Jul 27

WordPress 2.6 Utilizes Google Gears for Better Performance

Posted in: Features, Software, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on June 25, 2008 by CyberNet.

wordpress google gears.pngWhen WordPress 2.5 was released earlier this year the development team spent a lot of time focusing on the commonly overlooked administration area. Anyone running their own WordPress blog knows how much time you spend on the backside of things, and so this update was very much appreciated. WordPress 2.6 is due out in mid-July 2008, and with it comes even more new features for blog administrators!

What kind of new things will WordPress 2.6 bring? For starters it will have early support for Google Gears. You might be thinking that since it supports Google Gears authors will be able to write articles offline that can be published later on, but that’s not the case at all. Instead, WordPress 2.6 utilizes Google Gears to increase the online performance for administrators, and it does this by downloading frequently used images and static files onto your computer via Google Gears. That way when you’re navigating around the administration area of your blog it won’t need to load the JavaScript files or images since they’ll already be on your machine. This is therefore supposed to increase the responsiveness of the online interface.

One of the other more interesting features WordPress 2.6 will have is a post revision history. This will save copies of your posts as changes are made to them, and you’ll be able to restore a post back to any of the states available. Plus WordPress will even highlight the changes for you, which is especially handy if you have multiple authors working on a blog. This is all very reminiscent of how Wikipedia handles revisions.

Those are two of my favorite features in the upcoming WordPress 2.6, but you can expect to see some other new stuff as well:

  • A new and improved image editing dialog that offers lots of control over the images in your posts
  • A “Press This” bookmarklet for tumblelog style quick posting
  • Theme previewing as seen on WordPress.com
  • Built-in word counting in the post editor
  • The ability to disable remote publishing for the security conscious
  • The ability to relocate your content directory
  • The ability to move wp-config.php out of your web root
  • Drag-and-drop sortable galleries
  • Bulk delete, activate, and deactivate for plugins
  • and more…

All of this is currently available in the WordPress 2.6 Beta, or you can wait for the final release of the content management software which is due in mid-July.

WordPress 2.6 Features [via ReadWriteWeb]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Jul 26

Microsoft renews alliance with SUSE, throws $100 million in pocket change at Linux

Posted in: Linux, Microsoft, open source, opensource, os, Software, Today's Chili, video
Microsoft <3s SUSE

Microsoft and Linux haven’t always had the friendliest of rapports but, a few years back, the folks at Redmond decided to cozy up to Novell and the enterprise-focused distro SUSE. The German arm of the company even wished Tux a happy 20th birthday last week, in an attempt to further thaw their notoriously chilly relationship. Now the Windows crew have decided to renew their partnership with SUSE and have committed to purchasing $100 million in technical support for Microsoft Enterprise customers who also happen to be running Linux boxes as part of their operations. It’s not about to stop claiming that the open source OS violates several of its patents, but at least they’ve learned to get along with out suing each other into oblivion… unlike some other companies we could name. Cough. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft renews alliance with SUSE, throws $100 million in pocket change at Linux

Microsoft renews alliance with SUSE, throws $100 million in pocket change at Linux originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 26

Free ThreatFire Adds Extra Protection to Your PC

Posted in: Freeware, Newly Released, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

PC Tools ThreatFire
Click to Enlarge

We recently wrote about the free firewall being offered by PC Tools, and they have yet another free security application for those of you who want all the protection you can get. It’s called ThreatFire, and it runs alongside your existing antivirus software. With it your computer will be more able to detect malware before it has a chance to harm your computer.

PC Magazine put ThreatFire through its paces to see how it stacked up, and to find out how well it could detect the potentially dangerous malware, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, and more. Here are their results:

After the required reboot at the end of installation, I got out my arsenal of malware samples, including adware, spyware, rootkits, Trojans, and rogue antispyware products … I wasn’t too surprised when [ThreatFire] let all but one of the rogue antispyware samples install and run …

When I compiled all of the malware-blocking test results, [ThreatFire] came out with 8.6 out of 10 possible points. If I omitted the rogue antispyware programs, however, that score zoomed to a perfect 10 out of 10. Tested against the same collection of threats, [Norton AntiBot] scored 7.1, and removing the rogues from the mix brought its score only up to 7.6. In fact, [ThreatFire’s] 8.6 score beats out the 8.1 points garnered by Spy Sweeper 5.2 with AntiVirus, our current Editors’ Choice for signature-based antispyware. That’s pretty impressive.

