How fast can you type on your PDA? TextWare solutions wants to know, and they're willing to hand over a sweet bottle of Dom Perignon to the speediest typer.

The Dom Perignon IV Speed Contest runs from October 1 to November 6. Speed demons can use any stylus text entry system on their Palm or Pocket PC to enter the contest. Naturally, shortcuts and word completion functions are a no-no and must be disabled. The fasted typist gets the bottle, while twenty runner-ups get other awards.

Given my typing speed, I'd probably be looking at winning a 5 year-old bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

2Web Technologies has introduced its newest software, XL2Web, a platform for creating interactive, Web based applications from Excel spreadsheets.

Not content with simply displaying an Excel spreadsheet in a browser window, 2Web interprets and converts spreadsheets into thin-client applications capable of running within a browser without plug-ins or Excel installed on the client desktop.

An Excel plug-in, XL2Web Publisher, allows users to publish Excel spreadsheets to the XL2Web Engine, a J2EE based server application, for access by other users via a web browser. XL2Web Publisher converts virtually all Excel functions into a browser-based application that can be integrated with existing enterprise applications such as without recoding.

From the department of useless technology -- a German telecommunications company is working on a cell phone that offers an unusual feature: it can tell you if your breath stinks.

The phone will have a tiny chip that can detect unpleasant scents including body odor. So before getting connected, you'd better pop a Mentos and slather on some deodorant.

Now, if it could tell me my cholesterol was high, THEN they might have a sale.

Phishing has been one of those technology topics that keeps popping up in the popular press as consumers are conned into providing all their personal details to fake banking or government sites. This social-engineering exploit (and it is social engineering since most people willingly provide their information) is becoming better known among consumers, and a lack of trust is the last thing e-commerce needs right now.

I'm beginning to see products designed to increase customer trust in the sites they visit. Last week I spent some time on the phone with folks from GeoTrust talking about their TrustWatch product, a free IE add-in toolbar that provides green, yellow, or red indicators based on the relative trustworthiness of the site. Now, theirs is a fairly simple process of determining the color of the light; if there is a valid security certificate, then the light is green, no certificate with no other negative points is yellow (www.nwc.com shows up as a yellow site), and known bad sites or those whose behavior violates certain rules turn up as red sites.

I'm not a huge fan of IE toolbar plug-ins, but this one is fairly unobtrusive, and it does its stated job pretty well. Until we figure out how to shut down phishing sites entirely, products like this one may be a solid step towards making consumer breathe a little easier when they spend their money on-line.

Solica Consulting Ltd, a GoldMine® reseller and developer of add-on products for GoldMine, and StrikeIron™, Inc., a provider of online services and software, today announced the availability of Solica GoldDNC™ for GoldMine.

What the heck is that? StrikeIron has a way cool Web Service that provides instant access to Do Not Call (DNC) lists and Solica has developed an add-on for GoldMine that integrates with StrikeIron's DNC for real-time verification of contact information against do not call lists.

Not only is this an excellent use of Web Services from a technological perspective, but on a personal level as well. The offering can help companies ensure they are compliant with regulations related to do not call lists and individuals could experience the benefits of registration on such lists more quickly.

How cool is that?

All the fun we've had with single-vendor computing platforms seems likely to spill over into the security world as Microsoft and Cisco get cranking with the idea of end-to-end security. This story gives a pretty good overview of the initial issues, but everything is going to continue to boil down to how well products designed to work within a unified environment can integrate with one another.

Preston Gralla provides great perspective on this issue, and it's important to remember that we're seeing the early skirmishes in a battle that promises to be huge as enterprises focus more effort and money on protecting information. It's been a long time since I've seen so many different approaches to solve the same broadly-defined problem (MS-DOS versus CP/M-86, anyone?), and the plethora of options is tough on anyone looking to make an iron-clad decision. The good news is that this surfeit of products, technologies, and architectures can be the fastest path to innovate security that fully solves the very real security threats facing companies. It's messy, but it can be a very good mess.

