TechBlog

February 25, 2010

Are you Genuine? New Win7 update makes sure

Normally, you'd expect Windows updates to appear on your PC the second Tuesday of each month, a day that has come to be known lovingly as Patch Tuesday. But don't be surprised if Windows Update alerts you this week that Microsoft has a little something extra for you.

The company is rolling out an updated anti-piracy feature. The Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 - catchy name, eh? - is designed to make sure that you're not running an unauthorized copy of Windows. And, unless you are indeed bent on using Windows without paying for it, this is a Good Thing^TM.

According to this Windows Blog post from Microsoft from earlier this month, the new update detects more than 70 different hacks that try to get around Windows 7's activation. Such hacks are common to all versions of Windows, so it's not surprising that Win7 already has this many.

Most users running pirated copies of Windows try to get around activation in one of two ways - by downloading a full version of Windows that's been altered, or by downloading a program that promises to get around the activation process. In either case, they leave themselves open to the possibility that the cracked copy of Windows or the hacking program contains more than they bargained for in the form of malware.

And, you may be running a bogus copy of Windows without even knowing it. There are unscrupulous PC builders out there who don't buy licensed copies, build machines for customers, then slap a "hacktivated" copy of Windows on the system.

So, while Microsoft's attempts to enforce its activation policies may have a Big Brother feel to them, there's a good reason for the company to do so. Yeah, Microsoft is making sure it gets every dollar it's due, but the update also helps clean up the malware-infested Windows ecosystem.

But if you're not comfortable with this, take heart: It's optional. When you get the notification that you have this update, you'll notice that it is unchecked for download by default in Windows Update.

If you don't want to even see the update, you can right-click on it and choose Hide Update.

By the way, there are a handful of other non-Patch Tuesday updates from Microsoft this month. Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet has a roundup of them:

There are a lot of other udpates for XP, VIsta and Windows 7 that Microsoft released this week, too. Some  are fairly obscure -- unless you are one of on a Czech Windows 7 computer, where some notification messages are displayed in Romanian instead of Czech. (Yes, there's now a fix for that.) There are also new compatibility updates for Vista and Windows 7, enabling a slew of applications that previously didn't work or work well on those systems to function better.

There are a few Media Center updates, including one for DVD playback and another for tuner-compatibility issues. There's a sleep/hibernate update for PCs running certain Intel processors. And there's a Daylight Saving Time update or two in the mix.

 

Posted by Dwight at 07:50 AM in Microsoft, Security, Software, Windows 7 | Comments (8)
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Linkpost | 2.25.2010

Updated 11:09 a.m.

• Facebook to create 200 jobs in Austin - The new Facebook office will house sales and operations. Facebook's being lured with $1.4 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund.

• Facebook Glitch Sends Messages to the Wrong People - Some users saw private messages intended for other people.

• Time to Start Looking for a Buyer, Palm? - Palm's officials expect a 30 percent shortfall in the current quarter. They say their new phones aren't selling as well as they'd hoped.

• Sprint to launch 4G network in at least 8 major markets this year - Houston is one of them.

• Microsoft rolls out Windows 7 activation updates alongside other Windows fixes -It's designed to detect more than 70 activation hacks and "non-Genuine" Windows 7 installations.

• UPDATED: Is Apple Preparing To Add An 'Explicit' Section To The App Store? and Apple Removes Explicit Option From iTunes -  A new category dubbed "Explicit" briefly shows up in the area where developers can submit apps to the iTunes App Store, then apparently is pulled.

• Apple iTunes: 10 billion songs later - Apple sells its 10 billionth song on iTunes in a little under 7 years.

• Internet Addiction Might Actually Get Recognized By The Official Book Of Mental Disorders - The next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is being readied, and Internet addiction is up for consideration.

• This you???? :  Phishing attack hits Twitter users - Clicking on the link sends you to a fake Twitter login page, where phishers gather your credentials.

• Gmail Labs graduation and retirement - Five labs features graduate; five get the boot. My favorite new feature: Forgotten Attachment Detector. If you write "I've attached" but there's no attachment when you hit "send", Gmail asks if you've forgotten to include a document.