I did run a separate test using commercial keyloggers … [ThreatFire] detected every single one and successfully blocked almost all of them, scoring 9.5 out of 10. [Norton AntiBot] scored 7.1 against this same collection.

… For a sanity check, I rounded up a dozen-plus PC Magazine utilities that might look suspicious. KeyTick monitors keystrokes the way a keylogger might, BHOcop disables other BHOs, Startup Cop Pro puts itself in the start-up sequence—that sort of thing. Like [Norton AntiBot], [ThreatFire] didn’t make any erroneous accusations. It didn’t throw a single false positive alert on the PC Magazine utilities.

Looking through the stats from the PC Magazine article I have to say that the software looks rather impressive, and the free version of ThreatFire offers everything most users need. If you’re all about computer security this is one app you may want to throw on your system!

Download PC Tools ThreatFire
Thanks for the tip “S”!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Jul 26

Netswipe turns your webcam into a credit card reader, brings POS payments to the desktop

Posted in: Online, security, Software, Today's Chili, video


Credit card fraud costs the banking industry billions of dollars every year, and with companies yet to find an entirely secure system for processing payments online, there’s no end in sight for unauthorized transactions. Jumio hopes to bring both security and convenience to the world of online payments, however, with its webcam-based Netswipe secure card reader solution. The system replicates the point of sale (POS) transactions you experience when making in-store purchases, prompting cardholders to scan the front on their credit card, then enter their CVV code using a tamperproof mouse-controlled interface. We’re not sure how the software is able to distinguish a physical credit card from, say, a photocopy of a card, but it certainly sounds more secure than the standard input form we use today. It also reduces card number theft from insecure forms and website spoofing, by verifying details through a live video stream. Jump past the break for the full press release, along with video overviews of Netswipe and Jumio, which recently secured $6.5 million in initial funding and is backed by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

Continue reading Netswipe turns your webcam into a credit card reader, brings POS payments to the desktop

Netswipe turns your webcam into a credit card reader, brings POS payments to the desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 26

CyberNotes: Vista Start Menu Emulator for Windows XP

Posted in: CyberNotes, Software, Today's Chili, Windows Vista, Windows XP

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

CyberNotes
Microsoft Monday

One of Vista’s most useful features is the integrated search in the start menu which can be setup to search all of the files on your computer that have been indexed.  This makes it easy to find what you’re looking for, and thus saves you time.

The screenshot below looks like a Windows Vista Start menu, and you’ll notice the Vista ‘orb’ along with the search field at the bottom. 

Windowblinds

Don’t be fooled, it’s not Vista. Instead, it’s a screenshot of Windows XP using the Vista Start Menu Emulator. Impressive isn’t it? While it’s not as powerful as the Vista Search feature, and not as extensive, it does do a good job of searching the start menu/programs folder.

After downloading it, all I had to do is double click the file, and run it. No installation is required.  The Vista “orb’ is placed randomly on your desktop, and then you can move it wherever you’d like.  The screenshot above used a Window Blinds theme to change the appearance of Windows XP. By using the theme, you’re able to cover the existing “orb” with the one that the program produces. If you don’t use the theme, you’ll still see the XP start menu icon (see screenshot below).

Vistaemulator1

You’ll notice that the Vista orb is placed to the right of the start menu. This is because I don’t have the Window Blinds theme installed. If I were to drag the orb over the start menu, it wouldn’t replace it, rather it would sit on top of it. You can place the Orb anywhere you’d like on the screen, and by clicking on it, you’ll get the “Vista” start menu to appear.

By right clicking on the orb, you’ll notice a properties section.  That’s where you can add programs that will be pinned on the start menu which must be done manually. You’ll also be able to change the transparency of the menu. By hovering your mouse over each of the items on the right side of the start menu, you’ll notice that the top image changes just like it does in Vista.

A couple of things to keep in mind… First, this emulator does not map to the windows key.  This means if you push the Windows key on your keyboard, it will pull up the original XP Start Menu. Another small issue is that each time after you enter in a new program that you want pinned to the start menu, you’ll need to exit the program and restart it.  It’s not a big deal, and doesn’t take more than a few seconds, but is something you’ll have to remember to do, otherwise your programs will not display.

The download for the Vista Start Menu Emulator is here. Using the emulator easily gives you the chance to use the Vista Search feature without actually purchasing Vista.

