A few days ago I wanted to get onto a website which I occasionally use to store Web bookmarks. There are easier ways to store bookmarks online, like Delicious or spurl.net, but these were bookmarks were from some time ago.

Anyway, I was quite surprised to get a warning from McAfee Site Advisor that this was a “Reported Attack Site”. Not thinking, I clicked on the “Ignore this warning” link, and the ZoneAlarm Security Suite started popping up warnings. After I had hastily exited the web browser, ZoneAlarm informed that it had removed some spyware from Firefox’s cache.

I was rather glad that I had been browsing with McAfee Site Advisor installed (it works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer). The ZoneAlarm Security suite has previously warned me about websites,  but didn’t pick this one up as a threat.

McAfee Site Advisor is part of the McAfee Internet Security Suite 2008, but I use the free version. There are also a number of similar products available. A Firefox add-on called “LinkExtend” uses the McAfee Site Advisor database as well as a number of other sources. There is also the “Web of Trust” which has a free add-ons for Firefox and Internet Explorer. These tools can save you a lot of problems on the World Wild Web.

I’m using Napster, but it is no longer the illegal music-sharing service of years ago (see “All the Rave“, a book about the original Napster’s rise and fall).  Napster is now a provider of subscription music, and they also sell MP3s. Up to now they have competed with Rhapsody in the music subscription business, which is mainly targeted at MP3 Players other than iPods and Zunes.

After being purchased by Best Buy in September of last year, Napster has now come up with a pricing strategy which puts them in competition with iTunes. First they dropped their monthly subscription from $12.95 to $5 per month - this is the “regular membership”, and not “Napster To Go” which still costs the same. Then they sweetened the deal by allowing subscribers to download 5 songs per month for free. These free songs are in the MP3 format which most MP3 Players support. iTunes gives you one free song download per week, but you don’t get to choose the song, and it is in the Apple AAC format.

So basically you are paying $5 for 5 songs, which is more or less what most online music stores charge. Additionally you can stream music from a large music catalog of around 7 million songs. You can add downloaded songs to your Sony Walkman NWZ-E438FBLK 8GB MP3 Player, which also supports DRM-free AAC format songs from the iTunes Music Store.

On Saturday morning the lights went out with an ominous clang.

My main Desktop PC was on, but since it is on a UPS, it was simply a matter of shutting it down gracefully. I have a fairly basic UPS, similar to the APC (American Power Conversion) Back-UPS ES 8-Outlet, but it suits my purposes.

After the usual checks of fuses and account payments, we assumed it was a general area-wide power failure. Later I confirmed this by phoning the local Power Authority a while later. A recorded message said the power should be back on by mid-afternoon.

That left me with a problem. I needed to mail a parcel before the Post Office closed at 1pm, and the mailing address was in an email message online. Fortunately I could access my email account with my iPhone via AT&T’s 3G network, which was up. It made me appreciate cellular data access more than ever.

It was only mid-afternoon before the power came on again, but the hours without power were quite a drag, as I still had several computer-based tasks which needed to be done.

A bad pun: “Because you really need one“.
I had the good fortune this week to “play” with two Ultra Mobile PCs.

The first was the (Korean made) Wibrain B1S. Before seeing it for the first time, I had heard it described as being similar in size to a VHS videocassette. It is a bit longer though, and quite a bit heavier. I’ve seen a number of different models reviewed and referred to, but from CNET the size is 7.6 in wide by 3.2 in depth and 1.1 inches thick, with a weight of 1.2 lbs.  It has a 4.8 inch,  1024 x 600 pixel ( WSVGA ) screen. The processor is a VIA C7-M running at 1.0 GHz or 1.2 GHz. This is basically the same processor found in the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. CNET has specs of 512MB RAM, but the WiBrain B1 I’m testing has 1GB of RAM. It also has a 32GB Solid State Drive, which makes it run quite silently, with the exception of the fan.

A picture of the WiBrain B1 can be seen on the WiBrain.com homepage. The most notable feature of this tablet UMPC is the split QWERTY keyboard, which – once you get used to it - is actually quite usable. On the bottom left is a set of keys for scrolling, left mouse-click, right mouse-click and volume. On the bottom right is a touchpad – a fairly standard laptop touchpad. Due to the size of the UMPC, you tend to use most of these with your thumbs. Although there is a Linux and a Windows Vista version of the WiBrain, the one I’m looking at has Windows XP with a touchscreen driver. That is quite a difference from Windows XP tablet edition, but probably keeps costs down.