• Skype Yanks Windows Mobile App From Site - Skype says the application wasn't providing the "best possible Skype experience".

• Consumers increasingly opt for WiFi for mobile browsing: Study - 56 percent say they've used Wi-Fi on their mobile devices to connect to the Net . . . maybe because 3G often feels so slow.

• Hot And Bothered: Walmart Shutting Down Vudu's Adult Section - After buying the video streaming service, the retail giant kills its adult offerings.

• Flash might not be a battery hog but Adobe needs to charge its batteries - A video from Adobe appears to show the battery on a Nexus One draining quickly while playing a Flash video. Adobe supplies another video that appears to show otherwise.

Posted by Dwight at 06:35 AM in Linkposts | Comments (0)
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February 24, 2010

Rickroll'd no more: Internet meme takedown! [Updated]

[Note: "Never Gonna Give You Up" is back on YouTube. See update below.]

If you were using the Web in 2008, chances are you got rickroll'd. For the six of you who weren't on the Intarwebz back then, Rickrolling involves directing someone to a link with the promise of something special. Instead, the hapless victim sees a YouTube video of the 1987 Rick Astley hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up".

But now, Rick apparently has given you up. The original video used for rickrolling since it was invented on 4chan in 2007 has been removed from YouTube for a terms of use violation.

The takedown, spotted by Neowin, is somewhat surprising. Yes, this was copyrighted material posted to the Web, but it had been viewed more than 30 million times. The rickrolling phenomenon had made the song popular again, turning a one-hit wonder into a - cough - timeless classic. Its presence on YouTube was definitely of benefit to the copyright holders.

In fact, rickrolling was such a powerful meme that it spilled off the Internet and into real life. In April 2008, a flash mob rickrolled the Liverpool Street Station in London. Also that month, all of Shea Stadium was rickrolled . . . on opening day.

And the best rickroll of all occurred during the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, when Astley himself emerged suddenly on a float to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up".

So while this particular meme is so 2008, it's sad to see it go away. Sure, those who want to live in the past can still find alternatives for their link-based pranks, but it's just not the same.

Update: Commenter Brakos points us to this version of Astley's video, from the old VH1 series Pop Up Video. It's not embeddable, but it is linkable - which is what counts when you're bent on rickrolling someone, right?

Update 2.0: Neowin reports that YouTube has restored the original rickroll video, saying its removal was a mistake. You can find it here.

And here's the official explanation:

With 20 hours of video uploaded every minute to YouTube, we count on our community members to know our Community Guidelines and to flag content they believe violates them. We review all flagged content quickly, and if we find that a video does violate the guidelines, we remove it, on average in under an hour. We also have a team that is dedicated to identifying and removing spam from YouTube.  Occasionally, an account flagged by users or identified by our spam team is mistakenly taken down. When this is brought to our attention, we move quickly to take appropriate action, including restoring videos that had been mistakenly removed and channels that have been mistakenly suspended.

Apparently Astley doesn't yet know about the fuss, according to an e-mail Neowin received from his manager:

Neowin also spoke to Rick Astley's manager Tony Henderson earlier today who said he was disappointed the video had been removed briefly. "I have not told Rick yet as he is driving to the French Alps to practice his rolling (sorry i meant skiing) I don't think anyone should or indeed can, stop people having fun on the net, there are more urgent concerns on the internet that need sorting," he said in an email to Neowin.

 

Posted by Dwight at 07:49 AM in Digital music, movies, media, Tech & society, The Web | Comments (16)
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Linkpost | 2.24.2010

• Google under investigation for alleged breach of EU competition rules - Three companies have complained, one of which is owned by Microsoft. It is only a preliminary investigation.

• When It Doesn't Pay to Be Google's Guinea Pig - Google's new products may be cool, but when they don't work as they should, it can be painful . . . and maybe worse.

• Google execs convicted in Italy for Down's video and Serious threat to the web in Italy - Three Google executives convicted of violating Italian privacy statutes in the case of a video uploaded to YouTube.

• Intel Was Attacked at the Same Time as Google - By hackers in China.

