http://www.gutefrage.net/picoftheday/carwrecks.html

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/gmail-phone-calls-facebook-skyp/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

http://digg.com/story/r/facebook_to_kill_ie6_support_for_chat_on_ie9_beta_day

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/08/who-writes-pro-cable-internet-legislation-cable-does.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

http://digg.com/story/r/scvngrs_secret_game_mechanics_playdeck_how_to_inject_a_gaming_dimension_into_your_product_http_tcrn_ch_aaakdn_2

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/08/tardis/

Nothing can be more aggravating than downloading a coupon from the Internet and then taking it to the store, only to find out it is not valid. For example, a consumer downloads and prints K-mart coupons from a website that he or she thought was legitimate or was truly representing the K-mart Corporation, only to find out that this is not so and the coupon is literally not worth the piece of paper it was printed out on.

Coupons of this type are sometimes referred to as “Spam” coupons. And, they can cause both businesses and consumers a lot of frustration. Whether it is in the form of coupons, e-mail messages, or the results of computer searches, spam is not only frustrating but it can also be harmful to computers. Spam e-mails, especially those with attachments, often carry viruses that can effectively wipe out a person’s hard drive, making a total system change necessary. Sensitive or very important information can be lost or even captured, to the point that one’s privacy can be compromised.

There are several programs available that can be used to filter out spam. Consumers can take a few minutes to shop around and compare features and prices before choosing the one that works best for them. Businesses can protect themselves and their customers from spam coupons by using only reputable companies or software to print and disseminate coupons that can be used in their stores. Companies can also clearly specify the terms and conditions which must be met when redeeming the coupons. By doing this, companies can ensure that customers will continue to shop at their businesses and use the coupons.

Customers who are able to use coupons with confidence will be more likely to recommend a business to their friends and relatives. This will bring in more customers, which will allow the business to offer even more discounts.

Who ever said a little bit of gambling would hurt anybody? As long as you don’t lose your shirt (or your retirement fund), placing a few bets can actually be a neat way to let off a little bit of steam. Taking a quick trip around the poker tables can be a welcome respite from a day full of hard work. And while taking a little stroll through a gambling den can be a fun way to distract yourself from all of your adult responsibilities, there are some distractions that serve no useful purpose whatsoever. Certainly you’ve heard of spam – and not the spiced ham variety that is a favorite of fallout shelters everywhere.

Believe it or not, a few thousand people in this world legitimately believe that the spouses of deposed African monarchs and slain foreign generals wanting to randomly pop out of nowhere and do business with them. And while this is a sort of social Darwinism in its own right, the notion that some person will let you have a few million bucks without even knowing your name or gender is just downright foolish for most people out there. Though a success rate of 1 percent is better than having a society full of scammers with idle hands.

Sometimes it even tempts a person to wonder if all of the spam you get is actually bogus. Wouldn’t it just be the most ironic thing ever if the wife of a deposed Nicaraguan general actually did want your help to smuggle a bunch of money into the United States? Other than a lot of legal issues stemming from unclaimed currency transfers, that could be a rally cool way to pay off some debts, right? Whoever invented the Spam filter is the kind of person who needs to have some kind of internet monument.

When most people think of terrorism, they think of bombs or anthrax. In Estonia in 2007 the world witnessed a new kind of attack. Some people call the incident “the Estonian Cyberwar;” to others, it’s “Web War I.”

Nestled between the gulf of Finland and the Baltic sea, Estonia is a surprisingly technology rich place. With one of the most vigorous economies in Eastern Europe, it managed a spectacular recovery from the fall of the Soviet Union, and succeeded in joining the European Union in 2004. Despite this, tensions between Russia and Estonia—as with many other portions of the former Soviet Union—run high. In this case, those tensions flared up over the removal of a Soviet-era Russian military monument, which some Estonians considered a matter of national pride.

So what exactly happened? In short, lots and lots of spam. If it sounds trivial, be assured it is not. Most of the Estonian cyberattacks were “DDOS” or “Distributed Denial of Service” attack. DDOS attacks basically work by sending so much spam that all legitimate internet traffic is blocked. DDOS attacks use networks of computers hacked from unsuspecting users to generate massive amounts of spam traffic. The method is crude, and it’s low-tech for hacking, but it is also incredibly effective and difficult to combat. The DDOS attacks in Estonia managed to paralyze Estonia’s entire internet infrastructure.

