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Back up those files

You've always stored important documents on your home computers, but each year it seems they get more critical.

Now sitting on that C: drive are not only financial records and correspondence, but also home movies and thousands of pictures and music files. Toast your hard drive and you're in for a world of hurt - and little pity if you don't have an external hard drive with a fresh set of backups.

The New York Times today looks at how you can choose a back-up system if you don't already have one in place.

NW home networking guru Keith Shaw recently wrote a similar column, and our Network Life site just ran the detailed Home Storage Strategy Guide on how you can set up a bulletproof system for preserving your important data. If you read anything, do yourself a favor and read Backup 101.

Via The New York Times

A fitting tribute to 'Scotty'

While working on the post below, we glanced at USA Today's Top 5 Tech Stories listing and found the following:

The Star Trek nerd in us loves - loves - that James Doohan's obituary wound up in the tech section and not entertainment. We can't help but think it would make Doohan and Roddenberry smile, too.

Legal music downloads skyrocket

Take heart, music industry: Your ham-handed scare tactics and lawsuit threats are starting to bear fruit as legal music downloads have tripled so far this year.

The International Federation of Phonographic Industries (which if you read it fast looks like "The International Federation of Pornographic Industries") reports that 180 million single tracks were downloaded legally in the first six months of the year, compared to 57 million tracks in the first half of 2004 and 157 million for the whole of last year.

This explains why Apple had such a ridiculous earnings quarter for Q3.

"Whether it's the fear of getting caught breaking the law, or the realization that many networks could damage your home PC, attitudes are changing, and that is good news for the whole music industry," notes John Kennedy, IFPI chair.

Via USA Today

Tim Brown and Tecmo Bowl

One great aspect of the Web is there's always someone chronicling some obscure, yet interesting, fact.

Take the site ufcker.com (be careful when you type that), which notes that this week's retirement of NFL receiver Tim Brown leaves Jerry Rice as the sole remaining active NFL player featured in the groundbreaking video-game Tecmo Bowl.

Debuting in 1988 on the original Nintendo video game system, Tecmo Bowl was the granddaddy of football video games and paved the way for the Madden NFL franchise.

If you played and loved Tecmo Bowl, this is making you feel very old. Like Jerry Rice old.

Via Kottke

Feds land giant spam bust

Who knew Spain was a spammer's paradise?

Apparently the feds, who in conjunction with Spanish police arrested 310 people in Malaga, Spain, in connection with a $124 million bogus e-mail lottery scam run by Nigerian gangs.

Four hundred officers from Spanish police, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service raided 166 homes and seized $264,000 in cash, 2,000 mobile telephones, 327 computers and 165 fax machines. We didn't even know the post office had "officers." Do you think they wore the blue shorts and carried mace?

Anyway, officials believe "Operation Nile" will drastically reduce spam traffic for the time being. In addition to the fake lottery, the group also sent our classic 419 scams and had duped more than 2,000 people.

Via The Register

AIM Fight: How popular are you?

Here's your Internet Diversion of the Day: AIM Fight.

If you have an AOL IM screen name pit it vs. that of your friends, colleagues or evil doers and see which one of you is the most popular at that very second.

You and your opponent each get a score that "is the sum of the current number of people online who have you listed as a buddy, out to three degrees. This means the score is constantly changing, and the winner of the battle will constantly change with it," says the AIM Fight FAQ.

A pretty fun diversion for a Thursday, unless you're as unpopular as we are and then it's just depressing.

Via Waxy

Google maps the Moon

Having already conquered Earth, Google has branched out and mapped the Moon.

In honor of yesterday's anniversary of the first lunar moon landing, Google Moon has mapped the landing sites of Apollo 11-17 (Apollo 13 excepted). You can zoom in, out and around, and explore the terrain yourself.

Make sure you zoom all the way in for the search engine behemoth's trademark sense of humor.

Via My Way News

Tablet PCs: Not so fantastic

Tablet computing was supposed to be The Next Big Thing yet it hasn't exactly taken the world by storm - and now it can't even get a break at the movies.

Near the end of the recently released "Fantastic Four" (a better movie than you'd think) there's a close-up of a tablet being operated by a worker, only to have it quickly short out. We're pretty sure we were the only person in the theatre to find this ironically funny.

Where are the tablet PR people?

Microsoft battles Google over employee

Kai-Fu Lee is the hottest IT employee in the world right now, as Microsoft and Google engage in a Godzilla vs. Mothra battle for his services.

Yesterday Lee punched in as Google's new head of R&D in China, which wouldn't be a problem except up until Monday he was VP of Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division.

