I understand how NASA can get hacked, though I don't know why the government puts up with it. However when it comes to the US Army everything should be locked down tight. These sources indicate that the hack was carried out through an SQL Injection attack exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft's SQL Server. Why would anyone use a Windows Server on purpose?

Rant, rant, yes I rant and I should not. I just guess I sort of expect that the US Army (and other government agencies) shouldn't be getting hacked - even every 2 years.

According to what I've read there is a vulnerability being exploited in Microsoft DirectX's DirectShow in the form of a specially crafted Quicktime Movie. I don't suspect any foul play on Microsoft's part, but I find it very interesting that the vulnerability affects a Microsoft competitor, and that the fix is to disable movie playback on that competitor's video product.

READ: Microsoft Security Advisory 971778
FIX: KB Article 971778 - has a Microsoft Fix it button to do the leg work for you
READ MORE: ZDNet's Article on Dangerous Microsoft DirectX vulnerability under attack

This is some of the most important things I took away from that post:

• iPhone users: Google Sync will remove all existing contacts and calendar events from your phone, so make sure to back up (PC instructions, Mac instructions) your data before you set it up.

• Remove contacts that you don't want to sync to your phone. From the "My Contacts" section of the contact manager, select the contact you want to remove, click "Groups" and then "Remove from My Contacts."
• Merge duplicates so friend@theirgmailaddress.com and samefriend@theirworkaddress.com both belong to the same contact. To do so, select both contacts, and click "Merge these 2 contacts." When you merge contacts, your address auto-complete won't work as well as before. We're working on a fix for this, but until that's out you might notice addresses showing up in a suboptimal order in auto-complete, e.g. your friend's work address coming up first when you're used to emailing their Gmail address.

-- Google's Gmail Blog

Get your contacts organized in Gmail and your devices, read Sync your contacts and calendar with your phone now!

Wired.com: Robotic Distribution

Click here to view the embedded video.

The wifi-networked robots, built by Kiva Systems of Woburn (woo-burn), MA, bring products in the warehouse to human workers. These special warehouses, more densely packed warehousing spaces incorporate interesting workstations where the orange robots bring racks containing products to be shipped. A laser points the worker to the product to be shipped, the worker picks the item up and scans it, and if its the right product the robot takes the rack away, and a light above one of 3 boxes waiting to be filled and shipped indicates where the product goes. The same light also indicates when an order is complete, and ready to be shipped.

Online shoe seller Zappos says their Kiva warehouse has a lower defect rate, higher productivity, plus a better safety record and quieter work environment than their traditional warehouse. You might think that working in an environment like this would require lots of training, but the system actually reduces training time for new workers.

These autonomous robots can also rearrange warehouse stock to place faster selling items closer and moving slower selling items farther away as orders come in. I also thought it was really cool that the robots find time to check their charge level - they run a self-test, check their charge, and if necessary dock with a charging station for some extra juice.

The relatively small space where the workers are needs climate control and lighting, but this is not the case in the majority of the warehouse since the Kiva systems robots don't need either. This translates to a huge cost savings since most of the warehouse can remain unlit and doesn't need to be climate controlled.

For more videos on the Kiva systems robots in action, see the "Press Videos" secion at the bottom of their Resource Library's Video page, or their Demo page (video automatically begins playing).

What, remains to be seen, is the real cause of Apple's pullout?

You should read the whole story since it is very interesting (just click the link below the quote). Its bothersome that a store the size of Circuit City would be pulling stuff like this. Here's an interesting chunk from that very article:

After the credit card was scanned and the receipt was printed, the consumer was getting ready to sign it. He noticed it was about $184 more than expected ... When asked "Why the extra expense?" the new clerk ... asked the consumer if the original clerk had explained the additional charges incurred due to Circuit City pre-optimizing the notebook? The consumer said, "I didn't order or want the optimization." She continued to explain that it had already been installed. As such, he was required to pay the full amount of the installation if he wanted the purchase ... At this point the notebook order had already been placed online and held with a credit card for the advertised amount of $549. These were new charges showing up at the store.

