Google: Setting the Table for a Feast We Will Not Share

This line in a recent Boing Boing post stopped me in my tracks. George Dyson went to Google, and writes: The mood was playful, yet there was a palpable reverence in the air.

We are not scanning all those books to be read by people,” explained one of my hosts after my talk. “We are scanning them to be read by an AI.

I think there are two ways to read that line… both interesting, but one really interesting (and kinda creepy).

Question: What do I need to run Windows Vista

Q. I want to upgrade to Windows Vista when it comes out, but was wondering if my current computer will have enough power to run it. What kind of system requirements will Windows Vista demand?
A. Windows Vista, the Microsoft operating system formerly code-named Longhorn and the successor to Windows XP, is not expected to arrive until late next year, and its final hardware requirements have not been established. The system is being tested by developers and others in the technology field, however, so some early guidelines are available.
Preliminary reports suggest that a computer running Windows Vista should have at least a recent Intel Pentium or A.M.D. Athlon-based processor. Computers with more powerful chips, like 64-bit or dual-core processors (found at the high end of the market in computers that need enough power to crunch a lot of data), should work even better with the new system.
Windows Vista is expected to need at least 512 megabytes of memory, with a full gigabyte of memory preferable for better performance. The new operating system will have a look that is graphics-intensive, and so a dedicated video card with at least 64 megabytes of memory and the ability to handle DirectX 9.0, Microsoft's multimedia technology, is likely to be necessary.
Windows Vista is intended to provide greater system security and protection from malicious software. It is also designed to organize many types of digital media easily, from photos to music, and play high-definition television and surround-sound audio. More information, including an extensive list of features and links to articles about suggested hardware requirements, is at www.microsoft.com/windowsvista.

EULAlyzer can analyze license agreements

When you install software that has EULAs, do you read them? Probaby not. But you might be surprised what you are agreeing to when you install a program. But who has time? A new program called EULAyzer will scan your EULAs for you and highlight key words to look for.

EULAlyzer can analyze license agreements in seconds, and provide a detailed listing of potentially interesting words and phrases. Discover if the software you're about to install displays pop-up ads, transmits personally identifiable information, uses unique identifiers to track you, or much much more. The Benefits

1. Discover potentially hidden behavior about the software you're going to install


2. Pick up on things you missed when reading license agreements


3. Keep a saved database of the license agreements you view


4. Instant results - super-fast analysis in just a second

And with additional features like the EULA Research Center, which optionally allows users to anonymously submit license agreements they scan to help us to further improve the program, everyone can be a part of the effort to make something that used to be so tedious, so easy.
More at the link

Goodbye cell phone towers:

Japan is readying a new network for cell phones that will allow people to connect to the internet to talk over the phone more cheaply and transmit data more quickly.
The government plans to introduce mobile voice over internet telephony by 2007.
The mobile service under consideration at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will allow people to use VOIP on cell phones -- similar to what's now available on fixed lines.
The proposal for the network, which will also transmit large amounts of data such as streaming video on cell phones, is being discussed in a ministry panel of experts and telecommunications officials. A decision is expected in December.
Although details, including the kind of mobile VoIP technology, are not yet decided, several carriers are expected to apply for licenses to offer mobile VoIP services, which are likely to be cheaper than talking on cell phones today.

One Possible End of the 'End User'

