Thursday, August 01, 2013

Privacy is Dead…But We Should Have Guessed That

NSA snooping is back in the headlines…more revelations about the data it gathers. According to story #1, an NSA employee can, “…with just a few clicks, obtain everything from phone numbers to e-mail addresses. The agency also can see e-mail content, full Internet activity, browser history, and an IP address. According to the files and Snowden, the NSA can essentially see everything a person is doing on the Internet without the need for a warrant.”

Our second story focuses on phone snooping and how NSA analysts listen to intercepted phone calls of American citizens without a warrant. I find all this quite disturbing.

Our third story tells you how to protect your privacy from not only the government, but from corporations who want to know everything you do in order to make more money. It’s a lengthy article, but well worth the read.

Do you remember a few months ago how Microsoft found it had no right to use the name “Metro” in Windows 8?  Well its happened again…now Microsoft will have to change the name “SkyDrive” to something else. Seems a British company has taken the Redmond boys to court over the name…and won. Microsoft may need to fire some lawyers who are supposed to check out these things. Ridiculous!

And speaking of Windows 8, I am so close to dumping it off my laptop and installing Windows 7. This time my gripe is about backup. One of the great features of Windows 7 was the ability to make image backups of your whole system. I went to do that in Windows 8 and found that it was not there…or at least I thought it was not there.

Thanks to a little research on the Web, I found it, only hidden in a place you would never find and mislabeled. I would have discovered it without the help of the Web. I used it to backup my drive and it all went well. Why the good folks at Microsoft chose to hide and mislabel it, I will never understand. I will wait for the release of Windows 8.1 before I make my final decision on dumping it. But I sure dislike it even more than I thought I would.

Want to hear about another Microsoft misstep? The man in charge of creating the mess that is Windows 8, the megalomaniac Steven Sinofsky, was fired a few months ago. Now Microsoft is paying him $10 million not to work for Apple, Google, Amazon or other competitors. They should have saved their money and let him work for whomever he wants. Letting him loose in one of these other companies could potentially help Microsoft become relevant again.

Anyway, let’s get on with our reading, my friends. -JRC

Newly leaked NSA program sees 'nearly everything' you do

The X-Keyscore program, which has been revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, may be the "widest-reaching" intelligence system yet uncovered.

Feds declassify more details on NSA's phone snooping

Three documents declassified by the Director of National Intelligence confirm key facts about the NSA's PRISM program.

You’re being followed! How to block Web tracking

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re not being watched. When you’re on the Internet, there are good reasons to have that eerie sense of being followed.

And the new ISP for US Starbucks stores is ... Google?

Coffee mega-chain Starbucks has announced that Google will replace AT&T as the internet service provider for its company-owned stores in the US.

Nokia Grows Frustrated With Microsoft's Pace In Windows Phone

The cracks are beginning to show in the multibillion-dollar mobile-phone partnership between Nokia and Microsoft. As Windows Phone continues to register minimal growth, Nokia has grown frustrated with how slow Microsoft is to improve the operating system.

Microsoft to rename SkyDrive after losing trademark suit

Microsoft will be forced to rename its SkyDrive cloud storage service after failing to defend its trademark against U.K. broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.

Apple and the fear of flopping

Apple has set itself up to flourish or flounder in a hit driven business. For the last decade, the company has flourished, but a flop could quickly erode the company's stellar reputation.

Get Organized: Email Contacts

Switching jobs? Migrating to a new email system? You'll want to bring your address book with you, no doubt. Here's how to do it, and some tips on keeping up your contact list in other ways, too.

Win the inbox war: Four utilities fight email onslaught

New tools and services can help you tame that ever-expanding beast, making it easier to weed out the junk, highlight the important, and organize the rest-all without the hassle of manually creating a complex system of filters and folders.

Seamlessly sync your data across devices

Today's unfettered mobility means its more critical than ever that you’re able to access important files across devices, platforms and apps. Follow these tips for keeping all your data in sync, so you can keep doing business wherever your business takes you. "

Take the world's best courses, online, for free

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