 

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Jul 25

Microsoft: Firefox/Chrome are Insecure, Difficult to Use, and Unreliable

Posted in: Firefox 3, Internet Explorer, Software, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on June 25, 2009 by CyberNet.

ie8 comparison.jpgI’m sure you guys will get a kick out of this one. Microsoft has posted a “Get the Facts” page that has a chart comparing some general areas of IE8 versus Firefox and Chrome. Naturally IE8 comes out on top… way on top!

If you quickly just glance through the chart your initial impressions would be that Firefox and Chrome are insecure, can’t manage your privacy, difficult to use, unreliable, not compatible with websites, and not easy to manage. In fact there are only three areas that the three browsers “tie” in: web standards, customizability, and performance. Although they just couldn’t pass up commenting about Firefox’s extensibility:

Sure, Firefox may win in sheer number of add-ons, but many of the customizations you’d want to download for Firefox are already a part of Internet Explorer 8 – right out of the box.

Now I’m not trying to say that Internet Explorer 8 is an awful browser. In fact I use it several hours everyday at work because there are a lot of older internal sites I deal with that don’t play nice with other browsers. I just hate that they are trying to send a message like this. Take the “Security” section for example. This is their reasoning behind why Firefox and Chrome didn’t get a checkmark:

Internet Explorer 8 takes the cake with better phishing and malware protection, as well as protection from emerging threats.

Huh, both Firefox and Chrome have phishing/malware protection in them. So they are going off the fact that theirs is “better?” Oh well. Hopefully their aren’t too many people that will see this chart.

Still want some more of this good stuff? Jump over to their “mythbusting” page.

Microsoft’s “Get the Facts” Page [via Google Blogoscoped]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Jul 25

Android Demo Shows off Some Cool Features

Posted in: Google, mobile, Phones, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on June 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

Last week Google hosted a conference that was geared towards developers, and during the keynote they showed off some of the cool things that the Android mobile operating system was capable of doing. In it’s current state I would say that Android doesn’t appear to be quite as polished as the iPhone, but the functionality is definitely awesome. Here are a few things that I wanted to point out from the demonstration, which I’ve also included below:

  • Slide to unlock patterns – With the iPhone you just need to swipe your finger across the screen to get started, but Google is looking to make the slide-to-unlock feature a little more robust. On the screen you’ll have 9 dots that you’ll be able to create a pattern with, and that pattern is what’s used to unlock your phone. We all love to connect the dots, right? ;)
  • Notifications – You can bring up a central page that contains all of your notifications (calendar events, new email, etc…). Having this all in one location is really smart.
  • “Real” desktop – Android users will actually have a desktop that is reminiscent of their home computer’s desktop. You can create shortcuts for contacts or websites, and place them anywhere on the screen by dragging and dropping them.
  • Street View uses compass – The Android devices will include an optimized version of Google Street View that looks pretty sweet. You can take your finger and spin the map around, or you can enable the compass view that will rotate the 3D imagery according to the direction you’re facing. Man, I can’t wait to see if/how Google plans to use the Street View with a GPS!

Here is the portion of the keynote presentation that demonstrates all of the stuff I mentioned above, and more.

The icing on the cake might be the fact that Google has now said that Android will be 100% open source! It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of Android variations we see people coming out with then.

Google I/O 2008 Conference
Thanks to Omar for the tip!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Jul 25

CyberNotes: Directory of Paint.NET Tutorials

Posted in: CyberNotes, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on November 12, 2007 by CyberNet.

There are so many different things that can be done with Paint.NET, the possibilities are really endless. Many people have created tutorials that guide you through the process of creating something but the problem is that it can take time to sift through all of them to find a good one.  I took the time to go through the Paint.NET forums to find so of the best tutorials that have been posted. Today’s Microsoft Monday is simply a directory of eight different tutorials that I think you’ll enjoy.

  1. Making Glass Buttons – You know the shiny Web 2.0ish buttons you see all over? This tutorial written by BuzzKill in the Paint.NET forums will explain how you do it. This tutorial is explained well and full of images.
    making glass buttons
  2. Antiquing an image –
    If you’ve ever had an image that you’d like to convert to more of an antique look, this tutorial will explain just how you do it. The before (on the left) and after (on the right) below shows what you’ll be doing:
    antiquing 
  3. “Toy Car Conversion“ – This isn’t exactly a tutorial, but it’s pretty cool.  Using a picture of a full-sized sports car, you can modify it to look like a toy car, or even a cartoonish toy car as shown in the before and after pictures below. The bottom right image looks the way it does thanks to the Toon Filter, but you can also use the ink sketch and pencil sketch feature.
     toy car tutorial2
  4. Flaming Text – creating flaming text requires just a few steps and no filters! The end product will look something like this:

    firery text 

  5. Playing with Ribbons – this tutorial is pretty amazing! Not only are the instructions easy to follow, there are also great screenshots.  They start out with something simple and move to something advanced. The three different end products below were created using the ribbon tool. Cool, huh?
    ribbon tool
  6. Glassy Effect – Here’s one for the most basic of users, using basic effects. If you’ve never used Paint.NET before, you too will be able to do this. It simply uses the “tile reflection” effect under the distort menu to get this result (before on left, after on the right):
    tilefeature
  7. Round Glass Button – Very similar to the glass button tutorial we listed above, this round glass button tutorial is simple and takes no time. Your end result will look something like this:
    round glass buttons
  8. Create a Rose – It’s hard to believe that the creation of the rose below started out as a bunch of black and white dots. This literally took me about 3 minutes to make, maybe even shorter. It’s quick and easy, and you can make it any color you’d like! This particular tutorial has simple instructions and screenshots so you know what you’re supposed to be doing.
    rose

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Jul 25

Nokia Drops $410M on Symbian

Posted in: mobile, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on June 24, 2008 by CyberNet.

nokia symbian.pngNokia has ponied up and bought a large chunk of Symbian that they didn’t already own, which equates to another 52%. For those of you unfamiliar with Symbian it is the software platform that powers the Nokia devices, and one analyst estimates that Nokia paid close to $250 million a year in licensing fees for it. While $410 million sounds like a lot you have to look at the money they will be saving due to the acquisition.

What makes the deal really interesting is the fact that Nokia will be open sourcing bits and pieces of the Symbian OS over the next few years, and by that time the entire OS will be open source. Both Sony Ericsson and Motorola have already announced that they will be contributors, which could mean that the development of the Symbian OS will continue at a rapid pace. The newly established Symbian Foundation will serve as a hub for the royalty-free open source project, but an annual membership of $1,500 is required.

It will be interesting to see whether this will become an even more attractive operating system for manufacturers over the upcoming Google Android. Both will now be open source and royalty-free, but will manufacturers choose the less mature Google Android platform? At this point innovation has probably never been more important for Google, and they need to have some selling points to compensate for its lacking in maturity.

Nokia Press Release [via Engadget]

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Jul 24

Freeware to Monitor Bandwidth Usage

Posted in: Features, Freeware, monitor, Software, Today's Chili, Windows

This article was written on December 22, 2009 by CyberNet.

networx.png
(Click to Enlarge)

arrow Windows Windows only arrow
There are some situations where it’s nice to monitor the amount of bandwidth that’s being used by your computer. One reason would be if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) caps the amount of data that you’re allowed to plow through in a given month. This kind of thing is especially prevalent in wireless carriers who tend to cap Internet usage at about 5GB per month, which actually isn’t all that much when you get into watching YouTube videos or streaming music.

Networx is a freeware utility for Windows that tries to provide you with every possible tool you can imagine for monitoring your bandwidth usage. You can see graphs of your usage, view your transfer rate, get detailed reports organized by time period or by the user logged into the machine, and keep an eye on how close you are to reaching your quota. Here are some more features it offers:

  • Clear graphic and/or numeric display.
  • Usage reports with export to a variety of file formats, including Excel, MS Word and HTML.
  • Permits close supervision of uploads and downloads.
  • Works with dial-up, ISDN, cable modems, ADSL, Ethernet cards, and more.
  • Includes network information & testing tools with advanced netstat that displays applications using your Internet connection.
  • Scalable to your own modem download capabilities.
  • Option to notify user or disconnect from the Internet automatically when network activity exceeds a certain level.
  • Speed meter to accurately time downloads and report the average transfer rates.
  • Dial-up session journal with detailed information about every session.

On top of all that Networx can also be used on-the-go thanks to the portable version, which means there’s nothing you need to install on your PC to start using it. And when you run it for the first time there’s nothing that you have to configure… it will just sit in your System Tray and immediately start keeping tabs on your network activity.

It’s not often that I come across an app that thoroughly covers what it sets out to, but this one does. If you want something that monitors bandwidth usage, this has got to be the best freeware utility available to do it. The wide range of utilities and customizability make this an extremely versatile app that will be tough to beat.

Networx Homepage (Portable Freeware, Windows only)
Thanks Tyler for the tip!

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