Internet resources being drained in cat-and-mouse battle

Jim Jamieson
Province

Spam has reached an all-time high of 77 per cent of e-mail traffic in Canada and the U.S., says an Internet security expert.

“It’s a remarkable thing,” Jordan Kalpin, Canadian regional director for IBM Internet Security Systems, said yesterday after IBM released a comprehensive security report.

“Organizations spend a lot of money on anti-spam technology and they think if they can keep it outside of their system then they don’t have to make their infrastructure any bigger. But it’s a cat-and-mouse game because the spammers have access to the same technology and they are constantly figuring out ways around it.”

Spam is loosely defined as mass-distributed, unsolicited e-mail, but it usually has a commercial angle — real or fraudulent.

Spammers set up networks illegally and lease them out to the highest bidder. Typical spam messages direct recipients to websites that sell drugs, pornography or other products. Some spam e-mails contain “phishing” scams, sending you to fake online sites where you can be defrauded or have your identity compromised.

According to Internet security company IronPort Systems, 63 billion junk-mail messages were sent daily in October, up from 31 billion a year earlier.

Besides being a huge drain on Internet resources, Kalpin said the increase in spam has fundamentally altered the medium of e-mail. “It’s very difficult now to tell whether an e-mail is legitimate or not,” he said.

“It’s eroded people’s ability to trust what they’re seeing in their in-box.”

Kalpin said the latest trend amongst spammers is image-based e-mail, where the message is contained in a photo attachment — allowing it to escape spam filters.

“The anti-spam software started to adjust, but then the spammers came out with ways of tiling many images together to get around the detection capabilities,” he said.

Kalpin advised consumers to have anti-spam software installed on their computer and to subscribe to an e-mail service that has these technologies built into it.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

software: Analysts now expect many companies, consumers to adopt wait-and-see stance

Jim Jamieson
Province

Microsoft Corp. launched its long-awaited Vista operating system this morning, but don’t expect to see consumers lining up to buy like they did with previous versions.

The new software, combined with the same-day global launch of Microsoft’s new Office suite, makes this the most significant technology moment for the Redmond, Wash., company in 12 years since the launch of Windows 95.

“We’ve been getting orders on the web, but there will be no midnight madness for us,” said Cedric Tetzel of London Drugs.

“But the Premium version of Vista will make a lot of noise in the marketplace.”

Microsoft hasn’t helped itself with numerous delays in the launch, choosing to bring out the final product with four different versions: Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate.

To solve some of the confusion, Microsoft offers a downloadable tool through its website (www.microsoft.com) that will analyze your PC and tell you if it has the power and hardware to run the new software.

If your machine is more than a year old, it’s probably not worth the bother.

As well, London Drugs and Future Shop offer free consultations for those who are considering the upgrade or buying a new computer, with Vista pre-loaded.

Although advance reviews have been positive, analysts expect many companies and consumers to adopt a wait-and-see stance before abandoning Windows XP and taking the leap of faith to Vista.

David Milman, CEO of U.S.-based technical-support company Rescuecom, said he advises both businesses and consumers to hold off upgrading to Vista for at least six months.

“The odds that Windows Vista comes out and is going to work perfectly with the different drivers and different software and hardware manufacturers and that people have enough RAM and processor speed is somewhere between zero and none,” he said.

“This is hype to make this transition. Vista is a fantastic operating system, a great step forward, but there’s no reason on Day 1 to drop XP.”

Microsoft will support XP — with security updates and a free tech support — until 2009. It will offer security updates with for-pay tech support for XP for a further five years, to 2014.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Computers must be able to handle the new system; operators have to decide which edition to use

Steve Makris
Sun

EDMONTON — If Microsoft’s long-overdue Vista operating system had taken any longer, a digital Caesarean section might have been in order.

But now that Vista goes public today, don’t expect consumers to line up at stores for midnight-madness launches, like the bygone era of Windows 95.

Vista’s “soft” launch to the business community last month took the edge off the new operating system, and today’s computer-savvy consumer might take technology more in stride.

But that won’t stop Microsoft from spending hundreds of millions to promote its flagship operating system, along with a smartly revamped Office 2007.

