried it on mine. No joy! I called Netflix Member Services (and spoke to a real, knowledgeable person, with an American accent, within only one minute of dialing!)
It was only at that point that I discovered the 'secret' URL (http://www.netflix.com/silver) that installs or enables the new Silverlight player that allows movies to be viewed within Firefox. According to the Member Services rep, they've had this Silverlight player available since the beginning of 2009. Since they (Netflix) have everyone's e-mail and snail mail address, it would have been very simple, and very cheap, to have imparted this important information to all their members.
I had the Silverlight player installed before, but until I went to the 'secret' URL, it wasn't 'enabled'.
Afterwards, I tried to find out more (Google is my friend). There were several articles from a couple of years ago about using the IETabs extension (which is still using IE, just embedded within Firefox). And there was an article from Cameron Bulock (http://www.cbulock.com/2009/02/new_netflix_movie_player.html) where he cited a similar experience to my own (i.e. having to get the 'secret' URL from the Member Services rep). He has since discovered other issues (to do with multiple monitors - which I don't have, and the Windows screen saver, which I haven't experienced yet). I'll keep an eye on those.
On a side note, $NFLX would have been a great investment if you could have got some action last October when the share price was below $18. At over $40 right now, I wouldn't buy at the moment, but in the long term I'd say it's a solid investment. They have an EXCELLENT service that fulfills a need at a very reasonable price (compare $8.99 a month with $50 plus for digital cable).
FYI: the specs for instant viewing include Windows XP SP2, Vista, or Mac OS 10.4.8 or later, with IE6, Firefox 2, or Safari 3 or higher. Of course, you also need an active broadband connection to the Internet.
Instantly" titles that can be viewed on one's PC or laptop. However, at the time, I was VERY unhappy that you HAD to use Micro$oft's unsafe Internet Explorer to do so. This evening, my daughter discovered that she was able to use our favorite web browser, Firefox, to watch 'Revenge of the Pink Panther' on her laptop. In disbelief, I tried it on mine. No joy! I called Netflix Member Services (and spoke to a real, knowledgeable person, with an American accent, within only one minute of dialing!)It was only at that point that I discovered the 'secret' URL (http://www.netflix.com/silver) that installs or enables the new Silverlight player that allows movies to be viewed within Firefox. According to the Member Services rep, they've had this Silverlight player available since the beginning of 2009. Since they (Netflix) have everyone's e-mail and snail mail address, it would have been very simple, and very cheap, to have imparted this important information to all their members.
I had the Silverlight player installed before, but until I went to the 'secret' URL, it wasn't 'enabled'.
Afterwards, I tried to find out more (Google is my friend). There were several articles from a couple of years ago about using the IETabs extension (which is still using IE, just embedded within Firefox). And there was an article from Cameron Bulock (http://www.cbulock.com/2009/02/new_netflix_movie_player.html) where he cited a similar experience to my own (i.e. having to get the 'secret' URL from the Member Services rep). He has since discovered other issues (to do with multiple monitors - which I don't have, and the Windows screen saver, which I haven't experienced yet). I'll keep an eye on those.
On a side note, $NFLX would have been a great investment if you could have got some action last October when the share price was below $18. At over $40 right now, I wouldn't buy at the moment, but in the long term I'd say it's a solid investment. They have an EXCELLENT service that fulfills a need at a very reasonable price (compare $8.99 a month with $50 plus for digital cable).
FYI: the specs for instant viewing include Windows XP SP2, Vista, or Mac OS 10.4.8 or later, with IE6, Firefox 2, or Safari 3 or higher. Of course, you also need an active broadband connection to the Internet.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Pipes Blocked (downloading Ubuntu 9.04 ISO)
Being in Montana (but having recently moved from Portland, Oregon), I decided to use the Portland State University mirror site for downloading the ISO image for Ubuntu 9.04, which was released yesterday. As expected, with everyone else doing the same thing, the download speed was not high (about 28 KB/sec, on average). So, as far as I could tell, my next nearest mirror site was at the University of Idaho. From there, I'm averaging about 180 KB/sec. I've got about 40 minutes left... and an older laptop waiting to be resuscitated.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
People Should Switch To A Better PDF Reader
I'm not normally one to pay any attention to the ramblings of so-called 'security experts' who work for anti-virus vendors (they're not exactly impartial - right?). But this was an interesting article on CNET News today.
Personally, I use FoxIt Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/) at the moment although, as some people have pointed out, FoxIt software is proprietary, and no more inspectable or modifiable than Adobe's PDF reader and therefore no more trustworthy than any other proprietary software.
"With all the Internet attacks that exploit Adobe Acrobat Reader people should switch to using an alternative PDF reader, a security expert said at the RSA security conference on Tuesday.As several of the commentors noted, Adobe's Acrobat Reader product is severely bloated, takes a long time to launch and work (despite loading itself into your machine's memory at startup and hogging your resources), and enables the enforcement of Digital Rights Management (DRM). If I can avoid using Adobe's products, I do, simply because (IMHO) they're a large evil corporation that is part of the large, evil Business Software Alliance that tries to bully and extort money from small businesses.
Of the targeted attacks so far this year, more than 47 percent of them exploit holes in Acrobat Reader while six vulnerabilities have been discovered that target the program, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of security firm F-Secure, said in a briefing with journalists."
Personally, I use FoxIt Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/) at the moment although, as some people have pointed out, FoxIt software is proprietary, and no more inspectable or modifiable than Adobe's PDF reader and therefore no more trustworthy than any other proprietary software.
I tried Sumatra PDF (http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/), which is extremely quick and light (being just a single file with nothing extra to install and no complicated dependencies or file version conflicts to worry about), but it had a couple of rendering quirks that I didn't like. There's a fuller list of free alternatives at http://pdfreaders.org, including some for Windows, Mac and GNU/Linux.
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