April 12, 2006, 4:57 PM PDT
Your cell phone's new pal
Posted by: Kent German

One product we saw at CTIA but neglected to mention in our coverage is the new Backup-Pal from Advanced Wireless Solutions. When hooked up to your phone, the small, circular Backup-Pal stores your contacts for safekeeping--a great idea for those who perpetually lose their phone. You'll then be able to transfer the data to another handset or store it on a PC for editing. Backup-Pal is set to have universal adaptability through interchangeable USB connectors for all types of phones, but you'll also be able to transfer contacts via infrared. The device should be especially useful for CDMA customers who don't have the convenience of transferring contacts via SIM cards. The product will be out later this spring and retail for less than $50.

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April 12, 2006, 4:12 PM PDT
Microsoft's research assistant
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel

Microsoft is on a roll lately with its relentless Windows Live beta releases. The latest tool is designed to aid researchers who might otherwise turn to Google Scholar. Windows Live Academic Search retrieves finds from journals in computer science, electrical engineering, and physics. Microsoft says it will add more types of journals according to users' demands.

At first glance, we find that Microsoft's offering better organizes information than Google's. The interface is integrated into the Windows Live Search beta, with a smooth scroll bar to navigate through results. We like the options for sorting by date, journal, author, and even the conference at which a study was presented. Mouse over a title to see either a brief summary or the full abstract. You can also retrieve entire articles if you're surfing from a library that subscribes to the journal of origin. Want to see what your professor has published? Once you spot one of her articles, click her name to find the rest.

This service can update you on an area of expertise by adding alerts or RSS subscriptions to your Windows Live beta account. PhD candidates might appreciate the citation export option, which provides instant details for a source in either BibTex or EndNote formats.

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April 12, 2006, 3:38 PM PDT
Geek: it's the best job in the world
Posted by: Molly Wood

CNN Money has determined that being a software engineer is the best job in America, due to high pay, low stress, and lots of flexibility in where and how you work. Funny, those are all the reasons that being a software engineer is quickly becoming the best job in India, too.

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April 12, 2006, 12:53 PM PDT
Tech recycling to avoid
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel

What happens to your computer when it dies? Toss it in a trash bin, and a local landfill will probably absorb it into the earth, along with lead, mercury, and toxic flame retardants.

Send that old desktop to an electronics recycler instead, and at least you know the good parts are picked clean and reused, while poisonous components are safely put to rest. Right? Not quite.

Most electronics recycling programs ship old machines overseas, often to southern China and western Africa. That already wastes energy, but what happens next is worse, as writers at Knight Ridder and Salon explained this week. The scenes described make me think of the bleak Mad Max movies, only with more trash strewn around. People scavenge PCs, monitors, and all sorts of electronics for gold, silver, and copper, but they also come into contact with toxic metals. They'll burn equipment cases to identify the type of plastic by scent, inhaling phosphor dust and who knows what else in the process. This might earn an adult or a child $2 per computer. An international treaty bans developed countries from exporting toxic products, but the United States hasn't signed on.

With a few mouse clicks, however, you'll find plenty of ways to dispose of digital detritus without harming the planet or people. Vendor take-back programs, which cost you a small fee, are usually a safe bet. We'll bring you more details leading up to Earth Day next week. For now, here are a few places to start:

Computer TakeBack Campaign

TechSoup's tips on donating recycling hardware

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 2005 Report Card: How does your computer maker rate?

CNET Trade-in Center

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April 12, 2006, 12:26 PM PDT
Deal of the day: a 4GB MP3 player for less than $100
Posted by: Jasmine France

Currently on CNET, you can get a Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox for $95 out the door. This microdrive player offers a 4GB capacity, features a removable battery, acts as a USB host for direct offloading of photos from your digital camera, and is compatible with music subscription services such as Napster To Go. A deal if I ever saw one.

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April 12, 2006, 11:22 AM PDT
New ATI drivers pimp high-quality video
Posted by: Dan Ackerman

The fine folks over at ATI have a new version of their ubiquitous Catalyst driver available. Catalyst version 6.4 offers improvements for video playback on ATI's Radeon X1000 series of products; and on the popular HQV benchmark (that's the one with the video of flags and racetracks to test things like de-interlacing), ATI claims an impressive score of 123. If you have no idea what we're talking about, that's OK--if you're the kind of person who follows video quality benchmarks, we're probably not telling you anything you don't already know.

In more concrete terms, the new drivers help ATI's Avivo playback technology look better by smoothing jaggies and sharpening standard-definition content. It also includes a new Windows MCE Video Conversion utility, allowing users to transcode video into different formats. Presets for video iPods and the Sony PSP are included.

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April 12, 2006, 10:43 AM PDT
BenQ releases new Joybee line of MP3 players
Posted by: Jasmine France

After many months of relative silence on BenQ's MP3 player front, the company has launched a new line of Joybee players. The six new players--the E520, ET50, EG10, E105, N370, and P610--are all flash based, two will be available this month, and four are to be released in Q3. The E520 and ET50 both have built-in Bluetooth modules, while the N370 features a built-in USB plug and functions as a USB host for direct offloading of photos from digital cameras. The most interesting players appear to be the EG10, which is a PVP and gaming device with a design reminiscent of the first Nintendo controller (but with a color screen right in the middle), and the P610, which is an MP3 player and portable speaker set in one.

Source: The MP3 Players

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April 12, 2006, 10:31 AM PDT
Microsoft ends security support for Windows 98 and Me
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Microsoft has announced it will no longer issue security bulletins or offer support for its Windows 98, 98 SE, and Me operating systems as of July 11, 2006. According to the release, "Microsoft is ending support for these products because they are outdated and these older operating systems can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system..." Since Windows Vista has been delayed until early 2007, current Windows 98 and Me users can upgrade only to Windows XP SP2.

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April 12, 2006, 6:13 AM PDT
Three critical Microsoft security patches released
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Microsoft has released its April 2006 security bulletin, which includes five updates: three critical, one important, and one moderate. All versions of Windows are affected by the vulnerabilities addressed in the three critical bulletins. This monthly update covers Windows updates, but two of the updates are specific to Microsoft Office, neither considered by Microsoft to be critical. All of the patches are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below. Also see Critical megapatch sews up 10 holes in IE on News.com for more infromation.

MS06-013: Critical

Entitled "Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer," this security bulletin addresses 10 of the most recent high-profile vulnerabilities affecting the browser, including the CreateTextRange flaw, which is known to have been exploited and used against unpatched systems.

MS06-014: Critical

Entitled "Vulnerability in the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) Function Could Allow Code Execution," this security bulletin addresses vulnerabilities in this ActiveX control, and it affects all versions of Windows.

MS06-015: Critical

Entitled "Vulnerability in Windows Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution," this security bulletin addresses a vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to take control of your PC through this popular file manager. The vulnerability affects all versions of Windows.

MS06-016: Important

Entitled "Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express," this security bulletin addresses the way this e-mail client handles Windows Address Book files.

MS06-017: Moderate

Entitled "Vulnerability in Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions Could Allow Cross-Site Scripting," this security bulletin addresses a cross-site scripting flaw in FrontPage Web site building software and SharePoint collaboration software and affects only Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions running on Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. Microsoft FrontPage 2002 itself is not affected.

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