Google Docs to Allow Storage of Any File Type

0 | January 12th, 2010 | Posted in Computers, Internet, Technology, software

Google is opening up its Docs hosted office productivity suite so that users can store any type of file in it, giving the popular software-as-a-service product an important online storage component.

The functionality will be rolled out over the coming weeks to all Docs users, both the ones who use the stand-alone suite as well as those who use it as part of the broader communication and collaboration Apps suite for organizations.

Now, Docs users will be able to store all their important files in a single place online, where they can access them from anywhere and share them with other people, according to Google.

“This is a natural extension and progression of what we’ve been doing with Google Docs,” said Vijay Bangaru, Google Docs product manager.

One thing it’s not, according to Bangaru, is the G-drive, the often-rumored cloud storage service from Google that has yet to see the light of day. “On the consumer side, this isn’t a virtual drive. There isn’t a client that’s going to help you sync terabytes to the cloud,” he said.

Google did work with some partners that built applications that take advantage of this new functionality via a Docs API (application programming interface). Those external applications were built specifically for users of the Premier version of Apps, which is the most sophisticated and the only one that is fee-based, priced at US$50 per user, per year. Companies that use Apps Premier will also be able to build their own applications in-house using the API.

Just because users will be able to store any type of file on Google Docs doesn’t mean, however, that they will necessarily be able to work on those files on the Docs cloud, as is possible in the suite today with Adobe PDF files, Microsoft Office files and, of course, the native Docs file formats.

“Unfortunately, it’s not possible to write Web editors for every file content out there,” he said. In those cases, users will be able to access the files online and share them with others, but in order to work on them, they’ll have to download them to their PCs and fire up the necessary application.

Along with the new capabilities, Google is lifting the ceiling on file sizes to 250MB. Users of the stand-alone Docs suite will have 1GB of free storage for files stored in their native formats, as opposed to converted to a native Docs format. They’ll be able to buy additional storage for $0.25 per gigabyte per year. Google Apps users will also get 1GB of storage, and will have the ability to buy additional storage for $3.50 per gigabyte per year.

While Docs currently doesn’t have one-click buttons to post or publish files to third-party sites and services like Facebook, Google isn’t closing the door on adding that functionality and more.

“The idea behind this feature is that it’s really an opportunity for Google to invest in cloud storage and provide value added services to its users around sharing files, uploading files and being able to collaborate and search on all of that content,” said Anil Sabharwal, Google Docs product manager. “There’s a great opportunity for us to provide value-added services on top of any of those file types.”

Courtesy of PC World

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MagicJack to Launch Service for Cell Phones

0 | January 11th, 2010 | Posted in Technology

Ymax, the inventor of the magicJack, told attendees at the recent Consumer Electronics Show that it will develop a consumer femtocell that will allow consumers to place cell-phone calls without using their minutes.

The unnamed femtocell will be priced at about $40 and be available during the second quarter, a company spokeswoman said Monday.

Femtocells essentially are routers that allow a user’s cell phone to connect to them, as opposed to Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection. Users can place a call on a femtocell via a cell phone, like an ordinary cell-phone tower owned by Sprint, T-Mobile, or another carrier. Verizon, for example, announced its own femtocell in January 2009. Because they use the home’s broadband connection as a backhaul, however, a femtocell user doesn’t actually access the cell-phone network, saving his or her allotted minutes.

Our PC Fixer clients using magicJack rave about how useful and convenient it is.  Now, magicJack Users will be able to connect to their own magicJack device but also other femtocell-enabled magicJacks at friends’ houses and businesses. All the user has to do is come within eight feet of the magicJack one time to register the connection and then talk away within a range of a 3000 square foot house, according to Ymax.

MagicJack’s femtocell will work with its existing magicJack service, which costs $19.95 per year. The service originally won a PC Magazine Editor’s Choice award (which has been heavily promoted by the company), but subsequent call-center and support problems caused us to lower its rating.

Ymax also said that it would soon announce a standalone version of its technology to compete with Skype.

Courtesy of PC Magazine

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L.A. Computing In The Future: Intel sees computers everywhere in your life

0 | January 8th, 2010 | Posted in Technology

At LA PC Fixer we also try to stay on top of coming developments in the IT industry that is just beginning to radically change our ways of doing business and interacting with one another.