As we spend more time communicating, playing, and working in the digital world, our expectations and ways of acting will transfer to the physical world. Digital objects are, above all, plentiful, easily copied and easily shared. And they are beautifully malleable. We transform them, recombine them, share them some more. Photos are Photoshopped, music is remixed, code is developed co-operatively, web applications with open APIs are mashed together. The digital world is, in part by its nature and in part by thoughtful design, flexible. But the physical world not so much; by comparison it seems frustrating in its intractable and resolute thinginess. Physical things don’t duplicate with the right keystrokes, can’t be instantaneously shot around the world, and command + Z never fixes them. We want to treat physical objects like digital objects. And designers should oblige. But how? Part of the answer lies in one of the more troubling aspects of our consumer-driven culture: more and more things appear everyday. Like the digital objects, physical objects are becoming almost absurdly plentiful. But they don’t delete into nothingness. Things stay around. Jay Samit of Sony Mobile Connect has estimated that four-hundred million cell phones will be thrown out this year. It’s as if the plenitude of things, which should make it less likely that we need to make anything ourselves, is instead inspiring people to do just that. Physical things, like digital objects, are being remixed, recombined, collaboratively re-invented. It’s as if the science-fiction post-apocalyptic hacked and re-wired world of Road Warrior arrived a little early. The first signs of this thinking might be found in the new popularity of the crafting DIY movements. Make Magazine, which provides instructions for building and modifying everything from kites to cars, has been immediately successful. But more interesting, and more promising, are the labs that bring people together with different areas and levels of expertise. Of course, we aren’t all engineers, we don’t all have complete toolsets, some of us don’t even have much space to work in. So it seems as if DIY not every end user can become a mid-point user. But places like Squid Labs, Eyebeam, Sparqs , and the PIE Network all rely on shared knowledge and space: collaboration and cooperation are essential. In fact, Squid Labs recently launched instructables.com, a site meant to document the how-to of projects and let those projects be freely shared (even if some of them require currently expensive fabrication tools). It’s possible that these places suggest an interesting model for a future type of space and interaction—the neighborhood lab, a place to drop off old products, assemble custom tools, create one-off devices, and educate children who, because of the influence of the digital world, are more likely to think: I am going to change this. Designers should pay attention to what is written in Make magazine and what comes out of places like Eyebeam. Products may be developed with an eye to these secondary markets and with new questions in mind: what potential life does this have outside of its intended and immediate use? What essential functionality does it encapsulate? What can be salvaged and used elsewhere? The real icon of this sort of age might be the ubiquitous and simple Altoids mint tin, which has seen its range of re-use extend from holding rubber bands to housing iPod rechargers, serving as an emergency stove, and taking pinhole photographs. Of course it’s flexible because it has a simplicity that few consumer products can achieve, but it remains an admirable product in its possibilities and a clear lesson that re-use adds value for the both the users and producers.

MS Office tips of the month

Courtesy of Lifehacker
How to:

1. Disable Personalized Menus


2. Jump between slides in a PowerPoint Slideshow


3. Assign a keyboard shortcut to an MS Word Menu Item


4. Use Word Wraps and Line Breaks in Excel Cells


5. Publish your Outlook Calendar


6. Annotate during PowerPoint presentations


7. Use the Autosum Keyboard Shortcut


8. Accept Changes before distributing MS Office Documents

23 Ways To Speed up Windows XP

1. To decrease a system’s boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software — the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine — and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.
   
   
2. If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.
   
   
3. Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you’re not sure, here’s how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it’s important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.
   
   
4. Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a “searchable keyword index.” As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.
   The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP’s built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.
   Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you’re a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.
   Here’s how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching.” Next, apply changes to “C: subfolders and files,” and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as “Access is denied”), click the Ignore All button.
   
   
5. Update the PC’s video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.
   
   
6. Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can “prefetch” portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That’s fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.
   
   
7. Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here’s how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button — it’s just to the right of the Capacity pie graph — and delete all temporary files.
   
   
8. In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to “DMA if available” for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.
   
   
9. Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support “cable select,” the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.
   
   
10. Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.
    
    
11. Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here’s how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don’t want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.
    
    
12. Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.
    
    
13. Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here’s how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer — only its responsiveness.
    
    
14. If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.
    
    
15. Visit Microsoft’s Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.
    
    
16. Update the customer’s anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.
    
    
17. Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts — that is, anything over 500 — will noticeably tax the system.
    
    
18. Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP’s NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called “D drive.” You’ll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won’t be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won’t need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.
    
    
19. Check the system’s RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC’s memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.
    
    
20. If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer’s Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you’ll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it’s free.
    
    
21. Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.
    
    
22. If you’re sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to “Launch folder windows in a separate process,” and enable this option. You’ll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.
    
    
23. At least once a year, open the computer’s cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you’re in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks.
    