One of the most interesting aspects of this conflict is that it sets a pattern for the future. Compared to physical combat, cyber attacks are easy to engage in and hard to trace. While Russia was the obvious direction to point fingers, now—three years later—we are still unsure exactly who committed these crimes. Ip addresses from some of the first attacks lead to Russian government buildings, but there’s not enough evidence to be considered conclusive. These actions were so inexpensive and accessible that they may have even been carried out by an informal network of Russian hackers working on their own.

One of the most important things to consider when accessing the internet wirelessly is security. Wireless connectivity is convenient, but your wireless access point, by nature, is sending out a broadcast of your information, so security risks are involved. Encryption is the best security tool available for this.

People try a lot of things to make their networks less easily available to freeloaders. Some will do their ip addressing manually, so unwanted guest machines won’t automatically be assigned an ip address, and then change the default networking settings, so that it’s more difficult to manually assign an ip address that will be recognized by the network. Every piece of network-able hardware has something called a MAC address, and some people set their router to only allow certain MAC addresses onto the network. Others set their router not to broadcast the SSID, which is the “Service Set Identifier, the name of the network. The problem with all these strategies is the same; if someone knows what they’re doing, once your encryption is broken they are very easy to get around. If you need to make your network less of a target for casual hackers who don’t really know what they are doing, these are good options to look in to.

When configuring your device, don’t use the default network names, user names, and passwords. You’ll be asked which encryption standard you prefer to use. The possibilities are WEP, WPA, and WPA 2. WPA 2 is the most secure; avoid WEP encryption if you need your network to be secure. It can easily be broken by anyone with a little bit of know-how. WPA is still a viable encryption standard, but it is not as up to date as WPA 2. Once you have selected your encryption standard, you choose an encryption key. An encryption key is a lot like a password. The rules for choosing a good encryption key are basically the same as for choosing a good password; make it the most random thing you can remember, and use as many different types of characters as you can.

One of the most essential pieces of hardware for any small office or home office network is an internet router. A router connects all the machines on your network to the internet, and these days most people are going wireless. However, a poorly configured network can be riddled with security issues, or give unreliable internet service. Here’s how to get your network up and running smoothly.

Start by following the package directions for plugging the router in and uploading drivers. The software for configuring it will pop up and ask you several questions. You need to name your network, that’s the SSID. Choose something that makes sense so you can remember it, but if security is a concern, you may want to make it subtle as well. When you set a user name and password, never go with the defaults! Again, choose something you’ll remember. You will also choose your encryption type WPA 2 is best if you need it to be secure and set an encryption key, which you should basically think of as a password for your encryption.

There are also variables to take into account when you decide where to put it. Are there objects around, like a treadmill or a refrigerator, that could cause interference and decrease range? Depending on the conditions where you install it, you can count on about half of the ideal range listed on the package. Range is better when the router is high up. For optimal range, you may want to install your router close to the center of your space. Or, if you have trouble deciding where to put it, think about where you use your computer the mouse, and position it to get a good signal in those areas. Make sure you have enough cable to put the router in the location you’ve chosen.

Thanks to advances in software, the more technical aspects of configuring a router are mostly automatic, so installing your own router is reasonably straightforward if you’re willing to give a little consideration to each step.

Whether you’re building an online business, expressing your fan-love, or just looking for a new way to amuse your family and friends, digital video editing can be a lot of fun. There are a lot of options when choosing software for your projects; here’s an overview. 

The most basic editing software comes pre-loaded on your phone or camcorder. They permit only crude editing between clips, which can still be a lot of fun. A level up from this, you find amateur editing software a lot more features. If you are a Mac user, you probably got a program like this free with your computer. Programs like this will offer you features which, skillfully used, can create a semi-professional productand they cost around 100$ or less.

You may want a standalone system computer strictly dedicated to editing video. With a standalone, you won’t have to deal with other applications competing for system resources. Standalone systems can be far easier to use than software. Because they aren’t online, they are much more stable than most computers; you can be sure you won’t be loosing your files to a virus or a system crash. The main reason they aren’t very popular is that these systems can be quite expensive compared to just software.

Lastly, if you need to create very polished, professional video, you may need a professional quality editing product. Professional editing software costs hundreds or thousands of dollars. Features on professional editing software can include support for many video formats and storage media, and true surround sound editing. With some professional software, you can view multiple tracks from a multicam shoot and edit the switch between tracks in real time and much more. These programs are for a truly dedicated amatour, a semi-pro, or a professional.

Almost everyone is best starting off with shorter clips and simpler software. As your editing skills grow, you’ll know what features are most important to you, which will prepare you to invest in the right editing software for your future projects.