There have been a number of interesting vulnerabilities this week. Microsoft released a patch for a vulnerability in JPEG graphic parsing in various GDI libraries. Part of the problem with this bug is that various applications are supposed to ship their own versions of the GDI libraries, which means you literally have to search your file system for vulnerable files to update. Then there is the issue of whether the third-party application will even function correctly with the newer GDI library.

• Best Obscure Reference Award
  Ray Gauthier

  Press Ctrl-Shift-F (to get the French version) and "Internet Connection Firewall" is replaced with "Maginot Line." And we all know how successful THAT was.

• Best Too Much Information Award
  Arnold Febre

  Typing in 'aquarium screensaver' in the Help and Support search box gives you the cool aquarium screensaver found in XP Plus, but all the fish are dead. However, you can choose three fish you want to see dead from a set of 12 choices as well as their various states of decay (recently deceased and floating, recently deceased and sunken, barely eaten with eyes intact, half eaten with one eye gone, etc...).

• Best Bad Mental Visual Award
  Doug Whitaker

  Hit Ctrl and click on the Windows Security Center systray shield to start a special Weezer 'Happy Days' music video in which a young Bill Gates wears a black leather jacket, plays the bongos and is very cool.

  Posted here at 12:12 PM in Techno-Oddities
  
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  Transaction Minder 6.0
  By Lori MacVittie at 11:57 AM
  

  Netegrity has announced the release of Transaction Minder 6.0. The big news for this release is its Web Services security play. TM 6.0 includes full support for WSSE 1.0, which means the product can consume and produce WS Security headers for all three approved profiles (Username/Token, X.509 and SAML token).

  Continue reading "Transaction Minder 6.0"
  

  Posted here at 11:57 AM in Security
  
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  EclipseCon
  By Lori MacVittie at 08:29 AM
  

  The open source IDE Eclipse has its own con. How cool is that? You'll get to hear about new features, attend tutorial sessions and participate in forums with Eclipse developers. If there's a feature you've wanted to see, this is the place to go to be heard.

  Burlingame, CA, at the Hyatt Regency from February 28 - March 3.

  Eclipse Con Web Site

  Posted here at 08:29 AM in Enterprise Applications
  
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  September 17, 2004
  Tune Into Wi-Fi NAS
  By Brad Shimmin at 01:26 PM
  Always looking for a stylistic edge and perhaps a modest foothold within your IT shop, Iomega has come up with some pretty odd looking if not elegantly simple storage utilities over the years. So it's no shock to see the company continue down this path with two new NAS devices that are at once hard drives but also Wi-Fi servers. Sold under the existing NAS 100d line, the Iomega NAS 100d/250GB and Iomega NAS 100d/160GB should be available by the end of the month and cost less than 600 clams. Both will sport 802.11b/g networks and function as a full-fledged Access Points. Clever, very.

  Posted here at 01:26 PM in Storage and Servers
  
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  September 16, 2004
  The World Ends (Take MCMCXXIII)
  By at 02:34 PM
  

  So everyone knows that anything labeled "Critical" must be, like, really important, right? And if Microsoft labels something "Critical" then it must be just totally double-plus ungood, right? So when Microsoft comes out with a critical alert regarding a vulnerability in the software that lets you look at .JPG files, then we should all run outside and dash around in mad, tight little circles while screaming because, you know, the world is about to come to an end. Right?

  If you've read this far and aren't yet laughing then you, my friend, need to walk away from the computer and breathe deeply for a little while. The folks over at Vmyths.com have done their usual good job of figuring out what's important in this one--and the only thing that's really important is downloading the patch Microsoft has already released--and separating the heat from the smoke.

  Breathe. Having survived a couple of tropical storms in recent weeks, I recommend it without reservation. I might even call it critical...

  Posted here at 02:34 PM in Security
  
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  "403,300"
  By Tom LaSusa at 10:00 AM
  

  If you saw that number and replied "What is the number of high-tech jobs lost between March 2001 and April 2004." then move over Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings, because you're right on the money!

