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So Amazon’s tablet is a go

Dave Farquhar Hardware September 5, 2011September 5, 2011android, apple, Apple Ipad, atari, christmas, commodore, hp, ipad, kindle, TSA

Reports of Amazon’s tablet plans are trickling out. Basically, it’s going to be a 7-inch tablet running a very customized version of Android, tweaked to play media purchased from Amazon, and priced at $250, half the price of an entry-level Apple Ipad. (In English, we capitalize the first letter of proper nouns, and my native language is English, not C++, if you’re wondering.) Techcrunch and The Register have some of the details. The name: Amazon Kindle. The release date: end of November.

I wouldn’t call it a can’t-miss, but it’s clear Amazon’s thought a lot of things through here.

PC Magazine’s sub-$200 PC

Dave Farquhar Hardware September 5, 2011January 31, 20221990s, amd, asus, firefox, intel, kingston, Micro Center, Open Office, pc magazine, phenom, recycling, ubuntu, Ubuntu Linux, Western Digital

PC Magazine has reprised its sub-$200 PC. I think it’s a good guide, and a savvy shopper can potentially do a little bit better with some care and some luck. At that price, it’s running Linux, but it also serves as a good guide for upgraders looking to upgrade an existing PC inexpensively. If you have a case and hard drive you can reuse, you can either buy better parts, or just pocket the savings.

Here’s my take on their selections.

Cheap laptops and tablets: September 2011

Dave Farquhar Hardware September 4, 2011acer, android, best buy, christmas, costco, Micro Center, netbooks, prime95

My brother in law told me he saw an 8-inch Vizio wifi-only tablet running Android at Costco for $285. Its reviews aren’t exactly stellar, but if you just want a basic tablet, it seems to be OK. I’d wait a few months and see what Amazon’s tablet plans are, though.

He also asked about laptops. And there’s some good stuff going on in the low end there too.

What to do when you need to clean-install Windows 7 and all you have is a restore disc

Dave Farquhar Windows September 3, 2011ISO, windows 7, x86

Many brand-name PCs, rather than giving you a regular Windows CD, give you a restore disc, which returns the laptop to factory configuration–junkware and all.

Just about the best thing you can do to pep up a brand-name PC’s performance is to do a clean Windows install. So here’s how to download a regular Windows CD so you can do just that, when needed.

And there’s one other situation where you’ll need this. If your PC came with 32-bit Windows and you want to upgrade to 64-bit, or it came with 64-bit and you need to downgrade to 32-bit for compatibility reasons, you can download the other version. The CD key for one will work with the other.

If the AT&T/T-Mobile deal is dead, good riddance

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized September 2, 2011AT&T, consolidation, pc magazine, sprint, verizon

If you haven’t seen, the Department of Justice voiced its lack of support for AT&T’s buyout of T-Mobile USA. I find myself agreeing with Sascha Segan’s analysis at PC Magazine.
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I got my new SSD today and can’t play with it

Dave Farquhar Hardware September 1, 2011kingston, windows 7

My Kingston SSDNow V+100 arrived today. I didn’t really get to play with it, but I have some early impressions.

Webserver Wednesday

Dave Farquhar Apache, security September 1, 2011apache, denial of service, firefox, SSL, VPN, vulnerability

Yesterday must have been Webserver Wednesdsay, because two things happened. A new version of Apache was released, and a new tool for testing the vulnerability of webservers to denial of service (DoS) was released.

A more likely use of the Medtronic exploit

Dave Farquhar Health, security August 31, 2011Exploitation, insulin, medtronic, vulnerability

Yesterday morning, as I completed the long journey from my parking spot to my office, another more likely use of the security vulnerability in Medtronic insulin pumps occurred to me. Yes, the risks involving insulin are very real. And yes, a determined attacker could use this vulnerability to take a Medtronic owner’s life. But those chances are slim.

But nothing says this vulnerability has to be used to do mortal harm. An attacker could use it just for exploitation. And there’s enough difference that some people wouldn’t have a problem with crossing that line.
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Fix weird Internet connection problems with ipconfig

Dave Farquhar Windows August 30, 2011August 21, 2016Click Finish, Click Next, command prompt

One of the most maddening things that can happen when you’re using a computer is that a web site you visit routinely quits working. Your Internet connection appears to be fine, but suddenly, for some reason, you can’t go to the site you were just using. Try to go to another site you haven’t visited in a while, and it’s fine. But whatever site you were using a minute ago doesn’t work anymore. The site becomes accessible again immediately after you reboot, but that’s a really big hassle.

There’s a much less drastic fix. It’s easy too, but non-obvious.

Shame on you, Medtronic

Dave Farquhar Health, security August 30, 2011capitalization, dell, insulin, insurance company, lexmark, medtronic, PR, red hat

Insulin pumps marketed by Minneapolis-based Medtronic have a serious, life-threatening security flaw, and the company couldn’t care less.

For these two reasons, this isn’t your typical security flaw, and Medtronic’s response–in 30 years, we’ve ever seen a problem that we know of–is beyond deplorable. Ford’s infamous decision to pay lawsuits rather than fix a deadly flaw in the Pinto comes to mind.
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