Microsoft is mighty upset at Google for stealing Lee and has filed a suit to enforce Lee's non-compete clause and bar his new Google gig.

More info here. If Lee's position opens at Google, we'd take it. How hard can search engine R&D be in China as the country has banned 99% of the Internet?

Gates: Why aren't kids into IT?

Microsoft's holding its annual Microsoft Research Faculty Summit this week, ("Making tomorrow's Microsoft minions - today!") and Bill Gates kicked it off wondering why the heck more kids don't want to be like him.

Gates says he's puzzled why more youth aren't studying computer science as "salaries and job openings in computer science are on the rise." Yeah, if you're in India.

The billionaire says he can't figure out the "paradox" as teens are so interested in all things technology (cell phones, the 'Net, MP3 players) today.

"If you say to a kid, 'Yeah, what are the 10 coolest products you use that your parents are clueless about, that you're good at using,' I don't think they're going to say, 'Oh, you know, it's this new breakfast cereal," Gates said. "And I want to go work in agriculture and invent new cereals or something.' ... I think 10 out of 10 would be things that are software-driven."

He just called out Captain Crunch.

Via My Way News

Teacher fired due to forum post

If there's one public service announcement we like to make, it's "Don't blog about your job."

Yet we may need to amend this to include: "Don't blog about your job - or make stupid posts to public forums."

Former Boston Herald sports columnist Michael Gee left the paper this spring due to staffing cuts, but soon landed a gig teaching a journalism course at Boston University.

Gee's a smart guy, so we don't understand why the hell he felt compelled to post the following on sportsjournalists.com's forums after his first day: "Of my six students, one (the smartest, wouldn't you know it?) is incredibly hot. ... It was all I could do to remember the other five students."

BU officials found out about Gee's remarks and he was let go shortly thereafter. We think Gee confused sportsjournalist.com's forum with Letters to Penthouse Forum.

Via CNN

Fingernails: Your future storage source

Japanese researchers are working on methods to carve data onto fingernails, which one day could replace credit cards.

But what if you bite your nails?

"You'd have to get your information carved in every six months or so as the nail grows out," reports Nature.com. Ah ha.

The scientists are using a laser to burn information onto nails via very short pulses of infrared light. When illuminated under a blue light, the information appears. Nifty, very James Bond.

Astound your friends with this Fun Trivia Fact of the Day: A fingernail can hold 800K bytes of data.

Via Drudge Report

Toddler buys Benz on eBay

We haven't had a good, wacky eBay story in a while. This one fits the bill:

A New York man is being sued by a car dealer for trying to renege on his $245,000 Buy-It-Now eBay purchase of a 1969 Mercedes-Benz once owned by Elvis. Forty-year-old Jason Shepard, a sales representative from Ballston Lake, N.Y, says he didn't buy the car - his 2-year-old daughter did.

Shepard says the toddler was sitting on his lap at the computer and tapped his mouse, which just happened to be hovering over the Buy It Now button on Gene Epstein's Benz auction.

Epstein's not buying Shepard's story and is suing him in federal court. EBay refused to comment on the matter, other than to say at that time such a purchase required two mouse clicks.

"It just went zappo," Shepard told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Right through. If [Morgan] clicked it more than once, I don't know."

Easy with the tech terms, Shepard, you're losing us.

Interestingly, the faux purchase didn't spoil Shepard on eBay. According to the paper: "A week after the disputed auction, Shepard bought a 1999 Oldsmobile 88 for $4,700 - on eBay."

The Inquirer story is here (reg required, sorry).

Via Obscure Store

Martha to marry Microsoftie?

Here at the Layer 8 newsroom (also known as our desk) we scour the Web for you. We check the Times, the wires and even the boring 'ol Wall Street Journal to find the news you need. We even check our favorite supermarket tabloids just in case, and whaddaya know, it paid off this week.

Truly super supermarket tab The Globe reports Martha Stewart is set to marry Microsoft apps granddaddy Charles Simonyi. The "paper" says the lovebirds have been "quietly dating" for about eight years.

"He's one of the world's richest men, but that's not what attracted Martha to him. They're like-minded people who are both at the top of their game. They're also soul mates who can talk for hours," The Globe reports. Awwww…

We're kind surprised Martha would go for a Microsoftie. Given her DIY roots, we'd peg her fall for some open source geek.

Other front-page Globe stories this week: "Britney broke?" and "OJ's violent brawl with girlfriend."