Google, Comcast said to eye AOL stake

Reuters -Google, Comcast said to eye AOL stakeKenneth Li | New York | October 13Reuters -  Web search engine Google Inc. and cable company Comcast Corp. are in discussions to buy a stake in Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, two sources said, in a deal reportedly worth as much as $5 billion. An investment would set the stage for an alliance marrying Time Warner's trove of programing and Google's popular search and e-mail services with Comcast's high-speed Internet portal and experience in cable video distribution and telecommunications. It would also create a powerful new challenge to Internet media company Yahoo Inc. and software giant Microsoft Corp. Under one idea, Google and Comcast would jointly own half of the AOL web businesses, though Time Warner would retain a controlling stake, the Wall Street Journal reported in its Thursday edition.

Who will Control the Internet ?

Foreign Affairs - Foreign governments want control of the Internet transferred from an American NGO to an international institution. Washington has responded with a Monroe Doctrine for our times, setting the stage for further controversy. Personally, I’m in the middle.

Key phrases of the Article:

The very countries that most restrict the Internet within their borders are the ones calling loudest for greater control.

Washington, with so much at stake in the Internet's continuing to function as it had, decided it was not prepared to risk any changes.

It all boils down to that.

Because the internet has been administered by essentially altruistic individuals, it has remained open and universal. Of course other nations resent the fact that the U.S. administers the thing, but dammit, the planetary network never would have gotten to where it is today if 'twere otherwise.
I've yet to hear a realistic proposal on how to create an international body to replace ICANN that could not be used against the U.S. or China or any other country with which the collective has an agenda. I'm open to ideas, and I believe that the U.S. government is also.
But face it, engineers in the U.S. designed, constructed and refined the thing. It's not a valid beef that they' are unwilling to send it off to just any foster care.

Who Will Control The Internet?

Avoid wireless attacks through your Bluetooth Windows Mobile

Bluetooth® wireless technology is included with many cell phones and PDAs. It was initially designed to let you swap documents between other Bluetooth devices without the use of annoying connecting cables, but has since expanded to provide services such as Web connectivity and online game playing. However, any time you transmit information online, you can be vulnerable to online attack; and as the popularity of Bluetooth increases, so does its interest to cybercriminals.
The Bluetooth process and vulnerabilityWhen it's set to "discoverable" mode, your Bluetooth cell phone or PDA sends a signal indicating that it's available to "pair" with another Bluetooth gadget and transmit data back and forth. However, an attacker who detects this signal could also attempt to pair with your device and hack in to steal your personal identification number (PIN). You could remain blissfully unaware, while the attacker, with your PIN in hand, could be:
• Stealing information stored on your device, including contact lists, e-mail, and text messages. • Sending unsolicited text messages or images to other Bluetooth-enabled gadgets. • Accessing your mobile phone commands, which allows the attacker to use your phone to make phone calls, sent text messages, read and write phonebook contacts, eavesdrop on conversations, and connect to the Internet. • Installing a virus on your device that could wreak the same kind of havoc as a virus could on your computer—for example, slowing or disabling your service, or destroying or stealing information. Criminals have also been known to drive around with Bluetooth detectors, looking for cell phones and PDAs to infiltrate; and to outfit laptop computers with powerful antennas in order to pick up Bluetooth signals from as far as a half-mile away. The latest forms of high-tech attack even include forcing Bluetooth devices to pair with the attacker's device when they are not in the discoverable mode. (It's also very labor-intensive, so targets tend to be individuals known to have a very large bank account or hold expensive secrets.)
Tips to improve your Bluetooth security• Keep your Bluetooth setting to "non-discoverable" (transmission-disabled) and only switch it to "discoverable" when you're using it. Just leaving your cell phone or PDA in the discoverable mode keeps it dangerously open for Bluetooth transmission—a Bluetooth user within up to a 30-foot range can receive your signal and potentially use it to access your device as you walk around town, drive, or even walk through your office. • Use a strong PIN code. Codes of five digits or longer are harder to crack. • Avoid storing sensitive data such as your social security number, credit card numbers, and passwords on any wireless device. • Stay up-to-date on Bluetooth developments and security issues, and regularly check with the manufacturer of your device for news on software updates or any specific security vulnerabilities. More Bluetooth tidbitsQ: Why is this technology called Bluetooth?A: Just as Bluetooth wireless technology links two different gadgets together, the 10th century Danish king Harald "Blatand" united the separate kingdoms of Denmark and Norway. "Blatand" loosely translates to "Bluetooth" in English.
Q: What does it mean when someone gets "Bluejacked"?A: "Bluejacking" is one of many terms of Bluetooth attack jargon:
• Bluejacking: sending unsolicited text messages • Bluesnarfing: stealing information • Bluebugging: stealing mobile phone commands • War-nibbling: driving around looking for Bluetooth signals to attack • Bluesniping: using a laptop and powerful antenna to attack from a distance