  Even more surprising, half of those jobs were lost after "experts" announced the economic recession was over in November 2001.

  Not much of a surprise, the outlook for the tech job market suggests little sign of recovery.

  So, on to the next category -- "Fast Food Jobs."

  The answer, "You want fries with that?"

  The question, "What some IT professional making a six figure salary a few years ago is saying right now."

  Posted here at 10:00 AM in TalkingTech
  
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  September 14, 2004
  VoIP...the MOVIE???
  By Tom LaSusa at 01:34 PM
  

  Hollywood's made a few attempts to bring the world of IT into the movie theatres with the barest hint of reality associated with them (Antitrust and the Net come to mind), so I wasn't surprised to see what I thought was a trailer over the weekend for a new movie with some technology tie-in. It was called VoIP: The Movie.

  From the looks of it, a some corporate type was thrown out a window -- and the detective was trying to figure out why. Maybe the person found out the wrong information and had to be silenced? Who knows. I just knew that none of the actors looked familar, but it seemed mildly interesting. But VoIP the movie? I mean, talk about focusing on one particular technology. At the end of the trailer, the url, http://www.voipthemovie.com blazed the screen, and so I decided to find out more about the film.

  Well, congratulations to VoIP service provider Covad for pulling the wool over my movie-loving eyes. This was no movie -- well not one that was coming out in the theatres. It was all a very cleverly crafted marketing scheme. The site encourages you to believe this is all film hype -- the spooky music, opening intro and so forth are all help to cement that idea. However, the "movie"(read: commercial) it turns out is available online -- you can watch it on the site and find out which of the three suspects are guilty of the crime. I'm not going to give it away, but you'll definitely be...ummm...surprised by the victim and the perps?

  Again, Good Job Covad. This fanboy is going to have to pay a little better attention to his movie trailers. (Note to self -- Rolaids: The Movie is probably not a real film)

  Posted here at 01:34 PM in Techno-Oddities
  
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  September 13, 2004
  Need a Job? Send a Virus
  By Tom LaSusa at 11:15 AM
  

  Techies at a British anti-virus firm have discovered something strange buried within the lines of code of two new computer worms, "MyDoom-U" and "MyDoom-V."

  A request for employment.

  "We searching 4 work in AV (anti-virus) industry," read the message. Because it was inserted in the code, only anti-virus professionals would be able to find it.

  I can see a whole new way of applying for jobs stemming from this. People can rob banks in the hopes of getting a job as a security guard. Or how about major league baseball hopefuls can run onto the field, grab the bat out of the players hand and hit a zinger. Better yet, unemployede web producers can hack into a site and redesign it in the hopes that the folks at the company will be more impressed with the new look than angry.

  I'm not sure if this is a case of ultimate hutzpah or sheer stupidity.

  Posted here at 11:15 AM in Techno-Oddities
  
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  September 10, 2004
  Storage Vision Quest
  By Brad Shimmin at 09:22 AM
  Amid the chaos of a holiday week comes this short collection of the most compelling stories in storage we're following.
  • Serial-attached SCSI (SAS), coming to a storage product near you
  • Hitachi unleashes TagmaStore, self proclaimed speed champion
  • IBM to compete with EMC and Dell via low-end iSCSI array
  • SGI releases InfiniteStorage line of shared storage systems tuned for rich media and broadcast networks
  • Longhorn to lock down storage devices; got MS?

  Posted here at 09:22 AM in Storage and Servers
  
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  This week in Vulnerabilities
  By Brad Shimmin at 08:56 AM
  

  Courtesy of Security Threat Watch, comes this quick overview of last week's most important vulnerabilities and patches.

  Many critical vulnerabilities have been found in Oracle and IBM DB2 database servers. The vulnerabilities allow the remote compromise of the databases and the systems they run on. Shops running either database server product will want to grab the recently released vendor security updates.