Are you ready for Vista, physically and mentally speaking?

Physically, because your computer has to be in shape for Vista, despite Microsoft’s claim that any PC that runs Windows XP can run Vista.

It needs one gigabyte of RAM, half of which is used up just to get Vista fired up. And unless your graphics card supports Direct3D 9 pixel shaders, Vista will run minus the fancy looks, but still function. Most folks with budget computers past their first birthday will miss the neat screen graphics Vista boasts, but can upgrade their graphics for about $100.

Mentally, because you have to decide which of the editions of Vista you want, or can afford.

Vista comes in four versions, ranging from a $129 upgrade to a full-retail $499 version.

“I don’t understand why Microsoft thinks it has to have so many editions of an operating system,” said Michael Cherry, senior analyst for independent DirectionsonMicrosoft.com. “I think Apple’s model, where there’s one operating system with all the features in it, is a much more simple model to license and to understand. Microsoft could have found a price for it and let everybody have all the features, and still make a profit.”

Is Vista worth the trouble?

Based on what the industry has seen so far, yes. It’s a massive program, taking up more than 12 gigabytes on your computer, but it is slick-looking and has extra well-thought-out features, including significant security enhancements.

You can check out all the Vista features on Microsoft’s site, www.microsoft.com/windowsvista and download a small Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor that checks your current computer’s software and hardware capability to handle Vista and generates a personalized checklist.

All the “wow” stuff aside, will Vista withstand the type of malicious online beating Windows XP has gone through? Early versions, including the final release I have been testing, clearly show Vista’s security prowess.

Vista handles changes to your computer made by you or unbeknownst to you much differently than it did before.

In simplistic terms, Vista does a far better job of isolating problematic programs.

Microsoft Canada security initiative senior program manager Bruce Cowper said that, by default, allowing a program installation is a one-time affair. This means that even if a rogue malware program installs the first time, typical multiple attempts to reinstall are stopped, asking for your permission, an obvious red flag.

“Internet-loaded programs are sandboxed even further,” said Cowper. “Not only are they installed in a temporary Internet file area, but further malicious activity is restricted in that area.” He said in a worst-case scenario, an infected user account will not affect the main computer or other users.

“At the end of the day, Vista users still have a layer of protection,” he said, adding there still is a need for third-party anti-virus programs to manage things such as removing suspicious files.

VITAL STATISTICS

– Windows Vista Home Basic: Upgrade: $129; full: $259

– Windows Vista Home Premium: Upgrade: $179; full: $299

– Windows Vista Business: Upgrade: $249; full: $379

– Windows Vista Ultimate: Upgrade: $299; full: $499

– Recommended for home consumers: Vista Home Premium

– Recommended for business: Vista Ultimate

WHAT’S COOL IN VISTA

– The user accounts have better and easy-to-set permission settings for other family members who can log on the same PC with their own user name and password and personalize their Windows. It includes effective and easy-to-use parental controls for program, time and website restrictions as well as an activity report.

– With all due respect to the Vista team, the OS feels closer to a Mac running OS X with similar but improved features, like the liberal use of search bars. You can find anything on your computer by simply starting to type in the search bar and watching the shrinking selection files narrow down to exactly what you want. It even finds pictures based on the make and model of your digital camera. But it goes further, using similar search bars in Vista programs like the Control Panel to help you adjust settings and use the built-in features.

– There are snazzy-looking desktop graphics — you can switch to classic mode if your productivity slows down — but it feels like you are starting computing all over again.

– Windows Photo Gallery works well, with organizing and labelling features for digital photos and videos and basic but adequate editing tools including red-eye fix. You can enlarge thumbnails to any size or see instant blow-ups as you pass the cursor over them.

– Windows DVD Maker is great for slapping together your media on a DVD disk with professional effects.

– Microsoft’s new Internet Explorer 7, also available in Windows XP, is more stealthy in Vista’s secure world. Microsoft’s inclusion of competitors’ search programs, like Google, was a welcome move.

– Little things are appealing, such as the ability to copy the same file in a folder twice with the option of automatically renaming the new one.

