WEBnME Moves to WEBnME2
To all who have visited and used this site - my thanks. Your support is appreciated!
This site has been in operation since 1999 and while it has changed much in the last decade, it was time to do better and make use of newer technology. I am pleased to announce that I am launching
WEBnME2.com with more social media integration and web 2.0 features.
This old site will continue to be available for some time, but will no longer be actively maintained. Please stop by
webnme2.com where I'll be blogging and adding new content.
Newspaper Front Pages Map
Ever wonder what people are seeing on the front page of their local newspaper? If so, you are in luck. The Newseum has a clickable map that will allow you to see the front page of 799 newspapers in 73 countries. Check it out at:
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/default.aspJust put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the newspaper headlines pop up... Double click and the page gets larger....You can "click and drag" on the map to move it to another section of the world
Politicians May Be A Dumb As We Think They Are
Elected officials scored lower than the general public on a web test of civic knowledge. The
test results showed a consistent knowledge gab for politicians across some 33 questions. In all cases the average score of citizens was higher than that of the politicians.
The test is located at
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx and prepared by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, American Civic Literacy Program. Take the quiz and see whether your scores are higher than a politician. Chances are they will be.
Get in the Spirit - Family Site for Christmas
Northpole.com is a commercial, family-oriented Christmas site that offers a little of everything for visitors. Children can write to Santa. Adults can find Christmas recipes. There are games, puzzles, and stories that can be printed and colored for kids. It is nice to find a Christmas site without advertising and this is one a very few.
Fingerprint Authentication & Windows Vista
Looking for a little added security or a way to make it easier to handle all of your passwords? You may want to have a look at the biometric gadgets from Eikon and Microsoft.
Before we start you should be warned that Microsoft's product is not currently compatible with its own 64-bit operating systems, despite anything said on product packaging. Various forums have indicated that Microsoft may or not be working on software. At the time of this writing, no software was available for Vista 64-bit systems with the exception of some HP computers where HP has computer specific software.
Microsoft's Digital Persona Fingerprint Reader is a great product for the consumer market and works well on 32-bit operating systems. For power-users running a 64-bit operating system, I would recommend taking a look at Eikon's fingerprint reader.
Microsoft's Fingerprint Reader allows replacement of system, website, and other passwords with your fingerprint. It really isn't intended for high security and shouldn't be used for business or banking.
Support on the Digital Persona website is limited. Software support is linked back to a
Microsoft FAQ and Microsoft support.
The
Eikon Digital Privacy Manager allows you to store passwords and access your system, websites and other applications the swipe of a finger. In addition you can use fingerprint encrypted files and folders. You can also launch applications by swiping a particular finger. It also supports 64-bit operating systems and Mac systems. There is very good website support for this product. You can find out how to set it up before you buy at the
Eikon customer support site. The customer support site also had easy to find drivers, downloads and more.
While both devices offer the convenience of storing passwords and using fingerprint authentication, the Eikon devices offers the best support, more features, and most compatibility with a wider array of operating systems.
Company websites:
1)
Digital Persona2)
Eikon3)
Microsoft Fingerprint Reader Products
Google's Chrome Gets A Little Tarnish
Reaction to Google's new entry into the browser market was largely positive (Chrome captured a
1% market share in just nine hours). And some helpful articles like
Three hidden Chrome features you'll love emerged. But there were also criticisms and problems for the fledgling browser:
1. The license agreement drew a lot of objections and Google amended it fairly quickly. See,
Google Backtracks on Chrome license terms2. InformationWeek ran an article titled,
Google Chrome Swallows Pop-Up Ads, Advertisers Still Get Billed, noting that Chrome conceals pop-up ads. As a user, I don't think this is a bad thing, but some advertisers may not agree.
3. PC World noted some security issues. See,
Early Security Issues Tarnish Google's Chrome.
4. Today US-Cert issued the following message:
US-CERT Current Activity
Google Chrome Download Vulnerability
Original release date: September 3, 2008 at 1:52 pm Last revised: September 3, 2008 at 1:52 pm
US-CERT is aware of a vulnerability that affects the Google Chrome web browser. This vulnerability is due to a default configuration that allows files to be downloaded without prompting the user. In addition, downloaded files can be opened with a single click, which could allow a user to inadvertently open a malicious file.
US-CERT encourages users to enable the "Ask where to save each file before downloading" option within the "Minor Tweaks" tab in the browser preferences. Although this does not fix the underlying vulnerability, selecting this option will warn the user before files are downloaded. Users should still exercise caution when visiting and downloading items from untrusted websites.
US-CERT will provide additional information as it becomes available.
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This entry is available at
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#google_chrome_vulnerability