Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

So it looks like Google is about to release its Chrome OS sometime this week. I’m curious how it will stand up to Ubuntu, which is obviously the most popular and average user friendly. I will be loading it up on a VM and play with it, but I’m not even thinking about the possibility of replacing my main OS, Win 7. Linux is great, but Windows will always be my primary OS. -Greg

Android now has the “Bump” app that’s found on iPhone. I saw the commercial quite a while back for the iPhone that showed you a neat little app designed by the people at Bump Technologies that allowed 2 iPhone users to share pictures simply by bumping the 2 phones together. I was ready to go get my girlfriend and I an iPhone that moment, literally I wanted to run out and buy them right then. I’ve since had several moments of weakness where as I almost bought an iPhone. Android of course changed all that, now I just internet window shop the Android phones, and impatiently wait for the day that AT&T finally gets an Adnroid phone, so I can RUSH OUT AND BUY ONE! Anyway, as I was saying the Bump app allows 2 phones that share the app to share media by just setting the media they want to share and then bumping the phones together, isn’t technology wonderful! -Greg

 Get the app from Bump Technologies

Here’s a YouTube video of the app in action..

This has been a magnificent end of the year for Microsoft. Windows 7 is proving to actually be the excellent OS they set out for and now they have AV too! OK so their AV is not so new, but I was reading an article today from LifeHacker.com, all about it and they have really impressed me and several of the leading AV websites. I was actually just talking to my Dad the other day about how it looks as if AVG (my personal fav.) is not making the cut for top performers. Microsoft Security Essentials is doing it and they are doing it big. It detects 98% of the major malware, its not a resource hog, in fact it actually has good marks for being less of a resource user than most. Best of all its FREE, as long as your Windows can pass the “Genuine Validation” you can get it for free from Microsoft. I’ve already uninstalled my AVG and am currently running it on my new Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, mmm mmm good! -Greg

Here’s more on it from lifehacker.com:

When it comes to keeping your Windows PC secure, all of the scare tactics and overblown virus stories out there make it hard to feel safe online. The fact of the matter is that you don’t need to pay for Windows security.From time to time we like to go on long, opinionated rants about subjects that bug us. This is one of those times. So let’s have a frank and honest discussion about Windows security, and leave the scare tactics and FUD for money-grubbing corporate marketers.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a Great Antivirus Application

The release of Microsoft Security Essentialshas changed the landscape of antivirus software. We’ve finally got a completely free application that protects against viruses, spyware, and other malware—without killing system performance like some of the “suites” tend to do. In my personal experience, it barely slows down the machine and rarely affects my work—and during a deliberate attempt to download some viruses (for testing purposes), it immediately found and blocked them from doing anything.You don’t have to take my word for it, however. Not only did AV-Test.org find that it detects 98%of their enormous malware database, but AV-Comparatives(a widely known anti-malware testing group) found that MSE was one of only three productsthat did well at both finding and removing malware, including the leftovers. It was also the only free product to grab their “Advanced+” rating—the top honor for an anti-malware solution.

The more tech-oriented readers will probably note that MSE does not do any fancy heuristics to detect viruses that aren’t in the database already, which is a feature offered by some paid solutions. In my opinion, this feature is usually unnecessary and a massive system drag if combined with a healthy dose of not installing questionable nonsense.

Here’s the rest of the story..

This article goes through the strengths and weaknesses of both OS’s. I’ve been very open to both sides, but I admit that I’m a regular Windows user and only play around with Ubuntu. I have a guy I work with that is a big time Ubuntu user and was actually the first one to turn me on to it. Here is a pretty quick and good comparison of both OS’s and for those of you who’d rather someone else tell you which to use, use Windows 7, wait I meant read this article. -Greg

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Over the past few days I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the differences between Microsoft’s latest Windows 7 and Canonical’s Ubuntu 9.10. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the operating systems. Is a free operating system really as good as one that you pay for?

Let’s take a look at several aspects of using operating systems and examine the various strengths and weaknesses of each OS.

Installation

Windows 7

• Pros
  - Install is quick, easy and painless.
  - After working through a few wizard screens at the beginning, the install is automatic
• Cons
  - None really

Ubuntu 9.10

• Pros
  - Option to “try before you install” using the Live CD feature
  - Can easily install as a dual boot or even inside Windows using the Wubi installer
• Cons
  - Unless you’re luck to get a CD, you do have to mess about with .ISO files and burn a disc. If you’re happy doing that, it’s not really a problem.

Speed/Performance

Windows 7

• Pros
  - Both are excellent
• Cons
  - None really

Ubuntu 9.10

• Pros
  - Both are excellent
• Cons
  - None really

Usability

I’ve thought long and hard about this one and I’ve come to the conclusion that while neither OS is perfect (far from it), both are also just as usable once you devote the time to figuring things out. I have years of Windows experience under my belt and a lot less with Ubuntu but I can’t say that’s a problem.

