Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on December 07, 2005 by CyberNet.

McDonalds and Microsoft on Wednesday announced a deal to utilize Windows XP Embedded across the fast food giant’s stores. Microsoft’s componentized version of Windows will take orders and enable them to accept new forms of payment such as gift cards, and train employees faster. Windows XP Embedded has already been deployed across “several thousand” stores in Europe and Asia. Now, McDonalds will roll out the platform worldwide. Microsoft lauded the partnership for bringing an “open technology platform” to the restaurant chain and ensuring “the next generation of customer service innovations.”

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Last week Target revealed that it had suffered a massive security breach in which 40 million credit and debit card numbers had been compromised. The retailer said that the “sophisticated” hack lasted 19 days but didn’t say exactly how it went down. Numerous reports started circulating a few days back about the possibility of encrypted bank PINs having been compromised as well, Target initially denied it, but now it has confirmed that hackers were able to steal encrypted credit and debit card PINs.

A spokeswoman for the retailer made this confirmation, while saying that the PIN numbers should be “safe and secure” because hackers can not decrypt them without having the required keys. Since Target doesn’t store encrypted keys, they couldn’t have been stolen in the hack, which is why the retailer is certain that despite encrypted bank PINs being stolen there’s not much that the hackers will be able to do with them. Target’s independent payments processor has the necessary keys, and so far there haven’t been any reports of that payments processor being hit with a similar breach. Nevertheless, a major U.S. bank which spoke to Reuters is concerned that hackers will ultimately be able to crack the encryption, which would allow them to wreak havoc on associated bank accounts. Those who shopped at Target and paid through plastic should considering changing their PINs and keeping a close eye on their account activity.

Target Confirms That Encrypted PINs Were Stolen In Massive Security Breach original content from Ubergizmo.

Earlier this year Microsoft announced that it will acquire Nokia’s devices and services division for $7.17 billion, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Nokia’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly in support for this deal, and major regulatory bodies like the E.U. commission and the U.S. Department of Justice all gave their blessing as well. However, China’s Ministry of Commerce launched a probe into the deal and it appears that the authorities aren’t done yet. Rumor has it that another probe into this deal has been launched, fueled by concerns voiced by local manufacturers in the country.

The emphasis of this probe is said to be on antitrust. Local vendors are reportedly concerned that if Nokia turns into a “patent troll,” things could get quite difficult for them. However, it should be kept in mind that Nokia is holding on to its patents, it will license them to Microsoft despite having sold Redmond its hardware division. So that doesn’t mean that Microsoft and Nokia will have a combined patent portfolio, which appears to be the concern that has reportedly started the second probe. Whatever the result maybe, its not like it would completely cripple the Microsoft-Nokia deal, but it could end up complicating matters for both companies in China. It should be noted that Windows Phone doesn’t have that much penetration in the Chinese smartphone market, its market share is under five percent.

China Reportedly Launches Second Probe Into Microsoft-Nokia Deal original content from Ubergizmo.

For those unfamiliar with the Rockstar Consortium, they are a group of big tech companies consisting of Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Sony, and Ericsson, who have teamed up together to purchase patents from Nortel Networks which occurred back in 2011. Unfortunately it seems that the patents that they purchased were harder to license out than they thought which is why according to a report from Bloomberg, the consortium is allegedly looking to sell of a portion of the $4.5 billion worth of patents it had acquired a couple of years ago.

However on the flip side of things, Rockstar has managed to find use for several of its patents and have recently filed a lawsuit against the likes of Google and several of Google’s Android OEMs, claiming that they have infringed upon multiple patents. Naturally Google and the rest of the companies involved weren’t going to take this lying down, which is why we have recently reported that Google had filed a declaratory judgment against the Rockstar Consortium, accusing them of harassing them and for placing “a cloud” on Google’s Android platform. Are the folks at Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Sony, and Ericsson regretting their purchase of some of Nortel’s patents?

Rockstar Consortium Looking To Sell Off Some Of Their Patents original content from Ubergizmo.

This article was written on March 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

So many people use Google as their primary search, both geeks and non-geeks alike. It’s simple, and it gets the job done. However, many people don’t take advantage of the advanced search options that Google has included.

SmallBusinessHub put a list together a list of 12 tips to help you search Google like an expert. Google has an extensive list with all of the options listed, and below are the ones that I tend to use most often, which might help you as well.

1.  Word definitions – you can easily look up a definition to a word using Google as your dictionary by typing “define: example.” Google will display a list of different definitions from around the web.

2.  Movies – if you’re wanting to find what movies are playing near you, and the show-times, all you have to do is type in “movies.” If your location has been saved it will pull up the movies for your zip code, otherwise you can include your zip code. (I.E. Movies 20052).

3. Excluding Words – This is one that I haven’t really used, but I should.  It narrows down your search and gives you more relevant results.  For example, if you were searching for cars but you didn’t want any results that had to do with Cars the Movie, you’d type in “cars -movie” and it would exclude any results with the word movie.

4. Phone Searches – Google includes two different ways that you can get help with phone searches.  If someone were to call you and you missed the call, but didn’t know who it was, you could take the phone number and look it up.  All you’d have to do is type “phonebook: 541–555–1111” You can also do an area code look up and Google will tell you where the area code belongs. I typed in “847” and Google displayed a result that told me it was the area code for “Northern Chicago Suburbs, Illinois, and gave me the option to show the map of the area.

5. Currency Converter – There are times when I find something priced on the Internet in a currency that I’m not familiar with. The currency converter that Google offers solves my problem quickly.  All you have to do is enter in the currency that you know, and what you’d like it to be converted to. For example: Enter in “3.5 USD in GBP” and you’d get the conversion.

—Using Gmail Effectively—

Many of you probably use Gmail as your primary email account. Matt Cutts who works for Google has put together a few tips to increase your Gmail productivity. You can read more about these tips in detail over at his blog, but here’s a quick run-down of what you’ll find there.

Tip 1: How to keep most mailing lists out of your inbox.

Tip 2: How to use Firefox and Greasemonkey to prioritize your emails and give you easy access to the most important ones.

Tip 3: Create labels for “external” mail.

I’m sure there are plenty of other helpful tips for both searching Google, and using Gmail effectively. If you have other suggestions, let us know in the comments below.

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