– Doing techie stuff, like networking computers at home, is much improved with more help about why something is not working.

– Windows Mobility Centre is a simple-but-effective panel for controlling battery-saving modes, wireless communication and synchronization on laptops.

– Invisible to you, Vista tracks your PC’s status and health, information that can be used by Microsoft’s new subscription Windows Live OneCare and competitive programs.

– Vista can display the sidebar or receive e-mails on a secondary small LCD screen on the front of laptops while they are in standby mode.

I have been running Vista on desktops and laptops for the past few months, including the final version sent to me three weeks ago. Despite attempts to download errant files, including incompatible drivers for older hardware, Vista ran stable.

I like it, especially when I switch back to my regular, very lived-in and bland-looking Windows XP world that has grown as messy as my garage. But the security features are alone worth the price.

WHAT ISN’T COOL

– Unlike less intruding Macs, Vista still overwhelms with pop-ups on what it’s doing, like when plugging in a USB stick or establishing a network connection.

– Windows Media Player rips CD music to its own WMA and competing MP3 format, but Movie Maker still sticks to its own WMV video format, ignoring other popular standards many digital cameras use.

– Vista features are laid out differently, so there is a learning curve, even for experienced users.

WHAT TO DO

If you are happy with Windows XP, and have already gathered tools and features similar to what Vista comes with, there is no rush.

“Vista is a big change for users and manufacturers alike,” said Cedric Tetzel, London Drugs Computer Merchandise Manager.

“There will be some available at launch, but a lot more are scheduled for the 60- to 90-day period after launch.”

Tetzel strongly recommends customers take time to understand the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the Vista versions.

Microsoft says Windows XP will be around for a while with full support.

If you choose to install Vista in your older PC, it will transfer your older settings and files. You can also transfer settings from your old PC to a new Vista one.

Microsoft, heeding customer protests, has lifted its planned “one transfer only” policy to letting you uninstall and re-install Vista on newer PCs as many times as you want. It won’t take long to see how tough Vista really is when it leaves the millions of testers it got cosy with in the past few years and comes out in the real world.

The “wow” in the Microsoft marketing logo might become an “ouch.” But then there’s Microsoft’s now customary “service pack one” for Vista that we can look forward to — already planned for before year’s end.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Jim Jamieson
Province

What is it? Sansa View portable media player

Price: $299 US, but expect discounting

Why you need it: Videos on a small screen are cool.

Why you don’t: Eight gigabytes just doesn’t cut it for a video player and battery life could be better.

Our rating: 3 mice

SanDisk Corporation has had a short but impressive history in the audio/video portable-player space. The Milpitas, Calif., technology company is much better known as the world’s largest supplier of flash memory storage cards.

But about three years ago SanDisk saw that the future of the MP3 player was flash memory-based storage. So, although the company had no experience in the audio/video world, it jumped into the market with both feet.

The result has been highly successful, with a steam of credible products that have put price-point pressure on competitors.

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, SanDisk launched the Sansa View, which it bills as its first widescreen media player. The slim (78.5mm x 123mm x 16.9mm) View features a

10-centimetre screen and also an integrated speaker.

The Sansa View offers just eight gigabytes of storage, although it can be augmented through SD and SDHC cards.

The company claims it can store up to 33 video hours, 2,000 songs or thousands of photos.

The device also features audio and video output to display content to a TV screen.

A plus is the Lithium-ion battery — which will provide four hours of video playback or 10 hours of audio playback — is removeable, so you can replace it yourself.

The Sansa View should be available in Canadian electronic stores by this spring.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Peter Wilson
Sun

Is Rogers Wireless on the verge of signing an iPhone deal with Apple to make the innovative new phone available in Canada?

Well, if you believe the blogosphere — and when has that ever been wrong? — the negotiations are underway and an announcement would seem to be imminent.

On Friday, super-popular tech blog Gizmodo (www.gizmodo.com) reported the contents of an e-mail sent out by a Rogers call centre that said, in part:

“Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in Canada.”

