The Irish Independent today carries the story of the 10.10.10 virus. “Fears that a computer virus could be unleased (sic!) on October 10 – 10.10.10 – are circulating on the internet, with experts warning users to be careful”, the newspaper reports with breathless urgency. (10.10.10 has a particular significance to many in geekdom, since in… Continue reading One-nil
Tag: computers
In the beginning was the word
There was a time when book burning mattered. Once upon a time, religions enforced dictates by burning books containing the wrong opinions. To be orthodox was, literally, to hold the right opinion. And just in case that didn’t work, heretics were burned at the stake for good measure. At the end of the medieval era,… Continue reading In the beginning was the word
Falling for the propaganda
Linux is hard. I know this is true, because I’ve been told it so many times. Never mind that I’ve been using it quite happily for the past few years, it’s hard. Sometimes, I even have to type something using the dreaded Command Line interface. Never mind that all the programmes I need are stored… Continue reading Falling for the propaganda
Meitheal
Ubuntu, the Linux distribution from Canonical and marketed as ‘Linux for human beings’, manages to both annoy and please me with every release. On the one hand, it sure does look pretty, and gets prettier with every new release. The latest version, Lucid Lynx, now in beta, introduces the ‘Light’ theme – see the screenshot… Continue reading Meitheal
Connecting
Last week, I wrote about connectivity problems when using the vodafone-provided ‘mobile broadband‘ dongle with my shiny new Karmic Koala distro from Ubuntu. Fair’s fair, so it’s only right that I should report the fix which resolved the problem for me. I can’t guarantee this will work with every netbook/notebook configuration (in my case, E620… Continue reading Connecting
Just Connect
In case you’ve been living under a rock, windows 7 (or Microsoft 7, as one headline writer labelled it) debuted last week. Since I don’t use Windows software, I’ve been paying attention to a different operating system launch. Karmic Koala, the latest linux distro from Ubuntu, hits the servers tomorrow. Normally, I’d look forward to… Continue reading Just Connect
Not Quite There
It’s been a busy few weeks for anyone who uses office productivity suites – word processors, spreadsheets and the like. OpenOffice issued its newest version, and Microsoft released Service Pack 2, a free upgrade for anyone using MS Office 2007. MS Office now supports the Open Document Format (ODF), a great help for those of… Continue reading Not Quite There
Sunset
First the recession, then killer pig flu, and now it looks as if my favourite software is doomed. OpenOffice exists as a project of Sun Microsystems, and Sun just got taken over by Oracle Corp. Sun has two jewels that Oracle wanted: Java, a programming language designed to run no matter what your operating system,… Continue reading Sunset
Computer Virus, World Fever
A devastating computer virus is set to wreak havoc on computers today, as the ‘Conficker’ virus takes effect on thousands of machines in Ireland and worldwide. PC makers are warning users worldwide not to switch on their machines for 24 hours, as the rogue ‘time bomb’ program is designed to cause computers and monitors to… Continue reading Computer Virus, World Fever
Careful Now!
New Media doesn’t get Old Media. Bloggers don’t get why Old Media is wary of two way communication, and become irked when they can’t respond with their opinions on news websites. After all, information wants to be free. Information may be free, but libel is expensive, Old Media replies. New Media knows this in its… Continue reading Careful Now!