• YouTube removes original "Rickroll" video due to terms of use violation - The original had been viewed - often as a prank - more than 30 million times.

• Apple COO Tim Cook: 'We Have No Interest In Being In The TV Market' - While speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference, he still insists that Apple TV is "just a hobby."

• Developer of Hooters iPhone app responds to Apple's new policy - The Hooters app, which is similar to one removed as part of Apple's sex purge, apparently gets to stay because Hooter's is a big brand name.

• Initial iPad Demand Greater Than Initial iPhone Demand - Based on a ChangeWave survey. The reason: Its price.

• AT&T Roars Back in PCWorld's Second 3G Wireless Performance Test - Comes up with the best performance in a test in 13 cities, none of which are in Texas . . . AT&T's home state.

• Smartphones in 2009: Symbian Dominates, iPhone, RIM and Android Rising Fast - According to a Gartner study.

• Windows Phone 7: What's behind chassis doors 1, 2 and 3? - Only three types of phones will be supported - big touchscreens, slider keyboards, and a third that has not yet been disclosed.

• Project Natal: hands on review - News flash: Playing video games in which your body is the controller is physically exhausting.

• YouTube to kill IE6 support on March 13 - Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end.

• Federal judge orders Pa. schools to stop laptop spying - The school district says it will comply.

Posted by Dwight at 06:35 AM in Linkposts | Comments (1)
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February 23, 2010

No titillation for you! Apple explains sex app purge

Last week, Apple began purging from its iTunes App Store most iPhone/iPod Touch programs that included sexually related content. The cleansing affected apps that ran the gamut, from those showing outright nudity to others that revealed women in underwear or swimsuits.

Overall, an estimated 5,000 apps got nuked.

Developers received notifications that their apps were being yanked, and one of them - Jon Atherton of Chilifresh, which makes an app called Wobble - actually got someone at the notoriously secretive Apple to lay out some ground rules:

1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)

2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn't ask about Ice Skating tights for men)

3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)

4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs

[deletia]

5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex - all banned

6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble "overtly sexual!)

7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but ...)

Other than Atherton's conversation with an Apple rep, and a typically vague comment from Apple PR, the company hasn't offered any official details about what's going on. But now, Apple's chief marketer Phil Schiller has talked to the New York Times about the change in policy:

Philip W. Schiller, head of worldwide product marketing at Apple, said in an interview that over the last few weeks a small number of developers had been submitting "an increasing number of apps containing very objectionable content."

"It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see," Mr. Schiller said.

Since Apple loosened content restrictions a few months back, an increasing number of offerings have been sexual in nature, and many have become quite popular. In fact, they began to show up frequently in best-seller lists. I recall looking at a list of top paid apps a few weeks ago that had several titillating titles in it and thinking, "This is getting kind of sleazy." Indeed, the fact that about 5,000 apps were purged is telling.

But one of the things that has irked developers of smaller apps - some of whom were making good money - is that big names apparently get to stay. For example, Sports Illustrated has a free app related to its annual swimsuit issue, which clearly violates Apple's new standards. It has not been removed.

Nor has Playboy's own app, which is even more sexual in nature, as you'd expect.

Schiller explained the policy discrepancy in the NYT interview:

When asked about the Sports Illustrated app, Mr. Schiller said Apple took the source and intent of an app into consideration. "The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format," he said.

In other words, big media companies get a pass. Might this have something to do with Apple wanting to strike future content deals with these companies, particularly with its new iPad table being released next month?

Frankly, the App Store really was getting a little tawdry, and in some ways I welcome Apple's move. But, as often has been true with App Store policies, this has been poorly handled. First Apple relaxes restrictions, and developers understandably rush in to make sales. Then, Apple yanks the rug out from under them, while allowing established media brands to continue to profit from sexually oriented material.

At best, this is bungling on a grand scale. At worst, it's self-serving hypocrisy. If Apple is going to be a gatekeeper for what amounts to an information revolution - and the app phenomenon is exactly that - it needs to get its act together, and quickly.

