Author: Kent

Reader, writer, arithmeticer. Proprietor of Newsome.Org, a tech, music and life blog.

Microsoft to Remove Sony Spyware

I thought I was through with this story, but I have to add one more nugget. I and others previously wondered if Microsoft might add the Sony BMG spyware to the list of bugs removed by Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool. Well it seems it will.

According to this post on the Anti-Malware Engineering Team blog:

We are concerned about any malware and its impact on our customers’ machines. Rootkits have a clearly negative impact on not only the security, but also the reliability and performance of their systems.

The post goes on to say that removal of the Sony software will be included in the upcoming editions of the Microsoft programs.

Good job Microsoft.

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Dual Monitors with a Notebook

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I use dual monitors in my home office and have done so for years. It makes creating and editing documents much easier. Basically you have 2 side by side monitors, each having its own program(s) open. For example, I often have Word or my internet browser open on one monitor and another document in Word or my email program open on the other one. If you move the mouse over, it seamlessly moves from one monitor to the other and back.

Almost all desktops have the ability and connections to use two monitors, but notebooks are a different story. Obviously, no one wants to lug around an extra monitor to use on the road, but when you’re in the office it would be great to have dual monitor capability. Yes, you can connect one external monitor to the notebook and use it along with the notebook’s built-in monitor, but size differences and placement issues make this option less than ideal (because ideally you want the monitors to be the same size and to sit directly beside each other). Now there’s a way to use 2 external monitors with a notebook- the Matrix DualHead2Go. The suggested retail price is only $169.

An early review of the unit is pretty positive.

I will probably buy one of these for my downtown office, where I use a laptop, in order to get the dual monitor benefits I currenly enjoy at home

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Thinkpad Tablet: King of the Road

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I took my new Thinkpad X41 Tablet PC on the road for the first time this week. I went to San Francisco to give a speech. Here’s the report.

To begin with, packing and carrying the computer around is a breeze. It is small and light. It fits nicely into my medium size computer case with room left over to safely pack my digital camera. Working on the plane is easy and comfortable. In fact I’m typing this paragraph from a 737 while listening to an album by Gerald Collier.

The typing part is what really sets the Thinkpad apart from my prior traveling computer, the Fuijitsu Stylistic. That was a dandy computer, but the lack of a keyboard really limited my ability to get things done on the road. Of course most planes, including this one (even though I used some miles to upgrade to first class), don’t have internet access yet, so I’m still pretty limited.

The music via my Panasonic headphones is excellent. My battery life says I have 3.5 hours left, which means I’ll get all the way to San Francisco before I have to use the spare battery I brought along.

Unlike my last trip to San Francisco (when I stayed at the Fairmont and was able to connect to the wireless network of the apartment across the street), I was unable to find a reliable free wireless network from the Palace Hotel. There were a ton of networks nearby but they were either secured or too far away to give me a reliable connection. So I bought a day of access from the hotel for $16 (it’s ludicrous that hotels charge for this) and set up my Linksys WTR54GS. Within minutes I had a (somewhat) fast and reliable wireless network.

The Thinkpad was a pleasure to use, both in laptop mode and in tablet mode. My only complaint is the the stupid caps lock buttom is right above the shift key and I kept pressing it unintentionally until I disabled it.

On my return I was surprised to see that there is no free wireless network at trhe San Francisco airport. T-Mobile has the exclusive rights there it seems. Unfortubately T-Mobile’s interface is unfriendly and unusable. Even though I have an account with T-Mobile, I couldn’t access it. Even when I tried to buy a day pass for $10 I couldn’t get pass the credit card screen. I kept getting error messages saying that I had failed to fill in all the blanks, even though I had. I gave up in frustration. Wireless access from the road continues to be too hard and too expensive.

In sum, the Thinkpad rocks. A DVD drive would be nice, but would add to the size and weight. I didn’t try Movielink for a movie to watch on the plane, but I probably will give it a try next time. If that service works decently, it will nullify the main reason I miss a DVD drive- on flight movies.

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RanchoCast for 11/12/05

I did another podcast last night.

The theme for this one is cover songs. I play some great covers by X, Iris Dement, Gerald Collier and even a cover of a song that Ronnie Jeffrey and I did a few years ago.

A word about the music files: I am a songwriter and musician, and I have no desire to take money out of anyone’s pocket. To the contrary, I am trying to promote some great music that you likely won’t hear on mainstream radio. These are low bitrate MP3s, and none of our prior podcasts are archived. In fact, the only RanchoCast that will ever be available is the then current one. In other words, I am experimenting with this technology as a way to promote alt. county music. Go buy these records. You’ll be glad you did.