Toronto-based Rogers vice-president for communications Taanta Gupta confirmed that the call centre did indeed send the e-mail in answer to inquiries, but that it was now being revised.

“The ‘actively working with’ and ‘soon to launch’ was not language that was approved because, in fact, we are not in a position to make such statements,” Gupta said in an e-mail to The Vancouver Sun.

While all inquiries to Rogers about the iPhone are greeted with the response that the company doesn’t comment on unannounced products, officials there still point to the fact that the iPhone operates on a GSM network, and that Rogers is the only operator to have such a network in Canada.

While the iPhone is launching in the United States this summer, there is usually a several-month gap before the appearance of wireless phones in Canada.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Sun

1 Canon A460 five-megapixel digital camera, $230.

Aimed squarely at first-timers in the digital camera space (although you wouldn’t think there would be any of those left), the A460 is certainly an inexpensive way to get started shooting those snaps. It features 4x optical zoom, and a two-inch LCD screen. It also has an optical viewfinder, and offers compatibility with MMC, SD and SDHC memory cards. It features Canon’s smart autofocus system, and its iSAPS intelligent scene analysis so you hardly have to do anything but push the button.

2 Kodak EasyShare EX011 Digital Picture frame, $350.

Here’s a way to get those computer-stored digital photos in front of friends and family at last. This 10-inch model (there are smaller ones in the same family of frames) allows you to send via WiFi both images to its screen and music to its speakers, to give a continuous slide show of the latest and greatest of your photos for anyone who is interested. There are optional faceplates available, so you can customize them according to the decor of your home.

3 LG SMB-007 Super Multi Blue HD-DVD player, $1,500, available in the first quarter of 2007.

In case you’ve been hesitating about getting a new high-definition DVD player because there are two formats — Blu-Ray and HD-DVD — LG has come to your rescue with this about-to-be-launched unit that plays both formats. And it comes at a price that won’t make you feel like a wild-spending idiot after the format wars have ended. In Canada, it will be carried on the shelves at Future Shop.

4 Other World Computing ModBook, Mac Tablet computer, starts at $2,200 US.

Okay, so the tablet computer has been a relative marketing failure, with the device catching on largely in niche markets — mostly for business users who need such a handy device for note-taking and form-filling through handwriting software. But there has been a small outcry in consumerland for one based on the excellent MacBook computers. The price includes that of the MacBook, which is then modified by OWC. The ModBook won a best-of-show award from MacWorld Expo at the recent event in San Francisco.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

So, you thought you wanted an iPhone? Well, we’re here to tell you that that’s so last week

Peter Wilson
Sun

So, you thought you wanted an iPhone. So attractive, so neat, so thin, so easy to use, so darned iPod-like. It sings, it dances, it gathers e-mail, it sends messages, it makes phone calls. And it’s aimed at soccer moms, a largely untapped market for smart phones.

Well, we’re here to tell you that that’s so last week.

Sure, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave a demo of the iPhone at the Macworld Expo on Jan. 9, there was an almost universal outpouring — at least in the mainstream media — of unfettered gush.

In what Newsweek described as “Web-exclusive commentary”, the word was that “. . . Apple’s relentless focus on simplicity, efficiency, utility and fun makes the iPhone seem a different species than its competitor — something more personal, more approachable, and ultimately, more desirable than anything else out there.”

Yes, but . . . .

Within a few hours, the undercurrent of mumblings of disappointment and betrayal had begun, initially from the blogs, and then picked up elsewhere.

Among the complaints:

– Instead of being available to use on any network — as pre-announcement rumour-mongers had hoped — the iPhone was tied in the U.S. to a two-year contract with Cingular. Special efforts have been made to make sure that the phones can’t be unlocked.

(A small aside here. The only company in Canada that has a GSM network, which is what the iPhone uses, is Rogers. And all Rogers will say is that they don’t comment on unannounced products. But they do at the same time — wink, wink, nudge, nudge — tend to mention that exclusive GSM thing.)

– Apple will control what you can have on your iPhone. There will be no outside applications allowed, at least initially. And while Jobs and his company may eventually allow developers to come up with apps for the iPhone, they — and Cingular — will have approval over what will make it on board.