 

Posted by Dwight at 08:08 AM in Apple, Software, iPhone | Comments (23)
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Linkpost | 2.23.2010

• Apple Purges Blue Apps from Online Store - Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller finally explains the company's purge of sexually oriented apps. They've been removed because some women and parents complained. Playboy and Sports Illustrated get to stay, though.

• Exclusive: How Google's Algorithm Rules the Web - Wired looks at the process Google goes through to improve the quality of its searches.

• Google Jazzes up Ad Platform for Publishers - DoublClick now offers services for smaller sites.

• Twitter Blog- Measuring Tweets - Twitter is seeing 50 million tweets each day, up from 2.5 million this time last year.

• Seesmic's Web App Now Does Threaded Twitter Conversations - While it still doesn't beat out software clients, it's a great choice if you can't install software on your machine (say, at work).

• Vudu Convinces Wal-Mart to Pay Up: Why an Also-Ran Web Movie Service Sold For More Than $100 Million - Wal-Mart wants to get into the streaming movie business.

• Glitch knocks Rollingstone.com offline - Those trying to get to the site saw a temporary landing page, leading some to speculate Rolling Stone had forgotten to renew its domain registration.

• Palm webOS 1.4 coming Feb 25th with video recording? - For Palm Pre and Pixi phones.

• Microsoft, Amazon strike patent deal covering Kindle and Linux - Microsoft is receiving a payment from Amazon, presumably heading off litigation.

• Amazon named America's most-trusted and recommended brand and Kindle test at Princeton reduced paper use by 50 percent

• Apple ranks third in BusinessWeek customer service survey - Behind LL Bean and USAA.

• Apple To Bring iPhone OS To New Gadgets and Should Apple TV switch to the iPhone OS?

• First Look: Apple's Massive iDataCenter - It costs $1 billion and is five times the size of Apple's Newark, Calif., facility.

Posted by Dwight at 06:35 AM in Linkposts | Comments (1)
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February 22, 2010

Join our Twitter news army

We just went live with a new version of our chron.com home page. It's got a cleaner, more streamlined look.

One of the new features you'll probably spot right away is "Follow us" It's located to the right of our top stories list, and - for now - shows Twitter updates from Houston Chronicle news feeds and staffers.

I say "for now" because we'd like to invite you to the party. We want to include tweets from Houston Twitter users in the mix.

For some time now, we've been using the hash tag #hounews to designate Houston-area news in our Twitter updates. We've asked local Twitter users to do the same, and many of you have responded enthusiastically. But with this new component on on our home page, we want to broaden this.

Here's how it will work:

We're looking for area Twitter users who'll give us permission to add their feeds to a list that will feed the "Follow us" window on our home page. But, we'll only show tweets that include the #hounews hash tag.

If you're in that list and you become aware of something of interest to folks in the Houston area, tweet it and use the #hounews tag. It will then show up in that widget on our home page.

What constitutes "something of interest"? It can be anything from breaking news - a fire, a car accident, a major announcement - to items that folks might want to know about: an upcoming concert, a new restaurant opening, a noted speaker coming to town.

In other words, if it's something that might compel you to say "Hey, didja hear about . . . . ?" to a local friend, then that's "something of interest".

Oh, and retweets are fine. If you spot someone else with local news, feel free to retweet that item with the #hounews tag.

Interested in becoming part of chron.com's Twitter news army? E-mail me. I'll take a look at your Twitter feed and, if it looks like you're a fit for the group, we'll add you to the list.

Oh, and some of you have noticed a list called "Broccoli" on my own Twitter page. This is a list of people I'd particularly like to see join our group. If you're on the Broccoli list, please e-mail me and let me know if you want to play.

 

 

Posted by Dwight at 02:00 PM in Social media | Comments (8)
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'Chuck Norris' botnet kicks in your router's door

When I look at the list of Wi-Fi networks around me using my notebook or smartphone, I'm always gratified to see most of them now are password protected. Gone are the days when home users turned on their Wi-Fi routers, connected it to a cable or DSL modem and never bothered to turn on encryption.

However, too many users leave another security hole wide open by failing to change the default password that allows access to their router's settings. Once an intruder can get his or her hands on a router's configuration pages, that router's network is effectively hijacked.

