Issue 324 - December 29, 2004
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2004
==== 2018 Subscribers in 60 Countries ====
Welcome to the 324th issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly
of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first
issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three
issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with
any suggestions or comments.
Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
CONTENTS
Opening Thoughts
Since this is the last time you'll hear from us this year, we wanted to thank
you all for being subscribers, and for sharing PCIN with your friends. We hope
you all have a safe and happy New
Year's Eve and we look forward to bigger and better things in 2005.
Unfortunately, not everyone is having a safe holiday. The news and clips from
the earthquake and tsunami in East Africa/South Asia are unbelievable. It's
quite humbling to see the raw power of nature. Google has put up a nice page
with some summary
information on news and where you can donate funds. Already the Amazon
Honour System account for the American
Red Cross Disaster Relief has collected over 40,000 donations totaling
more than $2 million. Be sure to give what you can and to pray for those people
affected.
Graham editor@pcin.net and
Chris chris@pcin.net
The NEWS
U.S. Still Spam King
"The U.S. has maintained its dubious distinction of being the world's
top producer of spam, leading the 'Dirty Dozen' list compiled by security
Latest News about Security authority Sophos by a wide margin.
After scanning all spam messages received at a global network of traps throughout
the past year, Sophos researchers determined that the U.S. is responsible
for exporting 42 percent of all mass e-mail attacks. South Korea is second,
at 13 percent, followed by China (8 percent), Canada (6 percent) and Brazil
(3 percent)."
For more info:
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=29306
Warez Raids Net First Conviction For Software Piracy
"A 26-year-old college student faces 15 years in prison as the first
person convicted of software piracy stemming from April's international raids
dubbed 'Operation Fastlink.'
Court records say that Desir and others set up an online library for a private
group to share movies, games, software, and music in January 2003. By April
2004, the collection had mushroomed to about 13,000 titles."
For more info:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=56200691
Online shopping traffic jumps
"Visits to Web shopping and classified sites jumped 25.6 percent from
the year-ago holiday season and peaked on Thanksgiving, Internet research
company Hitwise said Tuesday.
During the holiday period -- from Nov. 1 to Dec. 25 -- those sites claimed
9.1 percent of all U.S. Internet visits, Hitwise said.
The data comes on the heels of news that online retailer Amazon.com had record-breaking
sales, and amid expectations that the whole sector had a healthy holiday
season."
For more info:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/29/technology/online_shopping.reut/index.htm
2004 Year in Review: Road to Recovery
"It's been a long dry spell for initial public offerings since the
go-go days of early 2000. But two highly anticipated stock market launches
gave investors something to get excited about this year.
Amid much hoopla and controversy, search giant Google and applications service
provider Salesforce.com entered the public markets. The Internet business
IPOs were two of the 220 stock debuts listed this year--a marked improvement
on the 86 racked up last year, but still short of the 300-plus launches in
2000."
For more info:
http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5505858.html
Note that from this same page you can view year in
review information for a variety of topics.
POLL of the WEEK
Last Week's Poll
Are you giving or receiving any tech gifts this year?
Giving |
|
14 % (9) |
Receiving |
|
10 % (6) |
Both |
|
27 % (17) |
Neither |
|
40 % (25) |
I don't know |
|
10 % (6) |
Total votes: 63 |
This Week's Poll
You can also vote online at http://PCIN.net/polls/
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
PCIN.net Update Blog
http://PCIN.net/update/
Sunbelt Software iHateSpam 4.0 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/ihatespam4.php
Micro Solutions RoadStor Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/roadstor.php
Album Creator by FirmTools Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/albumcreator.php
Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Second
Edition Book Review
http://PCIN.net/help/books/w2kapcse.php
THE TIPS and OTHER
STUFF
Crossword Help
I don't do a lot of crossword puzzles, but when I do, I can't stand leaving
a few clues unanswered. I tried just using a search engine to search for
answers, but that didn't work at all. Then when I searched for crossword
help, I found the OneAcross web site. You can enter the clue, and then an
answer pattern. For instance, a clue I couldn't get today was 6 across Patronage.
I entered patronage as the clue, and then .E..S (the periods are place holders,
and I knew the E and S) and the site came back with the word AEGIS. The word
is clickable and it gives you a possible definition. As it turns out, it
was right and it then helped me get another 6 clues. Check it out at http://www.oneacross.com/
"Top 10"
Michael Otey is a senior technical editor for Windows IT Pro magazine and
writes a regular column called Top 10. He'll write about the top tips for
certain software, or the top features of a specific program. You can see
all the columns at http://www.windowsitpro.com/Departments/DepartmentID/92/92.html Be
sure to check out the Internet
Explorer Tips and Renaming
Special Folders
Note that anything from August and beyond is open for anyone to view. More
current columns are only available to magazine subscribers. But they will
become available as time goes by.
Web-Smart Palette
As someone who builds web sites, I've know about the web-safe palette for
years. Back in the day, there was a concern that if you tried to use non-standard
colours, people using 256 colour video cards and monitors would see bizarre
colour combinations as the video card tried to render and the monitor tried
to display the colours. If you've started your computer in safe mode lately,
you'll have an idea of what that looks like. You can read about the 216-color
browser-safe palette at http://www.morecrayons.com/palettes/browserSafe/
Well, now I find out that there is a web-smart palette which allows for 4,096
colours. I'm not sure why we need to worry about this. If you can display
4,000 colours, you can display 16,000 colours, and most likely millions of
colours. But you want to see the pallet, check it out at http://www.morecrayons.com/palettes/webSmart/
PCIN.net AFFILIATED
SITES
Both of us have other sites other than PCIN.net. These are all sites that
we are actively involved in (they aren't client sites). Don't forget to check
them out from time to time for updates:
DISCLAIMER
and OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of
the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing
and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying
the tips in this newsletter.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut
and paste.
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follow the appropriate links.
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be entered in a monthly draw.
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out the subscription form or asked me directly.
- If you have a web site or run your own newsletter, please email me at editor@pcin.net and
I will add it to the subscriber web pages that I have on my site.
- Support PCIN by visiting http://PCIN.net/donate.php or
by clicking on the PayPal link below:
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2004, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author
is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
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