Techbyter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) With Bill Blinn

Fraudsters keep trying to give me money and I keep refusing it. An open source publishing program may have promise, but not in the short term. One store I deal with used a clever Christmas-day promotion. If you travel to New York, take a look at Jet Blue. In Nerdly News, Intel is about to break Moore's Law and Microsoft again seems puzzled by ethics.

I may grumble occasionally about problems with my high-speed Internet service, but at least it's there (most of the time). So are the libraries. If you're thinking of buying a second monitor or a large monitor, be sure you see it in operation. In Nerdly News, the Cisco-Apple Iphone fiasco and copy protection on DVDs.

After using Zone Alarm for years, I've replaced it with a free firewall from Comodo. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (a federal agency) says voting machines cannot be trusted. A look at the Ipod lifeline. In Nerdly News, the Iphone and new trends in spam.

The TechByter Worldwide website has a new look. Big record labels are dead. The Internet solves annoyances. In Nerdly News, some guidelines for keeping portable hard drives healthy and why IT security folks are nervous.

Smaller and smaller memory devices have more and more storage. Because we're storing more and more data that's important to us, finding a way to back it up securely is essential and Carbonite might be the way to do it. In Nerdly News, we note the passing of Al Shugart and a shortcoming in the latest Microsoft security patches.

When you need to know what's running on your Windows computer, the Task Manager helps. Two utility applications (one free and one not free) provide more information and a lot of control. Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netscape all have new browser versions and you may need them all. In Nerdly News, HP settles its civil case with California's attorney general and I'll show you the "new standard keyboard" that is new but not exactly standard.

Even if you don't know what a DNS is, you can probably make your browser faster and safer with OpenDNS, a free service. When I received a message from a "crook", I thought I was seeing a little truth in spamming. An interesting twist on the well-known 419 scam pretends to give away a car and -- oh, by the way -- nearly $1 million. In Nerdly News, he Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has reviewed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (as required) but there's no reason for joy. Also, Google is thinking about "free" telephone service.

Workplace surveillance: Do too little and you're in trouble; do too much and you're in trouble. Today's program examines this troubling topic. If you want to puzzle one of your techie friends, install the Blue Screen of Death screensaver on your computer and then ask your friend what the problem is. In Nerdly News, we look at the continuing increase in spam and at Wikipedia in China.

At last there's a free firewall that's at least as good as some that you have to pay for. I've been looking at SpamArrest, a challenge/response system, that has a few rough edges by can turn off the spamgate. My website host had an e-mail probleme this week and it made me appreciate them even more. In Nerdly News, Vista has been released to manufacturing and Wide Open West's nameserver was down again this week.

FreeFind is a website indexing service. Despite the fact that it's free, it's easy to use and efficient. Maxell says it's time to back up your computer. If you do, they'd like you to use their media -- but the important thing is to DO the backup. Sweetness and light from Microsoft. It might be the Summer of Love, except the Sixties are long gone and winter is on the way. In Nerdly News, E-mail turns out to be IM for old people and the FCC smacks down the airport authority in Boston.

Sometimes solutions are worse than the problems they try to solve; SpamCop and its ilk are among these. Microsoft is preparing a new, expensive update to Office. Is now the time to look at the free Open Office? Nerdly News looks at browser downloads, flaming batteries, and auto sales.

Firefox 2 will soon be ready for download and is currently available as release candidate 3. Google made a mistake in GMail that would probably have earned a failing grade in a freshman programming class. In Nerdly News, pump-and-dump stock schemes and Internet Explorer 7 is now available (if you have the right operating system).

Phishing continues to be a problem and ZillaBar promises a solution. Unfortunately, it doesn't deliver. Sometimes protective applications get in their own way, but we still need them. Anti-spam measures can be effective against phishing. In Nerdly News, a look at a double 13 Friday and a new flaw in Microsoft Office.

If you own an Adobe product, you've probably heard from Element K Journals (now known as ELI Journals). The company is now using a company that has a bad reputation with the Better Business Bureau to solicit subscriptions. Beware! I had another run-in with Wide Open West's tech support, but I've also had another delightful experience with TCR's tech support. In nerdly news, flaming batteries and HP's flameout.

Another "zero-day" exploit can allow someone to take over your computer if you visit a bad website -- and this is something that can happen by accident. The Mars Rovers have survived on Mars for 1000 days. Scientists would have been happy with 100 days. Thumbs Plus illustrates how even simple utility applications grow to be large applications. In Nerdly News, a look at Microsoft's Zune and a scowl at HP.

The latest version of Itunes has an even better user interface and a few features that still need some work. Internet Explorer 7's new interface will confuse some people. Beware highly trained dogs in business. Nerdly News notes the loss of thousands of government computers and follows the ongoing HP soap opera.

Television over the Internet is still primitive, lacking in content and quality, and hard to find -- but that will be changing. HP is in a mess and investigations and both state and federal investigations are underway. Firefox updated itself -- in 1969? Nerdly News notes the 50th birday of the hard drive.

Save time and effort with TypeIt4Me on your Mac. Installing a wireless network is easier than ever and more people have secure networks. In Nerdly News, a new way to catch spam and Amazon offers pay TV on your computer.

Podcasting's advantages over broadcasting. What you need to create your own podcast. An interview with security expert Tom Olzak on how to keep your college student's computer safe. In Nerdly News, more on the battery recall and a look at upcoming versions of Apple's and Microsoft's operating systems.

Apple has joined the big recall of Sony batteries, but finding the information on Apple's website isn't easy. Microsoft has finally released a security patch to fix a security patch. Internet Explorer 7 is closer to being released.