Blogs + Lawsuits = Less Spyware

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Here’s the wrap up on the Song BMG spyware story. Recall that I and many others have posted about hidden and unwanted copy protection software that some Sony music CDs install on your computer if you play the CD on your computer. This software can render your computer’s CD drive useless and is a potential security risk that could allow virus makers to access your computer.

Since I last posted on this topic, a couple of things have happened. First, some lawsuits were filed. These lawsuits added the prospect of economic pain to the immense public relations pain Sony was already self-inflicting on itself. It is my personal opinion (shared by Adrian Kinglsey-Hughes) that most of these lawyers who run around filing class action suits are doing it for only one reason- to pad their pockets with money while the alleged victims each get a coupon for 5% off their next purchase. But once every hundred years or so maybe a class action lawsuit results in some positive change. Maybe this was one of those times.

In addition, some trojans (the software kind, not the condom or USC kind) were discovered that exploit the Sony hidden software. So the argument that this hidden and unwanted software is harmless went out the window.

And most importantly, Sony announced yesterday that it would suspend manufacturing copy protected CDs and re-examine its copy protection strategy. Perhaps getting blasted by The Department of Homeland Security helped move Sony off the dime.

It’s a positive sign that bad publicity generated largely by blogs can actually result in positive change. Hopefully Sony will learn from this mistake and not resume making copy protected CDs or allow itself to get lead down some other improper path.

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30 Years Ago Today

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The gales of November came early.

In my considered opinion, the single most chilling song ever written is Gordon Lightfoot‘s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The story of the ship and its tragedy can be found here.

While I think every line of the song is perfect, there are two parts that I think are incredibly powerful:

One is the faces and names line:

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

and the other is the ice water mansions line:

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice water mansion

Every time I hear this song it gives me chills. Today, the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, would, perhaps sadly, be a non-event if not for this excellent and timeless song.

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3 Things I Remember About: 1969

This is the fifth in a series.

(1) I moved from Primary School to the 4th grade at Elementary School. I was in Mrs. Laney’s class. Later in life, she let me hunt quail on her land north of my hometown. We used to play kickball at recess, and all the guys used to try to kick the ball on the roof of the school. That was sort of like hitting a baseball out of the park.

(2) I distinctly remember watching on TV as Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. I was amazed that something like that was possible. There were a few people, including more than one in my class, who thought the whole thing was staged by the government. Many years later after I moved to Houston, I became friends with Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, and was able to hear a lot of amazing stories first hand.

(3) I remember the nightly news with Walter Cronkite. He would always give a report about Vietnam- the name of some village where a battle happened, how many Americans killed and how many Americans got killed. I didn’t think all that much about it at the time, but in hindsight it seems almost surreal. I guess there’s so much instant information today that we get somehow desensitized to all of these wars we’re fighting. Back then there was one report a day- a death scorecard every night that told us who allegedly won the war that day.

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Poll Validation

validatedSince the day I started blogging about technology for grown-ups I have said over and over that if you want people to embrace technology, you have to make it easy for them.

Now the Wall Street Journal has published the results of a poll (no link because the WSJ site is, in true dinosaur smoking-a-cigarette hail to the Farside fashion, a pay site) which shows that when adults buy technology the most important thing they look for is:

61% – Ease of use
58% – Customer service
57% – No-hassle installation

And when you think about it, those are three ways of saying the same thing. It has to be easy to install, easy to use and easy to get help for when you need it.

If you want a niche product that geeks will love (think Linux), it can be as hard to install and use as, say, Linux. But if you want a lot of people to use a product and keep using it (read buy upgrades), it needs to be easy. Easy’s the main thing.

A lot of hardware and software makers still don’t get it.

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My Favorite Records: Bob Woodruff – Dreams & Saturday Nights

This is the eighth part in my series of favorite records.

I remember one night back in the mid-nineties I was channel surfing and came across a guy I didn’t recognize singing an awesome country song. That guy was Bob Woodruff and I promptly went online and bought the perfect country record.

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Dreams & Saturday Nights is that record. Like a lot of guys who do alt. country (myself included) Bob comes from a rock and roll background and a place far away from Nashville, having played in rock bands while growing up in New York. This record is about the best mix of country/alt. country (being country with harder rock edge, as opposed to the other way around like most alt. country) I’ve ever heard.

Hard Liquor, Cold Women, Warm Beer is a perfect country song. The title track is a fine restless drinking song that will sound like a soundtrack for anyone who went to college in the South in the 70s or 80s (and maybe even thereafter). That the song references Neil Young, Marvin Gaye and Patsy Cline in the same line tells me that Bob listened to the same broad selection of music that I did growing up.

All of the other songs on this record are absolutely great. The music alternately makes you want to chug a beer, dance or cry. Great writing and fine playing. I wish Bob would do another record. To my knowledge, he only has two albums out- this one and the follw up from 1997.

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