Which is the point of a new botnet discovered by security researchers in the Czech Republic. It has been amusingly dubbed the "Chuck Norris botnet," but there's nothing funny about what it does. From PCWorld:

Security experts say that various types of botnets have infected millions of computers worldwide to date, but Chuck Norris is unusual in that it infects DSL modems and routers rather than PCs.

It installs itself on routers and modems by guessing default administrative passwords and taking advantage of the fact that many devices are configured to allow remote access. It also exploits a known vulnerability in D-Link Systems devices, [Jan] Vykopal said in an e-mail interview.

A D-Link spokesman said he was not aware of the botnet, and the company did not immediately have any comment on the issue.

Like an earlier router-infecting botnet called Psyb0t, Chuck Norris can infect an MIPS-based device running the Linux operating system if its administration interface has a weak username and password, he said. This MIPS/Linux combination is widely used in routers and DSL modems, but the botnet also attacks satellite TV receivers.

Vykopal, by the way, heads up the network security department with Masaryk University's Institute of Computer Science.

Once installed, the researchers say, the botnet can redirect site requests by computers on the network to pages the serve up malware. In other words, the infection on your router or DSL modem and lead to a different infection on the network's PCs.

But here's the good news: Removing the infection from your router or modem is relatively easy. The offending code lives in the device's RAM, so merely powering down and restarting will erase it.

The PC World article mentions D-Link routers, but it does not name other devices that use the MIPS software. Just to be safe, if you've never changed the default password used to access your router's settings, now would be an excellent time to do so.

 

Posted by Dwight at 07:16 AM in Security | Comments (3)
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Linkpost | 2.22.2010

• U.S. pinpoints code writer behind Google attack: report - Investigators think they may have found the person who wrote code used in the hack of Google and other big companies.

• Privacy, complexity seen as Google blind spots - As it grows, Google's missteps are getting a higher profile. Is the company doing too much to do anything well?

• Why we don't trust Devil Mountain Software (and neither should you) - Larry Dignan at ZDNet lays out a strange case in which an InfoWorld writer allegedly is revealed to have been posing as the non-existent CTO of a software company he owned. And An unfortunate ending

• Why You Can't Pry IE6 Out Of Their Cold Dead Hands - Companies have a variety of reasons for not upgrading, ranging from the fact that they never upgrade to the fact that their IT departments like that the browser is so limited.

• Networks Wary of Apple's Push to Cut Show Prices on iTunes - They're skeptical that sales will go up enough to make up for the price cut.

• The NYT's blogs are set to be paywalled - Though exactly how it will work is not yet known.

• Chuck Norris Botnet Karate-chops Routers Hard - Didn't change the default password on your router? The Chuck Norris botnet may be kicking down your network's door.

• AOL Moves to Build Tech 'Newsroom of the Future' - AOL wants to reinvent itself as a creator of original content, and is trying to innovate in news to do it. And The AP Is Using Twitter To Send People To Facebook. Wait. What?

• For Chip Makers, the Next Battle Is in Smartphones - Intel, which has almost no presence in smartphones, is about to enter the market.

• Textbooks That Professors Can Rewrite Digitally - Teachers can customize the books for their classes.

• CHATROULOLZ Collects Great Chatroulette Screencaps So You Don't Have To - It's a lot safer than diving into Chatroulette directly . . . though just as weird.

Posted by Dwight at 06:35 AM in Linkposts | Comments (1)
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February 21, 2010

Linkpost | 2.21.2010

• >5000 Apps Banned; The New Rules - The great sexually related content purge continues at Apple's App Store. Even ice-skating tights are off-limits!

• Rumor: The iPad To Go On Presale Next Week - Possibly as early as Thursday. Also New iPad Tidbits

• An Adobe Flash developer on why the iPad can't use Flash - Big problem: The way Flash applications react to the mouse cursor. On a touch-based device, there is none.

• Video Chat coming in future iPhones - There are references and icons to it in the newest iPhone SDK.

• Twitter phishing attack in progress -- don't click on "lol, is this you??" - It would come as a direct message.