Software

Windows 7

• Pros
  - If you’re willing to pay, there’s a lot of software for the Windows platform
  - Equally, there’s a LOT of free stuff if you look around
• Cons
  - Bundled fayre is pretty poor

Ubuntu 9.10

• Pros
  - Comes complete with an excellent array of software
  - Access to, and installing, new software is a snap
• Cons
  - None really … just don’t expect to run Windows software (even if you do resort to Wine)

Media Support

Windows 7

• Pros
  - Excellent support for media formats, including DRMed media, out of the box
• Cons
  - Windows Media Player isn’t the best bit of software around

Ubuntu 9.10

• Pros
  - Good support for media formats
• Cons
  - If you want to play DVDs then you need to resort to “Restricted” codecs
  - Many media formats that use proprietary DRM just won’t work on Ubuntu because of DRM restrictions

Hardware support

Windows 7

• Pros
  - On the whole, Windows 7 offers excellent support for modern hardware right out of the box
• Cons
  - You might be out of luck with old hardware

Ubuntu 9.10

• Pros
  - Overall, hardware support is good, and getting better
  - On really low-end hardware you can substitute Ubuntu for Xubuntu
• Cons
  - There are no guarantees
  - There’s no “Works with Linux” logo that buyers can look for when buying new hardware

Final thoughts

There’s no doubt that Windows is the default OS for many users. In fact, for most users out there it’s the only OS and many of those aware that a different OS exists know about Mac OS rather than Linux.

That said though, Linux is a very good, robust and highly-usable operating system. It’s also fun to use and free. I understand how for many people operating systems are akin to religions, but there are huge advantages to being OS-agnostic. One advantage is that you can pick and choose the right OS for the job.

..READ THIS AT ZDNET

I’m one of those who sticks with what he knows until I have a really good reason to change. Welp I might have to start using Firefox with this nifty little feature. -Greg

The latest Firefox beta integrates much more fully into Windows 7, adding support for Aero Peek-enabled tabs, an enhanced Ctrl+Tab, and more. We’ll show you how they work, and how to enable or disable them.

Enhanced Ctrl+Tab (optional) 

The really awesome new feature is an enhanced Ctrl+Tab, but you’ll have to turn it on with a simple tweak if you want to use it. Once you’ve done that (detailed below), you can simply hit the shortcut key combination to flip between the tabs. Note that it only activates if you have 3 or more tabs open.

Read the whole thing here – The Illustrated Guide to the New Firefox 3.6 Windows 7 Integration

Just about anyone who uses a computer has opened a PDF document at some point. I found this PDF reader when I was looking for a smaller free alternative to installing Adobe 40+MB reader for my Windows Home Server. Found it on download.com (CNET) which is my favorite place to find freebies. Just go to download.com and read the comments. Its so very quick to open, its a small install and does exactly what I needed it to. When installing it thought, keep your eyes open as it wants to install a bunch of other, what I consider to be, crap that is not even close to being needed to open a PDF. So, if you want to save space and want your PDF documents to open a little quicker use Foxit Reader. – Greg

Info pulled right from their site www.foxitsoftware.com:

Overview

Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer, with incredible small size, breezing-fast launch speed and rich feature set. Foxit Reader supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. Its core function is compatible with PDF Standard 1.7.

In the past, you’ve had to download a huge PDF reader from another software company, go through a lengthy installation process and wait for an annoying splash window to disappear just to open a PDF document. Moreover, if you want to annotate a PDF document, you have to pay US$299 to buy certain software.

Now with Foxit Reader, you don’t have to endure such pain any more. The following is a list of compelling advantages of Foxit Reader:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is just a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
• Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users’ permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware.

So, have you ever received a legitimate email about resetting your password for anything? I mean have you ever gotten and email from Yahoo, Facebook, Hotmail, or Bank of America that said your password has been reset without you initiating it first? No, you haven’t everything you get that has ever said anything close to this was a phishing attack, a spammer, simply put a scam. These emails have only 1 purpose, to get your password. I work for an ISP which 1 of the many services we provide is E-Mail and I see it everyday, some customer has replied to an email and given out their password. Their email account is used to send out 1000′s of spam emails asking if you want your member to be bigger, or would you like to see my neighbor naked, or well you get the idea. Folks, you have to get it in your head, STOP giving out your passwords. If a man came to your door and said he was from your Bank and needed to reset your ATM code by you giving him yours, would you give it to him? So, it looks like hackers have come up with another way, this time they are giving you your new Facebook password, that you didn’t ask for, in an attachment to an email they send you (check out the pictures below)saying, in turn it installs Malware and bam your screwed. Honestly people, if you weren’t expecting the email, then there’s a 99.9999999999% chance its FAKE! -Greg