As Steve Jobs told Newsweek: “You don’t want your phone to be an open platform . . . you need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn’t want to see their West Coast Network go down because some application messed up.”

– The iPhone’s music-playing functions are crippled by what Apple calls FairPlay, so that if you pay for and download songs from the iTunes store, you can only use them on the iPhone and iPod (unless you’re willing to make a huge effort to do otherwise). Why anyone would expect this to be different for the iPhone, nobody has quite explained.

– The non-tactile keyboard will make it difficult for people to use because you need a feel-element to be able to type accurately. Some commentators have gone so far as to say that the iPhone’s set-up effectively will make it impossible to use by the visually impaired.

– The brand name iPhone , at least in the U.S., is owned by Cisco, which has filed suit to this effect.

– The cost of building the most expensive iPhone (to be sold for $599 US) has been estimated by tech analysts iSuppli to be just $280. That means that Apple, which won’t allow for discounting by wireless firms, should make a big profit on the sale of each phone.

And so on.

Of course some of this — if you’re looking for a conspiracy theory — might have to do with the fact that the iPhone is viewed as a major threat to both wireless providers and other phone manufacturers. But the fiercely independent bloggers seem highly unlikely to have been influenced by this.

The general tenor of the blogging seems to be one of disappointment — mainly at the missed opportunities to free up wireless phones from the grasp of the network operators, who Jobs once described as “orifices”, but has since learned he has to appease (okay, get along with) to get his iPhone readily into the hands of the public.

Nobody can really tell whether any of this negativity — largely confined to bloggers talking to one another in what has often been described as the echo chamber of the Net — will have any effect on wide consumer acceptance of the iPhone.

Certainly not many soccer moms are readers of tech blogs.

And, according to press accounts, on the Apple conference call with financial analysts on Wednesday, following record quarterly earnings and profit, there was little else talked about but the iPhone, with Apple officials sticking to the company line that they just announced the product and it’s too soon to tell how it will do.

Since its announcement, Apple shares have shot by as much as 10 per cent, which would tend to indicate that perhaps not everyone is worried by the recent outburst of negativity.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Sun

1 CANON DC50 DVD CAMCORDER, $1,000, AVAILABLE LATE FEBRUARY.

With a 5.39-megapixel CCD image sensor and a 10x optical zoom lens, the D50 will be Canon’s flagship offering this spring. Canon’s zoom control allows the user to select one of three steady zoom speeds so that no matter how you — in your excitement to capture that fleeting moment — press down on the zoom button, the process remains smooth and easy on the eye of the eventual audience. It also has optical image stabilization. The DC50 uses three-inch DVD-R/-RW discs that let you store as much as 60 minutes on each disc, or 108 minutes on dual-layer discs.

2 GARMIN ASTRO GPS DOG TRACKING SYSTEM, $650 US, AVAILABLE IN JUNE.

If you’re worried where Rover has roved off to this time, then you just might want to keep track of him with this new GPS device from Garmin. The unit — likely more valuable to hunters than the average owner — is in two parts, one you strap to your dog and the other you use to track his movements (or lack of them) as he wanders about. Garmin says the set-up is easy and there’s no subscription or other fees once you’ve made your purchase. If you have more than one dog, you need only one receiver, but you’ll have to buy another collar unit.

3 HP IQ770 TOUCHSMART PC, $2,200, AVAILABLE IN SUMMER 2007.

Yes, it’s a while before the new TouchSmart PC will be available, but maybe by the time it hits the shelves you’ll have paid off those Yuletide bills. This item features a 19-inch adjustable touch-screen display that allows you to access information with the simple application of a fingertip to the appropriate spot on the display. HP describes the process as “walk-up computing”, which means you don’t have to sit down at the keyboard or grasp a mouse to get the information — or the photos, or the music — that you want. Also included are a photo printer, remote control, and personal video recorder.