One the interfaces front, the WiBrain has one USB 2.0 port, built in Bluetooth and 802.11b/g wireless.

Just a few days ago I managed to get my hands on a Samsung Q1 Tablet PC. Although I did not know it at the time, it was one of the original “Origami” Ultra- Mobile PCs. That didn’t stop me being blown away the first time I held it in my hands and booted up Windows XP. It is about the size of a large paperback book, with a 7 inch screen. I have played with all manner of devices, but booting up the familiar Windows XP on such a small device was really awesome.

Now I have booted up Linux on an Asus EeePC Netbook. That also has a 7 inch screen. Then there were a few of the VGA screen Pocket PCs – but they don’t generally “boot up”, unless they have been reset. Yet this booted into ultra-familiar Windows XP.

This particular Samsung Q1 has a 1 GHz Pentium M processor, 1 GB RAM and a 60GB hard drive. The graphics are from an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900. In addition it has built-in Bluetooth, 802.11b and 802.11g wireless and several ports including 2 USB ports. This model does not have a hardware keyboard (later models have a qwerty keypad with half on one side of the screen and half on the other). Fortunately a USB keyboard was provided which worked well.

Although the Samsung Q1 is not something you can carry in your pocket – you would need a really big jacket pocket, it is as portable as a Netbook. Even though I’m blown over by it, there aren’t too many advantages over a pricier Netbook, and the Samsung Q1 is relatively pricey itself.

A long weekend, a some time to spend on a pet project. Since the cat is part of the family, and the aquarium is no more, I had two choices left. Actually more, but I’d narrowed it down to something constructive. Setting up a recently acquired Vista laptop was an option. Yes, I remember what I have been saying about Vista, but this Vista laptop (something like one of these Lenovo R61 Thinkpads) was a bargain which I had to take as is or not at all. With another setup being required if I did it now, that ruled it out.

The second option was to try to re-flash my Neo FreeRunner. Okay, for those readers who are wondering do the what? The Neo FreeRunner is smartphone from OpenMoko. It is not just any smartphone, but an “Open” smartphone, which, according to ars technica means “completely open in both hardware and software, and is designed to encourage third-party modification and customization.”

Now the Android platform used on Google’s G1 phone is also open, but not that open.

Back to the OpenMoko Neo FreeRunner. You won’t find it on Pricegrabber (not yet anyway), because it is not currently a consumer product. OpenMoko says the phone will be ultimately aimed at general consumer use . Right now though it is aimed at developers and power users.

There is no printed documentation for the Neo FreeRunner. There is a whole lot of documentation online in the form of a wiki. It didn’t take me long to found out that to upgrade the firmware I needed a Linux Desktop. So I installed Ubuntu Linux on one of my main machines using Wubi. I was still reading through the wiki to figure out the next step when I ran out of weekend…

The Slacker G2 could probably more accurately be called the Slacker Internet radio. It is quite different from a standard MP3 Player. The general idea behind this quite unique device is that you choose several music genres on Slacker.com, which can be broad as “Smooth Jazz”, or as narrow as a few favorite artists. Then, when you listen to the Stations on the Slacker, you can “Favorite” a song, or “Ban” it or “Skip” it. This way the Stations are customized more to your music tastes.

Although other players supporting subscription music sites work in a similar fashion, the difference with the Slacker G2 is first of all the premium price for the players, which have little in the way of extras. At $199 for the 4GB/25-Station and $249 for the 8GB/40-station version they cost more than most other MP3 Players. What more than makes up for this is that the entry level subscription is totally free, and the Premium subscription only $7.50 per month, which is about half of what standard subscription music services (Rhapsody, Napster, ZunePass etc) charge.

The free subscription has limits to the number of skips and bans you can do per hour, and may have advertising (less than commercial radio – I have yet to hear and advertisement). The premium subscription allows you to save some of the songs you “favorite” depending on licensing agreements.