• Attack code for Firefox zero-day goes wild, says researcher - There's no patch yet for the flaw in Firefox 3.6. For now, the code only targets Windows XP and Vista.

• The Digital Dictatorship - The Internet is not just a tool for democratization . . . it can also be a tool for oppression.

• WhoseTube? - A musician in Australia complains that his label won't let his band post videos to places other than YouTube - even though doing so four years ago made one of their songs an international hit.

• China school denies link to Google attack: report

• Google ditches Google Gears in favor of HTML5 development and Hello HTML5 - Google will no longer develop Google Gears, and will focus on the capabilities of HTML5.

Posted by Dwight at 09:04 AM in Linkposts | Comments (4)
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February 20, 2010

Linkpost | 2.20.2010

• Toward a Grand Unified Theory of n00bs - Why "normal" people have such a tough time with technology. This is long, but important reading. If you're a software or Web developer, you own it to your users to read this.

• Google: "With Buzz We Failed To Appreciate That Users Have Differing Privacy Expectations" - Even though Buzz was tested internally, Google didn't "get" what non-employee users might expect . . . which is a general problem with geek-driven software design.

• Does Google Make Us Stupid? - According to a new Pew survey, most people don't think so.

• Beware the rogue Wi-Fi access point in Windows 7 - Microsoft's newest OS can turn a PC into a Wi-Fi access point, allowing others to connect to it, and possibly to your corporate network.

• 8 Cell Phone Myths and Facts - No, cell phones can't blow up gas stations (despite the signs on the pumps), nor will they kill hospital patients or give you cancer.

• NY Times executives discuss plan to charge online readers - The NYT's leaders believe they won't significantly lose Web traffic.

• Musicblogocide 2010: The Blame Game - No parties are innocent in the case of Google pulling down Blogspot blogs that offered music . . . some of which was label-authorized.

• School District Says It Only Turned Spy Cameras On 42 Times; FBI Now Investigating - The district says it has ended the practice of installing spying software on students' notebooks.

• Apple plans dual graphics enhancements on future MacBook Pros - Sources say Apple's working on tech that doesn't require users to log out to drop back to the secondary graphics adapter.

• Apple's War On Porn Is Just Getting Started - But some big-name sex-related apps remain. Apple hasn't removed Playboy's app (though some Maxim titles are gone).

• Couple marries in Apple store, quotes Steve Jobs in their ceremony

Posted by Dwight at 09:06 AM in Linkposts | Comments (6)
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February 19, 2010

Echofon: The best new Mac Twitter client

For a while now, I've been a big fan of Tweetie, a Twitter client for the Mac. Atebits, which develops Tweetie, also makes the best iPhone Twitter app, Tweetie 2. Both programs are elegantly designed and make Twitter very easy - and more fun - to use.

But lately, the Mac version has been getting long in the tooth. It doesn't support many of Twitter's newer features, such as Lists, which make managing information from those you follow much easier. Although the iPhone app was updated with List support soon after the feature was released, the Mac version has languished.

I've directed a few queries about the status of Tweetie for Mac at Loren Brichter, the brains behind Atebits, and have not gotten an answer. He doesn't appear to have talked about it recently, though there is this interesting update in his Twitter stream:

"It's just a big iPod touch" is the new "less space than a nomad". The Mac had a great run, but this is the end of the desktop OS.

Has Atebits given up on creating programs for Mac OS X? Boy, I hope not. Brichter has a real eye for design, and it would be a shame to see him walk away from desktop development.

In the meantime, I've found an alternative, and while it may not be quite as aesthetically cool as Tweetie for Mac, it has the features I need, and then some.

Echofon for Mac is currently in beta testing, and while that's going on it's free. If you're an iPhone user, the name will be familiar, because developers Naan Studio offer an iPhone app by the same name.

In fact, one of Echofon/Mac's most interesting features is that it will sync with the paid version of the iPhone app, something the two Tweeties won't do.

Like Tweetie/Mac, Echofon/Mac has a simple, streamlined interface. While clients such as Seesmic or Tweetdeck will let you see multiple columns at once, Echofon is more like Tweetie and Twhirl, limiting your view to one column. I actually prefer this - the Tweetdeck type of display takes up too much screen real estate, and if you're stricken with serious ADD as I am, having that much activity in your face is horribly distracting.