4 MICROSOFT RECLUSA GAMING KEYBOARD, $69.95 US, AVAILABLE SPRING 2007.

In partnership with gaming peripherals trendsetter Razer, Microsoft is about to offer this keyboard designed to attract the flying fingers of dedicated gamers. It features blue backlit keys, low key-latency, two 360-degree jog dials, four bumper buttons, sing programmable hot keys, on-the-fly profile management, a detachable padded wrist rest and gold-plated USB ports. If you know what all that means then you’ll likely want to try one out, and if you don’t then you won’t.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Glenn Chapman
Sun

Download Document

Jefferson Graham
USA Today

LOS ANGELES — Yaffa Balsam was mystified.

Why did so many other family therapy websites pop to the top of Google search results listings, while her site was nowhere to be found?

It’s a question posed by thousands of small-business owners every day as they seek new customers online rather than through traditional Yellow Pages directories. These days, if a company website can’t be found on Google, it basically doesn’t exist.

GETTING NOTICED ON THE WEB: Join the blog conversation

“I’ve had my website up for a year, and as far as I know, I haven’t found one new client from the Internet,” says Balsam, 50. “I want that to change.”

USA TODAY asked Chris Winfield, president of website consultant 10e20, to look at Balsam’s site, yourheartfeltsolutions.com, identify its weaknesses and offer tips on how to improve her rankings. His recommendations are instrumental for anyone with a website, as they are pretty universal.

Winfield has three top tips for Balsam: Her site needs to be linked to from other quality websites. She should have a clear website title. And she needs descriptive copy that includes the search terms (called keywords) that articulate how she wants to be discovered by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, he says.

“Keywords direct the search engines to how to find you,” Winfield says. “And links are the holy grail. If a lot of sites link to you, that means you have authority and should be placed higher than others.”

Balsam’s front page was virtually devoid of text, beyond tabs for inside pages and contact information. Winfield says this is a huge no-no. Google’s spider crawls the Internet compiling website information, looking to keywords on the page for how to reference the site.

In his analysis, Winfield wrote: “Add some good, descriptive text about you and your services that gently incorporates the one- or two-keyword phrases that you are concentrating on. For example: ‘Family therapy specialist in Orange & Los Angeles County — Yaffa Balsam MFT.’ “

Keyword tools

The first step for many businesses is realizing exactly what their keywords should be. A house painter, for example, shouldn’t use “house painting” as a keyword, because it’s so broad. Instead, the painter might drill down to the more specific “interior house painting” or “exterior house painting.”

Winfield directed Balsam to a free tool Google offers for keyword tips —adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. There, USA TODAY typed in Balsam’s “Family Therapy” keyword, and found many variations, including “family therapist,” “family marriage therapy” and “family therapy counseling.”

These online keyword tools help Google’s advertising clients, who buy sponsored pay-per-click links to guarantee good placement in the search results. But they are available, free, to everyone.

Many businesses also look to pay-per-click advertising to augment their Web exposure. Paying Google or other search engines helps assure that your business will be near the top of the sponsored listings. Advertising is also a great way to figure out which keywords potential clients are using to find you, Winfield says. Both Google and rival Yahoo offer tools to show which ads were clicked.

In designing a website, Winfield says, the most important keyword for a business should be on the site’s title page (visible along the top of Internet Explorer or other web browsers). This is the first thing Google looks for when crawling the Web.

After keywords are under control, it’s time to start working on links to your site from others on the Web. Think of links as word of mouth. The more people on the Web who are “talking” about you, the more your site rises to the top.

Getting one great link from a top, heavily trafficked site (like www.engadget.com for a technology item) is worth more than 25 mentions on the many directory sites that are all over the Web, Winfield says.

Attracting links may seem daunting at first, but it’s easier than you might think. Most local chambers of commerce and trade associations have websites and will link to member websites.

Many businesses post notes on blogs and sign them with their website addresses. Or they post pictures on photo sites such as Yahoo’s Flickr, which can be tweaked with a link. Comments on popular social networking sites such as MySpace can also be signed with a name and a link. For example: my name, www.mywebsitelink.com.

Balsam’s reaction to Winfield’s suggestions: “I’m going to work on my links, and start a blog. I’m going to be busy.

“But this is exciting. I can see this is leading somewhere.”