 | Computer Malware could cost you more than just a down computer | | |
|  Computer Malware could cost you more than just a down computer.
Kiddie-Porn Charges Dropped; PC Virus Blamed
Monday, June 23, 2008
FoxNews.com
Computer malware may have cost a former Massachusetts civil servant his job, his friends, his health insurance, his pension — and nearly his freedom.
Michael Fiola entered his own personal hell in March 2007 when his boss at the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents told him that a large amount of pornography, including kiddie porn, had been found on his state-issued laptop — and that he was being fired immediately.
"It felt like the blood drained right from my body," Fiola told PC World magazine. "I never expected anything like this to happen."
Four months later, the state charged him with possession of child pornography, charges that carried a penalty of 30 months in prison.
But on Monday, the state dropped the charges. Fiola's own computer expert concluded that the porn was the result of a massive computer infection that was using his PC to secretly store and upload pornographic images, and the state found no reason to contest that.
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| The Magic Triangle of Productivity | | |
| The Magic Triangle of Productivity
by Brett Sennett
I have been testing three, quite useful, free web tools for the past few weeks. The three are Jott (jott.com), I Want Sandy (iwantsandy.com), and Xpenser (xpenser.com). I first started my exploration with Jott. It's a great service that turns your voice into text. You first start by setting up your account, then tie your cell phone to it (it uses caller ID to know it's you) and off you go. Call Jott's toll free number, speak your message and Jott will email transcriptions to you or your contacts. You can "Jott" to yourself and have the service email your "Jottings" as reminders. You can Jott your co-workers, friends or family. It will transcribe the text and send it to them via email or SMS. It can also send the transcribed text over to a wide assortment of other web services.
 Once I set up my account, I discovered some of the other sites that work with Jott. That's where the fun started. I found iwantsandy.com. Sandy has become my personal email assistant. She reminds me of events and schedules them for me. I just email her with the word "Remind" or "Remember" and she dutifully records my ramblings. If I email requests with included dates, then she will remind me of those items and can even put them on my iCal calendar. The cool thing is, I can Jott to Sandy my to-do lists, events and reminders. Jott transcribes my voice and sends the text over to Sandy to be processed. I just have to remember to SAY "remember" or "remind" me so that Sandy knows what to do with the text.
She understands things like : Sandy, remember to take the book back to the library next Tuesday, or Sandy, remind me about the meeting with my accountant this Friday at 2:00 PM. The really cool feature is including other people in my reminders. If I'm emailing my accountant about that meeting, I can cc: Sandy and she will remind us both. This is one of my favorite features. Click Read More below for more Sandy Detail.
 The last site is Xpenser. Xpenser is simply a way to track your monthly expenses. It records the expense and can create a report for the month as a spreadsheet, Quickbooks, MS Money or Freshbooks. The hook in with Jott is the true selling point. I can record my expense right after it happens. I just Jott to Xpenser and say the amount, date, and description. Jott sends it over to Xpenser perfectly transposed. it's really that simple. Now, no more missed expenses!
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| Solutions for the SMB Market | | |
| Solutions for the SMB Market
by Joe Schum, Sales Director The RetroTechs, Inc.
In trying to come up with a topic this week, I admit I struggled. My thought was to focus on the power of the SMB marketplace. How can small and medium sized businesses excel utilizing the strategies, concepts, initiatives and processes that the big corporations have created. These ideas revolutionized Corporate America and how can it be transferred to smaller, leaner, younger organizations? So, without any real cogent stream of consciousness, I came up with some interesting tidbits. Check them out:
 Sure, the small to midsize market is large -- IDC counts 8.1 million businesses -- but it's not monolithic. Small to midsize business aren't all alike and reflect a microcosm of the economy as a whole. You are different from the next small or medium size business. Amazing!
A plurality -- 35% -- of the small and medium business marketplace prefer to be called "medium" or "midsize" businesses. Next came "large business" at 15%, followed by "enterprise" at 10%. Only 5% wanted to be called "small business." The rest identified with their specific market. So, it looks like you want to be bigger, if not by true size, then to appear larger, a leader in your respective marketplace.
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| New Email Spamming technique. | | |
| 100 E-mail Bouncebacks? You've been Backscattered.
Robert McMillan, IDC News Service
The bounceback e-mail messages come in at a trickle, maybe one or two every hour. The subject lines are disquieting: "Cyails, Vygara nad Levytar," "UNSOLICITED BULK EMAIL, apparently from you."
You eye your computer screen; you're nervous. What's going on ? Have you been hacked? Are you some kind of zombie botnet spammer?
Nope, you're just getting a little backscatter -- bounceback messages from legitimate e-mail servers that have been fooled by the spammers.
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