From a business perspective, you want to offer your customers every opportunity to use your services, while at the same time maintaining good business ethics. However, it’s not always easy to see the difference between sending helpful offers to interested customers, and sending spam. This is illustrated by a number of ambiguous lawsuits about spam that have been through the courts. 

Australia and Great Britian both passed bills that put limitations on mass commercial mailings in 2003, and Canada passed an anti-spam bill in 2000. The United States followed suit, signing the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pormongraphy and Marketing Act (the Can Spam Act, for short)into law in 2004. So now that the majority of the english speaking world is placing limitations on spam, how do we tell exactly what spam is? According to the Can Spam Act, all commercial emails must include the sender’s physical address. They must also include instructions on how to opt out of future mailings. Lastly, using false headers and subject lines is strictly illegal.

The ambiguity comes up because some practices are widely regarded as rude, but are not illegal. There are some rules you might consider adopting simply as a matter of courtesy. Following these is likely to gain you good will (or at least make it so that you don’t gain enemies) in the online world. Don’t post commercial links at blogs or newsgroups where they won’t be welcomed by the owners of the site, even if you think you’re likely to get traffic from them. If you’re going to include commercial links, make sure they’re relevant to the site where you are posting, and embed them in a legitimate content contribution that will be appreciated. You should also make sure you always keep your mailing lists up to date.

Following these practices will not only keep you on the right side of the law, it will build you goodwill among your customers and improve your reputation in the internet community at large.

One of the most interesting changes that the internet has brought about is a change in the way we do politics. Mobilizing voters has been a major part of the political struggle for as long as representative democracy has been around a stumbling block for mass organization. Now, however, the same technology that hackers and spammers use for advertising and phishing is available to politicos of all stripes.

Enter œnetroots activism.  Anyone with an opinion can (and does) start talking. They use pod-casts, blogs, forums, social networking sites, video clips, and anything else they can think of. The most eloquent and, one hopes, the most reasonable coalesce into communities, which are always looking for more members. The internet provides an opportunities for ordinary citizens to communicate with each other with consistency, immediacy, and thoroughness that haven’t been matched since the time of the town hall meeting.

A common criticism of internet activism is that momentum online does not always translate to activism in the physical world. A classic example is the Ron Paul presidential campaign, which broke records for fund raising from individuals, but failed to come close to getting the Republican Party’s nomination. Fortunately, experience and logic suggest that internet communications support other kinds of actions more effectively than presidential campaigns. Voters are strategic; statistics have shown time and time again that they will choose a major party candidate who is their second, third, or fifth choice over their first choice candidate, if they think their first choice has no chance to actually win.

They never have to consider that sacrifice if they are asked to make a phone call instead of a vote. This is where mass emailing enters the political process. What happens when political organizations sent out messages to their subscribers just asking them to call their representative? When these messages even included the phone numbers? With citizen organizations they can trust, even the busiest individual can raise their voice in the legislative process with unprecedented ease. Therein lies the happy intersection of mass email and democracy.

Most employers assume applicants can perform basic tasks on a computer, but some are looking for a higher level of skill. A+ certification is a great way to prove you have more than the basic end user skills. Sitting the exam is pricey, so it’s worth it to plan your study strategy in advance; the best way to save money on the A+ exam is to pass it the first time you try. If you don’t know enough to pass the exam, no worries. With an internet connection and some study time set aside, you’re on your way.

There are four resources that will determine how fast you can learn what you need to know: free study materials, study materials you buy, time, and hands-on experience. If you have time and you’re good at disciplining yourself to use it, you can probably get away with not paying for study materials. To do this, start by assessing how much you need to learn. Go to the Comp-tia A+ website, look at the test rubric, and make a list of topics and skills you need to cover before the test. This is your personalized study guide.

Once you know what to study, the internet is your best friend. Read the articles about terms you aren’t familiar with, and then consolidate your knowledge onto notes or flash cards. To learn skills like configuring operating systems or installing hardware, look for videos on YouTube or Google Video. Hands-on experience is the best way to solidify your knowledge. If you don’t have a computer to take apart, rebuild, and experiment with, look for a free one using internet communities like Craigslist and Freecycle. For software skills, learn to create a virtual machine on your computer using programs like VMware and Virtual Box.

By following these strategies and using your study time well, you can be sure to only take the test once, and you could save a bundle on study materials. And, of course, investing in yourself is always a good choice in a competitive workforce.