VOIP Subject to Wiretap Law

Voice-over-IP providers that offer Internet calling that connects to the Public Switched Telephone Network will have 18 months to make their networks available to the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency for eavesdropping. Accommodating a request from those agencies, the Federal Communications Commission is requiring VOIP providers whose services can be used as a substitute for traditional telephony to comply with federal wiretap laws.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that new technologies shouldn't be hampered with economic regulation but that law enforcement must be able to conduct surveillance. "We must strike a balance between fostering competitive broadband deployment with meeting the needs of the law enforcement community," Martin said. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps supported the decision with some reservation, arguing that "it is built on very complicated legal ground" because the electronic surveillance law was "undeniably stretched to recognize new service technologies."

Are you ready for the News ?

2014

or

Maybe you'd like to see

The Happy Ending'

version:

2015

Americans who use the internet

Computation Nations and Swarm Supercomputers
Posted by Jim_Downing at 04:10 PM
The Pew Internet & American Life Project latest report says "there are clear differences among those with broadband connections, dial-up connections, and no connections at all to the internet". The summary offindings section of the report says "two-thirds of American adults go online and one-third do not.As of May-June 2005, 68% of American adults, or about 137 million people, use the internet, up from 63% one year ago. Thirty-two percent of American adults, or about 65 million people, do not use the internet and not always by choice. Certain groups continue to lag in their internet adoption, including Americans age 65 and older, African-Americans, and those with less education. For example:26% of Americans age 65 and older go online, compared with 67% of those age 50-64, 80% of those age 30-49, and 84% of those age 18-29.57% of African-Americans go online, compared with 70% of whites.29% of those who have not graduated from high school have access, compared with61% of high school graduates and 89% of college graduates.60% of American adults who do not have a child living at home go online, comparedwith 83% of parents of minor children.Most internet users have many years of online experience, even if there have been gaps in their usage. Indeed, “newbies,” those who have had access for one year or less, now account for just 6% of the overall American adult internet population. Fully 79% of internet users have now had access for four years or more. In contrast, in 2002, 17% of internet users were newbies and 52% were veterans, with four or more years of experience.One in five American adults (22%) say they have never used the internet or email and do not live in internet-connected households. These truly disconnected adults occupy essentially the same percentage of the population as in 2002, when 23% of American adults said they have never used the internet and do not live with anyone who has access".

Digital rights, social wrongs, economic corrections

I’ll splurge this down, rather than worry about actually having a coherent and fluid argument.

1. DRM makes devices less flexible, and less able to adapt to future uses.
   
   
2. This shortens the lifespan of consumer electronics goods.
3. Consumer electronics poses significant environmental externalities in its production and disposal not borne by the producer or consumer.
   (Although there are efforts to remedy this.)
   
   
4. DRM is environmentally unfriendly.
   
   
5. DRM prevents the use of material in ways tha has wider social benefits (e.g. remixing by school children as part of a project).
   
   
6. Devices containing DRM should be taxed to reflect their social and environmental externalities.

Note the twist at the end. We don’t outlaw DRM, or repeal laws that make its use enforceable.

If you wanted to get the political establishment on your side, just find some vocal interest group to hypothecate your iPod tax towards (e.g. starving millionaire rock stars), et voila the lawmaking machinery jumps into action. Don’t campaign against DRM. Use the price mechanism, Luke - it pervades all things and binds all things together. Find your own body of vested interest, and harness it.