  Continue reading "This week in Vulnerabilities"
  

  Posted here at 08:56 AM in Security
  
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  September 09, 2004
  Neighborhood Tech Support
  By Brad Shimmin at 09:52 AM
  For our Geeks Illustrated issue, which will ship in late November, we're gathering reader horror stories on providing tech support to friends, family and neighbors. So far we've received a number of very funny stories (sadly funny actually). Here's one of my favorites from Tim Osborn.

  I kept getting a call from my friend (let's call her Jean) to fix a floppy disk that was leaking data. I would sit down with her format the floppy write data to it and read it. Everything was fine until I would leave. I would go back to her office insert the floppy and it would be blank. I could not figure out what was going on. Finally one day out of frustration she called me I went over reformatted the floppy and started to leave. As I was walking out the door I looked behind me and saw her using a VERY large magnet to stick the floppy to the metal filing cabinet....!!! I couldn't believe it! I told her I think I finally know what your problem is..... The Magnetic Field of Death.

  If you have your own story of tech support woe, send it to us, and we'll throw your name in the hat for a 50 dollar gift certificate to Amazon, and we just may publish your entry in our special issue of Network Computing. Good luck!

  Posted here at 09:52 AM in TalkingTech
  
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  Geek Wish List
  By Brad Shimmin at 09:31 AM
  Thanks to those who have already sent in their holiday geek wish lists. Here are a few of my favorites received thus far.
  • Steve Delahunty wants a Panasonic ToughBook P1 which is Ruggedized and Moisture Resistant, equipped with GPS, Phone and Wireless
  • Dave Zielinski wants a Dell Axim X30 with its Integrated Wireless + PocketPC 2003 OS
  • Robert Pritchett wants an Apple iMac G5 20", a 64-bit Supercpomputer
  You can submit your own wish list item now for a chance at a 50 buck gift certificate from Amazon. At least you could put it toward your wish list. Good luck. At a minimum, you may end up in our November special issue, Geeks Illustrated. Good luck!

  Posted here at 09:31 AM in TalkingTech
  
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  September 07, 2004
  Dinosaurs, Dodo Birds and Floppy Drives
  By Tom LaSusa at 10:30 AM
  

  One of the oldest and most common computer storage methods is close to joining Eight-Track Tapes and Phonograph records in their retirement.

  The Floppy Disk Drive is a feature quickly vanishing from newer computers. Dell Computers stopped offering it in 2003, and Gateway is following suit on some of their models. Ironically enough, you can request the drive be added to the computer -- for an additional fee.

  But with writable CDs and portable storage options like keychain flash devices at great prices and offering more storage -- the poor little floppy doesn't stand a chance. Now just a handfull of users still ask for a floppy drive to be added to their computers.

  So bye bye Floppy Disk Drive. But don't worry, you won't be lonely long. According to Bill Gates, soon you'll be joined by all my DVDs (Great. Thanks Bill). After that, technology will find a way to make something else obsolete...or someone (SkyNet anyone?).

  Posted here at 10:30 AM in TalkingTech
  
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  When Compliance is a good thing.
  By Don MacVittie at 12:39 AM
  For years we've been talking about the "paperless office", and for years there's just not any budget for it. Even though the costs of printing can be greatly reduced by storing everything in electronic form, we never got around to implementing the system.
  
  The reasons normally revolve around the cost in man-hours of the type of document categorization that is required for effective ILM. For smaller shops it takes a lot of time and money. For larger shops it takes more.
  
  But some compliance issues are forcing us to do that categorization. And some organizations are finally making the jump to truly paperless. Storage has progressed to the point that it is possible to ensure long-term viability of documents, and document technology has progressed to the point that most forms of document can be brought into the system.
  
  So thank the regulators that we're finally finding the time and money to do what we probably should have been doing all along - saving money and tons of storage space by putting things into storage that are best stored there anyway.

  Posted here at 12:39 AM in Storage and Servers
  
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