- TG Daily (More shady dealings at Circuit City, this time on Black Friday)

Maybe there is more to Circuit City's financial woes than just a faltering economy? Maybe there are some base issues with training or basic honesty. It seems, as TG Daily's post mentions that the optimization and installation of software is a Circuit City policy. If that's the case it should certainly be disclosed at time of purchase online, or even better, since stock is being checked while the customer hits the Circuit City website the price should have been adjusted online - in bold, red print.

READ MORE:

CNET News

Auslogics Disk Defrag 1.4 lets me set up whether or not to remove temporary files first, whether or not to display removalbe drives (USB drives etc) and I can select the level of CPU usage (Low, Normal, High Highest) which allows me to set faster ro slower speed depending upon whether or not I'll be using the computer while defragging.

I've looked at Windows 7 M1 Ultimate Edition screenshots on Feast Your Eyes on the Leaked Screenshots of Windows 7 M1 Ultimate Edition!, watched the Mojave Experiment (youtube) Video below and I own Vista. Now if you haven't watched the Mojave Experiment video or visited the site, its a promotional gimmick to sell people on Vista. So, Mojave IS Vista. Now, is Windows 7 also Vista? Looking at the Windows 7 screenshots tonight I had to wonder if Windows 7 is Windows Vista with some security updates... no really, check out the screenshots and you'll see is all very Vista-like.

Quote from WindowsMojaveExperiment.com

Fact: PCs running Windows Vista in 2007 were 60% less likely to be infected by malware than those running Windows XP SP2.

I had to wonder if Vista was 60% less likely to be infected by malware because it was 60% less likely to be installed?

I also read that Windows 7 might be out earlier than projected (New signs point to Windows 7 debuting earlier than expected) and I wondered if Microsoft had finally gotten the idea to say its next version will be out much later than they really expect, thus giving them time to work out the inevitable snags? Also, wouldn't Microsoft be on schedule if they did some fine-tuning of Vista rather than a major overhaul?

THE WINDOWS MOJAVE EXPERIMENT

As long as I've been using Anti Virus solutions on my computers I've been using McAfee. I thought McAfee and Norton were the top 2 anti virus programs on the market until a friend the Information Technology (IT) field recommended ESET's NOD32 ( part of ESET Smart Security, see below). This was some time last year and I'd never heard of ESET or NOD32. He even sent me a link to an online review so I could see what the difference was and read their test results, but at the time I decided to stick with good old McAfee.

For about 2 weeks my computer had been crashing in an unusual manner. Right in the middle of working I'd start a program and I'd get a Dr Watson Post Mortem error report, then the computer would freeze up completely and I'd have to power it down. This got tiring after several crashes so I decided to a look into ESET NOD32 and scan my computer. The first thing I did was download AVG 8 Free while I looked for and purchased NOD32. AVG found a Trojan Backdoor infection in one of the websites I work on which had been compromised (probably via a 3rd party add-on like a forum or image gallery that should have been updated). A quick call to the site owner so he could send one of his computer guys intot he server and take care of the trojan on the effected website, and close the hole and I continued cleaning my computer.

AVG 8 found and cleaned the trojan for me and then I installed and ran ESET Smart Security (which includes NOD32)

Here's some a review on anti virus programs and another review of antivirus programs, and there are certainly other reviews posted by companies that test and compare these products out there.

FREE ANTI VIRUS PROGRAMS: Here are some free anti virus programs, if you cannot afford to pay for one of the antivirus programs recommended in one of the reviews above then at least make sure you have a free, up-to-date version of some AV program. Here are some I've either used or have been recommended to me. These are just ideas, do your research and decide what's best for you, I can't make any recommendations - I'm just a web designer, blogger and computer semi-geek.

• AVG 8 Free (Download.com + video: AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.173)
• Avast (Download.com + video: Avast Home Edition 4.8.1229.80923)
• Avira Anitivir (Download.com + video:  Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 8.1.0.331)
• aSquared (Download.com: A-squared Free 3.5.0.25)