Perhaps we should simply generalise this? Laws like DMCA and EUCD are little more than state-sponsored protection rackets for established business models, so why not claw back some of the benefit? Sure, you can have DMCA protection! Just as long as you register your product with the Bit Reproducion and Transmission Device Commission and pay the usual 5% of sales to the government :)

Quite how the anti-tax free-marketer inside me manages to struggle out of this intellectual straight-jacket, I’m not so sure…

I’ve been slowly making my way into Oz Shy’s Economics of Network Industries (about 18 months after Bruce Williamson first recommended it to me at WTF, so it’s taking a while). I’ll comment about the book in more detail another day, but if there’s one take-away it is this: there are many different kinds of network industry resulting from different forms of “interface” between the network components. It is by no means obvious which (if any) flavours of network industry a DMCA-like law is economically efficient for, or whether indeed any such in-depth analysis was ever done prior to copyright maximalism taking hold. It might behoove some of the campaigners for DRM reform to look beyond their own intellectual circle and engage the economists who have already trodden this turf. Make the lawmakers see you’ve done your homework.

Hmm, how about this for a really wild thought, well outside telecom. Capitalism is the economic technology that replaced feudalism. It found a superior way of harnessing self-interest to promote the wider good. This was achieved through increased decentralisation of economic power — you didn’t need to ask permission to start a business. We’re still hunting for the social technology to replace v1.0 mass democracy, whatever it may be. Once we crack the problem issues like DMCA will probably go away, since capture of the lawmaking process will become too expensive. To subvert Hayek’s economic message, the pricing information of new laws will more readily become apparent to those affected. This undermines the “information advantage” that the lobbyists have: a few people know they stand to gain much, whilst the masses don’t realise they’ve each lost a little bit of their cultural and economic opportunity.
(Then again, if Americans haven’t yet discovered the superiority of Bramley apples for making apple pie, I don’t hold out too much hope for a world without distance eliminating all social and economic barriers to opportunity…)

Until you either reach your techno-regulated anarchist nirvana (or opt out of trying), there’s only way of dealing with polluting digital technologies: old-fashioned political slog.

Rollback Software or Backup: But Which One to Choose?

Backing up your data is not the question anymore even though the latest surveys show that people are still not protecting themselves agains data loss. Well, good for them if they think they're immune. You, on the other hand, are probably looking to update your arsenal to protect your data. A few months back, I heard about rollback software and I was enthralled. Here's why I think that you should either own both rollback and backup software or, at least, have a powerful backup solution that stores your data on separate storage media.

Apparently, it's the talk of the town and has been for several months now. Rollback has hit the streets and everyone's extremely excited that the technology is helping resolve many problems.

What is Rollback Software?Rollback software is a program that allows you to "revert back" to your "original configuration or position" when some sort of "soft problem" occurs. Soft problems are any problems that relate to the operating system, software applications, configurations, preferences and settings.

Usually, Rollback software monitors data and system files as they change. For example, you may be working on an excel sheet and delete a portion of it and then committing these changes by saving the XLS. At this point if you realise that you made a mistake, you cannot recover the deleted data. Rollback software allows you to restore this deleted data by reverting back to the original file. The software also allows you to go back to earlier configurations, registry settings and entire systems. Any changes are stored on the same hard drive that contains your data.

So far, so good. Rollback software lets you replace files that you deleted accidentally (on the lowest level) and replace current problematic configurations (including registry settings) with older but more stable versions (on the highest level). This is an excellent way of restoring registry settings that may corrupt either through malware or through unwanted software installations.

Rollback software is very popular and some solutions like Norton's Go Back, are achieving rave reviews.

In my opinion, these products are of extreme importance.

However, they succeed only in resolving the soft problems. And it is these problems that are resolved with Backup Software.

What is Backup Software?Backup Software is a program that allows you to recover data and system files when soft and hard problems occur. Hard problems relate to such hardware problems as hard disk crashes and corrupt hard drives.

With backup, you select a number of files that you want to store or archive for future. This data is, in some way, important, and would typically include documents, financial data, emails, bookmarks, photos, etc.. This data is stored on a separate storage medium such as a CD, DVD or USB Pen Drive. And, it is this that makes backup more safe than Rollback software.

