Geek Stuff

Nata's Corner

If you'd have told me ten years ago that 1) I'd still be wearing the same sunglasses and 2) I'd still be writing this column, I'd have said "You're nuts." Thanks to everyone over the years for your criticisms, your support, and your kindness in delivering both. On the other hand...

One of the things I've harped on over the years is about using good passwords and then changing them fairly often. I'm glad it doesn't take a lot to type out the words reminding you yet again, because if this problem were a wall, my head would be awfully sore. In Europe, while about half of Internet users are "concerned" about things like identity theft and have done something about it, the other half have not -- and nearly twenty per cent have never done anything.

Some things you should try once (assuming you have a bucket list that includes things that are totally dumb, like waiting in line outside a big box store). Other things you should try more often, like trying to save your relatives a few bucks when it comes to buying stuff. And if you're in a giving mood, make sure you research your charity before handing over any money.

Tradition being what it is, here's your list of places (outside of the EE newletter, of course) to find all kinds of things for the geek and non-geek in your life:

• TigerDirect's list of Gifts, Gadgets and Parts. We like TD; they ship quickly and don't charge a fortune.
• c|net's list of Holiday Gift Gadgets. Most are pretty predictable. Also, back to school gifts that'll still work for Christmas and a video (after a BestBuy ad) of five gifts you shouldn't give.
• The Christian Science Monitor's list of electronics you should never buy.
• The Washington Post's list of apps meant for Black Friday that will still help you find the best prices. The Post also has a list of items to take a pass on.
• ZDNet's professional gift and gadget ideas. I don't know what I'd use the Doettling Guardian for, but it's still cool.
• Gamestop's Ultimate Gift Finder. I wonder if they have something that will fix the other half's slice.
• The Christian Science Monitor's list of non-fiction books.
• Almost anything from See's Candies. Or Ghirardelli. Or Lindt. Oh, heck... pick one, even bacon chocolate.
• You won't believe this, but the Microsoft store has one heck of a mug.

If you need another reason to drop your Facebook account, I've found one. A security researcher has figured out that even if someone has taken the time to change his privacy settings so that only his friends can see who else he's friends with, a "friend request" will show the requesting person all of his friends, even if the request is denied. Facebook's response to hearing about the flaw? "And your point is... ?" And in case you need reminding, social media posts have a way of coming back to bite you.

Finally, if you're one of the people who runs into an occasional crash for no apparent reason, one of the causes could be a still-installed old version of Adobe Flash Player. The first thing you should do is visit Adobe's test page that tells you which version you have installed and if there is a newer version available. Then download the uninstall program from Adobe and run it (you'll have to shut anything that might use Flash down before you do). Then reopen your browser and download and install the latest version. The cause of crashes might be something else, too -- but Adobe's reputation precedes it.

Downtime Stuff

In Brief

Flipping point: A couple of months ago, Google put a few bucks into its expensive YouTube acquisition and started requiring anyone who wanted to comment on a video to log in using a Google+ account, ostensibly to cut down on the troll-like behavior endemic to sites that don't have measures enforcing responsiblity for one's posts. The results were predictable; to paraphrase Dr Malcolm, trolls found ways of getting back at Google for daring to try to rein them in, notably increasing spam posts.

Of course, it's all a smokescreen; Google isn't really interested in cleaning up the comments in YouTube. Google is interested in getting more information about its users, and Google+ does that to a greater degree than anything else the company can do. More data -- at least in Google's world -- means better targeting of advertising, and that means Google can charge more money for what it delivers to the users' screens. Equally hypocritical, though (okay, maybe not equally, but close) is the change.org petition demanding that Google reinstate anonymous posting. Free accounts and free entertainment come at a price; the user is no longer the customer, but the product, a slave to be bought and sold for fifty cents a click.

We got your order right here: 23andMe, the company owned in part by Google founder Sergie Brin's wife Anne (who is also Google garage landlord Susan Wojcicki's sister), was told to stop selling its DNA-testing kits, but because its corporate DNA comes from Google, it responded with little more than "yeah, we got your letter". In case you're curious, Google's revenues in one quarter are three times the FDA's annual budget. Damon Runyon advised who to bet on.