Toward that end, we’ve been following developments at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to report back to our Los Angeles audience on the latest trends in computing (and computer repair issues!)  One of the interesting notes struck this week was by Intel’s CEO who sees a profound coming revolution in computing that is more personal and intimate to the average user: it’s going to go with you EVERYWHERE in the near future. (That might be a good thing, as looking for instant info on Brentwood restaurants while I’m driving through West L.A. can be really useful). Apparently, Computer repair in Los Angeles is won’t just be about responding to calls for service- we’ll have to be more mobile than ever  because computer users will be also.

Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini sees personal computing being integrated in nearly every aspect of people’s lives, and he wants Intel processors to be the center of all that technology.

During his Thursday keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., Otellini demonstrated advances in mobile device applications, 3D content, smartphones and areas not usually thought of in personal computing, namely home energy management and digital signage.

“Computing is no longer confined to your computer — it’s everywhere,” Otellini said.

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TSA Security Leaks- TSA Blames Bloggers

0 | December 31st, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Internet, Technology

While the government investigates how an alleged terrorist was able to bring a bomb onto a U.S.-bound plane and try to blow it up on Christmas Day, the Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers. Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott both wrote about a directive to increase security after the incident, and both were served with subpoenas by TSA Special Agents.

The agents also demanded that the bloggers reveal who was responsible for leaking the security directive to them. The government says that this specific directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public.

Frischling ended up meeting with two TSA special agents Tuesday night at his Connecticut home for three hours. On Wednesday morning he had another meeting with them, where he was forced to hand over his lap top computer. Frischling said that the agents then threatened to interfere with his contract at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, who he writes blogs for, if he didn’t cooperate and provide the name of the person who leaked their memo.

The directive in question outlined new screening measures that went into effect the same day as the Christmas incident. It included many procedures that would be apparent to the traveling public, but it also listed people who would be exempted from these screening procedures, such as heads of state and their families.

This is the second time in one month that the TSA has discovered its sensitive airline security documents on the Internet. Courtersy of nytimes.com

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Word Works Around the Court

0 | December 29th, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Technology, software

Microsoft has just started offering something of a patch for its extremely popular Word software, allowing it to comply with the recent court ruling which banned the software giant from selling copyright infringing versions of the word processing product which contained a custom XML feature.

Kevin Kutz, Microsoft’s director of public affairs, said in a statement last week that the firm had been preparing for the injunction decision handed down by the US Court of Appeals for quite some time, and was prepared. Kutz also said that he expected to have copies of the software with the offending features removed available for sale by the official injunction date, january 11, 2010.

It now appears that this patch is available on Microsoft’s OEM Partner Center Website, under the heading – “2007 Microsoft Office Supplement Release (October 2009)”. The patch works so that once it is installed, Word will no longer read the Custom XML elements contained within DOCX, DOCM, or XML files. Microsoft also notes, very importantly, that the patch is required for all US customers.

This creative workaround should put an end to a long-running dispute between Canadian i4i and Redmond, although Kutz has also hinted that this legal battle might yet take another turn, as the patch is indeed a workaroundCourtesy of itnews.com.au

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Congress Commits to Fighting Piracy

0 | December 17th, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Internet, Technology, Web crime

Recently, the United States Congress agreed to provide $30 million in new funding to put towards the battle against piracy. On Monday, authorities reported another victory on the piracy front- great success on a recent year-end piracy crackdown which is code-named Operation Holiday Hoax. These new pledged funds will target personnel and programs which were authorized by last year’s Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act.

Funds will include $20 million towards new state as well as local economic, higher technology and Internet crime prevention grants. An $8 million portion will be for new FBI agents targeting IP crimes, and the last $2 million will be dedicated to new Department of Justice IP prosecutions.

Monday, the MPAA and RIAA spent time lauding their Operation Holiday Hoax, which involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with with other agencies that are that make up the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. This specific crackdown targeted illegal vendors in large U.S. cities, and led to seven arrests as well as the seizure of 79,796 counterfeit CDs and 79,610 DVDs, according to the announcement.