Indiana woman hits iTunes jackpot

An Indiana woman purchased the 500 millionth song sold on iTunes and won a boatload of goodies from Apple.

Buying "Mississippi Girl" by Faith Hill was the best 99 cents Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana, ever spent. Not only does she get her Faith Hill tune, but she also won:

• 10 iPods to hand out to family and friends.

• A gold 10,000-song gift card for the iTunes Music Store and 10 additional 50-song gift cards to go with the iPods
  
  
• Four Coldplay tickets and a trip to see Coldplay on its current tour.

• Coldplay backstage passes.
  

Tivo: Please watch commercials

Tivo exists for basically two reasons: 1) You can easily record and watch TV whenever you want, and 2) You can breeze right through commercials.

Yet Tivo is now trying to get advertisers to boost its bottom line.

According to the AP, Tivo will insert symbols ("ID tags") on top of ads that are being fast-forwarded, so even though you're jamming through the commercial you can see who the advertiser is.

"The ID tags are designed to alert Tivo customers to certain products. If customers are interested in learning more, they can pause the show they are watching to receive a 'long-format' commercial or obtain information about the product. The new campaign will be launched with General Motors and The WB Network commercials."

What amazed us about this story is the fact Tivo has yet to earn a cent. In its first-quarter report in May, Tivo reported a loss of $857,000. The company has said it would reach profitability in the fourth quarter.

Via My Way News

New contest starts today

Someone's happy with her new photo printer. But we want you to be happy with the winning words we know you'll send our way in the latest Weekly Caption Contest.

Get those captions in to layer8@nww.com by end of day Friday and enter to win sweet Layer 8 swag.

Click the pic for a better view.

Latest contest winner

Scientists at Microsoft work long hours to convert the blue screen of death to the new Longhorn red screen of death.

William Flusek knows we're a sucker for a good Microsoft joke and cashes in, theoretically, on this knowledge by writing the above and winning the latest Weekly Caption Contest.

Click below to read some great runners-up concerning Cheetos, nerd perfume and Tang, then head back later today for the start of the next contest.

Go on, read the whole thing ...

Posted: July 18, 2005 Permanent link

Hacker to others: Don't be like me

British hacker Gary McKinnon is warning the like-minded: Don't be like me.

McKinnon is facing extradition to the U.S. and a possible Bernie Ebbers x 3 prison term for poking around more than 50 American military computer networks.

"Believe you me my current position is wholly unexciting and very, very serious. I would like to say to all aspiring young hackers, do not do it," he says.

In 2000-2001, McKinnon says he became obsessed with trying to prove "a technology called 'anti-gravity' had been developed by the U.S. and was being kept secret so the U.S. could exploit it rather than releasing it for the good of the world." His obsession led him to rummaging around U.S. military networks and now he's in deep and seriously remorseful.

"I was just looking. I did not think about the legal side of things and now I am facing the prospect of extreme violence in some U.S. jail," he says. The poor man must be watching "Oz."

The very interesting interview can be found here.

Via The Register

Disney World mandates fingerprint scans

Disney World has mandated fingerprint scans for guests at all of its Florida theme parks, raising the collective eyebrow of privacy watch dogs.

Disney previously required scans only for season pass holders, but now everyone entering the parks must insert their index and middle fingers at the front gates. We're sure these lines will make those at Tower of Terror look speedy by comparison.

Mouse House officials say they're using the scans to ensure everyone is using a legitimate ticket but, frankly, that doesn't make much sense. Previously you had to insert your ticket into a scanner at the gate, which we presume would spit out counterfeit tickets. How would a fingerprint detect a fake ticket?

Via Drudge Report

ICANN delays domain names

If you're waiting for the arrival of non-English domain names, don't hold your breath, says Vint Cerf, father of the Internet/ICANN overlord. Well, you could hold it but, you know, you'd likely croak. Just a friendly warning/public service.

Officially, the Internet's DNS supports only 37 characters - the letters of the Latin alphabet, 10 numerals and a hyphen. 'Net gurus want to expand to Unicode, which could allow the use of non-English domains, but an exploit can make some characters that look alike, which could allow phishers easy access to new prey.

It's early on a Monday, we'll let the AP do the heavy lifting:

"Subbing one for the other can allow a scammer to register a domain name that looks to the human as 'paypal.com,' tricking users into giving passwords and other sensitive information at what looks like a legitimate site. It's much like how scammers now use the numeral "1" sometimes instead of the letter "l" to trick users."

More info here.

Via My Way News

Contact NetworkWorld.com Managing Editor Melissa Shaw

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