Day: March 24, 2006

Linspire is my favorite Linux-that-works-like-Windows. I use CentOS on my servers, and Debian Sarge on my home file server, but I use Linspire as my desktop of choice. In fact, this weekend, I am setting up my son, Ben’s, laptop with Linspire! Now, Linspire has announced a “Mac-Mini”-like PC!

Sneak Peak at Linspire Mini

“Chalk one up for the Linux guys. Linspire, the creators of the Debian/GNU Linux based Linspire OS, showcased a self-branded mini PC at CES 2006 that somehow slipped under the radar. According to TUX Magazine, the sweet little $399 (approx.) PC takes its looks from Apple’s Mac mini but the similarities end there. The 2.8 pound PC features a front panel backlit power button, a slot loading combo DVD drive, two rear USB ports, one Firewire connector, S-Video/DVI video outputs, 10/100 Ethernet port, speaker/mic jacks, Pentium M 740 processor (or Celeron M), a single slot for DDR2 memory, and a choice of a 40 or 80GB hard drive.”

The Doctor has warned you that Internet Explorer should not be trusted and is unsafe to use as your browser. Now, there has been yet another serious exploit released for a gaping security hole in IE.

Gaping Security Hole in IE Exploited

“The advisory confirms the existence of a code execution hole that was discovered and publicly reported by Secunia Research of Copenhagen, Denmark. ‘When Internet Explorer displays a Web page that contains certain unexpected method calls to HTML objects, system memory may be corrupted in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code,’ the software maker said. Separately, the SANS ISC (Internet Storm Center) warned that a proof-of-concept code has already been unleashed that could be easily modified into a dangerous exploit. The ISC’s threat meter has been raised to ‘yellow’ to sound alarm bells for what is deemed a ‘significant’ new threat.”

Again, use Firefox. It is safe, and it rocks!

Firefox FREE Web Browser

The fastest laptop tested running Windows XP is… an Apple? What?!!? Yep. Check it out!

Gearlog Tests the MacBook Pro

“The two Mac desktops outran even blazing-fast single core systems, which typically do the Windows Media Encoder test in 10-13 minutes. We haven’t tested any other Intel Core Duo desktops, but the iMac competes well against a Polywell machine with a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 3800+, while the Mini and MacBook Pro are held back a little by their slower laptop hard drives. Predictably, all the Macs blow away the Shuttle XPC M1000, which has the previous generation single-core Pentium M processor. That system scored 16 minutes on Windows Media Encoder, and took 2:52 to complete the Photoshop script.”

So, again I ask, folks: “Should I buy a MacBook Pro?” What to do?