Fun and games: One of the excuses big box retailers used for starting Black Friday as early as Thursday morning was that the shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a week shorter this year -- which also means that holiday get-togethers will be more frequent, as will suddenly-scheduled doctors appointments and other schemes for not getting a lot of work done. So, as a public service, we offer the following time-sinks:

• Geo Guessr. Look at a photograph and try to figure out where you are. It ain't easy.
• Cicada 3301.
• Escher Sketch. You can make your own wrapping paper design. Or something.
• 68 404 Pages. If nothing else you may be inspired.
• The Worst Things For Sale: "The Internet's most horrible items. A daily blog."
• Happy Hour Virus (not what you think -- Sophos explains it all for you).
• Wikipedia's list of eponymous laws. Conway's law should get you going.

Elephant in the room: Social networks still don't drive customers -- except maybe "away". Oh... and that whole bit about "why advertisers continue to pour money into something that doesn't work" argument? Easy: elephants travel in herds.

Hiding in plain sight: Yahoo is going to start encrypting its traffic to keep it out of spying eyes. Until, of course, some government asks for it (and they have been for a while). Also in hiding: Yahoo Mail users.

Ooops.

Show me the money: Never mind the philosophical arguments that would rage between Adam Smith and Karl Marx (not to mention Keynes). Bitcoins are here to stay, at least until someone decides to corner the market on them -- at which point they'll be worth less than the paper they're printed on. But no worries; a total of 21,000,000 of the electronic "coins" will be created between now and 2140 (not quite sixty per cent are already out there, and you can track where they are and what they're worth), minus the 7,500 that are in a landfill in Wales. Now all the world needs is an exchange dealing in alternative non-currencies.

In requiem: Paul Walker, star of the Fast & Furious movie series, one of our favorite guilty pleasures.

Crowd avoidance: If you haven't bought your new Xbox One, there's a good reason to not be an early adopter: the disc drive might be faulty. Redmond is making good by replacing the consolve and giving a free download... but don't cuss on Xbox Live.

Signs of the Apocalypse: Bill Gates' foundation has funded another health project. We're not going to publish any emails with bad jokes, so don't send them, please. An Ohio WalMart is holding a food drive for its employees. The CEO isn't eligible. Copyright infringement run amok (at least they know where to find lawyers, right?). First world problems: a pecan shortage.

Signs of the Apocalypse Stuff

Milestones

New Savant: LSMConsulting is now a Savant in the Microsoft Access topic area.

New Prodigy: hanccocka has reached the 5,000,000 point level in Virtualization. He is the third member of EE to have 5,000,000 points in each of two topic areas.

New Geniuses: nobus has become the all-time leader in Genius certificates as he earned is fourteenth, in Microsoft Operating Systems; he has reached 2,000,000 points in four topic areas. On the other end of the spectrum, erniebeek has earned his first, in Cisco PIX/ASA Firewall.

My First Million: Sandeshdubey reached the 1,000,000 point level.

Milestones:

• angelIII, the all-time leader in points, has reached 3,000,000 points in Miscellaneous Databases, the fifth topic area in which he has reached that level.
• Ray_Paseur is the eighth member of EE to earn 17,000,000 points overall.
• matthewspatrick has earned 2,000,000 points in each of five topic areas. Only two other EE members have accomplished that.
• RobWill and garycase have reached the 1,000,000 point level in six topic areas.
• leew has earned five Genius certificates.
• CodeCruiser has earned 4,000,000 points in both VB.NET and .NET, while chapmandew has reached that level in both SQL Server and SQL 2005.
• Callandor has reached 2,000,000 points in each of three topic areas.
• mplungjan and Dhaest each have four Genius certificates.
• rindi, Merete and strung have earned three Genius certificates.
• peter57r and boag2000 have earned 9,000,000 points in Access.
• kaufmed has earned 3,000,000 points in both C# Programming and .NET; Gertone has done it in XML and Web Languages/Standards.
• rockiroads has earned 7,000,000 points in Access.
• emoreau has reached the 2,000,000 point level in both VB.NET and .NET.
• mbizup has earned 7,000,000 points since joining Experts Exchange.
• woolmilkporc has earned over 4,000,000 points in the Unix topic area; he also has 2,000,000 points in Linux. JDettman has his 4,000,000 in Access.
• jaime_olivares has earned 6,000,000 points since joining EE in 2003. He has two Genius certificates.
• harfang has earned 5,000,000 points in Access.