One neat thing is that if you don’t intend keeping any of your own music on the player (which is probably a good idea since there is not too much space available for you own use), the setup does not even involve connecting it up to a PC. Basically you open a slacker account online, choose stations, and link the portable player by entering a unique code in the “About” menu . Then, after connecting the player to your home wireless (or any Wi-Fi spot you have access to), the Slacker portable player starts downloading the Stations. I found this took a while. Once the stations are downloaded, you listen to the music wherever you are. Then every day or so you connect again and refresh the Stations. To change Stations you just do it on a web-browser via your Slacker account.

While this may not be the freshest of news, it does have an interesting back story.

On around December 4, numerous websites began reporting on the possibility of Wal-Mart selling a 4GB iPhone for $99. From iPhoneBuzz “Walmart to sell 4GB iPhone 3G for only $99?” , From MacNN : “Walmart to carry 4GB iPhone?” and from Ars Technica: “Rumor: Walmart to sell 4GB iPhone 3G for $99 with contract“. Ars Technica gave its source as the Boy Genius Report, some of the others could be traced back there as well.

Then, on December 8, 2008 iPhoneBuzz reported “Walmart 4GB iPhone 3G rumor debunked“, citing none other than Bloomberg.com as his source. Engadget.com seemed to confirm this on December 17 with “Walmart iPhone on sale the 28th for a lot more than $99“.

Okay, so as not to put my foot in it (in case there is actually a new 4GB iPhone out there),  the 4GB iPhone was one of the first iPhone models, along with the 8GB. Apple discontinued it in September 2007 when they dropped the price of the 8GB first generation iPhone from $599 down to $399.  Does Apple re-introduce products it has discontinued?

AT&T announced yesterday that for three days they would be selling refurbished iPhones at $100 off. This would mean a $99 (8GB) iPhone, except their wording wasn’t clear and “On its Web site, AT&T Mobility seemed to indicate it was offering a refurbished 8 GB iPhone for $49 through the end of the year. The carrier subsequently said it would clarify the site to show the device’s true price of $99.” from RCR Wireless.

Now, is there any truth behind that iPhone Nano rumor? (see “What is the deal with the iPhone nano?” at Engadget.com)

Before continuing with the free security applications, I just want to mention Kaspersky Lab Internet Security 2009, which is a full security suite which has some very good user reviews on PriceGrabber.com. It also has anti-spyware and malware protection.

There are a number of anti-spyware programs available for free. One of the most popular is Ad-Aware 2008, which was one of the first applications built to find and remove adware and spyware (of course, it was an earlier version than the 2008 version!). The free version of Ad-Aware 2008 is available at lavasoft.com. There is also a paid upgrade available, which adds an antivirus and other features.

Another free anti-spyware program is Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.6. It also has been around for a number of years.

Then there is Spyware Terminator (currently at version 2.3.0.487), which also includes an anti-virus. I’m not so sure about using this as your anti-virus protection, I would recommend turning off the antivirus feature and using other antivirus. Remember that only one anti-virus program should be running on your PC at one time. As for anti-spyware, experts tend to recommend at least two – one paid version and a free version.

And Malware protection? According to Wikipedia, “Software is considered malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware and other malicious and unwanted software.”
So most anti-spyware and antivirus programs would also deal with malware in one form or another.

Tomorrow is supposedly Cyber Monday. According the Wikipedia article on Cyber Monday: “The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday“…” The premise was that consumers would return to their offices after the Black Friday weekend, making purchases online that they were not able to make in stores.”

They go on to say that “Although idea has not survived the test of time“. It has simply evolved into a marketing event.

Here on Long Island we are fortunate to have access to a relatively fast broadband cable network, and a number of people have faster internet at home than at work. That plus employer restrictions on internet usage could make it “Cyber Sunday evening” instead of Cyber Monday.

The term Cyber Monday has come under some criticism, according to the Wikipedia article:
“Some critics online and in the media have called for a boycott of the term, calling it a useless media buzzword with no basis in fact.” And: “At the official Cyber Monday site run by Shop.org, more than 500 retailers offered discounts for the 2007 holidays. As a Motley Fool article noted, many of these same deals can be found elsewhere.”

Motley Fool refers to Cyber Monday as a Joke.

There is also an article by Candace Lombardi of CNET News entitled: “Cyber Monday more myth than reality?”

One option may be to do your Cyber shopping whatever day of the week suits you with the Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/S Notebook.