Computer Tips -Tech Info

Tag: US

  • Westernsky.com scam – Beware Shocking Interest Rates

    high credit interest rates get some people into trouble
    Image via Wikipedia

    Absolutely shockingly high interest rates…. Wow. The last year or so I’ve seen a lot of westernsky.com ads. They are an LLC that is native-american owned and operating in the sovereign nation of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. (Within the borders of the US, but federal jurisdiction is on iffy ground there.)

    Now, they do say they’re loans are expensive, but they are advertising their loans as being more affordable than many payday loans and I took a look at their site. Read on to see why I call it the westernsky.com scam …

    (more…)

  • Windows 98 and the upcoming daylight savings time change

    Of course, you

      shouldn’t

    be using Windows 98 anymore, it’s unsupported (i.e. no security updates.) However the reality is that there are quite a few Win 98 installs out there perking away. But, with the recent law change with regards to the start/end of Daylight savings time in the US… many Windows 98 users may have to resort to changing the time manually. There is another way though..

    (more…)

  • Offline web browsing script

    In the US and Europe and many more developed parts of the world we take our internet connectivity these days for granted. (And some go into panic attacks when it’s not available…) In some parts of the world though internet connections are not as wide/broad and peak usage times can make for very slow viewing, or can interfere with other vital communications. Linux excels at SO many things and this is something we could use linux to help with…

    (more…)

  • Fab@home 3d printing

    I wanted to make a note here about a recent news story related to a topic that’s fascinated me for the ~10 years or so since I first heard of such things…. For some time there have been 3d printers. Devices that would use a liquid of some sort to “print” a real physical object. Usually these were plastic-ish prototype parts/proof of concept samples. These “printers” cost 10s of thousands of dollars and typically just have one material to choose from. Certainly out of reach for a home tinkerer… But recently I read this article about a desktop fabricator… The project name is fab@home and for ~$2500 in parts YOU can build your own personal fabricator….

    (more…)

  • By the way, the US commerce dept. computers are under attack….

    Shouldn’tthis and this get more news coverage? US Commerce Department computers (specifically a bureau responsible for export licenses) is under cyber attack from hackers based in China. The Bureau in question is the Bureau of Industry and Security…. which handles “U.S. exports which have both commercial and military applications”…. They’ve been targetted by various rootkits among other malwares and in early September were forced to cut off internet access (yes that’s around a MONTH ago).

    (more…)

  • The stratellite revisited

    NO, I didn’t mean to type satellite. Stratellite. This is an idea that I’ve written on before and I think it has some interesting possibilities. The idea is to positition a large airship (helium balloon of sorts) in the stratosphere. Put it above the steering currents of the jet stream and equip it with the ability to stay in a fixed place for months at a time. Also, put antennas on it. For what? Whatever you need…. cell phone coverage… a wireless internet transceiver of some sort? etc.

    (more…)

  • Google Coupons and improving Picasa

    There are a couple of stories on the “Google front” today. First up Coupons tied into Google location searching (maps.) More details at the Adwords blog. (BTW, this is open to US businesses, an Adwords account is not a requirement.) It looks like they’ll put up printable coupons for businesses. There seem to be quite a few possibilities for extending this idea. (More coverage here.) The next item puts to rest a rumor from some time back. It seems as though at one point in time, Google was interested in Riya, who specializes in image recognition (hey – that’s Bob in that picture.)

    (more…)

  • RFID Passports

    Looks like RFID passports are coming very soon for the US. It was probably just a matter of time, but in light of some of the risks in the current implementation, I thought it might be delayed. The most disturbing of the security risks (as if cloning of a passports rfid is not concerning…) is the possibility that the unshielded rfid could be used to trigger the detonation of an explosive. Since RFID is relatively short range, this means that it would be possible for terrorists to target Americans specifically by using an RFID trigger that was looking for the specific earmarks of a US Passport.

    (more…)

  • Way Off-topic… The World Cup, Soccer (football) and the U.S.

    As most people have heard, the World Cup is over. Italy has won and a month-long tournament to choose the true WORLD champion of Soccer (outside the US football) is over. Thirty-two nations sent their teams to compete after a LONG qualifying process and of course, there are lot’s of individual stories that will be remembered. The main item that’s encouraged me to write this up is hearing someone on the radio talking about how boring a sport soccer is and how the U.S. will never care about it, and our top athletes are drawn to other sports… blah blah blah, “sport where no one scores” etc. Every caller that seemed to start into a rebuttal got talked over and good-bye’d… so I thought I’d use this post for a bit of a roundup.

    (more…)

  • Mozilla Firefox use above 15% in the US…

    and Internet Explorer use has dropped below 80% in the US. Currently 12.93% of online users browse with Firefox. Almost 40% of German web-browsers use Firefox to view the web. It’s nice to see Firefox’s share gaining. I, personally wouldn’t mind seeing SEVERAL competing, standards-compliant browsers with significant share’s. (Opera has moved above 1%.) I think (and hope) the day will come when it doesn’t matter a bit what browser you use (as long as it’s standards compliant.) Hopefully we’re moving towards that.

    (more…)