Steve Ballmer's $100 PC, Sans Windows

Martin_Flory writes "SolarPC has announced the $100 personal computer. Steve Ballmer's idea for reducing piracy was great after all, since this computer runs on Linux (DSL Distro). 'The design and construction of the SolarLite is consistent with the goal of an environmentally friendly computer. It uses a lightweight, recyclable, aluminum case that has a 20-year warranty. Its VIA chipset based "long-life" motherboard is a "green" lead free product. Like all SolarPC computers, the SolarLite operates on 12 volt DC power and can be run from a solar panel, car battery, or human powered (with a bicycle-based generator). The cool and quiet SolarLite uses approximately 10 watts of energy, just a fraction of what a standard PC consumes.' Sounds amazing right? This could change education all around the globe... a new Information Era is coming, and everyone is invited." The site claims they'll be available next month (minimum order 100,000 units), and promises a demo at SCALE 2005.

Failing Grades For Most Anti-Spyware Tools

serbach writes "Steve Gibson posted this link to a superb test of about two dozen top Anti-Spyware programs: Eric L. Howes conducted the test over a two-week period in October. The results surprised me: only 3 ASW programs had a 'batting average' of better than .500 when it came to eradicating the broad range of spyware in the test. Freeware star Spybot Search & Destroy came in a distant 7th with an average of only .376. The top three? Giant Anti-Spyware, Spy Sweeper, and Ad-Aware. These test results are well worth your time."

AVG Anti-Virus 7.0 Free Edition Released

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Mum Uses Internet To Diagnose Son's Rare Illness

In the past, we've shared several stories about cyberchondriacs, people who surf the web, learn about exotic diseases and then become convinced they've been stricken with some terrible ailment. Now, however, comes the case of a concerned mum over in the UK who searched the internet to help determine what was ailing her ten-year-old son after the ointment a doctor gave the kid failed to help a bug bite. It turns out this was no ordinary bug bite and her child was one of only 200 people a year diagnosed with Lyme disease, which can lead to some very nasty ailments. The search helped doctors properly diagnose the boy's condition and quickly get him on antibiotics.

Gmail Adds Free POP Access

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Paid Placements Hit Travel Booking Sites

theodp writes "The WSJ reports that bias is increasingly creeping into reservations systems like Sabre and travel sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. Federal regulations prohibiting bias in central travel computer systems expired in August. Airlines are now free to pay to have more expensive flights with inconvenient connections listed ahead of their competitors, and the practice has spread to hotel room listings. In response to the new tactics, which also include listing hotels as sold out or unavailable when they aren't, some are crying foul - InterContinental plans to yank its inventory from Expedia and Hotels.com and Northwest Airlines refuses to let CheapTickets.com sell its flights." All this means it's only going to get more difficult for the average person to book their own vacation at the best rate.

Why Your Bank Doesn't Tell You Your Credit Card Has Been Stolen

It's no secret that credit granters are a big part of the problem in identity theft and credit scams. They really don't do nearly enough to stamp out the fraud. Now comes the (not at all surprising) news from the other side that when they do learn about fraud, they don't bother telling those it's likely to impact. Apparently, if a credit card company discovers that a bunch of cards are stolen, but that not all the numbers have been used, the banks only inform those whose cards were used. For all those cases where millions of card numbers are stolen, only a small percentage are actually used. The rest of us sit here thinking our card numbers haven't been stolen because the banks don't tell us so -- even if they know the numbers are out there. I seem to recall laws being put in place to guard against exactly this type of thing -- but perhaps they're not being enforced.

Bugs go dead with Coke

Science.Ars returns with the week's top science news. Along with other science news, we also look at a rather unusual use for Coca-Cola.

A skull and crossbones would be the last thing you would find on a can of Coca-Cola, but farmers in India are using it to replace poisons that do. Looking to save a few rupees, farmers in Andrah Pradesh and Chattisgarh states have taken to spraying cotton and chili fields with The Real Thing.

While it's not clear that Coke works effectively as a pesticide, the farmers are seeing results from using it. There is no word as of yet about the efficacy of Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge soda.

What's A 'DSO Exploit' And How Do I Get Rid Of It?

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Beware This Spam Scam!

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Getting Paid (Big Time) To Quit

A few weeks ago, we talked about just how much money could be made getting fired if you had the right severance package. Well, it looks like some top execs at Audiovox have one-upped that plan. They're getting paid millions for quitting. Audiovox decided to get out of the wireless business, and sell it off to UTStarcom -- a deal that makes plenty of sense. However, what might not make sense is that these two top execs are getting about $2 million each because the board has decided that selling off a piece of the company represents "a change of control at the company." Of course, you can wonder why the company was paying these execs to sell off the company, or even why they're getting credit for selling off the company when they only sold off one part of the company, but the story gets more bizarre. One of the execs is getting paid $16 million for "personally held intangibles," since he's quitting the company. These personally held intangibles include "personal contacts and personal and professional relationships with suppliers, customers, contractors, financiers, employees and ex-employees of the wireless unit." Read that again. The company is paying him $16 million for the partnerships he built for the company. Isn't that his job? Apparently not. His job was to get paid (handsomely, too) while building these relationships for the company which he would get to sell back to the company after the fact. In other words, everyone who has a job anywhere, start keeping tabs on all the work you've done for your employer. When you quit, you should be able to sell back all the work you already did (which you may have thought you already got paid for), and it may be worth even more than the first time they paid you.

Avg 6.0 Is Being Phased Out - Problem Solvers

Posted By: TheShadow
Posted On: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 12:49:09 GMT

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Hi Ya'all,

I've been an avid user/supporter of AVG since it first became public knowledge.
I've used the free version 6 and the retail version 7. ( I still own a subscription to ver 7)

However I do share ver 6 (FREE) with my friends and customers and encourage them to go ahead and buy the full retail version if they find that they like the FREE version. I think when I bought mine, it was only $33.30 USD for two full years. Fifteen dollars and fifteen cents US isn't bad for the kind of protection they provice. If you can afford a computer, an ISP charge and a telephone line, you can surely afford that small price for the peace of mind it provides.

YES, they are NOT going to disappear from the FREE market. I have already downloaded the BETA version of the New FREE ver 7 and am running it as we speak. It's a bit friendlier than the full retail version and in some ways looks a lot like ver 6.

When installed it fully replaces version 6 if it was already on the 'puter.
The BETA ver. will only be active till Nov 30. The free ver 7 will be available sometime in November. Version 6 will go dormant on Dec 31. This gives us about a month or two to get all our friends/customers updated before their Anti-Virus protection expires.

We all knew this had to happen eventually. Nothing goes on forever, especially if its free. Air being the only exception I can think of at the moment.

SO, if you've used AVG free and liked it, go ahead and download the BETA version and get used to running it and be ready to download the new FREE version in November. No need to jump ship and settle for a product of lesser quality.

Just yesterday, I went to a customers house who was running Norton 2004 and it was reporting one virus that it said it couldn't remove. I removed Norton and installed AVG (FREE ver.), did a scan and it removed or healed 150 virus infected files including the one that Norton said it couldn't remove.

Norton OUT,,,, AVG In,,,,viruses GONE.

Sure we're going to miss our old friend, AVG 6, but now we have a new friend coming in the form of AVG 7 (FREE). Making new friends is always a pleasant experience. Embrace it!

Ya'all have a great day now!
The Shadow