User-written product reviews have become important in purchasing decisions.  In a survey, 62% read user reviews, and 82% of them were influenced by the reviews.

 

The University of California, Berkeley made 300 hours of videotaped courses available on YouTube.

 

McDonalds will offer free wireless Internet access in its 1,200 restaurants in the U.K.

 

 

A study concludes that PC users think they are more secure than they actually are.  94% of users think they have anti-virus software running, but 48% have let their subscription expire, so they aren’t protected.  70% think they have anti-spyware installed, but only 55% do.81% have a firewall installed, but only 64% are using it.

 

 

Whole disk encryption protects data on a hard drive from being accessed if the drive is lost or stolen.  WDE doesn’t provide protection once a valid user logs on, so file-based encryption is needed to encrypt files when they leave the PC, such as when they are copied to a USB drive or during a file transfer.

 

Microsoft released 4 updates for Windows Vista to improve performance and reliability, and fix some USB problems.

 

Microsoft plans to release 7 patches security flaws in the monthly security update.

 

Microsoft is allowing anyone to download Internet Explorer 7 after removing the Windows Genuine Advantage check for a valid copy of Windows.  Microsoft says that IE7 is more secure, and should be available to all Windows users.

 

Adobe started beta testing of Media Player, which includes the ability to play files in the Flash format.

 

Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista adds the ability for the user to select a default search tool to replace the one built in to Windows, and improves performance and reliability.

 

 

Seagate is shipping 2.5” hybrid hard drives for laptops with 80GB to 160GB of storage and 256MB of flash memory.  The drives should reduce battery consumption, but the high cost of flash memory will make the drives more expensive than traditional hard drives.  More flash memory is needed to make the drives work better, and support for the drives in Windows Vista also needs to be improved.

 

 

Silicon Valley has the highest percentage of IT people in the work force, followed by the Washington DC area and Raleigh, NC.  The Seattle area is 10th.

 

EMC bought Berkeley Data Systems, which provides the Mozy online backup service.  Mozy is free for 2GB of backup, and $4.95 a month for unlimited storage.

 

 

There are 3 powerline networking standards, and each works fairly well, but you can’t mix products for the different standards.