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"Over the past few years, Point of sale (POS) systems used by retailers and restaurants have been a gold mine for criminals stealing credit cards. This has been the case because certain POS systems were designed to store prohibited credit card information - the exact data that criminals need to make fraudulent purchases and manufacture duplicate cards."
www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/blog/visa-mandates-that-merchants-eliminate-the-use-of-vulnerable-payment-applications
Submitted by John Buck
With the large, and now less expensive, 2- and 4- GB memory sticks (USB drives), it's become possible and now economical to take your data and applications with you on the road. With the proper blend of online apps, you don't even need to bring your computer. If you can log on to the Internet, you're connected; you can use any computer with a USB port to do work (or play). If you properly secure them, it's even safer than using an unknown computer. Check these out:
www.freesmug.org/forums/portableapps
osxportableapps.sourceforge.net
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
It's Here! Ubuntu 7.10 Arrives
Ubuntu, the remarkably popular desktop Linux distribution that tries to bring the latest and greatest open-source programs every six months, arrived Oct. 18. Read the review at eWeek or the whole article at DesktopLinux.com.
New users can use the Ubuntu CD as a live CD to get a taste of Ubuntu without having to install it on their Windows PCs. Users who want to upgrade from Ubuntu 7.04 to 7.10 should follow the instructions on the Ubuntu upgrade page. For those who'd rather not install or upgrade software of any sort, Dell has announced that it will soon be shipping desktops and laptops with Ubuntu 7.10.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
"A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful."
Somewhere in at least one of the left-hand column categories there's gotta be something you'll lust after (or maybe already do). -- jb
Cool Tools — Found via Lifehacker
Submitted by John Buck
Read a good article about the beta version now at www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2200761,00.asp. The verdict? "SP3 increases security and collects all those hundreds of hotfixes you might have been too busy (or cautious) to keep downloading." You can't get it yet, but eventually the final release will be available for download. The standard advice applies - if you're an early adopter, make a full backup first; if you're cautious, wait a few weeks for the bugs to be found and exterminated.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
View the winners at www.improbable.com. You can go directly to list of Winners of the Ig@ Nobel Prize back to 1991.
One of the more interesting awards was, "Novel Production Method for Plant Polyphenol from Livestock Excrement Using Subcritical Water Reaction," given to Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of Japan. Loosly translated, it's "a way to extract vanillin – vanilla fragrance and flavoring – from cow dung. As a side note, "Toscanini's Ice Cream, the finest ice cream shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, created a new ice cream flavor in honor of Mayu Yamamoto, and introduced it at the Ig Nobel ceremony. The flavor is called 'Yum-a-Moto Vanilla Twist.'"
Another interesting study, "Sildenafil Accelerates Reentrainment of Circadian Rhythms After Advancing Light Schedules," discovered that Viagra aids jetlag recovery…in hamsters.
REFERENCE: Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Start here - PC Magazine staff's favorite blogs, including their our downloadable favorites installer, containing all the links for the Favorite Blogs list.
Read WikiPedia's Blogs and Blogging article; and while you're on the site, also brush up on Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Do you miss your daily dose of Peanuts? You can view a daily strip
at the Snoopy Comics Archive. There's more there besides the comic strips…
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
A video showing Astronaut Don Pettit playing with floating orbs of water in the International Space Station.. Turn on sound for a narrative, or turn off sound to just enjoy the show.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
21 Facts About The Internet You Should Know! -
www.bizwaremagic.com/quick_internet_history.htm
Found via digg. -- jb