Also part of the announcement were figures indicating that the copyright industry in the U.S. loses $25.6 billion a year to piracy, and the U.S. economy loses nearly 375,000 jobs either directly or indirectly related to the copyright industry. Worst of all, American workers lose more than $16 billion in annual earnings, reportedly. Courtesy of hollywoodreporter.com

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Microsoft Promises Choices to the EU Commission

0 | December 16th, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Internet, Technology

Microsoft’s offer of allowing Windows users to choose which Internet browser they use has been accepted by the European Commission, ending its antitrust investigation of the company’s impressive position in the browser market.

The company promises it will offer users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 a choice screen through which they can pick the browsers they want to install on their PC. The screen will be offered to users in the European Union as well as some neighboring countries for the next five years via the Windows Update system. In addition, PC manufacturers will be allowed to ship computers with competing Web browsers.

The Commission informed Microsoft of its objections to the company’s practice of tying Internet Explorer to its Windows operating systems on Jan. 15. The Commission stated that by exploiting its dominant position in the operating system market, Microsoft has been preventing other software browsers from competing on their merits. The new choice screen will enable such competition, the Commission said Wednesday.

Now that the Commission has accepted Microsoft’s proposal, it becomes completely legally binding. If Microsoft fails to deliver on the choice screen, it will face a fine of up to 10 percent of its worldwide turnover, under E.U. antitrust law. Courtesy of itworld.com

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Russia and U.S. Talk Internet Security

0 | December 14th, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Internet, Technology, Web crime

The United States has begun planning talks with Russia and a United Nations arms control committee to strengthen Internet security and limit military use of cyberspace. American and Russian officials have very different interpretations of the talks so far, but the simple fact that the United States is even participating represents a significant policy shift after years of rejecting Russia’s overtures. Officials familiar with the talks say that the Obama administration realized more nations were developing cyberweapons, and that a new approach was needed to blunt an international arms race.

In the past two years, Internet-based attacks on government and corporate computer systems have increased to thousands a day. Seldom ever identified hackers have been credited with compromising Pentagon computers, stealing industrial secrets and temporarily jamming government and corporate Web sites. President Obama ordered a review of the nation’s Internet security policies in February and is preparing to name an official to coordinate a national policy.

Russian officials have stated that increasing challenges posed by military activities to civilian computer networks would be best dealt with by an international treaty, similar to treaties that have limited the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The United States had always resisted, arguing that it was impossible to draw a line between the commercial and military uses of software and hardware. Recently, people familiar with the discussions say there has been a thaw. Courtesy of nytimes.com

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Hackers Use Amazon’s Cloud

0 | December 11th, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Internet, Technology, Web crime

Security researchers for Amazon recently spotted the Zeus botnet running an unauthorized command and control center on the company’s EC2 cloud computing infrastructure. This is the first known time that Amazon Web Services’ cloud infrastructure has been used for this type of illegal activity, according to onw of the security researchers in question. The hackers reportedly got onto Amazon’s infrastructure by first hacking into a Web site that Amazon’s servers hosted, and then installing their command and control infrastructure stealthily.

The security company declined to say whose Web site was used to get onto Amazon’s cloud, but the Zeus software has now been removed. Zeus is a password-stealing botnet. Variants of this malware have been linked to over $100 million in bank fraud in the past year.

In the past few years, law enforcement takedowns and bad publicity have made it more difficult for criminals to host their sneaky infrastructure through legitimate or even semi-legitimate datacenters, so they have been steadily moving to Web-based services. Courtesy of infoworld.com

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Companies Train Autistic Employees

0 | December 10th, 2009 | Posted in Computers, Technology

A steadily growing movement has begun around the world,  in an effort to help transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills. This movement would also, some proponents say, make use of a large portion of the population that has been completely ignore up till now.

The company Specialisterne in Denmark makes it common practice to train people with autism as specially skilled employees. They are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to complete data entry, assembly work and other tasks that many workers tend to find tedious and repetitive. Founded in 2004 by businessman Thorkil Sonne, the father of an autistic son, the company now has 50 employees, 75 percent of whom are autistic.

More recently in the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech has launched a pilot program for the training of high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago. Aspiritech states that those who are autistic have a talent for spotting imperfections and thrive on this predictable, monotonous work. Courtesy of msnbc.msn.com

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