By saving your data in a location which is different from the original hard disk, you have the added protection against any data loss occurring from hardware failures. So if your laptop gets stolen or your hard drive fails, you have a copy to restore on to a new laptop or a new hard drive.

This is the major drawback of rollback software. Data does get lost because of hard issues such as a power surge, power drop, static electricity, magnetic forces, failing hardware component, dust, spilled coffee, etc. Rollback software does not guard you agains these problems. For example, power failures and spilled cups of coffee have destroyed more data than any viruses.

Because of certain technologies such as compression and encryption, you can compress the size of your files (to maximise storage space) and you can lock your files away from prying eyes. And these are the main advantages of backup software products over Rollback utilities. In addition, backup software allows you to set schedules when backup is performed. Recovery of lost or corrupt data or system files occurs from last backup rather from the last known "safe position". With regular backups, you will be able to pinpoint exactly when things started going wrong and restore all your data to the exact point prior to loss or error.

Backup software, however, has a major drawback - you cannot restore single registry settings. Rollback software, it is claimed, allows you to do this. Moreover, industry's response to this problem was imaging software or software that takes a complete image of your hard drive and allows you to store it separately. Although extremely effective, this software takes an image (a photograph) of your current state and restores it completely together with any viruses, corrupt files, temporary files etc.. You can't perform images very regularly (e.g., daily) as these take time and substantial storage. Imaging takes up lots of space as the files are not compressed and therefore requires large amounts of storage space especially if you have a 20Gb hard drive full of music, DVDs, images and documents.

Many backup products are bridging this gap and have imaging features while image software utilities have backup applications. Soon we will probably see a marriage of the two.

Yet, one major problem persists - that of restoring individual registry settings.

The Next Generation of Backup SoftwareA handful of backup applications, like, allow you to backup and restore single registry files of all your applications and your operating system. This means that if you make a mistake you can simply restore from your last safe position. This is exactly like rollback software with the advantage of having protection when your hardware fails since these backup applications will allow you to place these important system files separate from your hard drive.

Rollback software is file-centric, i.e., it focuses on changes in file sizes etc. This does not give you adequate protection for emails. Yes, you can backup your single mailbox database file but this does not allow you to restore single individual emails. This is a second major drawback of rollback software (and all file-centric backup).

Backup v. Rollback SoftwareSo, what's the verdict? Which should you choose, backup or rollback utilities? In an ideal world you should have both and the future will probably see backup (and rollback) software companies having features of both. However, buying both can cost you about $100 and, although it's not much when you think about how much it has cost you to build your data, not many are ready to spend so much.

In this case, I would stick to backup software simply because rollback doesn't give you protection when your hardware fails and it doesn't let you save those single emails. What do you think?

Want Macromedia Flash Player for Pocket PC? That'll be $499!

"As of October 3, 2005 Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC download will no longer be available. Below are answers to some questions that you may have regarding the availability of Flash Player for Pocket PC. If you do not see answers to your questions here or in the additional resources listed below, please send your questions to mobiledeveloper@macromedia.com."

A few months ago, Macromedia promoted the mobile Flash space like there was no tomorrow, and now they've negated all that by announcing that the free Flash Player for Pocket PC is no longer free. In fact, it's no longer available! Instead, it has been replaced by a Standalone Flash Player that costs $499 from the Macromedia Worldwide Online store.

"Why is Macromedia charging $499 for the Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 2003?"The Standalone Flash Player gives developers the ability to create unlimited projectors (self running applications, without the need to install the Flash Player).

This functionality gives developers the ability to distribute unlimited projectors, to charge for their content, while providing an engaging experience for consumers.

I don't know about you, but I think the world of Flash is a little bigger than just self-running applications. There are millions of web pages on the internet that make full use of Flash, and to void the average Joe of the ability to view them on a Pocket PC seems unimaginable. If Macromedia thinks that every mobile consumer will splurge $499 and/or rely on their OEM to bundle Flash with their Pocket PC, then I guess hell has frozen over. Glad I downloaded my copy. You may still be able to here:

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/...p6_ppcax_en.exe