The Post-Dispatch ran a piece this morning on how to watch for fake online reviews. It contains some good advice. Read more
Why I won’t be using Google Drive
Google Drive, on its surface, looks useful. They give me a few gigs of storage that I can access from any computer with Internet access. I could use it like a virtual USB drive.
Except I won’t. The terms of service are too problematic for me. Read more
And speaking of SSDs, here’s how Oracle performs on an SSD
Andy Black is a former colleague and an Oracle DBA. Several times in the last few years, I ran into problems where I wished he wasn’t a former colleague, because my team got into some jams that I was pretty sure he could have fixed. (And let’s not even mention the time I got blackmailed into building an Oracle server.)
Last year, Andy did a thorough investigation of Oracle performance on SSDs, and observed very favorable results. Read more
SSD pricing may get more aggressive
Cnet says an SSD price war is imminent as the major makers try to squeeze some competition out of the market.
This could cause SSD prices to deflate a little faster than expected. Read more
New Microsoft Security Essentials
Microsoft tried to quietly release a new version of Security Essentials yesterday, then everyone started talking about it. The new version 4.0 claims to be faster and catch more viruses. Of course, that’s everything we want in virus scanning–besides being free.
The most recent data I read stated the old MSE was about 93% effective, so there was some room for improvement there. Read more
The difference between blogging and true journalism
If you want the difference between true, honest-to-goodness journalism and blogging, this Slashdot story is a good place to start.
The key is the word “reporting.”
Read more
One in five Macs has malware–but read the fine print
Sophos claimed today that 20% of the people who’ve installed their free Mac antivirus has malware. That’s not altogether surprising, but it’s also not nearly as big of a problem as it sounds.
One in 36 systems has Mac malware, which means the Mac has an infection that could actually be harming the system itself. That number is low but believable. In my experience, the people who seek out antivirus software are usually the ones who need it the least.
Read more
Oh nos! The Internet is going to die in July!
I’ve seen some scary-looking headlines, predicting doomsday for “hundreds of thousands” of Internet users on July 9 when the FBI shuts them down.
Actually, the FBI isn’t sabotaging the Internet. Here’s what’s going on and how to make sure you don’t get caught in the crossfire. Read more
The origins of Prince of Persia unearthed
Prince of Persia isn’t just a recent movie. It’s based on a video game series, the first of which was first released all the way back in 1989 for the venerable Apple II series of 8-bit computers. That original game, extremely simple by today’s standards, is a classic today.
The author, Jordan Mechner, had given up on looking for the 6502 assembly language source code behind the game until his dad found a box of disks buried in a closet. Among them were several hand-labeled disks claiming to contain the long-lost code. Read more
When to upgrade to new LED bulbs
PC Magazine asks when it’s worth upgrading to the new Philips L Prize-winning LED bulb, lamenting its high price and long payback time. I can only say what I plan to do, based on my experience with high-efficiency bulbs. I was one of those guys paying $9 for CFL bulbs nearly a decade ago. Read more