But when you do need to see more, you can. Twitterfon/Mac has a slide-out drawer - an interface convention common to a lot of Mac applications - that can show you a variety of things. It will display an individual users' tweets, search results, updates from a Twitter list or a conversation between users.

Echofon/Mac also will highlight keywords in your main timeline. Let's say you always want to know when one of your friends uses the word "broccoli". Enter that as a keyword, and you'll see it highlighted in yellow when it's used.

The program is still in development, and still needs some key features added. For example, you don't get to choose the URL shortening service in the current version - it's Bit.ly or nothing. But Naan recently added the ability to enter your personal Bit.ly API key, which then lets you track how many times your URLs have been clicked, so I suspect we'll see other services added soon.

You also can't choose your photo service yet - you're stuck with Twitpic.

Echofon/Mac is small, fast and light on its feet. Recent beta updates have plugged some memory leaks, so it's better behaved.

There's no word yet when the final version will be out, or how much it will cost. As I mentioned, the preview version is free for now. If you're a Mac user with a Twitter account, you should grab it and try it out. Unless Tweetie/Mac gets an update soon, this will be my primary Twitter client when I'm using a Macintosh.

When you follow me on Twitter, I'll be interacting with you on Echofon.

 

Posted by Dwight at 08:09 AM in Software | Comments (7)
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Olympian open comments

This is the weekly open comment thread in TechBlog, your opportunity to sound off like a champion on whatever's on your mind related to personal technology.

Leave a comment, and I'll approve it. Who knows, I might even score you from the judge's table.

Actually, all that needs to be said about the 2010 Winter Olympics showed up last night on Twitter, courtesy of our old buddy Jim Thompson. This pretty much sums 'em up:

Update: The second annual Mom 2.0 Summit started today in Houston, and I just stumbled found this incredibly moving video produced by The Shutter Sisters and Katherine Center for the event.

If you have children - and maybe even if you don't - it may make you weep.

While I'm not sure this is very Mom 2.0 - the feelings and ideas expressed in the narrative  are timeless, really - it's beautifully done. If you've got kids, watch it.

Posted by Dwight at 07:00 AM in Open-comment Fridays | Comments (7)
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Linkpost | 2.19.2010

• Report: Facebook Served As Primary Distribution Channel For Botnet Army - Malware used to infect thousands of computers by German and Chinese hackers was planted in many cases via Facebook.

• Two Chinese Schools Said to Be Tied to Online Attacks - Including a college with ties to the Chinese military.

• School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home - Big School District Superintendent is watching! And LMSD response to 'invasion of privacy' allegation

• Wordpress.com is down, taking over 9.2 million blogs with it.  [Update: It's Back Up] and WP.com Downtime Summary - Wordpress.com went down for almost two hours Friday, taking big sites like TechCrunch and GigaOM down with it.

• News about our Search Alliance with Microsoft - Regulators in both the U.S. and Europe sign off on the Yahoo-Microsoft search deal.

• Exclusive: Microsoft Crashes Phone Bash - Microsoft and Asus are reportedly working on a Microsoft-branded Windows Phone 7 Series device, though it's apparently hit some bumps in development.

• Apple Now Blocking 'Overtly Sexual' Apps from App Store - The company's sending notices to developers telling them its policies have changed.

• What Steve Jobs Said During His Wall Street Journal iPad Demo - Gawker says Jobs savaged Flash to the WSJ editorial board. Then the WSJ savaged Apple in a subsequent op-ed.

• Apple conceals iPad freight records - report - Most other companies leave their shipping information public.

• Sony Ericsson CEO: Google asked us to build the Nexus One, we refused - The company didn't want to dilute its own brand by being second-fiddle to Google.

• Want Sex.com? Have A Million Dollars? Get In The Auction Line Then!

• Comcast launches online backup service - Your first 2 GB are free. Mac support coming later.

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Posted by Dwight at 06:35 AM in Linkposts | Comments (0)
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